EPA 608 practice test: free Core, Type I, II and III questions

EPA 608 at a glance, with the source for every line

Every row below is quoted from a document published by EPA and carries the date we checked it. Where EPA publishes nothing, the row says so instead of quoting a number from somewhere else.

Who has to be certified

EPA regulations (40 CFR Part 82, Subpart F) under Section 608 of the Clean Air Act require that technicians who maintain, service, repair, or dispose of equipment that could release refrigerants into the atmosphere must be certified.Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, verified 7 August 2026

The rule it comes from

40 CFR Part 82, Subpart F, under Section 608 of the Clean Air Act.Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, verified 7 August 2026

The four certification types

Type I for servicing small appliances · Type II for servicing or disposing of high- or very high-pressure appliances, except small appliances and MVACs · Type III for servicing or disposing of low-pressure appliances · Universal for servicing all types of equipment.Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, verified 7 August 2026

Required evacuation levels

Inches of Hg vacuum, relative to 29.9 inches Hg standard atmospheric pressure, for equipment made before / after November 15, 1993. Very high-pressure appliance 0 / 0. High-pressure appliance with a full charge under 200 pounds 0 / 0, at 200 pounds or more 4 / 10. Medium-pressure appliance under 200 pounds 4 / 10, at 200 pounds or more 4 / 15. Low-pressure appliance 25 mm Hg absolute in both.Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Stationary Refrigeration Service Practice Requirements, verified 7 August 2026EPA labels the two columns Using pre-1993 equipment and Using post-1993 equipment. The requirement covers appliances with more than five pounds of refrigerant, when opening equipment for maintenance, service, repair or disposal. EPA lists separate exceptions to it.

How long it lasts

Section 608 Technician Certification credentials do not expire.Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, verified 7 August 2026

Open book vs proctored

Core tests taken as an open book exam cannot be used to get your Universal Certification. The core test must be taken as a proctored exam in order to attain Universal Certification.Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, verified 7 August 2026

What Universal requires

To receive Universal certification, an individual must pass the examinations at all levels for stationary refrigeration and cooling equipment under closed book, secure, proctored conditions through an EPA approved Section 608 testing and certification organization.Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, verified 7 August 2026

Apprentices

Apprentices are exempt from certification requirements provided they are closely and continually supervised by a certified technician.Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, verified 7 August 2026

How fast you get results

EPA regulations allow testing organizations up to 30 days from the date of the test to issue test results and certification cards.Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, verified 7 August 2026

Passing score

The EPA Universal, Type I, Type II, and Type III exams have a passing score of 70%.Source: North American Technician Excellence (NATE), an EPA-approved Section 608 certifying organization, verified 7 August 2026Checked on 2026-08-07 against NATE, an EPA-approved Section 608 certifying organization. EPA itself does not publish a cut score; NATE publishes 70 percent for the exams it administers. The app’s 70 percent practice threshold is a separate in-app readiness target.

Who issues the card

EPA does not issue certification cards. Cards come from the EPA-approved certifying organization that administered your test.Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, verified 7 August 2026

Exam fee

Not published by EPA. The EPA does not set or publish an exam fee. Price is set by the EPA-approved certifying organization you test through, so it varies by proctor and by state.Checked against: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Section 608 technician certification pages, verified 7 August 2026

Pass rate

Not published by EPA. The EPA does not publish a pass rate for Section 608 certification, and pass rates would in any case differ by certifying organization.Checked against: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Section 608 technician certification pages, verified 7 August 2026

Questions per section

Not published by EPA. The EPA publishes test topic groups for Core and each type but does not publish a question count per section on its certification pages. Widely repeated figures are not sourced to the EPA.Checked against: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Test Topics, verified 7 August 2026

Section weighting

Not published by EPA. The EPA lists test topics for Core, Type I, Type II and Type III but publishes no percentage weighting, so no official blueprint table is shown on this page.Checked against: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Test Topics, verified 7 August 2026

Time limit

Not published by EPA. EPA’s Section 608 Technician Certification page states no time limit for the certification exam. Ask the EPA-approved certifying organization that administers yours.Checked against: EPA, Section 608 Technician Certification, verified 7 August 2026

Always verify: certification types, testing rules and fees come from the EPA and the certifying organization you test through, so confirm current details at epa.gov/section608 before you book.

What our EPA 608 question bank covers

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

Where EPA 608 candidates actually lose points

The evacuation table

The required vacuum level is a table, not a number, and it turns on three things at once: the appliance’s pressure class, whether its full charge is 200 pounds or more, and whether the recovery equipment is pre-1993 or post-1993. Read across the row, not down it. A low-pressure appliance is not measured in inches of vacuum at all, it is 25 mm Hg absolute. People memorize one cell and get ambushed by the rest of the row.

Recovery, recycling and reclamation are three different words

Recovery removes refrigerant and stores it. Recycling cleans it on site with oil separation and filter-driers. Reclamation processes it back to virgin specification and requires laboratory analysis. The exam writes questions that hinge entirely on which of the three a scenario describes.

