BC CORE Practice Test

This BC CORE practice test prepares you for the written exam in British Columbia's Conservation and Outdoor Recreation Education (CORE) program, the hunter education you need for a BC hunting credential. It covers all eight written exam subjects, uses BC's own regulations and species, and gives you a full-length mock in the current format.

Begin with the free 20-question CORE diagnostic to see which subjects need work, then sit the free 90-question mock exam 1 when you are ready. Canada Licence Prep is an independent study aid. It is not run by or affiliated with the BC Wildlife Federation (BCWF), the Government of British Columbia or any CORE examiner.

The BC CORE exam at a glance

The BCWF runs CORE on behalf of the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship. Completing it is required for BC residents aged 10 or older who want a hunting credential on their Fish and Wildlife ID (FWID). To graduate you must pass two exams.

Item	Detail (BCWF, checked September 2026)
Written exam	90 multiple-choice questions based on the CORE manual and the Hunting and Trapping Regulations Synopsis
Written pass mark	At least 68 correct (about 75.6%)
Practical exam	Safely handle 2 of 5 firearm action types, including identifying and loading and unloading dummy ammunition
Practical pass mark	At least 23 out of 30
Practical exemption	Bring your completed CFSC course report form. A PAL card is not accepted
Fees	$30 per written attempt, $30 per practical attempt, paid to the examiner; $30 BCWF graduation fee
Retakes	A failed exam must be retaken on a different day
Where	In person, with a certified CORE examiner
Registration	Complete the examiner's registration form before your first exam and bring it to every exam

Sources: bcwf.bc.ca/core and the 2026–2028 Hunting and Trapping Regulations Synopsis. BCWF's site blocked our automated re-check in October 2026, so the figures above are from our September 2026 review. Confirm them with your examiner when you book.

Key fact: You need 68 of 90 on the written exam. That means you can miss at most 22 questions across eight subjects.

75 or 90 questions? Why sources disagree

If you search for the CORE exam format, you will find two answers:

Source	Questions	To pass	Percentage
BCWF CORE page (September 2026)	90	68	About 75.6%
Some course providers and older pages	75	56	About 74.7%

We do not know exactly when or why the figure changed, and BCWF does not explain it. The most likely explanation is that the 75-question figure describes an older version of the exam that some provider pages have not updated. What matters for you:

1. The pass standard is the same. Both versions need roughly three in four answers correct.
2. The program operator's own page says 90. When the operator and a third party disagree, we follow the operator.
3. Your examiner has the final word. CORE examiners give the exams, so if you want certainty, ask yours.

Our practice exams use the 90-question format. If your sitting turns out to be shorter, you will have practised with more questions than you need, which is the safer way round.

How our mock exam is built

Our mock	Setting
Questions	90 multiple choice, 4 options
Pass	68 of 90
Timer	120 minutes (BCWF does not publish a time limit; this is our practice setting)
Subjects	All eight written subjects
Question bank	813 BC CORE questions

The eight CORE written exam subjects

BCWF lists eight subjects for the written exam. BCWF says supplemental information in the CORE manual is not tested, so focus on the main content.

1. Conservation

Conservation means the wise use of wildlife and habitat so they last, which is different from preservation, which protects a resource from use. Know that habitat is food, water, shelter and space; that carrying capacity is the number of animals a habitat can support over time; that populations peak after the birthing season and are lowest at the end of winter; and that managers use seasons, bag limits, Limited Entry Hunting draws and management units to control harvest. Hunters fund much of this work through licence fees and surcharges such as BC's Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation surcharge.

Drill it: conservation practice.

2. Ethics

Expect scenario questions on fair chase, landowner relations, shot selection and recovery. The right answer usually puts safety, the animal and other people first. Get permission before hunting private land, pass up doubtful shots, make every reasonable effort to recover wounded game, and take care of the meat. Never hunt while impaired.

Drill it: hunter responsibility and ethics practice.

