LicenseReady
0
Certified Building Contractor/Project Mgmt

Planning & Scheduling

24% of this exam

The biggest Project Management domain, and mostly math you must do rather than look up: CPM networks, forward/backward passes, float, lags, and crashing. Practice the calculations until the book is only a formula check — exam time is too short to learn CPM at the desk.

Core concepts

The critical path sets the duration

The critical path is the longest sequence of dependent activities through the network — it determines the minimum project duration, and any delay on it delays the project. Run a forward pass along each path and the longest total wins; activities off that path carry float.

Two kinds of float

Total float = late start − early start (or LF − EF): how long an activity can slip without delaying project completion. Free float: how long it can slip without delaying any successor's early start. A delay bigger than free float but within total float pushes successors without moving the end date.

Lags, milestones, and the baseline

A lag is required wait time built into a relationship (3-day cure before stripping forms); a lead is negative lag. Milestones are zero-duration markers for key events. The baseline is the approved original schedule — it stays fixed so updates can be compared against it for delay analysis.

Crashing buys time with money

Crashing shortens the schedule by adding resources to critical path activities — crash only critical activities, cheapest cost-per-day-saved first. Look-ahead schedules (typically 3 weeks) translate the master CPM into detailed near-term plans for crews, deliveries, and inspections.

Key facts to know cold

Critical pathLongest path through the network = minimum project duration; zero float
Total floatLS − ES (or LF − EF)
Free floatDelay possible without moving any successor's early start
LagImposed wait time in a relationship (e.g., concrete cure); lead = negative lag
MilestoneZero duration, zero resources — marks a key event or contract date
CrashingCompress critical activities by adding resources, lowest cost-per-day first

See it drawn out

Fig — Float, in one example
  1. Forward pass
    Path A–B–D = 12 days; path A–C–D = 14 days → critical path is A–C–D
  2. Total float
    Late start − early start (B: 2 days of float)
  3. The rule
    Zero float = critical; delay it and the project slips

Where it lives in your books

The real exam is open book. Knowing which book — and which tab — answers this domain is worth as much as memorizing it.

manual

Construction PM

Scheduling math (float, forward/backward pass) must be done, not found — practice it until the lookup is just a formula check.

5 recommended tabs

Lookup strategy

  • · Tab the CPM chapter's worked forward/backward pass example — if a network problem stalls you, rebuild it step by step from the example.
  • · Float questions hinge on definitions: confirm total vs free float in the text before answering, since the distractors are always the other kind.

Reading isn't learning — retrieval is.

16 questions in this domain, each with an explanation and source.