Texas Journeyman Electrician Exam: The Complete 2026 Guide
The Texas journeyman electrician exam is the last thing standing between four years of on-the-job hours and a license with your name on it. It is also one of the hardest electrical exams in the country. In the most recent fiscal year that the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation reported, fewer than one in four candidates passed the calculations portion.
That is not because Texas electricians can’t do the work. It is because the exam tests something the job doesn’t: how fast you can find an answer in a code book while a clock runs down. This guide covers what you need to sit for it, how the two portions are built, exactly what you can and cannot carry into the room, and what changes on September 1, 2026.
Table of Contents
Who Needs a Texas Journeyman License
In Texas, electrical work is regulated at the state level by TDLR, and with a handful of exemptions, anyone performing it needs a license. A journeyman electrician can do that work under the general supervision of a master electrician. It is the license that takes you off apprentice wages and gives you the standing to run work.
The path is straightforward on paper. Register as an apprentice, accumulate supervised hours, apply to TDLR, pass the exam, get licensed. In practice the exam is where most people stall, sometimes for years.
Requirements to Sit for the Texas Journeyman Exam
On-the-job training hours
You need 7,000 hours of on-the-job training under a master electrician licensed in Texas before you can apply to test. Full licensure requires 8,000. Texas deliberately built that gap in so you can take the exam while you finish the last stretch of hours instead of waiting.
At a standard 40-hour week, 8,000 hours works out to roughly four years. Overtime pulls that in.
Experience verification
Every master electrician who supervised you completes a separate Experience Verification Form, signed by them, detailing the work and the hours. One form per supervisor, and the forms together have to account for the hours you’re claiming.
If you’ve lost touch with a former supervisor, you can work backward through the electrical contractor they worked under, or look them up in the TDLR license search to get current contact details. TDLR does spot-check this, so the hours need to hold up.
Application and fee
The initial journeyman application has to go in by mail. There is no online option for a first-time license. You send the completed application form with a non-refundable $30 fee to TDLR in Austin.
One deadline matters more than people realize. From the date TDLR receives your application, you have twelve months to satisfy every requirement, including passing both exam portions. Miss that window and the application terminates and you start over.
If you have a felony or misdemeanour conviction other than a minor traffic offense, a Criminal History Questionnaire goes in with the application. TDLR reviews these individually and it can add one to six weeks. You can also request a criminal history evaluation before applying if you’d rather know where you stand first.
Getting Approved and Scheduling With PSI
Once TDLR has reviewed your application and taken the fee, you’ll get a notice that you’re approved to test, by email or by mail depending on what you gave them. Keep your contact details current, because a notice that goes to an old address still starts the clock.
Testing is handled by PSI. You create an account on the PSI site, and the first and last name on it has to match your government-issued ID exactly. From there you search by city or ZIP code, pick a date and time, and pay the $78 fee. Phone booking is available too.
PSI runs test centers across the state, including Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Lubbock, Amarillo, Corpus Christi, McAllen, Midland, Abilene, Harlingen, Tyler and Waco. Within your eligibility year you can test as many times as you need to.
Exam Format: Two Portions Since March 2025
On March 11, 2025 TDLR split the journeyman exam into two separately timed, separately scored portions. If you took it before that date, or you’re studying from material written before it, the format you’re preparing for no longer exists.
Both portions are multiple choice. Both need 70% to pass. You take them in the same appointment, but the clocks are independent: finishing the first portion early does not give you extra time on the second.
Portion | Items | Time |
|---|---|---|
NEC Knowledge | 59 (56 scored, 3 unscored) | 130 minutes |
Calculations | 26 (24 scored, 2 unscored) | 110 minutes |
Total | 85 items | 240 minutes |
Those unscored items are pretest questions PSI uses to build future exams. They don’t count against you, and the time to answer them is already built into the limit. You won’t know which ones they are.
NEC Knowledge portion
This portion is a code navigation test. Fifty-nine questions in 130 minutes gives you a little over two minutes each, and most of that is finding the article rather than reading it.
