Every exam topic, grouped the way questions arrive

Sorted by what a question is about rather than by article number.

How this is organized

The groups below follow the published content outline for the knowledge portion, heaviest subject area first, and the footer on every page uses the same groups in the same order. If you know which article you want, the code navigation page maps question wording onto article numbers. If you know the topic but not the article, start here.

Branch circuits and conductors

Ampacity deratingTwo multiplications, and a limit that never gets multiplied
The arithmetic is two multiplications. The marks are lost before either of them, in picking the wrong correction…
Circuit ratingsThe rating of a branch circuit comes from the overcurrent device
Get the direction right and a page of rules about permitted loads and receptacle ratings collapses into one lookup…
Required circuitsFour circuits exist by rule, and three of them may carry nothing else
Which circuits a dwelling has to have is the easy half, and most study material stops there. The restriction…
Continuous loadsThe 125 percent lands on two things, and a third can take it back
Three hours of maximum current is the whole test for whether a load is continuous. Everything that costs points…
GFCI and AFCIThe most-changed section in the code, plus a Texas-only exception
GFCI requirements move nearly every cycle. If your study material is one edition old, treat this section as unknown.
Multiwire circuitsOne neutral doing two jobs, and what happens when it lets go
Two circuits sharing one neutral is efficient wiring and a specific hazard. The exam tests both halves, and the…
Counting the neutralThe neutral question is settled by the circuit, not by a measurement
Candidates answer this by asking how much the neutral is carrying. 310.15(E) never asks that, and the habit costs a…
Parallel conductorsParalleled sets share current only if they are identical, so the code makes them identical
Two conductors joined at both ends divide current by impedance, not by intention. Every identity condition in…
Tap rulesEvery tap rule buys the same thing, and each one charges differently
A tap is where the code lets a conductor sit behind a device far larger than its ampacity. Read each subdivision…
Termination temperatureA 90 degree conductor is still a 90 degree conductor. You just cannot use all of it
The section does not change what the wire can carry. It changes which column of the ampacity table you are allowed…

Wiring methods and materials

Box fillBox fill is a counting exercise, and six categories count six different ways
Almost every wrong answer here is a miscount rather than bad arithmetic, and the miscounts cluster in three of the…
Boxes and conduit bodiesA conduit body is an enclosure, and it is not sized like a box
Three different methods can size the same enclosure, and which one applies turns on conductor size and on whether…
Cable typesA cable item turns on two things, the location and the building
Damp, wet, buried and subject to damage is one axis. Dwelling or not, and what the structure is permitted to be…
Conduit fillConduit fill is one comparison, and four notes decide what goes into it
Three lookups and one division. The notes underneath Table 1 are where the answer actually gets decided, and most…
Expansion and deflectionA quarter inch of calculated movement puts a fitting in a PVC run
The number that decides a PVC run is a length change you work out from the temperature swing. Two other sections…
Wet, damp and dryA conduit on an exterior wall is a wet location inside
Protection from weather is the condition that separates damp from wet, and a great deal of what people call damp…
Physical damageThe damage rule is at 300.6 now, and the old number still answers
Article 300 shifted this cycle. The rule you want moved two sections down, and the number you remember now carries…
Support and securingSecured and supported are two separate obligations
Every Chapter 3 method carries both. The distances are not the same, they change with what the run passes through…
Underground and burialMinimum cover is at 300.7 now, and cover still means the top of the pipe
The grid has a column for your wiring method or your circuit and a row for what sits over the run. You read one…
Wiring methodsEvery wiring method has its own article, and they are all cut from one template
The section numbers inside a Chapter 3 article mean the same thing from one article to the next. That is a…

Equipment and devices

Appliances and water heatersThe circuit comes off the nameplate and the service does not
Two numbers, two purposes, and an item that hands you both. The water heater is the appliance the code singles out…
Disconnecting meansSomebody has to be able to switch it off, and see that they did
The code asks the same question in twenty different articles. Learn the question once and you can answer the item…
Enclosure typesAn enclosure type is a statement about the environment, not a grade
Everybody has a default enclosure they reach for on site. Items on this subject are written for the person who…
HVAC circuitsA GFCI exception for air conditioners expires September 1, and Texas left the expiry out
The same equipment, the same code section, two different answers depending on which side of the state line the…
Luminaires and closetsThe closet question is two lookups, and most people only make one
It comes up on every form of this examination because every dwelling has closets and the rule is dimensional, which…
PanelboardsOne device protects the panel, and Article 408 will not size your wire
Article 408 is short and most items built on it are really testing another article. Knowing which one is most of…
Receptacle spacingThe measurement runs along the floor line, and any fixed cabinet now stops it
Nobody measures six feet from a receptacle. The rule is about how far any point on the floor line can be from one…
Receptacle typesTwo letters on the face of a receptacle carry most of the questions
Where a receptacle goes is a branch circuit question. What it is, and whether that one may be installed here, is a…
Switches after 2026The wall switch is answered in Article 406 now, and Article 404 still looks right
From September 1 your paper is written against a book where the light switch and the fused disconnect are answered…
Working spaceThe space in front and the space above are two different rules
Most candidates can quote one depth figure and miss everything else in the section. The marks sit in the…