Low pressure behaves backwards

Type III systems run below atmospheric pressure, so leaks pull air and moisture in rather than pushing refrigerant out. Every instinct built on Type II work is inverted here, which is why a purge unit running constantly is a leak symptom rather than an overcharge symptom.

Type I is defined by construction, not by size alone

A small appliance is factory-manufactured, factory-charged and hermetically sealed with a small charge. Technicians reach for a weight limit and forget the sealed-and-factory-charged half of the definition, then misclassify field-charged equipment.

Open book quietly closes the door to Universal

The EPA states that a Core test taken open book cannot be used toward Universal certification. Plenty of people sit a convenient open-book Core, pass, then discover they have to retake it proctored to go Universal later.

How long should you study for EPA 608? A three-week plan

Three weeks is the shape, not the rule. If you are only sitting Core plus Type II, this compresses to about ten days. The order matters more than the total: Core gates everything, so it goes first.

Week 1: Core, all of it

Ozone and climate impacts, the Clean Air Act, Section 608 rules, refrigerant classes and safety. Core is just over a third of our bank, and every certification type is gated behind it. Run Topic Drill on the core category until you stop guessing, then take one Smart Quiz session a day to keep it warm.

Week 2: your type sections

Take only the types you actually need. Type II if you work residential and light commercial split systems, Type I if you touch sealed small appliances, Type III if you are anywhere near a centrifugal chiller. Going Universal means all three, and Type III gets the extra day.

Week 3: the numbers, then full simulations

Spend two days on nothing but the evacuation table, recovery requirements, leak-repair thresholds and cylinder rules. Then run the Exam Simulator at full length until your readiness score stops moving. Book the real test for the week your score goes green.

Is the EPA 608 hard?

It is not conceptually hard. It is a recall exam, and the recall is unforgiving. The material is a finite list of numbers, definitions and procedures, and the questions test whether you know them exactly rather than approximately.

Where people come unstuck is that the four sections read as one subject and behave as four. Core is regulation and environmental fundamentals, Type II is the pressure work most techs already do daily, and Type III is a genuinely different discipline built on vacuum-side thinking. Our own bank reflects that spread: of 5,445 questions, 3,290 sit at difficulty 3 or 4, and the hardest concentration is in the evacuation, recovery and leak-repair material rather than in the environmental chapters people expect to dread. If you are going for Universal, budget most of your time for Type III even though it is only a quarter of our bank.

The EPA does not publish a pass rate for Section 608 certification, and pass rates would in any case differ by certifying organization, so there is no honest national figure to give you here.

How the EPA 608 differs from the exams beside it

EPA 608 is the only certification in this family that federal law actually requires. NATE, HVAC Excellence and a state license are all things you choose or your employer wants. Section 608 is a rule: touch a system that could release refrigerant without it and you are working illegally. It is also the only one here that never expires, which is why almost every HVAC tech takes it first and never thinks about it again. The exam is unusual in a second way too: you sit Core plus one, two or three type sections, and the sections are separate passes. Failing Type III does not cost you the Type I you already earned.

Questions people actually ask about the EPA 608

Do I need EPA 608 certification?

If you maintain, service, repair or dispose of equipment that could release refrigerant, yes. The EPA requires it under 40 CFR Part 82, Subpart F. Apprentices are exempt while closely and continually supervised by a certified technician.

How many questions are on the EPA 608 exam?

The EPA does not publish one. Its certification pages list test topic groups for Core and each type but no question count per section, so the figures repeated across prep sites are not sourced to the EPA. Ask the certifying organization that administers your test.

What is the passing score for the EPA 608 exam?

NATE, an EPA-approved certifying organization, states that the EPA Universal, Type I, Type II and Type III exams have a passing score of 70%. EPA’s own pages do not publish a figure, and passing scores are set per certifying program, so confirm with whoever proctors your test.

What is the difference between Type I, Type II, Type III and Universal?

Type I covers small appliances. Type II covers high- and very high-pressure appliances other than small appliances and MVACs. Type III covers low-pressure appliances. Universal covers all types of equipment. Most technicians take Core plus Type II first.

Does EPA 608 certification expire?

No. The EPA states that Section 608 Technician Certification credentials do not expire. Pass it once and it is yours. This is one of the few certifications in the trades with no renewal cycle.

Can I take the EPA 608 exam open book?

Some sections, through some certifying organizations, yes. But the EPA is explicit that a Core test taken open book cannot be used to get Universal certification. If Universal is the goal, sit Core proctored the first time.

How much does the EPA 608 exam cost?

The EPA does not set a fee. Price comes from the EPA-approved certifying organization you test through and varies by proctor, format and state. Ask your testing organization directly rather than trusting a number on a prep site.

Are these real questions from the actual EPA 608 exam?

No. That would violate exam security rules and get your certification revoked. These are original questions written to the same topic areas, format and difficulty as the real thing, each with a full explanation.