Checked against primary sources 2026-08-24

One softbound code book gets you in the door, and the expensive edition gets you turned away

Every price on this page was read off the seller's own page on 24 August 2026. The tested code edition changes on 1 September, which makes a good deal of what is on sale right now the wrong purchase.

The book is the only purchase you cannot avoid

You bring your own copy of the National Electrical Code and the test center does not lend you one. On 24 August 2026 the plain 2026 softbound was $202.45 at Builder's Book, marked down from a $224.95 list price.

The version with the commentary, the NEC Handbook, was $368.95 the same day on the same site. That is the most expensive way to end your day early, because the Handbook does not come into the room. Spend $368.95, drive to the test center, and get sent home.

Loose-leaf, spiralbound, or ring-bound copies of the NEC book, will NOT be allowed in the examination room.

PSI Candidate Information Bulletin, TDLR Electricians, updated 9 July 2026

Read that against the price list and it stops being an abstraction. The spiral-bound 2026 NEC was $215.05 on 24 August 2026, which is $12.60 more than the softbound, and it is refused. You would be paying extra to be turned away.

The permission is written just as plainly, and it is the sentence to buy against: any soft-bound edition of the National Electrical Code may be used for the examination.

Marking the book before you travel is fine. The bulletin allows highlighting, underlining and notes written in it prior to the session, and rules out writing, highlighting, underlining, indexing or marking it once the session is running. So the work happens at home or it does not happen.

One thing you do not have to buy: TDLR states that electronic notepads are provided at the test center. Scratch paper is not a purchase and it is not something to smuggle, since any additional paper is refused at the door.

What the exam itself costs

$78 for the journeyman examination, both portions together. $78 for the master examination, both portions together. If you fail one portion or both, the retake is $78 again.

That is the only figure on this page that comes from a government-appointed source rather than a seller, and it is the figure most buying guides leave out while listing a $999 video library. Set it against the book and you have the floor: about $280 to sit the journeyman exam with a compliant copy in your hand.

The other exam types are cheaper and single-portion. Maintenance electrician, residential wireman, residential appliance installer, journeyman industrial, journeyman sign and master sign were all $64 on 24 August 2026, and journeyman lineman was $61. All of them come from the same bulletin.

Tabs are where the money quietly goes

Read the bulletin's two sentences on tabs next to each other, because between them they decide which tab product is a safe purchase and which is a gamble.

NEC books may be tabbed with permanent index tabs manufactured and/or provided by the NEC book publisher.

PSI Candidate Information Bulletin, TDLR Electricians, updated 9 July 2026

The other sentence refuses homemade, DIY and non-NEC tabs by name. So the affirmative permission is narrow: permanent index tabs that came from the publisher of the code book. NFPA publishes exactly that product, listed in its own catalog as NFPA 70, National Electrical Code (NEC) Self-Adhesive Index Tabs. Nothing else on the shelf is described by that sentence.

This is where the price list gets uncomfortable. On 24 August 2026 Builder's Book carried two different tab products for the 2026 code. The self-adhesive index tab set that fits either the code or the Handbook was $35.95, and its product name matches NFPA's own catalog listing. A separate colored fast-tab set was $17.95, described on its own page as 48 self-adhesive tabs, with no publisher named anywhere on it.

The cheap set is the one to think hard about. It is eighteen dollars less and it is not the product the permitting sentence describes, which means you are carrying the argument with the proctor rather than the bulletin carrying it for you. Eighteen dollars against a forfeited $78 sitting and a wasted morning is not a close call.

The pre-tabbed copies need the same read. The pre-tabbed 2026 softbound at Builder's Book was $238.45, and it is sold as pre-tabbed with colored fast-tabs, which is the $17.95 third-party product applied for you. The plain softbound was $202.45 with a pre-tab service at $36.00 on top, landing on the same $238.45. Paying somebody else to apply a tab does not change whose tab it is, and whose tab it is happens to be the only thing the bulletin asks about.