Subject area | Items |
|---|---|
Branch circuits and conductors | 10 |
Electrical wiring methods and materials | 10 |
Electrical equipment and devices | 10 |
Services, service equipment and separately derived systems | 6 |
Special occupancies, equipment and conditions | 6 |
Motors and generators | 5 |
Definitions, theory and plans | 3 |
Electrical feeders | 3 |
Renewable energy technologies | 2 |
Control devices and disconnecting means | 1 |
Three areas carry thirty of the fifty-nine questions between them. If your tabbing and your study time aren’t weighted toward branch circuits, wiring methods and equipment, they’re weighted wrong.
Calculations portion
Twenty-six questions in 110 minutes. That is over four minutes a question, which sounds generous until you’re three steps into a service load calculation and second-guessing a demand factor.
| Subject area | Items |
|---|---|
| Services, service equipment and separately derived systems | 4 |
| Branch circuit calculations and conductors | 4 |
| Electrical feeders | 3 |
| Special occupancies, equipment and conditions | 3 |
| Calculations and theory | 2 |
| Wiring methods and materials | 2 |
| Equipment and devices | 2 |
| Motors and generators | 2 |
| Renewable energy technologies | 1 |
| Control devices and disconnecting means | 1 |
One instruction runs through the whole exam and is easy to forget under pressure: unless a question specifically says otherwise, treat every conductor as copper. And ignore code exceptions and optional calculation methods unless the question points you at them.
The 2026 NEC Is Now In Effect
As of September 1, 2026 the exam is written to the 2026 National Electrical Code.
Buying the wrong edition is an expensive mistake twice over: you waste the money on the book, and you walk in with a reference that doesn’t match the questions.
What You Can and Cannot Bring
This is where candidates get turned away at the door, and the rules are stricter than most people expect. PSI enforces them at check-in.
The code book
The exam is open book. You bring your own copy, PSI does not supply one.
Allowed:
- Any soft-bound edition of the NEC for the current adopted code year
- Highlighting, underlining and handwritten notes added before exam day
- Permanent index tabs manufactured or supplied by the NEC publisher
Allowed:
- Any soft-bound edition of the NEC for the current adopted code year
- Highlighting, underlining and handwritten notes added before exam day
- Permanent index tabs manufactured or supplied by the NEC publisher
Not allowed:
- Homemade, DIY or third-party tabs of any kind
- Loose-leaf, spiral-bound or ring-bound copies
- The NEC Handbook
- Any additional paper, whether loose, taped, stapled or adhered in
- Writing, highlighting, underlining or tabbing your book during the exam
The tab rule is the one that catches people. Plenty of guidance online tells you to tab your code book however you like, and for the Texas exam that is wrong. Tabs have to be publisher tabs. Turn up with a DIY set and you get three options at check-in: pull them off yourself, test without the book, or forfeit the fee and rebook at your own expense.
Marking the book during the session is treated as a security violation, not a slip. It gets reported to TDLR and can mean surrendering the book, having your score voided, and civil or criminal penalties.
Everything else
You can bring a non-programmable calculator, as long as it is silent, battery-operated, has no paper tape and has no alphabet keyboard. PSI provides an electronic notepad for working out; pens, pencils and paper are on the prohibited list, so don’t plan on scratch paper.
You need one valid government-issued photo ID with your signature and date of birth, and the name has to match TDLR’s records exactly. An expired Texas license only works alongside a valid DPS temporary permit.
Phones, smart watches, bags, coats, hats and food all go in the storage provided before you enter the room. If a prohibited item is found on you inside, your results are voided on the spot.
Exam Day Logistics
Arrive 30 minutes before your appointment for check-in and ID verification
Arrive after the start time and you are not admitted, and the fee is gone
To cancel or reschedule without losing the fee, notify PSI at least two days before your date; voicemail and email do not count
A tutorial runs before the exam and up to 15 minutes of it sits outside your exam time
One question shows at a time and a countdown runs at the top of the screen
Within a portion you can go back and change answers as long as time remains
Bathroom breaks need proctor permission and the clock keeps running
Scoring and Retakes
Your score appears on screen the moment you finish, and a printed report comes out at the test center. Fail and you get a diagnostic breakdown showing where you fell short. PSI sends results to TDLR electronically, so there is nothing for you to forward.
