Checked against primary sources 2026-09-04

Texas Master Electrician Exam: Format, Time and Passing Score

The master paper runs longer than the journeyman one on both portions and it leans much harder on services and on motors. Two portions, scored separately at 70 percent, and the calculations half carries the lower published pass rate.

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Two portions, and what each one costs you

The master examination is a NEC Knowledge portion and a Calculations portion, scored separately, with 70 percent clearing each one. Pass one and fail the other and you rebook only the portion you lost.

The bulletin prints two item counts for each portion and they are not the same number. Knowledge is 75 items, 70 of them scored, in 150 minutes. Calculations is 33 items, 30 of them scored, in 170 minutes. The difference in each row is unscored pretest items. They are not flagged, they do not count toward your result, and you answer them anyway.

Pace it on the total, because that is what is in front of you. Knowledge is exactly 2 minutes an item across 75 items. Calculations is about 5.2 minutes across 33, which is more time per item than any other portion of these examinations gives you and still the portion with the lower pass rate.

Set that against the journeyman paper and the shape of the step is clear. A journeyman sits 59 knowledge items in 130 minutes and 26 calculations in 110. The master adds 16 knowledge items and 7 calculation items, and buys you 20 more minutes on one portion and 60 on the other. The journeyman page carries that paper in the same detail.

What is on it, area by area

Each portion has a published content outline naming ten subject areas with an item count beside every one, and the counts add up to the scored total. So the weighting below is the blueprint rather than an impression of it.

On the master NEC Knowledge portion, two areas tie at eleven items each: services, service equipment and separately derived systems, and branch circuit conductors. Electrical equipment and devices carries eight, and so does special occupancies, equipment and conditions. Definitions, theory and plans carries seven, wiring methods and materials seven, and motors and generators seven. Electrical feeders carries four, renewable energy technologies four, and control devices and disconnecting means three.

On the calculations portion the weight sits in two places. Services, service equipment and separately derived systems carries eight of the thirty scored items and motors and generators carries six, so those two areas are nearly half the portion between them. Branch circuit calculations and conductors carries four, feeders three, and calculations and theory, wiring methods and materials, and equipment and devices carry two each. Control devices and disconnecting means, special occupancies, and renewable energy technologies carry one each.

That is the real difference between the two papers, and it is worth more than the extra minutes. On the journeyman calculations portion motors and generators carries two scored items. On the master it carries six, and services doubles from four to eight. The idea that motors dominate the calculations is true here and not one level down, so a study plan copied from a journeyman candidate is aimed at the wrong distribution.

What the pass rates say

TDLR publishes the outcome of every Texas electrical examination by fiscal year. For fiscal year 2025, which ran September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2025, the master calculations portion tested 3,946 candidates and passed 753, a rate of 19.08 percent. The master knowledge portion tested 3,472 and passed 771, a rate of 22.21 percent.

Both figures sit below the matching journeyman rates of 20.56 and 24.46 percent, and the gap between the two master portions is the same gap that shows up one level down. Calculations is the harder half of the paper for everybody.

Read that as a statement about where to spend hours rather than as a warning about you. Four candidates in five leave the master calculations portion without it, and the outline says where those items came from: services and motors between them account for fourteen of the thirty scored calculation items.

How to schedule it

You book with PSI. The bulletin gives three routes: online at the PSI test taker site, by telephone on (833) 333-4741 inside the hours it publishes, or by mail on an examination registration form.

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. Arrive thirty minutes early: a candidate who arrives after the start time is not admitted and forfeits the fee, and a cancellation only protects the fee if the notice reaches PSI two days before the examination date.

The calculator is yours to bring and the description is narrow: non-programmable, silent, battery operated, no paper tape, and no keyboard containing the alphabet. Test day walks the desk, the room and the clock in the order they happen.

What you need before you can sit

Eligibility is set in statute rather than by PSI, and Tex. Occ. Code 1305.153 asks for three separate things: 12,000 hours of on-the-job training under the supervision of a master electrician, at least two years holding a journeyman electrician license, and a passing score on the master examination.

