Confusing Practice Question: Max rise/run/tread

I’m going through the InterNACHI Practice Questions, practicing to challenge my two proctored exams to get my Alberta licence and I’ve found several of the questions, and often times the correct answers, confusing.

Sometimes the “correct” answers seem to be different for multiple questions that seem to be the same question. Sometimes the different answers can be explained in some way but I don’t know if I have confabulated an accurate explanation. Sometimese the two answers are mutually exclusive, such as in the example below. Other times they just seem unclear or ambiguous. In either case I find it difficult to develop confidence to pass the exam if I don’t even understand the questions or answers after knowing the correct answers.

As I’ve already mentioned, I can often devise my own explanation as to why there are different answers to what seem to be the same question, but what I’m really hoping to acheive is confidence that I’m not confabulating. I actually want to undersand this stuff but I can’t find explanations in any of the InterNACHI training material, nor on the internet. I hope someone in the community can help me with some of these questions.

Here’s one example, on this page:
Practice Questions - InterNACHI®
I found this question:

Which is not the same answer as the following two questions:

Practice Questions - InterNACHI®

or this question…
Practice Questions - InterNACHI®

One of those questions has both possible answers and only one of them is the correct answer, so how can both answers be correct if there is a question where one of them has to be wrong?

But wait, which answer is correct in that 1st question. if 8 inches is wrong, which one is right?

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That depends on were you are located, It is 8’’ were I am. but when I layout a stringer I go for 71/4 to 73/4

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The answer is technically 7-3/4. However, the others are so far wrong, you have to pick 8, lol.

image

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That will always be a comfortable step. 7-8 inches will not cause any problems in my opinion.

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Above is the best way to choose all your answers in your proctored exam, especially the tricky questions.

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Just like the NHIE… which answer if the ‘most’ correct, or the ‘least wrong’!!

(But don’t listen to me… I’m not from Alberta!!).

Good luck!

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Take each or the other choices one by one
There is no maximum tread width (which answers the next question)
No requirement for a stairwell to have a width less then 44 inches
And head room is at least 6’8" (80 inches) not 5’6" (66 inches)

8 inch rise is looking pretty good.

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Add in the allowed 3/8" variance, you have damned near 8"!!

With pad and carpeting, you’ll never discover that 1/8".

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The 3/8" various is for a variance between one step rise to another if I am not mistaken. That is my interpretation.
image

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I never try to discover it :slight_smile:
I only measure when the step “feels” measurably off.
I am not a code inspector.

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:upside_down_face::face_with_raised_eyebrow::upside_down_face:

@bcawhern1 Yes, that is the problem. If 8 is the wrong answer in one question, how can it be the correct answer in the exact same question. Of course I can just memorize the logic that 7 ¾ will always trump 8 when both are an option, but there are a lot of questions in the practice exam like this and it’s tricky to find them all.

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@sbridges2 actually, for my purpose, it depends on which question shows up on the exam. And the real problem is not so much just this question because it’s easy to just memorize the correct priority, for this question, if that’s all it was. 7 3/4 trumps 8. My problem is that I’m struggling to figure out the correct answers for several questions like this and I’m not sure I’ve found them all. And this translate into how to properly identify an issue that needs to be reported. Maybe not so much this issue, but this is an example of how standards can vary even in just one pool of questions. I’ve attempted practice exams from other sources and found similar problems.

@bcawhern1 actually, that only works if 8 is the closest option but 8 is the wrong answer in one of the three questions.

@bcawhern1 sure, you can’t go wrong with 8, except in the case where 8 is an option and it’s the wrong answer.

@ccurrins bit that trick doesn’t work in this case because 8 is the correct answer in one question and the wrong answer in the other question.

@jjonas ok, I can’t argue with that logic. I have other problem questions that might not be so easy to dismiss.

@bcawhern1 but 8 inch rise is the wrong answer in one of the questions.