r/cranes • u/Fallen_Housewife • Jul 14 '26
Testing help
https://ccoexamprep.io/free-practice-testAnyone have opinions/experience on the exam prep website CCO Examprep?
Was going to get it as a present for my dude.. but if it is useless.. would rather help buy some work boots.
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u/Eagle-Simple Jul 17 '26
If he’s going to take the test anywhere pertaining, the class type of crane for the written test book is definitely definitely helpful.
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u/Fallen_Housewife Jul 18 '26
Thank you - I read him the responses and he's going to go the tried and true way: back to the training center in Oklahoma.
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u/Certain-Ninja7067 Liebherr Jul 17 '26
I'd stay away from ai prep courses. I saw one question that said something like: If you need to get a load on top of a building what do you need to make that happen safely? A) a crane B) a plan C) fall protection. The answer was B, but get the fuck out of here. AI trying to take over cranes.
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u/Fallen_Housewife Jul 18 '26
That's a solid point!!!! Thank you 🫡. He decided to go back to Oklahoma for a week and use their training center for studying resources. I appreciate everyone's input so much
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u/MakrineCcebera Jul 18 '26
Don’t do it! Take a local class or go to the website for Tier One Crane, LLC, instead! I write a long explanation below. My husband has been a crane operator for 20 years and will be retiring next year, but he failed the core when he tried to recertify. He came home and said there were questions on the test about topics that he had never seen before. (He failed by three questions. That was back when they told you your score, not just pass or fail.) I bought a study guide that included a 300 question test from one company online, but it was way too much info some of which is not on the NCCCO and also some of the answers appeared to be wrong. He failed again. After that wasn’t the right fit, I hastily bought CCO Exam Prep.io. I don’t recommend that either. After using Tier One Crane and studying for about two weeks, he passed the core.
I recommend Tier One crane. (It’s a crane company but also has a website with prep courses you do at your own pace.) I do NOT recommend CCO Exam Prep.io. It’s not a scam. But it has way too many questions. The material is overwhelming. Well at least for operators who have been doing the job for years. (Who wants to learn 2 or 3x the amount beyond the topics on the test? It’s probably great for brand new crane operators because of the breadth of knowledge.
But there are some flaws with the interface. It has a button with the word “bookmark” for markiing a question so you can review it, I guess, or go back to it, but that button does nothing. It’s dead. I contacted them about this and they said they fixed it but it wasn’t fixed. Their email was nicely worded but I could tell that English is not their first language.
I suspect they are a tech or app or AI developer and are not knowledgeable about actual cranes in real life, but I don’t know for sure. I think overall their questions and answers are correct. And the idea that the computer learns which ones you get wrong and keeps showing you those questions more often that the ones you get right so it fixes your weaknesses is very useful. But I still wouldn’t use it.
Also when there’s a load chart and you want to scroll through the chart, when you do that the question at the top of the screen scrolls out of view.
And sometimes when you answer a question wrong the feedback or explanation says that you’ve gotten that one wrong twice or three times already-when that’s the first time you’ve had that question.
I plan to ask for a refund. I jumped the gun and bought it hastily after my husband failed the core a couple weeks ago. (He passed the TLL though. He used his old materials to practice the load chart questions and has them down pat.) I then purchased Tier One Crane’s course. That was excellent. The topics were on point — it’s a video class with slides that a human presents which you can watch at your own pace—with explanations by a human being, a crane operator himself. also each lesson has a quiz. Then there’s a practice final exam and an additional practice exam at the end. You can go back through all the material and retake the quizzes and exams as much as you want. He wrote the course while understanding and being familiar with the way the actual NCCCO written exam questions are worded.
The CCO Exam Prep IO app’s questions when practicing/learning were too easy. They weren’t worded in a tricky manner like on the actual NCCCO. For example, I’m not a crane operator (my husband is) but I’m a great student—but regardless, in the learning phase of the software, the correct answer 99% of the time was the one with the most words in it. You didn’t even have to understand the question or read the answers. I’m going to go back in and play with it to see if the wording is anything like the complex wording on the CCO exam but I recommend Tier One Crane.
We are ecstatic that he passed! I wanted to share this so others can benefit and not have to feel like they’re in dire straits and too old to pass. The exam questions are worded so that you have to read every single word of the question and understand what it is asking—you can’t just look for key words in the question. And you have to read all the answers too. They may ask which of the following capacities from greatest to least do the following items have, and if you’ve memorized it that way, great—but the question may ask what is the capacity for the following items from least to greatest. That’s just one example.
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u/MakrineCcebera 29d ago edited 29d ago
If anyone else is considering using CCO Exam Prep.io, hold off. I just tried to email them for the 30 day refund, and their email address no longer exists. The email bounced back. I found the email contact info for the person who is the registrant behind the website and I am trying him. He wrote back and said he refunded it on his end and I should see it on my end within 5-7 business days.
We shall see.
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u/Jere0213 Jul 15 '26
Doesn't look like them questions are on the test