Checked against primary sources 2026-08-24

One 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 September, which makes a good deal of what is on sale right now the wrong purchase.

The book is the only purchase you cannot avoid

You bring your own copy of the National Electrical Code and the test center does not lend you one. On 24 August 2026 the plain 2026 softbound was $202.45 at Builder's Book, marked down from a $224.95 list price.

The version with the commentary, the NEC Handbook, was $368.95 the same day on the same site. That is the most expensive way to end your day early, because the Handbook does not come into the room. Spend $368.95, drive to the test center, and get sent home.

Loose-leaf, spiralbound, or ring-bound copies of the NEC book, will NOT be allowed in the examination room.

PSI Candidate Information Bulletin, TDLR Electricians, updated 9 July 2026

Read that against the price list and it stops being an abstraction. The spiral-bound 2026 NEC was $215.05 on 24 August 2026, which is $12.60 more than the softbound, and it is refused. You would be paying extra to be turned away.

Marking the book before you travel is fine. Highlighting, underlining and notes written in it beforehand are all accepted. Marking it during the session is not, so do the work at home.

Tabs are where the money quietly goes

Manufacturer-supplied permanent index tabs are accepted and homemade ones are not, which turns a stationery decision into a purchasing decision.

On 24 August 2026 the pre-tabbed 2026 softbound with colored fast-tabs was $238.45 at Builder's Book. The plain softbound was $202.45 and the same retailer offered a pre-tab service at $36.00 on top, which lands on exactly the same number. A separate colored fast-tab set for the 2026 book was $17.95, and a self-adhesive index tab set that fits either the code or the Handbook was $35.95.

The cheapest compliant route on that day was the plain softbound at $202.45 plus a tab set at $17.95, or $220.40 all in. The pre-tabbed copy at $238.45 costs about eighteen dollars more and removes the risk that you applied them yourself.

That risk is worth naming. The bulletin's wording rules out homemade, DIY and non-NEC tabs, and it does not spell out where an aftermarket adhesive tab set sold by a bookstore falls. A copy that arrives tabbed by the publisher sidesteps the question. If you buy a loose tab set, read the current bulletin's exact wording before you stick anything to a page.

NFPA lets you read the 2026 code for nothing

Create a free account at nfpa.org, open the list of codes and standards, pick NFPA 70, select the 2026 edition and choose free access. You get the full text in a browser at no cost.

It is read-only. You cannot print it or download it, which is exactly why no seller mentions it, and it is genuinely useful anyway. Use it to see what changed before you spend two hundred dollars, to keep studying while your book is in transit, and to check whether a course you are about to buy matches the edition it claims.

It does not come to the exam with you. Read-only access on a laptop is not a book, and the test center will not seat you with one. This is study material, not exam material.

The free material that beats most of the paid material

The PSI Candidate Information Bulletin is free, it is the document the exam is actually built from, and it carries the item-level blueprint: how many scored questions come from each subject area, how many minutes you get, and the reference rules quoted above. Most people buying a $999 video library have never opened it.

The version dated 9 July 2026 states the edition change in capitals:

EFFECTIVE SEPTEMBER 1, 2026, THE EXAMINATIONS WILL BE REFERENCED TO THE 2026 NEC.

PSI Candidate Information Bulletin, TDLR Electricians, updated 9 July 2026

• TDLR's own electrician examination page, free, covering fees, eligibility and the two-portion journeyman split.
• TDLR's published exam statistics by fiscal year, free, which is the only sourced pass rate you will find anywhere in this market.
• NFPA free access to the 2026 edition, free with an account, read-only.
• The Mike Holt forums, free to read, where working electricians argue about the same questions you are about to be asked. The forums are a different thing from the store.

For context on what you are up against: across every Texas electrical examination in fiscal year 2025, 26,303 attempts produced 6,181 passes, a 23.50 percent pass rate, down from 26.37 percent the year before. TDLR publishes that. Nobody selling you a course does.

Check the code edition before you look at the price

This is the single thing that decides whether a purchase is worth anything this month. Texas moves to the 2026 code on 1 September 2026 and the examinations move with it. A library built on the 2023 edition is the wrong book, whatever the discount attached to it.

Two authorities disagree on the record as of 24 August 2026. PSI's bulletin, updated 9 July 2026, names the 2026 NEC from 1 September. TDLR's own electrician examination page still describes the reference as the 2023 edition. Both are cited below. If you are testing in September, the bulletin is the document dated later and the one PSI administers from.

