This article summarizes what the certifying body publishes about its mobile crane operator written exams. Everything below comes from its Mobile Crane Operator Candidate Handbook, revision 1/25 (PDF), checked September 19, 2026. Handbooks are revised from time to time, so confirm the numbers against the current one before you sit the exam.
Core exam
- Length: 90 questions in 90 minutes. A calculator is not permitted.
- Domain 1, Site (about 20% of the test): ground stability (voids, tanks, fill, slopes, excavations), mats and cribbing, power line hazards during assembly and disassembly, traveling without a load, site hazards, and the controlling entity's responsibilities.
- Domain 2, Operations (about 26%): inspecting for unsafe conditions, leveling, load weight and center of gravity, verifying radius, power lines during operation, wire rope reeving and parts of line, signals (hand, voice or radio, audible, non-standard), multi-crane lifts, suspended personnel platforms, tag lines, operator aids and safety devices, emergency procedures, dynamic and side loading, weather, backward stability, attachments, the operator's authority to stop, and shutting down and securing the crane.
- Domain 3, Technical Knowledge (about 28%): current federal regulations and industry standards, terminology, inspection requirements (shift, monthly, annual), rigging basics, wire rope termination and replacement criteria, hook blocks and overhaul balls, line pull and safe working load, electrical protection, gauges, fall protection, and access and egress.
- Domain 4, Load Charts (about 26%): chart terminology, basic math without a calculator, making sure the chart matches the machine and its configuration, stability versus structural limits, the range diagram, the work area chart, and parts-of-line information.
Specialty exams
The handbook lists three mobile crane specialty designations: Lattice Boom Crane (includes lattice boom crawler and truck cranes), Telescopic Boom Crane with a swing cab, and Telescopic Boom Crane with a fixed cab. There is a separate Service Truck Crane program with its own outline.
- Length: 26 questions in 60 minutes. A calculator is permitted.
- Domain 1, Setup (about 23%): supporting materials, boom assembly and disassembly, outriggers and crawlers, and outrigger position indicators.
- Domain 2, Operations (about 23%): operating on tires, on outriggers and on crawlers, pick and carry, shutdown, boom length and limiting devices, boom and jib stops, power flow, and approaching two-blocking.
- Domain 3, Technical Knowledge (about 19%): terminology and attachments for each crane type, and standing rope replacement criteria.
- Domain 4, Manufacturers' Load Charts (about 35%): load chart notes, specifications, range and work area diagrams, boom and jib erection charts, rated capacity charts, and finding maximum radius, gross capacity and net capacity for a given configuration.
What the questions are based on
The handbook gives two kinds of evidence:
- Reference List. It names seven documents: ASME B30.5 (Mobile and Locomotive Cranes), ASME B30.30 (Ropes), the IHSA Mobile Crane Manual, the AEM Mobile Crane Safety Manual, OSHA 1926 Subpart CC, OSHA 1910.180, and IPT's Crane and Rigging Handbook and Manual. It says these are used to verify the accuracy of the test questions. There is one article on this site for each.
- Core outline, Domain 3. It says candidates should know current federal regulations and industry standards, "including but not limited to" ASME B30.5, ASME B30.10, OSHA 1910.180 and OSHA 1926 Subpart CC. ASME B30.10 (Hooks) is therefore named in the outline, but it is not in the Reference List.
Load chart questions use the manufacturer's load chart in the exam, not a published standard. Learn to read a real chart from the crane's own manual.
The handbook does not say the questions are copied from these documents, and this site does not have the exam's question bank. Treat the list as the material the exam is checked against.
Not stated in the handbook version we read: the passing score and how the question types are formatted. Ask the certifying body for those.
Where to read it
Mobile Crane Operator Candidate Handbook, revision 1/25 (PDF). Also see the study materials page on the certifying body's website, which we could not open when researching this (the site refused our request), so check it yourself for the current list.
Related lessons on this site: see the Core courses and the specialty courses under Learn in the main menu.