Checked against primary sources 2026-08-24

Texas Journeyman Electrician Exam: Format, Time and Passing Score

The Texas journeyman exam is two tests now, and most people fail the wrong half. Since March 11, 2025 the journeyman exam has been a knowledge portion and a calculations portion, scored separately. The calculations half fails just under four candidates in five.

Test yourself: free practice questions by topic

What the split changed

Before March 11, 2025 the journeyman exam was one test. Now it is two portions, each scored on its own, and a candidate can pass one and fail the other.

That sounds like a convenience. In practice it exposed something the combined score used to hide: candidates were not failing on code knowledge. They were failing on arithmetic.

The numbers TDLR publishes

For fiscal year 2025, which ran September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2025, the department reports these:

Across every Texas electrical exam, 26,303 attempts produced 6,181 passes. That is a 23.50 percent pass rate, down from 26.37 percent the year before.

Read the calculations rows again. More people sit the calculations portion than the knowledge portion, and fewer of them pass. The hardest, highest-volume part of becoming a licensed electrician in Texas is the math.

How many questions, and how long

The bulletin prints two item counts for each portion and they are not the same number. Scored items decide your result. Unscored pretest items are mixed in and do not count, but you sit for them and you cannot tell which they are.

Each portion is passed at 70 percent, and the two are scored separately.

Pace it on the total, because that is what is in front of you. Journeyman knowledge is 130 minutes over 59 items, about 2.2 minutes each. Journeyman calculations is 110 over 26, about 4.2 minutes. Master calculations is the slowest at 170 over 33, about 5.2 minutes, and master knowledge is exactly 2 minutes over 75.

On scored items alone those four figures are 2.3, 4.6, 5.7 and 2.1 minutes. The difference is small and the basis is worth naming, because a plan built on 4.6 minutes a question and executed against 26 questions runs out of clock.

The subject areas, weighted

Each portion draws from ten subject areas, and the bulletin prints the item count beside every one. They sum to the scored count, so nothing here is a guess about weighting.

On the journeyman knowledge portion three areas tie for the heaviest at 10 items each: branch circuits and conductors, wiring methods and materials, and equipment and devices. Together that is 30 of the 56 scored items. Services and separately derived systems is 6, and so is special occupancies.

On the journeyman calculations portion the shape is flatter. Services and separately derived systems is 4, branch circuit calculations and conductors is also 4, feeders is 3, special occupancies is 3, and motors and generators is 2.

Motors carries far more weight one level up. On the master calculations portion services is 8 and motors and generators is 6, which is where the idea that motors dominate the calculations comes from. It is true of the master exam and not of the journeyman one.

What is on it, area by area

Behind each portion the bulletin prints a content outline, and each outline names ten subject areas with an item count beside every one. Those counts add up to the scored total, so what follows is the published shape of the paper rather than a guess at it.

On the journeyman NEC Knowledge portion, three areas carry ten items each: branch circuits and conductors, electrical wiring methods and materials, and electrical equipment and devices. Services, service equipment and separately derived systems carries six, and so does special occupancies, equipment and conditions. Motors and generators carries five. Definitions, theory and plans carries three, and so do electrical feeders. Renewable energy technologies carries two, and control devices and disconnecting means carries one.

The calculations portion spreads its twenty four scored items much more evenly. Services and separately derived systems carries four and so does branch circuit calculations and conductors. Feeders carries three, and so does special occupancies. Calculations and theory, wiring methods and materials, equipment and devices, and motors and generators carry two each. Control devices and disconnecting means and renewable energy technologies carry one each.

Two things fall out of reading the two lists side by side. On the knowledge portion the heavy areas are the everyday ones, so a candidate working branch circuits, wiring methods and devices is working thirty of the fifty six scored items. On the calculations portion nothing dominates, which is why a plan that spends its calculation hours on motors alone is aimed at the master paper rather than this one.

The practice exam here is mixed to that shape. Twenty four scored calculation items out of eighty is thirty percent of the paper, and the simulation draws to that share rather than to whatever is easiest to write.