3. Law and regulations

This subject is based on the Synopsis and BC's Wildlife Act, and it is where BC's rules differ most from other provinces. Learn these exactly:

Rule	BC requirement
Hunting hours for game	No hunting from one hour after sunset to one hour before sunrise
Migratory game bird hours	No hunting from half an hour after sunset to half an hour before sunrise
Loaded firearms and vehicles	No live ammunition in the breech or an attached magazine in or on any motor vehicle, aircraft, boat, sleigh, bicycle or other conveyance, and no shooting from one
Shotguns	Magazine plugged to hold no more than 2 cartridges
Bullets	No full metal jacket, tracer, incendiary or explosive bullets for hunting
Handguns and short barrels	No hunting with a handgun designed to be fired with one hand, or a firearm with a barrel under 305 mm
Roads	No shooting across, or hunting within, the road allowance; on a road with fewer than three lanes it extends 15 m either side of the centre
Aircraft	No hunting within 6 hours of being airborne (scheduled commercial flights excepted)
Swimming big game	May not be hunted unless already wounded
Wounded game	Make every reasonable effort to retrieve it and include it in your bag limit
Meat	Remove the edible portions to your home, a meat cutter or cold storage
Crossbows	No cocked crossbow in or on a vehicle

You should also know the licence system: the FWID (free, age 10 and up, replaced the old Hunter Number), the resident hunting licence, species licences, Limited Entry Hunting, the youth licence (ages 10 to 17, no personal bag limit, close supervision), the once-in-a-lifetime initiation licence for adults, and the rules for supervising hunters. Some species must be brought for Compulsory Inspection or reported within a set time.

Drill it: regulations practice. Our BC law and regulations note covers every row above with its source.

Exam tip: BC's numbers are different from Ontario's and Alberta's. BC uses one hour for game hunting hours and 2 in the magazine for shotguns. If you have studied other material, reset to BC.

4. First aid and survival

Trip plans, layered clothing (no cotton), a survival kit carried on your body, STOP if you are lost (Stop, Think, Observe, Plan), survival priorities (shelter, fire, signalling, water, then food), the distress signal of three of anything, and the signs and treatment of hypothermia, frostbite and heat illness. Cold water questions are common: wear a lifejacket in boats, because cold shock and loss of muscle control come quickly.

Drill it: survival and first aid practice.

5. Firearm safety

The written exam tests firearm safety in the field: ACTS and PROVE, safe carries, zones of fire, crossing obstacles with an unloaded firearm, tree stand safety with a harness and haul line, safe transport, and shot placement in the heart-lung area on a broadside or quartering-away animal with a safe backstop. Our ACTS and PROVE guide covers the basics.

Drill it: firearm and archery safety practice.

6. Animal identification

BC has more huntable big game species than most provinces, which makes this subject wide. Know:

• Deer: white-tailed deer (long tail, white underneath, raised when running; tines rise from a forward-curving main beam), mule deer (large ears, white rump, small black-tipped tail, forked antlers, bounding gait) and the coastal black-tailed deer, a mule deer subspecies with a black-topped tail.
• Moose and elk: moose with the throat bell and palmated antlers; elk with the pale rump patch and dark maned neck.
• Sheep and goats: rams with curled horns; mountain goats white, with short black dagger-like horns on both sexes.
• Bears: grizzly has a shoulder hump, a dished face and long front claws; black bear has a straight profile and no hump. Colour does not reliably separate them, and BC has colour phases of black bear that are protected. Grizzly hunting is closed or tightly restricted; check the Synopsis.
• Caribou: both sexes can carry antlers; most herds are species at risk and closed to hunting.
• Furbearers and small game: snowshoe hare, lynx versus bobcat, coyote versus wolf, marten, fisher and others.

Exam tip: Identification questions often hinge on one feature. Learn two or three features per species, so a question that hides one still leaves you with an answer. Use binoculars, never a scope, to identify game.

Drill it: wildlife identification practice. The wildlife ID study note has side-by-side tables.