So the purchase this page will stand behind is the plain softbound at $202.45 plus the publisher's own index tabs at $35.95, which is $238.40 and, by coincidence, five cents less than the pre-tabbed copy. Apply them at home, in one sitting, weeks before you travel.

NFPA lets you read the 2026 code for nothing

Create a free account at nfpa.org, open the list of codes and standards, pick NFPA 70, select the 2026 edition and choose free access. You read the full text in a browser at no cost. NFPA's own words for the arrangement are that it makes its codes and standards available online to the public for free.

It is a reader, not a file. Use it to see what changed before you spend two hundred dollars, to keep studying while your book is in transit, and to check whether a course you are about to buy matches the edition it claims.

It does not come to the exam with you. A browser on a laptop is not a soft-bound edition of the code, and that is the only thing the bulletin describes as usable. This is study material, not exam material.

The free material that beats most of the paid material

The PSI Candidate Information Bulletin is free, it is the document the exam is actually built from, and it carries the item-level blueprint. Ten subject areas on the journeyman knowledge portion with a scored item count against each, summing to 56 of the 59 items you sit. Ten more on the calculations portion, summing to 24 of 26. The gap in each case is non-scored pretest items, which the bulletin separates out and most study guides quietly fold in. It also carries the minutes, the fee, and the book rules quoted above. Most people buying a $999 video library have never opened it.

The version dated 9 July 2026 states the edition change in capitals:

EFFECTIVE SEPTEMBER 1, 2026, THE EXAMINATIONS WILL BE REFERENCED TO THE 2026 NEC.

PSI Candidate Information Bulletin, TDLR Electricians, updated 9 July 2026

• TDLR's own electrician examination page, free, covering fees, eligibility and the two-portion journeyman split.
• TDLR's published exam statistics by fiscal year, free, which is the only sourced pass rate you will find anywhere in this market.
• NFPA free access to the 2026 edition, free with an account, read-only.
• The Mike Holt forums, free to read, where working electricians argue about the same questions you are about to be asked. The forums are a different thing from the store.

For context on what you are up against: across every Texas electrical examination in fiscal year 2025, 26,303 attempts produced 6,181 passes, a 23.50 percent pass rate, down from 26.37 percent the year before. TDLR publishes that. Nobody selling you a course does.

Check the code edition before you look at the price

This is the single thing that decides whether a purchase is worth anything this month. Texas moves to the 2026 code on 1 September 2026 and the examinations move with it. A library built on the 2023 edition is the wrong book, whatever the discount attached to it.

Here is the part nobody in this market has written down, and it is the likeliest reason a September candidate walks in with the wrong book. Both published reference lists still say 2023.

• The PSI bulletin contradicts itself. It carries the September 1 line in capitals, and its reference material entry, further down the same document, reads National Electrical Code, 2023 Edition. Read 24 August 2026.
• TDLR's examination page agrees with the older half. Its reference materials section reads: the examination is OPEN BOOK, you will be allowed to reference the National Electrical Code, 2023 Edition. Read the same day.

Neither list has been updated to match the dated line, which means a candidate who does the sensible thing and checks the official reference list before buying gets told to buy 2023. The dated sentence is the one that names a date and it is the later statement in the later document, so a September sitting is a 2026 book. If your date is close to the boundary, telephone PSI on the number TDLR publishes and get it confirmed for your own appointment before you spend two hundred dollars.

Two rows of that table are the whole argument. Mike Holt's 2023 journeyman comprehensive video library was still in the cart at $999.00 on 24 August 2026, sitting in a category list that offers the same library in 2026, 2023, 2020 and 2017 and prints no price against any of them. You have to open a product page to find out what you are buying and which code cycle it teaches, and only one of those four matches the exam you are about to sit.

Paid options, ranked on what they give you for the money

Nothing we make appears in this ranking. The reason is at the bottom of the page.