One reference, and rules about it

The reference list for every Texas electrical exam is a single book: the National Electrical Code. No statute, no administrative rules, no textbook.

The exam is open book, and the restrictions on that book are specific. Soft-bound only. No loose-leaf, no spiral binding, no ring binding. The handbook edition stays home, because it carries commentary.

Tabs are allowed only where the publisher of the code book manufactured or provided them. Homemade, do-it-yourself and non-NEC tabs get turned away at the door, so a month spent building a personal tab system out of index flags buys you nothing in the room.

Marking the book is a question of when. Highlighting, underlining and notes written in before the session are fine. Writing, highlighting, underlining, indexing or marking it during the session is not, so everything you want in that book goes in beforehand.

You can still learn the tabbing strategy. You just have to execute it with tabs that come in.

The instruction that governs every calculation

One line in the bulletin decides how you answer:

When responding to the test questions, do not consider code exceptions or optional calculation methods unless the test question specifically directs you to consider them.

PSI Candidate Information Bulletin, TDLR Electricians, read 24 August 2026

Working electricians lose points here. In the field you reach for the optional method because it is faster and it is legal. On the exam it is wrong unless the question asks for it. The standard method is the answer.

How to schedule it

You book with PSI rather than with TDLR, and the bulletin gives three ways in: online through the PSI test taker site, by telephone on (833) 333-4741 during the hours it publishes, or by mail on an examination registration form. The telephone line runs Monday through Friday and at the weekend, both in Central Time.

The fee is $78 and it covers both portions. A retake is $78 as well, whether you lost one portion or both.

One piece of identification gets you in, and it has to be a valid government-issued card carrying your printed name, a photograph, a signature or fingerprint, your date of birth and an expiration date. A digital copy of it is taken at check in. Turn the card over tonight and read the expiration, because a card that lapsed in June looks exactly like one that has not.

Two clock rules have a price attached. PSI asks you to arrive thirty minutes before your appointment, and a candidate who arrives after the start time is not admitted and forfeits the registration fee. A cancellation notice reaching PSI two days before the examination date protects that fee, and a voice mail or an email does not count as cancelling.

Bring your own calculator and keep it plain: non-programmable, silent, battery operated, with no paper tape and no keyboard containing the alphabet. Test day walks the rest of the desk in the order it happens.

The 2026 code switch and your exam date

One date decides which book you are answering against, and it is the date you sit rather than the date you booked. Through 31 August 2026 the examinations are referenced to the 2023 edition. From 1 September 2026 they are referenced to the 2026 edition, which is the line PSI prints in capitals in the bulletin updated 9 July 2026. Texas adopts the 2026 National Electrical Code on the same day under 16 TAC 73.100.

Nothing else about the paper moves with it. Seventy percent still passes, the item counts and the time limits are unchanged, and the subject weighting belongs to the examination blueprint rather than to the code edition.

What moves is where things live. Load calculations left Article 220 and now sit at Article 120, near the front of the book, so a tab set built for the 2023 edition sends your hand to the wrong page while the clock runs.

One warning worth carrying into September. As read on 24 August 2026 the reference material list inside that same bulletin still named the 2023 edition, and so did TDLR's examination page. The dated line is the one that governs your appointment. The edition change page works through which book to buy and what to re-tab.

Retakes

Because the portions are scored separately, a failed portion can be retaken without repeating the one you passed.

TDLR sets no ceiling on attempts. Its own wording is that you may retake each exam as many times as needed until you pass, and that you may be responsible for an additional fee each time. For the journeyman and the master, the fee is $78 whether you are booking both portions or retaking one.

With 20,122 failures across all Texas electrical exams in one year, retakes are not an edge case. They are most of the volume.

If you fail

Your score appears on the screen the moment you finish and an official score report prints at the site. A failing report carries a diagnostic naming your strengths and weaknesses by examination type, which is the reason to read it before you rebook rather than after.

The retake is $78, and PSI prices a failure of one portion and a failure of both at that same figure. No waiting period is published anywhere: TDLR says you may retake as many times as needed until you pass, and the bulletin says candidates are allowed to test unlimited through their eligibility period.

