Texas journeyman exam · 2026 NEC
The Texas journeyman electrician exam
The Texas journeyman electrician exam is a two-portion, open-book, multiple-choice exam given by PSI for TDLR: 59 NEC Knowledge questions in 130 minutes and 26 Calculations questions in 110 minutes, with 70% needed on each portion. You may sit it after 7,000 hours of supervised on-the-job training, and it is referenced to the 2026 NEC. Every figure below is from TDLR’s pages or PSI’s candidate bulletin, with the date we read them.
Who may sit the exam
The hours
You may sit the exam after at least 7,000 hours of on-the-job training under the supervision of a master electrician licensed in Texas.
The license itself needs 8,000 hours of on-the-job training; 7,000 is enough to test.
Each master electrician who supervised your hours signs an Experience Verification Form that goes in with the application.
The apprentice path
Anyone doing electrical work in Texas must be licensed, with some exemptions; an apprentice license costs $20, is applied for online, and lets you work under the general supervision of a master electrician, a journeyman or a residential wireman.
Hours in a career and technology education program do not count as on-the-job training toward a journeyman license.
How to apply
The application
A first journeyman application goes to TDLR by mail: the application form, the fee and the signed Experience Verification Forms. TDLR reviews it and then tells you that you may test.
The TDLR application fee is $30 and is not refunded.
Booking the seat
You can book a seat with PSI only after TDLR approves you; PSI confirms that by email, and you book online or by phone.
PSI charges $78 for the exam, which covers both portions.
Cancel or reschedule at least 2 days ahead, or the exam fee is lost.
The two portions
Since 11 March 2025 the journeyman exam has been two separate portions.
NEC Knowledge
The NEC Knowledge portion has 59 multiple-choice questions, 3 of them not scored, in 130 minutes.
These questions ask where a rule lives and what it allows: the skill is finding the right section fast in your own book.
Calculations
The Calculations portion has 26 multiple-choice questions, 2 of them not scored, in 110 minutes.
These are the working problems — box fill, conduit fill, voltage drop, motor circuits, services and three-phase — solved with the figures your book prints.
The clock
Time left over from the first portion does not carry into the second.
130 minutes for 59 questions is a little over two minutes a question; 110 minutes for 26 is about four.
The open-book rule
The book
You bring your own soft-bound copy of the National Electrical Code: PSI names the 2026 edition, allows any soft-bound edition, and bases the questions on the edition TDLR has adopted. Loose-leaf, spiral-bound and ring-bound copies are not allowed, and neither is the NEC Handbook or any extra paper.
Highlighting, underlining and notes are allowed if they were made before the exam; nothing may be marked during it.
Tabs must be permanent tabs made or supplied by the code book’s publisher; homemade tabs are not allowed.
At the seat
PSI provides an electronic notepad at the seat.
A calculator is allowed if it is silent, battery-powered, non-programmable, with no paper tape and no alphabet keyboard.
The exam is offered in English and Spanish at no extra cost.
The edition
The exam is referenced to the 2026 edition of the National Electrical Code from 1 September 2026.
Texas adopted the 2026 NEC by rule, effective 1 September 2026.
PSI allows any soft-bound edition at the seat, but the questions follow the 2026 edition, so study and sit with the 2026 book.
Passing, results and retakes
The passing score
The passing score is 70% on each portion, and each portion must be passed.
Results
Your score shows on screen when you finish and a score report is printed at the site; if you fail, it comes with a report of your strong and weak areas.
Retakes
You may retake the exam as many times as you need, and may pay a fee each time, within one year of the date TDLR received your application.
A retake costs $78 whether you failed one portion or both.
Neither TDLR nor PSI publishes a waiting period between attempts or how long a passed portion stays valid, or says outright whether you retake only the portion you failed; ask PSI before you book a retake.
Where it is taken
PSI lists test centers in Abilene, Amarillo, Arlington, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Harlingen, Houston, Lubbock, McAllen, Midland, Richardson, San Antonio, Tyler and Waco.
The exam is given by PSI on a computer at a PSI test center.
Neither TDLR nor PSI describes a remote or at-home sitting.