Texas Electrician ExamTexas journeyman & master

Checked against primary sources 2026-08-24

There is no single pace, because there is no single paper

A pacing plan built for one mixed paper misfires on both halves of this examination. Here are countdown checkpoints for each portion, and a recovery procedure for the item that starts eating the clock.

On this page
  1. Two clocks, and neither is an average of the other
  2. Checkpoints, so the clock tells you early rather than late
  3. What the software lets you do, and what it does not
  4. A two-pass method built on those two sentences
  5. When one item starts eating the clock
  6. Guessing, and what the documents actually support
  7. Practice against a clock from the first week
  8. What this page cites

Two clocks, and neither is an average of the other

TDLR split the journeyman examination on 11 March 2025 into a knowledge portion and a calculations portion. The master examination was already built that way. Each portion carries its own item count, its own time limit and its own 70 percent standard, and time left over on one does not roll into the other.

So the average that matters is the one inside the portion you are sitting. A journeyman answers 59 knowledge items against 130 minutes, which is 2.2 minutes each, then 26 calculations items against 110 minutes, which is 4.2. The master pace runs 2.0 minutes an item on the knowledge portion and 5.2 on the calculations portion. Counting scored items only, those four figures come out at 2.3, 4.6, 2.1 and 5.7.

Both bases are worth knowing and the one to pace against is the total, because PSI adds time for the items that do not count and says so in the bulletin. Pace yourself against the scored count and you will believe you have room you do not have. The full arithmetic, on both bases, is on the blog and linked at the foot of this page.

Checkpoints, so the clock tells you early rather than late

The screen counts down rather than up, so a checkpoint works better as a clock reading than as elapsed time. The arithmetic behind it is the same on every portion. When the countdown has halved, you want half the items behind you. When a quarter of the time is left, you want three quarters of them done.

PortionHalfwayLast quarter
Journeyman calculationsclock 55, thirteen answeredclock 27, twenty answered
Master calculationsclock 85, seventeen answeredclock 42, twenty five answered
Master knowledgeclock 75, thirty eight answeredclock 37, fifty six answered
Journeyman knowledgeclock 65, thirty answeredclock 33, forty four answered

The clock column is the countdown reading on the screen. Item counts and time limits are PSI's and the quartering is ours, and it assumes an even pace, which nobody sits. So treat a checkpoint as a question rather than a target. Four items behind at the halfway reading means the next twenty minutes are for banking quick ones, not for the item you have been wrestling with.

Being ahead is information too. On a portion that is going well the minutes have no other use, because they do not follow you to the second portion, so an early finish is worth less than a slow re-read of the four items you were unsure about.

What the software lets you do, and what it does not

Two sentences in the bulletin decide the whole shape of a pacing method, and neither is widely quoted.

One question appears on the screen at a time. During the examination, minutes remaining will be displayed at the top of the screen and updated as you record your answers.

PSI candidate information bulletin, TDLR electrical examinations, dated 9 July 2026

After you have entered your responses, you will later be able to return to any question(s) and change your response, provided the examination time has not run out.

PSI candidate information bulletin, TDLR electrical examinations, dated 9 July 2026

Read together: the paper never appears as a whole, so surveying it and picking off the easy ones first is not available to you, and anything you have answered can be revisited while the clock runs. No flag or marker is described anywhere in the bulletin, so build your plan on a record you keep yourself rather than on a screen feature nobody has promised you.

Electronic notepads are provided and nothing else is. That notepad is where the list of item numbers to revisit lives, and keeping it is the single habit that makes a second pass possible.

A two-pass method built on those two sentences

Five moves, and the one people skip is the first.

  1. Answer every item before you leave it, even when the answer is a guess. Returning to change a response is documented. Returning to fill a blank you never touched is not.
  2. Write the item number on the notepad when you leave one unresolved, with one word for why. Two minutes later you will not remember which of the four you meant.
  3. Run the first pass at the checkpoint pace and let the awkward ones go. On the knowledge portion the expensive habit is browsing near the right article; on the calculations portion it is restarting a chain from the top.
  4. Second pass: work the numbered list, longest chain first if the clock is healthy and shortest first if it is not.
  5. Last few minutes: re-read the items you guessed rather than the items you worked. A guess is where a minute buys the most.

One correction to advice that circulates widely, including on the earlier version of this page. "Skip the calculations on the first pass" is a rule for a mixed paper, and this examination does not have one. On the calculations portion every item is a calculation, so the triage is by the length of the chain rather than by the type of item.

When one item starts eating the clock

Set the abandon threshold before you sit down and set it as a clock reading, because a question you almost have does not feel like four minutes while you are inside it.

A workable version: two items of budget and no more. On a knowledge item that is about four and a half minutes. On a journeyman calculations item it is about eight and a half, and on a master one closer to ten. Past that you are no longer working the item, you are funding it out of the ones you have not read yet.

Before you abandon a calculation, spend thirty seconds on the three places a chain usually breaks. Our own question bank records a reason against every wrong option it carries, and these three recur across every calculation area.

If your figure is not among the options, do not run the same arithmetic again. Running it again reproduces the same error, because the error is in the setup rather than in the keystrokes. Check those three, then record your best option, note the number and move.

Write the value you have on the notepad with its basis next to it, in four words, before you leave. A second pass that starts from a written figure costs a fraction of one that starts from a blank screen.

Guessing, and what the documents actually support

This is a reading of published material rather than a published rule, and it is worth marking as such.

PSI states the standard as a minimum score of 70 percent on each portion. Nothing PSI or TDLR publishes describes a penalty for a wrong answer or says how blanks are treated. A blank cannot be a correct answer, and the sentence about returning to change a response describes returning to responses you have already entered.

So the position the documents support is: put something on every item as you pass it, and improve it later if the clock allows. If you want that confirmed rather than inferred, PSI is the one who can confirm it, and it is a fair question to ask when you book.

Practice against a clock from the first week

Untimed practice teaches the material and teaches nothing about the failure it is being used to prevent. Put the clock on in week one, at the pace of the portion you are practicing, and treat an overrun as an error worth logging even when you got the item right.

The two portions want two different rehearsals. Knowledge drills are short and repetitive and they train the decision about where to look. Calculation drills are long and few and they train a sequence. Practicing both in one evening at one pace trains an average, and there is no portion that measures an average.

What this page cites

NEC and National Electrical Code are registered trademarks of the National Fire Protection Association.

Trojan Digital Marketing is an independent company. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NFPA, TDLR, PSI Services, or any licensing authority.

Bring your own current copy of the National Electrical Code. The Texas exam is open book.

All practice questions are original. They are not actual exam questions.

Built and maintained by Jeff Clerisier, Trojan Digital Marketing.

Every rule here is cited to the section it comes from, and corrections are logged in public with the date. This is study material rather than electrical advice, and it does not replace your own code book or your inspector.