Two rows of that table are the whole argument. The 2023 and 2026 versions of the same Mike Holt library sit side by side at identical prices, both purchasable today, and only one of them matches the exam you are about to sit.

Paid options, ranked on what they give you for the money

Nothing we make appears in this ranking. The reason is at the bottom of the page.

1. Texas Electrical Safety Association, Houston

Eight weeks of instructor-led exam review for $300, which works out at $12.50 an hour of classroom time and is the cheapest instruction checked here. The journeyman class runs Tuesdays 5pm to 8pm at 8150 S Loop E in Houston, with 2026 sessions listed for 13 January to 3 March, 14 April to 2 June, 14 July to 1 September and 13 October to 1 December. The master class is $400, Thursdays, same eight-week shape, with sessions listed 15 January to 5 March, 23 April to 11 June, 16 July to 3 September and 15 October to 4 December. They publish TDLR provider 1009.

What is weak: you have to be able to get to Houston on a weekday evening for eight weeks, and neither course listing states which code edition it teaches. Ask before you enroll, because the July to September session straddles the cutover.

2. Central Texas IEC, Austin

Twenty hours of classroom journeyman review across five sessions, $350 for members and $400 for everyone else, at 8868 Research Blvd in Austin. The master course is 28 hours across seven sessions at $575. The required materials list is specific and sensible: a softbound code book, a non-scientific calculator, highlighters and a notebook.

What is weak: the most recent session we could find, running 4 June to 6 July 2026, was built on the 2023 NEC, and as of 24 August 2026 there was no exam prep session at all on the public calendar for the rest of the year. Good value that might not be purchasable right now.

3. Mike Holt Enterprises

The deepest material in the market and the only seller with a full 2026 line already priced. On 24 August 2026 the journeyman book program was $255.00, journeyman simulated exams $27.00, the basic video program $400.00, intermediate $645.00, comprehensive $999.00, supreme $1,599.00 and the whole training library $1,999.00. Master comprehensive was $1,150.00.

What is weak: three things, and they compound. The 2026 books and simulated exams were preorder, carrying the wording that the product would be available in August 2026, so confirm it has shipped before you count on it for a September test date. The 2026 video libraries were purchasable but the identically priced 2023 versions were still on sale beside them with nothing on the product page naming the edition. And none of it is written for Texas: no seat-time breakdown, no two-portion journeyman split, no Texas amendments.

4. 1 Exam Prep

Texas-specific and cheap at the entry point. The Texas journeyman study guide was $59.95 on 24 August 2026, $99.95 with flash cards, $109.95 with the online course, and $144.95 with everything. Bundled with a tabbed code book it was $249.95, and the largest combination was $399.95. The Texas master guide followed the same $59.95 to $144.95 ladder. Prices are shown plainly, which is more than several of its rivals manage.

What is weak: the edition wording on its own pages does not hold together. One product page titled for 2026 carries both the phrase based on the 2026 NEC and, further down, the 2023 National Electrical Code, the 2023 Edition and the 2023 NEC. The Texas master page describes the 2023 edition as the reference material for the exam, which is not what the current bulletin says for September onward. Cheap material is no bargain if you cannot tell which code it teaches.

5. Tom Henry, Code Electrical Classes

The cheapest useful books in the market and 2026 editions exist. On 24 August 2026 the journeyman questions and answers workbook was $36.00 at list and $32.40 at Builder's Book, the master workbook $36.00, calculations for the electrical exam $48.00, the keyword index $30.00, and a three-book journeyman combo $85.00. The online journeyman exam prep course was $199.00 with lifetime access.

What is weak: nothing here is written for Texas, the online course page does not state which code edition it uses, and the book combo index page shows no prices at all until you open each product. The combo listings still lead with 2020 and older code cycles.

6. JADE Learning

Included here because it turns up in exam searches, and it should not. JADE is a continuing education provider, TDLR provider 1020, with four-hour renewal courses built on both the 2023 and 2026 editions. It does not sell exam preparation.

What is weak: no price appears anywhere on the Texas course pages. You add a course to a cart to find out what it costs. For a four-hour compliance course sold against competitors publishing a flat number, that is a choice, and it is the reader who pays for it in time.

