Every exam topic, grouped the way questions arrive
Sorted by what a question is about rather than by article number.
How this is organized
If you know which article you want, the code navigation page maps question wording onto article numbers. If you know the topic but not the article, start here.
Start here
- code navigationThe exam does not use the code book’s words
Open book means the answer is in front of you. It does not mean you can find it. This maps how questions are worded…
- journeyman examThe Texas journeyman exam is two tests now, and most people fail the wrong half
Since March 2025 the journeyman exam has been split into a knowledge portion and a calculations portion, scored…
- failed the examRead your score report before you rebook
Three in four people fail. The score report tells you which half you lost and roughly where, and most people rebook…
Conductor sizing
- ampacity deratingDerating is two multiplications, and picking the wrong correction table is the classic error
There are two ambient temperature correction tables in Article 310. They look nearly identical. Using the wrong one…
- overcurrent small conductorsThe step people forget after doing the derating correctly
You derate the conductor, get a good number, and then a two-line rule in Article 240 caps it anyway. Skipping that…
- termination temperatureThe limit that overrides your ampacity answer
You looked up the right column, applied the right factors, and got the wrong answer. This is usually why.
- voltage dropVoltage drop is tested, and it is not a code rule
Knowing that distinction is worth a point on its own, because questions are written to see whether you treat a…
Counting problems
- box fillBox fill, and the six things that get counted differently
Short section, heavily tested, and almost every wrong answer comes from miscounting rather than from bad arithmetic.
- conduit fillConduit fill, worked the way the exam wants it
Three lookups and one division. Most people who miss this question miss it on the percentage, not the arithmetic.
Motors
- motor calculationsMotor calculations, and the one distinction that decides them
A motor question hands you two different currents. Using the wrong one for the wrong step is how most people lose…
- motor feeder sizingFeeders for a group of motors, and the part everybody over-applies
Only one motor in the group gets the 125 percent. Applying it to all of them produces a number that looks careful…
- motor overload protectionWhy a motor circuit needs two kinds of protection
One device protects the motor from working too hard. A different device protects the circuit from a fault. They are…
Grounding and bonding
- equipment grounding conductorThe other grounding table, and the one people reach for by mistake
Sized from the overcurrent device ahead of it, not from the conductor beside it, and not from the service size.
- grounding electrode conductorThe grounding electrode conductor, and the caps most people miss
Sizing straight off the table gives the wrong answer on any rod-only or concrete-encased system. Three short…
- grounding electrodesYou do not choose an electrode. You use what the building already has.
The rule is not pick one. It is bond together everything present at the building, then add if what is present is…
- grounding vs bondingGrounding and bonding are two different jobs
The trade uses these words interchangeably. The code does not. One sentence in Article 250 settles most of the…
- neutral ground bondThe neutral-to-ground bond happens at exactly one place
Bonded at the service. Separated everywhere downstream. The reason is not tradition, and understanding it makes a…
Loads, services and circuits
- branch circuitsSome circuits exist by rule, and some may carry nothing else
The exam tests the second part more than the first. Which circuits exist is the easy half. The restrictions on what…
- receptacle spacingNobody measures six feet from a receptacle
The rule is about how far you can be from one, measured along the wall. Getting that backwards produces the wrong…
- servicesWhere the utility ends and your responsibility starts
Article 230 is organized by the physical path of the service, front to back. Read it that way and it stops being a…
- transformer calculationsTransformer questions punish you for forgetting which side you are standing on
The arithmetic is a ratio. The mistakes are almost all bookkeeping about which winding the number belongs to.
Installation rules
- cable typesMost cable questions are really questions about the environment
Damp, wet, buried, exposed to damage, or inside a fire-rated assembly. Name the condition and the answer narrows to…
- GFCI AFCI locationsThe most-changed section in the code, plus a Texas-only exception
GFCI requirements move nearly every cycle. If your study material is one edition old, treat this section as unknown.
- hazardous locationsThree questions, asked in a fixed order, and the order is the whole method
Class says what the hazard is. Division says how often it is present. Group says how bad it is. Answer them in…
- panelboardsA panel is protected by one device, and knowing which one is the question
Article 408 is short. The parts that get tested are the ones that interact with other articles.
- wiring methodsEvery wiring method has its own article, and they all answer the same six questions
Learn the six questions once and you can navigate an article you have never opened.
- working spaceThe rule that fails more real installations than any calculation
It is short, it is easy, and it is the most common reason a panel gets red-tagged. It is also reliable exam…
Theory
- ohms lawYou will not be asked to state it. You will be asked to use it under pressure.
The theory questions are not hard. They are fast, and they are where people bank the time they need for the…
- power calculationsWatts and volt-amperes are the same number until they are not
The code calculates in volt-amperes. Equipment is often rated in watts. Questions are built in the gap.
- series parallelOne sentence per configuration and you never confuse them again
In series, current is common. In parallel, voltage is common. Everything else follows from those two facts.
Sitting the exam
- study planYou have evenings and one weekend day. Plan around that.
Most study plans assume you are free. This one assumes you have about ten hours a week and are tired for most of…
- test dayThe rules about your code book are stricter than people expect
Turning up with the wrong binding or the wrong tabs ends the day before it starts. Verify these with the testing…
- time managementRunning out of time is a different problem from not knowing the material
Some people who fail knew the material and spent eleven minutes on a question worth the same as one that takes…
Everything else
- AnswersQuestions about the Texas electrician exam, answered with the source attached
The journeyman exam is 85 scored questions across 240 minutes, 70 percent passes it, and 27.52 percent of…
- What to buyOne softbound code book gets you in the door, and the expensive edition gets you turned away
Every price on this page was read off the seller's own page on 24 August 2026. The tested code edition changes on 1…
- wrong answersThe wrong options are not random. They are your likely mistakes, written down.
Every distractor on a well-written exam is the answer you get by making one specific error. Learn the errors and…
- 2026 NEC edition changeSit on August 31 and it is the 2023 code. Sit on September 1 and it is the 2026.
PSI put the date in capitals in its July bulletin. It follows the day you sit rather than the day you booked, and…
- feedersA feeder is everything between the service and the last overcurrent device
Article 215 is brief because most of what governs a feeder lives in other articles. Knowing which ones is the skill.