What nobody publishes is the length of that eligibility period, or whether a portion you passed is held for you and for how long. We looked at the bulletin, TDLR's examination page, its frequently asked questions and 16 TAC 73.21 on 24 August 2026 and none of them say. The one boundary that is published belongs to TDLR, which gives an applicant a year from the day it received the application to satisfy every requirement, the examination included.

So the call to make before you rebook is to PSI, asking what your own record shows. The failed exam page reads the score report line by line and sets out what each failure mode actually needs.

Questions people ask

How many questions is the Texas journeyman electrician exam?

Eighty five items across the two portions, of which eighty are scored. The NEC Knowledge portion is 59 items with 56 scored, and the Calculations portion is 26 items with 24 scored. The rest are unscored pretest items. They are not flagged, so you answer them at the same pace as everything else.

How long do you get for the Texas journeyman exam?

130 minutes for the NEC Knowledge portion and 110 minutes for the Calculations portion. The two run on separate clocks and time left on one does not roll over into the other. Measured on total items that is about 2.2 minutes for a knowledge item and about 4.2 for a calculation.

What score do you need to pass the Texas journeyman exam?

Seventy percent, and each portion is scored on its own. Pass one portion and fail the other and you rebook only the portion you lost. The threshold sits on the scored items, which is why the pretest items do not help you or hurt you.

How hard is the Texas journeyman electrician exam?

The published pass rates are the honest answer. In fiscal year 2025 the journeyman calculations portion passed 1,301 of 6,328 candidates, which is 20.56 percent, and the knowledge portion passed 1,402 of 5,731, which is 24.46 percent. Across every Texas electrical examination that year, 6,181 of 26,303 attempts passed.

Is the Texas journeyman exam open book?

Yes, and the reference list is one book: the National Electrical Code. It has to be soft-bound, so loose-leaf, spiral-bound and ring-bound copies are turned away at the door, and the Handbook edition is not allowed in the room. Tabs count only where the code book publisher manufactured or provided them, and you may not write in the book during the session.

What code edition is the Texas electrician exam based on?

The 2023 edition through 31 August 2026 and the 2026 edition from 1 September 2026. The bulletin updated 9 July 2026 states that change in capitals and ties it to the day you sit rather than the day you booked. Texas adopts the 2026 National Electrical Code on the same date under 16 TAC 73.100.

How much does the Texas journeyman electrician exam cost?

$78, and that covers both portions. A retake is $78 as well, and PSI prices a failure of one portion and a failure of both at the same figure. Check the number against your own registration before you pay, because the bulletin is dated and fees are set outside it.

How soon can you retake the Texas journeyman exam?

No waiting period is published. TDLR says you may retake each examination as many times as needed until you pass, and the bulletin says candidates are allowed to test unlimited through their eligibility period. What does bound you is TDLR's window of one year, counted from the day the department received your application, to satisfy every licensing requirement including the examination.

What this page cites

• PSI Candidate Information Bulletin Content outlines with item counts, scored and unscored counts, time limits, the 70 percent passing score, the reference list and the open book rules. Read 24 August 2026. source
• PSI Candidate Information Bulletin, TDLR Electricians Updated 9 July 2026, read 4 September 2026 at the PSI test taker site. Source for the content outlines area by area, the scheduling routes and telephone number, the identification description, the arrival and cancellation rules, the calculator description, the $78 fee and retake fee, the eligibility period sentence, the score report and the diagnostic report, and the line putting the examinations on the 2026 NEC from 1 September 2026. source
• 16 TAC 73.100 Texas adoption of the 2026 National Electrical Code, effective 1 September 2026. The examination edition change follows the same date. source
• TDLR Electrician Exam Statistics FY2025 Every pass rate on this page, plus the 20,122 failures. Fiscal year ran September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2025. source
• TDLR Electrician Exam Statistics FY2024 The 26.37 percent prior-year figure, across 15,170 attempts. source
• 16 TAC 73.21 Licensing Requirements - Examinations. It requires a passing score on an examination approved by the executive director of TDLR, and leaves the format, the item counts and the score to the department. source