Ray Holder and 1 Exam Prep are not two separate choices

Every other list in this market presents Ray Holder books and 1 Exam Prep packages as two separate sellers, which is how a reader ends up buying the same material twice.

What we could verify on 24 August 2026: the current Texas 2026 Holder study guides on Amazon carry both Ray Holder and 1 Exam Prep in the contributor line, journeyman under ISBN 9798247423041 and master under 9798247423140. 1 Exam Prep sells those same Texas titles directly on its own store and credits Ray Holder as the author of its online course. Holder titles that carry Brown Technical Publications instead are earlier code cycles, including a 2014 journeyman guide and a run of 2017 state guides. Ray Holder's own seminar site sends buyers to Builder's Book, where the 2026 journeyman prep guide was $48.55.

What that means at the checkout: a Holder guide bought from one seller and a 1 Exam Prep Texas study guide bought from another can be the same content with two covers. Check the ISBN before the second purchase. And a Holder title with Brown Technical on it is probably an old code cycle, which after 1 September is the wrong book twice over.

What we could not verify: Amazon blocks automated reading of its product pages, so the publisher field itself was read from listing metadata rather than from the page. Treat the supply chain as demonstrated by the contributor credits and the direct sales, not as a corporate filing.

Sellers who will not show you a price

JADE Learning shows no price at all on its Texas course pages, and three other sellers checked here make you open a product page before any number appears.

None of that makes a seller dishonest. It does mean a shopper cannot compare six options in ten minutes, which is the point of a price.

Continuing education is a commodity, so buy on price

Four hours from a TDLR-registered provider before each renewal, covering the current code, Texas Occupations Code Chapter 1305, 16 TAC Chapter 73 and NFPA 70E, and the same course does not earn credit twice (16 TAC 73.25).

Sellers were advertising that four-hour package between about ten and twelve dollars on 24 August 2026, and for compliance purposes they are interchangeable. TDLR publishes the registered provider list, so pick from it and pick the cheap one.

What we make, and who it is for

This section is our own material. It is not ranked against anything above and it carries no score, because a site that sells something has no business grading itself alongside the alternatives.

What this site is: free written explanations of the Texas examination itself. How the two journeyman portions are weighted, how many minutes each question is worth, how the code is laid out and how exam wording maps onto where a rule actually lives, worked calculation method, and what a score report is telling you after a failure.

Who it suits: someone who has a date booked, has the book, and needs the method rather than another library of video. If you have not bought the code book yet, go back to the top of this page, because that comes first.

Who it does not suit: anyone looking for a guarantee, a question bank lifted from a real exam, or a shortcut. None of those exist here.

How this guide was compiled

Everything was checked on 24 August 2026 and every price on this page is stamped with that date, because prices in this market move and a number without a date is a guess.

• Book prices were read from Builder's Book, a general construction bookseller with no exam prep business of its own, on its 2026 NEC category page and its NFPA 70 product pages.
• Exam room rules and the edition change were read from the PSI Candidate Information Bulletin dated 9 July 2026, which is the document the examination is administered from, and cross-checked against TDLR's own examination page.
• Course prices, class dates and stated code editions were read off each seller's own live pages on 24 August 2026.
• The TDLR provider identifiers 1009 and 1020 are as published by the providers themselves.
• Pass rate figures come from TDLR's published fiscal year statistics and from nowhere else.

What we could not verify

• NFPA's own list price for the 2026 softbound. Its store pages did not return a readable price, so no number is published here for them.
• Which code edition the Texas Electrical Safety Association classes teach. Neither course listing states one.
• Which code edition the Code Electrical Classes online journeyman course uses. The page does not say.
• Whether Mike Holt's preorder items had actually shipped by 24 August 2026, as against the August availability date printed on the page.
• Amazon's publisher field, read from listing metadata because automated reading of the product page is blocked.
• Whether the TDLR provider identifiers 1009 and 1020 appear in TDLR's registry, which is a lookup tool rather than a published list.

Pass rate claims we left out

Several sellers in this market publish first-time pass rates. None of the ones we found carried any substantiation, and one seller published two different figures on its own site. Not one of those numbers appears on this page. The only pass rates here come from TDLR, which counts the attempts.

