Reference
What the NHIE actually is, before anyone sells you anything.
The facts on this page come from the examination board's own published candidate materials. If a prep site tells you something different, check it against the source before you build a study plan on it.
How it is scored, and why that matters
Your raw score out of 175 is converted to a scaled score between 200 and 800. Pass is 500. The scale exists so that a slightly harder form of the exam does not punish the people who happened to sit it.
It is criterion referenced, which means you are measured against a fixed standard, not against the other people in the room. Nobody is competing with you and nobody is curving you up. Every additional question you get right is worth the same thing no matter how anyone else did.
Twenty-five of the 200 items are unscored pretest questions being trialed for future forms. You cannot tell which, so treat every question as if it counts.
Rules on the day
- Four options, one best answer. Some wrong options are partly correct.
- No calculators.
- No personal items at the workstation.
- Tutorial time does not come out of your four hours.
- Results are given at the test center.
Confirm current fees, rules, and scheduling with the examination board before your exam date. This page is a study aid, not the candidate handbook.
What is on it
The exam is built to a published content outline with three domains. This is the single most useful thing to know before you study, because it tells you what your hours are worth.
- 70%
- Property and Building Inspection / Site Review~122
- 20%
- Analysis of Findings and Reporting~35
- 10%
- Professional Responsibilities~18
Task by task
Scored items are approximate, calculated from the published weights against 175 scored questions.
| Task | Weight | Scored items |
|---|---|---|
| Domain 1. Property and Building Inspection / Site Review 70% | ||
| 1.1 Site conditions | 5% | ~9 |
| 1.2 Building exterior | 5% | ~9 |
| 1.3 Roof | 6% | ~11 |
| 1.4 Structural | 6% | ~11 |
| 1.5 Electrical | 7% | ~12 |
| 1.6 Cooling | 4% | ~7 |
| 1.7 Heating | 5% | ~9 |
| 1.8 Insulation, moisture management, ventilation | 5% | ~9 |
| 1.9 Mechanical exhaust | 5% | ~9 |
| 1.10 Plumbing and fuel distribution | 6% | ~11 |
| 1.11 Interior | 4% | ~7 |
| 1.12 Fireplaces, fuel-burning appliances, chimneys | 6% | ~11 |
| 1.13 Life safety equipment and systems | 6% | ~11 |
| Domain 2. Analysis of Findings and Reporting 20% | ||
| 2.1 Describe what was inspected and how | 4% | ~7 |
| 2.2 Describe limitations | 4% | ~7 |
| 2.3 Describe defective components | 6% | ~11 |
| 2.4 Describe what needs further evaluation | 6% | ~11 |
| Domain 3. Professional Responsibilities 10% | ||
| 3.1 Pre-inspection agreement | 5% | ~9 |
| 3.2 Quality, integrity, objectivity | 5% | ~9 |
The correction almost nobody makes
A number of prep sites publish the domain weights as 63 / 25 / 12. The published 2023 outline is 70 / 20 / 10. If you plan your study time on the wrong numbers, you will over-invest in reporting and under-invest in the building systems that carry seventy percent of your score.
What it is referenced to
Every item on the exam is tied to a published source. The listed references are the NHIE Home Inspection Manual, the 2021 International Residential Code, NFPA 101 (2021), and the 2023 National Electrical Code.
That is the whole argument for how this course is built. If the exam is referenced to a manual, then a prep course should be built out of that manual, fact by fact, rather than out of a general curriculum about inspecting houses.
How the question bank uses thisThe course is in production. No lesson is readable yet. 85 bank questions are written and reviewed, and the first lesson is drafted and waiting on review. Every delivery date is on the pricing page.
Now you know what it is. Here is how to beat it.
Twelve real questions from the bank, scored, with the reasoning.
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