The Ultimate NEC Practice Test: Ace Your Journeyman and Master Electrician Exam
About this NEC practice test
This free drill builds the one skill a code-reference exam actually measures: how fast you can locate the right section of the National Electrical Code (NFPA 70). You bring the code book — the timed test trains you to navigate it under pressure, just like the real exam. All questions are based on the 2023 NEC, and every answer is a section location only.
Preparing for a license exam? See what to expect on the Journeyman electrician exam, or our guide to preparing for the Master electrician exam. Newer to the trade? Start with the best books and websites for electrician education.
Sample questions from the free practice test
Here are a dozen sample questions to show the format. Every answer is a section location, never code text, because locating the rule quickly is what an open-book exam actually measures. Read these to see how it works, then run the timed test above to practise finding answers under pressure. The full free set spans 40 different NEC articles — the map below shows which.
Work through the “where the answer lives” column with your code book open. If you can land on each section in under two minutes without using the index, you are moving at exam pace.
| NEC article | Sample question | Where the answer lives |
|---|---|---|
| Article 110 | Service equipment must be field-marked with the maximum available fault current. Which section requires that marking? | 110.24 |
| Article 210 | Which section sets the receptacle placement rules for dwelling kitchen and dining countertop surfaces? | 210.52(C) |
| Article 240 | Which section restricts where overcurrent devices may be located (not in bathrooms, not over steps)? | 240.24 |
| Article 250 | Which section covers ungrounded AC systems, including the ground-detector requirement? | 250.21 |
| Article 300 | Which section requires a box or conduit body at each conductor splice point, outlet, switch point, or junction? | 300.15 |
| Article 358 | How often must EMT be secured and supported (within 3 ft of each box and at least every 10 ft), and which section states it? | 358.30 |
| Article 408 | Which section requires a panelboard to be protected by an overcurrent device not exceeding the panelboard rating? | 408.36 |
| Article 430 | Where do you size motor running overload protection based on nameplate FLA and service factor? | 430.32 |
| Article 500 | Which section lists the protection techniques permitted for equipment in hazardous (classified) locations? | 500.7 |
| Article 590 | On a construction site, which section requires GFCI protection for temporary receptacles used by personnel? | 590.6 |
| Article 705 | You are connecting a PV system to a panelboard busbar and need the load-side interconnection (busbar sum) rules. Which section? | 705.12(B) |
| Chapter 9 | You need conductor properties such as circular-mil area and DC resistance per 1000 ft. Which Chapter 9 table provides them? | Chapter 9, Table 8 |
Which NEC articles this covers
The full free set deliberately spreads one question across each of 40 articles rather than clustering on a few, and the dozen samples above are drawn from it. That gives you a map of where exam questions actually come from: the wiring-and-protection core (Articles 200, 210, 215, 220, 225, 230, 240 and 250), wiring methods and enclosures (300, 312, 314, 320, 342, 344, 358, 366, 376 and 392), equipment (404, 406, 408, 424, 430, 440, 450 and 480), hazardous locations (500, 501, 511 and 513), special occupancies and systems (550, 590, 600, 625, 695 and 705), communications (800 and 810), plus the Chapter 9 tables.
Grounding and bonding (Article 250) and branch circuits (Article 210) tend to carry the heaviest weighting on real journeyman exams, so those are worth extra tab time in your code book.
How to use this drill
- Have your code book open. This is a navigation drill, not a memory quiz. Working it without the book defeats the purpose.
- Use the edition your jurisdiction adopted. These questions are written to the 2023 NEC. States adopt on their own timelines, so confirm with your licensing board before you rely on any section number.
- Tab the book first. Most lost time on a real exam is spent hunting for the right article, not reading it once you are there.
- Track your seconds per question. Real exams allow roughly two to three minutes each. If a lookup takes you five, that article needs a tab.
- Repeat until the lookups are reflex. Speed here comes from repetition, not from reading the code cover to cover.
What this test is — and what it isn’t
- It is a timed drill in NEC navigation speed, built to mirror the one skill an open-book code-reference exam rewards.
- It is not a full journeyman or master exam simulator. Real exams also include load calculations, theory and jurisdiction-specific material this drill does not attempt to cover.
- It does not quote the code. Every answer is a section reference so you still have to open the book and read the rule yourself — which is how you actually learn it.
- It is not an official practice exam from any licensing board or testing provider, and it cannot guarantee a pass. Electrician Authority is an independent resource, not a licensing authority, school or testing provider.