Why our own material is not in the ranking

16 CFR 465.6 makes it an unfair or deceptive act for a business to misrepresent, expressly or by implication, that a site it controls provides independent reviews of a category that includes its own products. The FTC's published guidance says a disclosure does not cure an express independence claim on such a site. So our material sits in its own section, described as ours, scored against nothing.

There is a second reason, and it is self-interested. Google's guidance on reviews asks that a best-overall call be backed by first-hand evidence. We have no pass-rate data on other people's products and are not going to pretend otherwise. A ranked list with ourselves at the top would be worth less than an honest one with ourselves left out.

Why the sellers above are named but not linked

Sites in this estate do not link to sellers of exam preparation or continuing education. Every price above was read from the seller's own live page and you can find any of them by name in a search. The primary sources, the ones that decide what happens at the test center, are linked below.

What this page cites

• PSI Candidate Information Bulletin, TDLR Electricians, updated 9 July 2026 Edition change effective 1 September 2026, reference material and binding rules, tab rules, marking rules, and the item-level content outline. Free. source
• TDLR Electrician Examinations TDLR's own examination page. On 24 August 2026 it still described the reference as the 2023 edition, which is why both sources are reported here rather than one. source
• 16 TAC 73.100 Texas adoption of the 2026 National Electrical Code, effective 1 September 2026. Proposal text as published by the Secretary of State. source
• TDLR Electrician Exam Statistics, fiscal year 2025 26,303 attempts, 6,181 passes, 23.50 percent. The only sourced pass rate on this page. source
• NFPA free access to codes and standards Free account, read-only viewing of NFPA 70 including the 2026 edition. No printing and no downloading. source
• Builder's Book, 2026 NEC category Softbound $202.45, pre-tabbed $238.45, spiral $215.05, Handbook $368.95, fast-tabs $17.95, self-adhesive index tabs $35.95. Read 24 August 2026. source
• Builder's Book, NFPA 70 softbound product page List $224.95 against a $202.45 sale price, edition selector, and the $36.00 pre-tab option. Read 24 August 2026. source
• Builder's Book, NFPA 70 Handbook product page List $409.95 against a $368.95 sale price across every edition offered. Read 24 August 2026. source
• TDLR Electrician Continuing Education Four hours before each renewal, the four required subject areas, registered providers only, and no credit for the same course twice. source
• TDLR Continuing Education Provider List Where to confirm a continuing education provider is registered before paying anyone. source
• 16 CFR 465.6 Company-controlled review websites. The rule behind this page keeping its own material out of the ranked list. source
• Mike Holt forums Free to read and worth reading. The forums are separate from the store, and only the forums are cited here. source
• Mike Holt Enterprises product pages Journeyman book program $255.00, simulated exams $27.00, basic $400.00, intermediate $645.00, comprehensive $999.00, supreme $1,599.00, full library $1,999.00, master comprehensive $1,150.00, and the identically priced 2023 libraries. Read on the seller's own site 24 August 2026. Not linked.
• 1 Exam Prep product pages Texas journeyman and master guides $59.95 to $144.95, tabbed code combo $249.95, largest combination $399.95, 2023 complete package $350.00. The 2026 and 2023 edition wording appearing on one product page was read there. Read 24 August 2026. Not linked.
• Code Electrical Classes product and course pages Tom Henry workbooks $25.00 to $48.00, journeyman combo 1 $85.00, online journeyman course $199.00, and a combo index carrying no prices. Read 24 August 2026. Not linked.
• Texas Electrical Safety Association course pages Journeyman review $300, master review $400, eight weeks each, Houston, TDLR provider 1009, 2026 session dates as listed. Read 24 August 2026. Not linked.
• Central Texas IEC event listing Journeyman review $350 member and $400 other across 20 hours, master $575 across 28 hours, session of 4 June to 6 July 2026 built on the 2023 edition, nothing scheduled after August 2026. Read 24 August 2026. Not linked.
• JADE Learning Texas electrical continuing education pages TDLR provider 1020, four-hour courses on both the 2023 and 2026 editions, no price displayed before adding to cart. Read 24 August 2026. Not linked.
• Amazon listing metadata, Ray Holder Texas titles Texas 2026 journeyman ISBN 9798247423041 and master ISBN 9798247423140 credit both Ray Holder and 1 Exam Prep. Brown Technical Publications appears on earlier cycles, including ISBN 9780692717455 from 2014. Read 24 August 2026. Not linked.