7. Bird identification

CORE treats birds as a separate subject. Know:

• Dabbling ducks (mallard, pintail, wigeon, teal, wood duck, gadwall, shoveler) tip up to feed and spring straight up from the water.
• Diving ducks (canvasback, redhead, scaup, goldeneye, bufflehead) dive to feed and run along the surface to take off. Mergansers have thin, serrated bills.
• Geese: Canada goose, cackling goose and snow goose.
• Grouse and ptarmigan: ruffed grouse (banded fanned tail), spruce grouse (darker, red patch over the eye in males), sharp-tailed grouse (pointed tail with white edges) and ptarmigan (white in winter, feathered feet).
• Protected look-alikes: swans, loons and grebes cannot be hunted.

Migratory birds need non-toxic shot and the federal permit with the habitat conservation stamp.

8. Indigenous peoples and hunting in BC

This subject is specific to BC. Indigenous peoples hold constitutionally protected rights to hunt under section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, and some hunt under different rules from licensed hunters. The exam expects you to understand that these rights exist, to respect reserve lands and the cultural importance of wildlife, and to know that reserves, parks and private land have their own access rules.

The practical firearms handling exam

You must safely handle two of the five action types (for example bolt, lever, pump, hinge and semi-automatic), including identifying the right dummy ammunition and loading and unloading it. You need 23 out of 30. The examiner supplies the firearms.

If you have completed the Canadian Firearms Safety Course, bring your completed CFSC course report form and you will not need to do the practical. BCWF is clear that a PAL card is not accepted for this exemption, so keep your course report. If you have not done the CFSC yet and you plan to hunt with a firearm, consider taking it first: you will need a PAL to buy firearms anyway, and the report form saves you the CORE practical. Our PAL practice test and guide on how to get a PAL in BC explain that path.

Course, online course or challenge?

BCWF describes three ways to prepare. In every case, the exams are in person with a certified examiner.

Option	What it involves	Cost
In-person course	Classroom instruction with a certified CORE examiner, often ending with the exams	Set by each examiner
BCWF online course	Self-paced online lessons, then book your exams with an examiner	$98 + GST, includes the $30 graduation fee; exam fees extra
Self-study and challenge	Study the CORE manual and the Synopsis yourself, then book an exam challenge	Cost of the manual plus exam fees

The Synopsis estimates about 21 hours of self-study and firearm handling practice. If you are challenging the exam, practice tests are the best way to find out whether you are ready before you pay the $30 fee.

After you pass

1. Your examiner gives you a document of completion.
2. Send it to BCWF with the $30 fee to receive your graduation certificate.
3. Use the certificate to add the hunting credential to your FWID, online or at FrontCounter BC or Service BC. The FWID is free.
4. Buy your resident hunting licence ($25 plus a $7 Habitat Conservation Trust surcharge, plus GST) and any species licences you need, as listed on gov.bc.ca.

The full licence process is in our guide on how to get a hunting licence in BC.

How to use this BC CORE practice exam

Free

• CORE diagnostic: 20 questions, 20 minutes, scored by subject.
• Mock exam 1: the full 90-question mock at 68 to pass.
• Quick practice: 25 questions for a short session.
• Printable questions: the free questions with answers, to print or save as a PDF.
• The free BC CORE exam guide.
• The sample questions with answers at the bottom of this page.

Pro

Pro adds mocks 2 to 10, practice by topic and every study note for all nine tests on the site: CA$7.99 a week, CA$12.99 a month or CA$24.99 for three months, and you can cancel any time. The mobile app has the same questions, with audio and French explanations.

Your study plan

1. Day 1: take the CORE diagnostic and read the exam guide. Download the current Synopsis.
2. Days 2 to 4: work on law and regulations, animal identification and bird identification. Together they make up a large share of the exam and contain the most exact facts.
3. Days 5 to 6: firearm safety, survival, ethics, conservation and Indigenous peoples and hunting in BC. Read every explanation.
4. Day 7: sit mock exam 1 in one sitting. Target 68 of 90; aim for 75 to give yourself a margin.
5. Before you book: if you score below 68, return to your weakest subjects and try again before paying an exam fee.
6. Practical: bring your CFSC report form if you have one. If not, practise handling each action type with an instructor before your practical exam.