1. Texas Electrical Safety Association, Houston

Eight weeks of instructor-led exam review for $300, which works out at $12.50 an hour of classroom time and is the cheapest instruction checked here. The journeyman class runs Tuesdays 5pm to 8pm at 8150 S Loop E in Houston, with 2026 sessions listed for 13 January to 3 March, 14 April to 2 June, 14 July to 1 September and 13 October to 1 December. The master class is $400, Thursdays, same eight-week shape, with sessions listed 15 January to 5 March, 23 April to 11 June, 16 July to 3 September and 15 October to 4 December. They publish TDLR provider 1009.

What is weak: you have to be able to get to Houston on a weekday evening for eight weeks, and neither course listing states which code edition it teaches. Ask before you enroll, because the July to September session straddles the cutover.

2. Central Texas IEC, Austin

Twenty hours of classroom journeyman review across five sessions, $350 for members and $400 for everyone else, at 8868 Research Blvd in Austin. The master course is 28 hours across seven sessions at $575. The required materials list is specific and sensible: a softbound code book, a non-scientific calculator, highlighters and a notebook.

What is weak: the most recent session we could find, running 4 June to 6 July 2026, was built on the 2023 NEC, and as of 24 August 2026 there was no exam prep session at all on the public calendar for the rest of the year. Good value that might not be purchasable right now.

3. Mike Holt Enterprises

The deepest material in the market, with a 2026 line that exists across every tier. On 24 August 2026 the journeyman book program was $255.00, journeyman simulated exams $27.00, the basic video program $400.00, intermediate $645.00, comprehensive $999.00, supreme $1,599.00 and the whole training library $1,999.00. Master comprehensive was $1,150.00.

What is weak: you cannot shop it. The journeyman category list names five video libraries and four book products and prints no price against any of them, so comparing tiers means opening nine pages. Underneath that, every library is offered in four code cycles at once. The 2023 journeyman comprehensive library was still in the cart at $999.00 on 24 August 2026 and its product page names no NEC edition anywhere in the body, so the year in the title is the only thing telling you what you bought. The 2026 books and simulated exams were preorder, carrying the wording that the product would be available in August 2026, so confirm it has shipped before you count on it for a September date. And none of it is written for Texas: no seat-time breakdown, no two-portion journeyman split, no Texas amendments.

4. 1 Exam Prep

Texas-specific and cheap at the entry point. The Texas journeyman study guide was $59.95 on 24 August 2026, $99.95 with flash cards, $109.95 with the online course, and $144.95 with everything. The Texas master guide followed the same $59.95 to $144.95 ladder. The 2026 journeyman guide bundled with a tabbed 2026 code book was $249.95, shown against a struck-out $350.00, with two upgrade steps at $289.95 and $339.95. Prices are shown plainly, which is more than several of its rivals manage.

Worth crediting, because it is rare: that combo page tells the buyer in as many words that Texas currently lists the 2023 edition as the allowed reference for its electrician examinations, while selling them a 2026 book. That is the same gap this page opened with, disclosed on a product page by the seller. An earlier version of this section read the 2023 mentions on that page as sloppiness about which code it teaches. That was our error, it has been removed, and the correction is logged.

What is weak: the bundled code book is described only as a 2026 paperback with tabs, and the page does not say whose tabs. Given how narrowly the bulletin words that permission, ask before you buy, because a tabbed book that gets refused is worth less than a plain one.

5. Tom Henry, Code Electrical Classes

The cheapest useful books in the market and 2026 editions exist. On 24 August 2026 the journeyman questions and answers workbook was $36.00 at list and $32.40 at Builder's Book, the master workbook $36.00, calculations for the electrical exam $48.00, the keyword index $30.00, and a three-book journeyman combo $85.00. The online journeyman exam prep course was $199.00 with lifetime access.

What is weak: nothing here is written for Texas, the online course page does not state which code edition it uses, and the book combo index page shows no prices at all until you open each product. The combo listings still lead with 2020 and older code cycles.

