Evansville City board to review HVAC master exam after widespread complaints; several license applications approved or denied

The Evansville City Building Commission agreed at a recent meeting to review the HVAC master license exam and re-evaluate at least one candidate's results after contractors and test-takers raised concerns about question quality and relevance.

The discussion began when Sid Jackson, identified himself as an HVAC professional and commenter, told the commission: "Worst test I've ever seen. Completely honest with you," citing misspellings and questions he said were irrelevant to an HVAC master's exam. Jackson said the most recent exam he took contained "7 misspellings" and examples of questions that lacked necessary variables, and that those issues had affected his score. He told the commission he scored about 72% on one section and that the qualifying threshold was 75%.

The complaint prompted commissioners and staff to discuss short-term fixes and longer-term options. The commission chair identified that the licensing or disciplinary board "has a right to see the questions and the answers," and commissioners asked staff to review Jackson's flagged questions, remove or replace any that are demonstrably inapplicable, and consider regrading or offering replacement questions to impacted candidates at no…