The hours and the two years are not substitutes for one another. Somebody who logged the hours quickly and has held the journeyman license for eighteen months has one gate open and one shut, and the later of the two dates is the one that governs. The two years also has to sit on a journeyman electrician license specifically, because journeyman industrial electrician is a separate license with a separate scope.

Our sister site handles the licensing side of this, including how the hours are documented and what the application costs. Start at Texas Master Electrician License Requirements and come back here for the paper.

The 2026 code switch and your exam date

The edition follows the day you sit rather than the day 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, a line PSI prints in capitals in the bulletin updated 9 July 2026, and Texas adopts the 2026 National Electrical Code on the same day under 16 TAC 73.100.

The paper itself does not move. Same item counts, same minutes, same 70 percent, same content outline. What moves is where the rules live, and the move that costs a master candidate most is load calculations, which left Article 220 for Article 120 near the front of the book.

That matters more here than on the journeyman paper, because services carries eleven scored knowledge items and eight scored calculation items on this examination, and a service calculation begins in the article that moved. The edition change page works through which book to carry and what to re-tab.

If you fail

Your score appears on screen when 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, mapped onto the same ten subject areas the outline is built from, so a weak area is a named area with a known item count rather than a vague impression.

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. 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.

Neither document defines that eligibility period, and neither states in writing whether a portion you passed is held for you or for how long. The published boundary belongs to TDLR, which gives an applicant a year from the day it received the application to satisfy every requirement. Ring PSI, ask what your record shows, and write down the date you were told. The failed exam page reads the report line by line.

Questions people ask

How many questions is the Texas master electrician exam?

108 items across the two portions, of which 100 are scored. The NEC Knowledge portion is 75 items with 70 scored, and the Calculations portion is 33 items with 30 scored. The remainder are unscored pretest items, they are not marked as such, and you answer them at the same pace as the rest.

How long is the Texas master electrician exam?

150 minutes for the NEC Knowledge portion and 170 minutes for the Calculations portion. The two run on separate clocks and minutes left on one do not carry into the other. That works out at exactly 2 minutes per knowledge item and about 5.2 per calculation, counting the pretest items you also have to answer.

What score do you need to pass the Texas master electrician exam?

Seventy percent, and each portion is scored on its own. A candidate who clears one portion and misses the other rebooks only the portion that was missed. The threshold applies to the scored items, so the pretest items neither help nor hurt.

How much does the Texas master 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.

What do you need before you can sit the Texas master electrician exam?

Tex. Occ. Code 1305.153 asks for three things: 12,000 hours of on-the-job training under the supervision of a master electrician, at least two years holding a journeyman electrician license, and a passing score on the master examination. The hours and the two years are separate gates, so the later of the two dates governs. Journeyman industrial electrician is a different license and holding it does not satisfy the two years.

How is the Texas master exam different from the journeyman exam?

It is longer on both portions and weighted differently. The master knowledge portion is 70 scored items against the journeyman 56, and the master calculations portion is 30 against 24. The weighting is the real difference: motors and generators carries six scored calculation items on the master paper against two on the journeyman, and services carries eight against four.

What this page cites

• PSI Candidate Information Bulletin, TDLR Electricians Updated 9 July 2026, read 4 September 2026. Source for the master item counts and scored counts, the 150 and 170 minute limits, the 70 percent standard, both master content outlines area by area, the $78 fee and retake fee, the scheduling routes and telephone number, the identification and calculator descriptions, the arrival and cancellation rules, the score report and diagnostic report, the eligibility period sentence, and the line putting the examinations on the 2026 NEC from 1 September 2026. source
• PSI Candidate Information Bulletin, TDLR mirror The same bulletin hosted by TDLR as a PDF, useful when the PSI link moves. source
• TDLR Electrician Exam Statistics FY2025 The master pass rates on this page: 3,946 tested and 753 passed on Calculations, 3,472 tested and 771 passed on NEC Knowledge. The fiscal year ran September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2025. source
• Tex. Occ. Code 1305.153 The three eligibility gates for a master electrician license: the 12,000 hours under a master electrician, the two years holding a journeyman electrician license, and the examination. Set out with its citations on our licensing site. 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
• 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