6. JADE Learning

Included here because it turns up in exam searches, and it should not. JADE is a continuing education provider, TDLR provider 1020, with four-hour renewal courses built on both the 2023 and 2026 editions. It does not sell exam preparation.

What is weak: no price appears anywhere on the Texas course pages. You add a course to a cart to find out what it costs. For a four-hour compliance course sold against competitors publishing a flat number, that is a choice, and it is the reader who pays for it in time.

Ray Holder and 1 Exam Prep are not two separate choices

Every other list in this market presents Ray Holder books and 1 Exam Prep packages as two separate sellers, which is how a reader ends up buying the same material twice.

What we could verify on 24 August 2026: the current Texas 2026 Holder study guides on Amazon carry both Ray Holder and 1 Exam Prep in the contributor line, journeyman under ISBN 9798247423041 and master under 9798247423140. 1 Exam Prep sells those same Texas titles directly on its own store and credits Ray Holder as the author of its online course. Holder titles that carry Brown Technical Publications instead are earlier code cycles, including a 2014 journeyman guide and a run of 2017 state guides. Ray Holder's own seminar site sends buyers to Builder's Book, where the 2026 journeyman prep guide was $48.55.

What that means at the checkout: a Holder guide bought from one seller and a 1 Exam Prep Texas study guide bought from another can be the same content with two covers. Check the ISBN before the second purchase. And a Holder title with Brown Technical on it is probably an old code cycle, which after 1 September is the wrong book twice over.

What we could not verify: Amazon blocks automated reading of its product pages, so the publisher field itself was read from listing metadata rather than from the page. Treat the supply chain as demonstrated by the contributor credits and the direct sales, not as a corporate filing.

Sellers who will not show you a price

JADE Learning shows no price at all on its Texas course pages, and three other sellers checked here make you open a product page before any number appears.

None of that makes a seller dishonest. It does mean a shopper cannot compare six options in ten minutes, which is the point of a price.

Continuing education is a commodity, so buy on price

This belongs to renewal rather than to an examination, and it is here only because the same sellers turn up when you search for exam prep and one of them is in the list above.

Four hours from a TDLR-registered provider before each renewal, and the same course does not earn credit twice (16 TAC 73.25).

The rule names three subject areas, not four. Count them in 16 TAC 73.25(b): the National Electrical Code as adopted under the Occupations Code or the current version approved by NFPA, state law and rules that regulate the conduct of licensees, and safety as defined in NFPA 70E. TDLR's own website splits that middle subject into Occupations Code Chapter 1305 and 16 TAC Chapter 73, which is where the four-subject version everyone repeats comes from. Both descriptions are defensible as long as you say which one you are quoting. We are quoting the rule.

The first subject is worth reading twice in a cutover year. It accepts either the edition Texas has adopted or the current edition NFPA has published, so a course keyed to 2026 and a course keyed to whatever Texas has adopted both satisfy it, and a seller advertising one of those as the only compliant option is selling you a distinction the rule does not draw.

Sellers were advertising the four-hour package between about ten and twelve dollars on 24 August 2026, and for compliance purposes they are interchangeable. TDLR publishes the registered provider list, so pick from it and pick the cheap one.

What we make, and who it is for

This section is our own material. It is not ranked against anything above and it carries no score, because a site that sells something has no business grading itself alongside the alternatives.

What this site is: free written explanations of the Texas examination itself. How the two journeyman portions are weighted, how many minutes each question is worth, how the code is laid out and how exam wording maps onto where a rule actually lives, worked calculation method, and what a score report is telling you after a failure.

Who it suits: someone who has a date booked, has the book, and needs the method rather than another library of video. If you have not bought the code book yet, go back to the top of this page, because that comes first.

Who it does not suit: anyone looking for a guarantee, a question bank lifted from a real exam, or a shortcut. None of those exist here.

How this guide was compiled

Everything was checked on 24 August 2026 and every price on this page is stamped with that date, because prices in this market move and a number without a date is a guess.