The retake rules are more forgiving than most people assume. If you pass one portion and fail the other, you only resit the one you failed. The fee is $78 whether that is one portion or both. There is no waiting period, and no cap on attempts inside your one-year eligibility window.
Passing both portions is not the same as being licensed. Your license issues once you have the full 8,000 hours documented.
How Hard Is It, Really
TDLR publishes pass rates every fiscal year, and the numbers are worth looking at before you book.
| Portion (FY2025) | Pass Rate |
|---|---|
| NEC Knowledge | 24.46% |
| Calculations | 20.56% |
Roughly one in five passes the calculations portion. Only one exam portion TDLR reports is harder, which is the master calculations portion at 19.08%.
A caveat worth stating, because most sites don’t: these are overall rates, not first-attempt rates. Someone who fails twice and passes on the third try contributes three attempts and one pass. TDLR doesn’t break out first-timers separately, so the true first-attempt figure is somewhere above these numbers. It is still a hard exam.
What sinks people is rarely trade knowledge. It is walking in cold on the calculations, never having practiced against a clock, and discovering that knowing where an article lives is a different skill from knowing what it says.
How to Prepare
Tab and learn the book, in that order
Remember you are limited to publisher tabs, so build your familiarity around the set you’re actually allowed to use. Know where Table 310.16 sits, where Article 250 starts, where Article 314 and Chapter 9 live. On the knowledge portion, seconds per lookup compound across fifty-nine questions.
Treat calculations as its own exam
It is scored separately, timed separately, and it fails more candidates than the knowledge portion. Load calculations, conductor sizing, voltage drop, box fill and motor circuits deserve dedicated sessions, not whatever time is left over.
Practice timed, always
Untimed practice teaches you the material and hides the actual problem. Two minutes a question on knowledge and four on calculations is the pace you need to build a feel for, and the only way to build it is under the clock.
Match your materials to your code year
Check whether your test date falls before or after September 1, 2026, then buy accordingly. Prep built for the 2020 or 2017 NEC will not reflect how questions are framed today.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many hours do I need to take the Texas journeyman exam?
7,000 hours of on-the-job training under a Texas-licensed master electrician makes you eligible to test. You need 8,000 in total before the license itself is issued.
How much does the Texas journeyman electrician exam cost?
$78, paid to PSI, covering both portions. The TDLR application fee is a separate $30 and is non-refundable. A retake is also $78 whether you are resitting one portion or both.
How many questions are on the exam?
85 in total. The NEC Knowledge portion has 59 questions in 130 minutes and the Calculations portion has 26 in 110 minutes. Three and two of those respectively are unscored pretest items.
What is the passing score?
70% on each portion, scored independently. Passing one and failing the other means you only resit the one you failed.
Can I bring a tabbed NEC to the Texas journeyman exam?
Only if the tabs are permanent index tabs made or supplied by the NEC publisher. Homemade or third-party tabs are not permitted, and arriving with them means removing them, testing without the book, or forfeiting your fee. Highlighting, underlining and notes added before exam day are fine.
Which NEC edition does the exam use?
The 2023 edition through August 31, 2026. From September 1, 2026 the exam references the 2026 NEC. Check the edition against your appointment date.
Can I bring my own calculator?
Yes, provided it is non-programmable, silent, battery-operated, has no paper tape and has no alphabet keyboard. PSI supplies an electronic notepad, and pens, pencils and paper are not allowed in the room.
What is the pass rate?
In fiscal year 2025 TDLR reported 24.46% on the NEC Knowledge portion and 20.56% on Calculations. Those are overall rates including retakes, not first-attempt rates.
How do I schedule the exam?
After TDLR approves your application, book through PSI online or by phone. Your PSI account name must match your government-issued ID exactly. You have one year from the date TDLR received your application to pass.
Can I retake it if I fail?
Yes, as many times as you need within your eligibility year. There is no waiting period between attempts, and you only resit the portion you failed.
Is the exam offered in Spanish?
Yes, at no additional cost. Choose your language when you schedule.