Services, feeders and grounding

EGC sizingThe other grounding table, and the one people reach for by mistake
Sized from the overcurrent device ahead of it, not from the conductor beside it, and not from the service size…
FeedersA feeder ends at the final branch-circuit overcurrent protective device
Article 215 is short because most of what governs a feeder is written somewhere else. The part that is genuinely…
Grounding electrode conductorThe grounding electrode conductor, and the caps most people miss
Sizing straight off the table gives the wrong answer on any rod-only or concrete-encased system. Three short…
Grounding electrodesYou do not choose an electrode. You use what the building already has.
The rule is not pick one. It is bond together everything present at the building, then add if what is present is…
Grounding vs bondingGrounding and bonding are two different jobs
The trade uses these words interchangeably. The code does not. One sentence in Article 250 settles most of the…
Neutral to ground bondThe neutral-to-ground bond happens at exactly one place
Bonded at the service. Separated everywhere downstream. The reason is not tradition, and understanding it makes a…
Separately derived systemsA transformer secondary usually is one. A generator behind a transfer switch depends on what the switch opens.
This is the most confused topic in the services area, and the confusion is upstream of the requirements. Candidates…
ServicesSix disconnects are still permitted. Six handles in one panelboard are not
Article 230 is laid out in the order the power arrives, which is the fastest way to find anything in it. Two of its…
TransformersTransformer questions punish you for forgetting which side you are standing on
The arithmetic is a ratio. The mistakes are almost all bookkeeping about which winding the number belongs to, and…

Special occupancies and renewables

Agricultural buildingsA cow bridges the floor and the waterer at the same time
Two hazards drive this article and only one of them is about people. Know what the atmosphere does to hardware and…
Hazardous locationsThree questions, asked in a fixed order, and the order is the method
Answer the three questions in sequence and Article 500 stops being intimidating. Answer them out of order and you…
Health care facilitiesA patient care space is wired with two equipment grounding paths
The redundancy is what makes this area distinctive, and it is the thing an item writer reaches for first. One path…
Marinas and boatyardsAlmost nobody is electrocuted in the water. They are paralyzed, and then they drown.
Article 555 is one of the few places in the book where the hazard is legible in the requirement. The sentence that…
PV and rapid shutdownRapid shutdown does not turn the array off. Nothing turns the array off.
Renewables is the smallest subject area on the paper and the one nobody prepares. It is also where one idea…
Pools and spasThe bonding grid at a pool is not there to clear a fault
Voltage is a difference between two points. The grid around a pool removes the difference instead of removing the…
Temporary installationsTemporary is a condition with an end date, not a lighter code
One figure in days appears in the Article 590 time constraints, 90, and it belongs to holiday decorative lighting…

Motors, theory and calculations

Motor calculationsMotor calculations, and the one distinction that decides them
A motor question hands you two different currents. Using the wrong one for the wrong step is how most people lose…
Motor feedersFeeders for a group of motors, and the part everybody over-applies
Only one motor in the group gets the 125 percent. Applying it to all of them produces a number that looks careful…
Overload vs short-circuitThree devices on a motor circuit, doing three different jobs
One device protects the motor from working too hard. A second protects the circuit from a fault. A third protects…
Ohm’s lawYou will not be asked to state it. You will be asked to use it under pressure.
Five scored items on the journeyman paper carry a theory label. The relationship behind them sits inside a great…
Small conductorsThe step people forget after doing the derating correctly
You derate the conductor, get a good number, and then a two-line rule in Article 240 caps it anyway. Skipping that…
Power and volt-amperesWatts and volt-amperes are the same number until they are not
The code calculates in volt-amperes. Equipment is often rated in watts. Questions are built in the gap, and the…
Series and parallelOne sentence per configuration and you never confuse them again
In series, current is common. In parallel, voltage is common. Everything else follows from those two facts…
Voltage dropThe 3 percent figure is a note, and knowing that is worth a mark on its own
Items are written to catch a candidate who treats a recommendation as a rule, and other items are written to catch…

Sitting the exam

Finding it in the bookThe exam does not use the code book’s words
Open book means the answer is in front of you. It does not mean you can find it. This maps how questions are worded…
Wrong answersThe wrong options are not random. They are your likely mistakes, written down.
A distractor is an error somebody expected you to make. Learn which errors get written down and the option list…
2026 NEC edition changeSit on August 31 and it is the 2023 code. Sit on September 1 and it is the 2026.
PSI put the date in capitals in its July bulletin. It follows the day you sit rather than the day you booked, and…
How the exam is builtThe Texas journeyman exam is two tests now, and most people fail the wrong half
Since March 11, 2025 the journeyman exam has been a knowledge portion and a calculations portion, scored…
If you failedRead your score report before you rebook
A failed sitting comes with a diagnostic report naming your strengths and weaknesses, and most people rebook…
Study planTen hours a week, and the calculations half gets more than half of them
Built for somebody working full time with about ten hours a week to spend. The shape of the plan is our judgment…
Test dayThe day in the order it happens, and where each rule comes from
Everything below is from the PSI candidate information bulletin dated 9 July 2026 and from TDLR, both read on 24…
Clock strategyThere 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…