The book, tab, marking and paper rules were re-read against the bulletin on the same date, sentence by sentence, and three things on this page changed as a result. The tab advice was reversed, because the bulletin permits publisher tabs and the cheap set is not one. A characterization of one seller's edition wording was deleted, because the page in question was reporting TDLR's reference list accurately rather than contradicting itself. And the examination fee was added, because a buying guide that lists a $999 video library and omits the $78 that actually gets you a seat is not a buying guide.

• Book prices were read from Builder's Book, a general construction bookseller with no exam prep business of its own, on its 2026 NEC category page and its NFPA 70 product pages.
• Exam room rules and the edition change were read from the PSI Candidate Information Bulletin dated 9 July 2026, which is the document the examination is administered from, and cross-checked against TDLR's own examination page.
• Course prices, class dates and stated code editions were read off each seller's own live pages on 24 August 2026.
• The TDLR provider identifiers 1009 and 1020 are as published by the providers themselves.
• Pass rate figures come from TDLR's published fiscal year statistics and from nowhere else.

What we could not verify

• NFPA's own list price for the 2026 softbound. Its store pages did not return a readable price, so no number is published here for them.
• Which code edition the Texas Electrical Safety Association classes teach. Neither course listing states one.
• Which code edition the Code Electrical Classes online journeyman course uses. The page does not say.
• Whether Mike Holt's preorder items had actually shipped by 24 August 2026, as against the August availability date printed on the page.
• Amazon's publisher field, read from listing metadata because automated reading of the product page is blocked.
• Whether the TDLR provider identifiers 1009 and 1020 appear in TDLR's registry, which is a lookup tool rather than a published list.
• The current price of Mike Holt's 2026 video libraries. The category list prints no price and the individual 2026 product pages could not be opened on re-check, so the table now carries only the 2023 library, whose price was read in the cart.
• Whose tabs are on any pre-tabbed book other than the Builder's Book copies, which name theirs.
• How long a passed portion of a two-part examination stands before you have to sit it again. Neither PSI nor TDLR publishes it.

Pass rate claims we left out

Several sellers in this market publish first-time pass rates. None of the ones we found carried any substantiation, and one seller published two different figures on its own site. Not one of those numbers appears on this page. The only pass rates here come from TDLR, which counts the attempts.

Why our own material is not in the ranking

16 CFR 465.6 makes it an unfair or deceptive act for a business to misrepresent, expressly or by implication, that a site it controls provides independent reviews of a category that includes its own products. The FTC's published guidance says a disclosure does not cure an express independence claim on such a site. So our material sits in its own section, described as ours, scored against nothing.

There is a second reason, and it is self-interested. Google's guidance on reviews asks that a best-overall call be backed by first-hand evidence. We have no pass-rate data on other people's products and are not going to pretend otherwise. A ranked list with ourselves at the top would be worth less than an honest one with ourselves left out.

Why the sellers above are named but not linked

Sites in this estate do not link to sellers of exam preparation or continuing education. Every price above was read from the seller's own live page and you can find any of them by name in a search. The primary sources, the ones that decide what happens at the test center, are linked below.

What this page cites

• PSI Candidate Information Bulletin, TDLR Electricians, updated 9 July 2026 The examination fee, $78 for both portions and $78 to retake a failed portion or both. The binding, Handbook, tab, marking and additional-paper rules, quoted and paraphrased above. The item-level content outline, 56 scored knowledge items and 24 scored calculation items on the journeyman. And the September 1 2026 edition line, printed in the same document as a reference list that still names the 2023 edition. Free, and re-read 24 August 2026. source
• TDLR Electrician Examinations TDLR's own examination page. Its reference materials section still named the 2023 edition on 24 August 2026, which is why both lists are reported here rather than one. Also the source for electronic notepads being provided at the test center, for unlimited retakes with no published waiting period, and for the one-year deadline that runs from the date TDLR received the application. source
• 16 TAC 73.100 Texas adoption of the 2026 National Electrical Code, effective 1 September 2026. Proposal text as published by the Secretary of State. source
• TDLR Electrician Exam Statistics, fiscal year 2025 26,303 attempts, 6,181 passes, 23.50 percent. Read off the table 24 August 2026. The only sourced pass rate on this page. source
• NFPA free access to codes and standards NFPA states that it makes its codes and standards available online to the public for free. Reader access to NFPA 70 including the 2026 edition, through a browser and a free account. It is not a file and it is not a book you can carry into a test center. source
• NFPA 70, National Electrical Code (NEC) Self-Adhesive Index Tabs The publisher's own tab product, in NFPA's catalog under that name. This is the product the bulletin's permitting sentence describes, and the reason this page stopped recommending the cheaper third-party set. Read 24 August 2026. source
• 16 TAC 73.25(b) The three continuing education subject areas, including the alternative that accepts the current edition of the code as approved by NFPA rather than only the edition Texas has adopted. source
• Builder's Book, 2026 NEC category Softbound $202.45, pre-tabbed $238.45, spiral $215.05, Handbook $368.95, fast-tabs $17.95, self-adhesive index tabs $35.95. Read 24 August 2026. source
• Builder's Book, NFPA 70 softbound product page List $224.95 against a $202.45 sale price, edition selector, and the $36.00 pre-tab option. Read 24 August 2026. source
• Builder's Book, NFPA 70 Handbook product page List $409.95 against a $368.95 sale price across every edition offered. Read 24 August 2026. source
• TDLR Electrician Continuing Education Four hours before each renewal, registered providers only, and no credit for the same course twice. TDLR's page splits the middle subject area in two, which is why the market repeats a four-subject list. The rule at 16 TAC 73.25(b) names three. source
• TDLR Continuing Education Provider List Where to confirm a continuing education provider is registered before paying anyone. source
• 16 CFR 465.6 Company-controlled review websites. The rule behind this page keeping its own material out of the ranked list. source
• Mike Holt forums Free to read and worth reading. The forums are separate from the store, and only the forums are cited here. source
• Mike Holt Enterprises product pages Journeyman book program $255.00, simulated exams $27.00, basic $400.00, intermediate $645.00, comprehensive $999.00, supreme $1,599.00, full library $1,999.00, master comprehensive $1,150.00, and the identically priced 2023 libraries. Read on the seller's own site 24 August 2026. Not linked.
• 1 Exam Prep product pages Texas journeyman and master guides $59.95 to $144.95. The 2026 journeyman guide with a tabbed 2026 code book at $249.95 against a struck-out $350.00, with upgrades at $289.95 and $339.95, re-read 24 August 2026. That page also states in its own words that Texas currently lists the 2023 edition as the allowed reference for its electrician examinations. Not linked.
• Code Electrical Classes product and course pages Tom Henry workbooks $30.00 to $48.00 at list, journeyman combo 1 $85.00, online journeyman course $199.00, and a combo index carrying no prices. The same titles at Builder's Book run about ten percent under list. Read 24 August 2026. Not linked.
• Texas Electrical Safety Association course pages Journeyman review $300, master review $400, eight weeks each, Houston, TDLR provider 1009, 2026 session dates as listed. Read 24 August 2026. Not linked.
• Central Texas IEC event listing Journeyman review $350 member and $400 other across 20 hours, master $575 across 28 hours, session of 4 June to 6 July 2026 built on the 2023 edition, nothing scheduled after August 2026. Read 24 August 2026. Not linked.
• JADE Learning Texas electrical continuing education pages TDLR provider 1020, four-hour courses on both the 2023 and 2026 editions, no price displayed before adding to cart. Read 24 August 2026. Not linked.
• Amazon listing metadata, Ray Holder Texas titles Texas 2026 journeyman ISBN 9798247423041 and master ISBN 9798247423140 credit both Ray Holder and 1 Exam Prep. Brown Technical Publications appears on earlier cycles, including ISBN 9780692717455 from 2014. Read 24 August 2026. Not linked.