North Carolina Electrician PrepLicense, exam and code, in one place

Checked against primary sources 2026-09-05

Where the marks are

What Is on the NC Electrical Contractor Exam: By Area

The Board publishes an examination subject matter scope inside its handbook and tells candidates to study from it. We have not extracted that outline, so this page does the honest alternative: it reads the published reference list as a map of the paper and says which parts of it are code and which are not.

Test yourself: thirty free questions, timed

On this page
  1. The outline the Board publishes
  2. The reference list, read as a map
  3. The part people underprepare
  4. The code areas to work, in our order
  5. How much of it you can look up
  6. How to find your own weak areas
  7. Questions people ask
  8. What this page cites

The outline the Board publishes

The Board's exam preparation guidance points candidates at a section of the Examination Information Handbook headed Examination Subject Matter Scope, and tells them to use it as the basis for study.

We have not extracted that outline or any weighting it carries, so we are not going to print a list of areas and percentages and let you assume they came from the Board. Download the handbook and read that section yourself. It is free and it is the only content outline that carries the Board's name.

What follows is our reading of the published reference list, which is a different thing and is labelled as ours.

The reference list, read as a map

The reference list tells you a great deal, because a Board does not name a reference the paper never asks about. Read it as a subject list rather than a packing list, since only the first two items go into the room with you.

Open book, carried in:

Closed book, studied in advance:

Printed in the handbook:

That is at least four different kinds of question on one paper, and only one of them is wiring.

The part people underprepare

Candidates with years in the field prepare the code and skip the rest. The reference list says that is a mistake.

The licensing law and the Board's rules are closed book, so the marks there are pure preparation. Read them until you know where the classifications, the qualified individual duties and the license conduct rules sit, because you will not be looking any of it up on the day.

The business, law and project management guide is a separate purchase, a separate body of knowledge, and closed book as well. Estimating, contracts, project management and business practice are not things a working electrician picks up by installing conduit.

Our licensing pages cover the same ground from the reader's side: the contractor license, the classifications and the rules that follow you after.

The code areas to work, in our order

This ordering is ours, not the Board's. It follows where trade exam candidates lose marks rather than any published weighting.

  1. Grounding and bonding. Article 250, including what qualifies as an electrode at 250.52 and grounding electrode conductor sizing at Table 250.66.
  2. Conductor sizing and ampacity. Article 310, the ampacity table at 310.16, the termination temperature rule at 110.14(C) and the small conductor limits at 240.4(D).
  3. Load calculations. Dwelling and commercial loads, which live in Article 220 of the older books and in Article 120 of the 2026 book.
  4. Boxes and fill. Box fill at 314.16, and raceway fill from the Chapter 9 tables.
  5. Motors. Article 430, where conductor sizing, overload and short circuit protection each use a different table.
  6. Overcurrent protection. Article 240, plus transformer protection, which is 450.5 in the 2026 book and 450.3 in the 2023 edition.
  7. Branch circuits and receptacles. Article 210, including GFCI at 210.8, arc fault at 210.12 and dwelling receptacle outlets at 210.52.
  8. Special occupancies and equipment. Pools at Article 680, agricultural buildings at Article 547, fire alarm circuits at Article 760.

Every section number above was read in the 2026 text. The examination is on the 2020 book, so find each rule by subject in your own copy and note the number it carries there.

How much of it you can look up

The papers give different amounts of time per question, and that changes what content preparation means.

Limited, Intermediate and Unlimited give 100 questions in six hours, which is three minutes thirty six seconds each. The 40 question special restricted papers give three hours, which is four and a half minutes each. Swimming Pool Bonding gives 25 questions in one hour, which is under two and a half minutes each.

On the first two you can look up most things if you know where to look. On the pool paper you cannot, so that content has to be closer to known.

How to find your own weak areas

Guessing at your weak areas is the slowest way to find them. Sit something timed and let the score do it.

The free diagnostic runs 24 questions across the main areas and orders them worst first. The timed practice test gives you 30 questions under a clock with the working shown on every miss.

Then take the two worst areas into the topic sets and work them with your own code book open.

Questions people ask

Does the Board publish an exam content outline?

Yes. Its exam preparation guidance points candidates at the Examination Subject Matter Scope inside the Examination Information Handbook and tells them to study from it. Download the handbook and read that section.

Is the NC electrical exam only about the NEC?

No. The reference list also names the licensing law in Chapter 87 Article 4, the Board's rules in 21 NCAC 18B and a business, law and project management guide, all three of them closed book, plus lighting and power plans printed in the handbook for three classifications.

How many questions are on the exam?

One hundred in six hours for Limited, Intermediate and Unlimited. Fifty in three hours for fire alarm and low voltage. Forty in three hours for the other special restricted classifications. Twenty five in one hour for swimming pool bonding.

Are there calculation questions?

The Board's own study advice tells candidates to practice calculations, so plan for arithmetic on the paper. Load calculations, conductor sizing, box fill and motor work are the usual areas.

Do I need to read plans?

Lighting and Power Plans are printed at the back of the handbook for the Limited, Intermediate and Unlimited classifications only, which is a signal that those three papers expect plan reading. You do not bring them, they are supplied.

What is the pass mark?

A minimum grade of 70 out of a possible score of 100. The Board's rules and its examinations page both state it that way.

Put it to the test

Thirty free questions, timed, with the working shown

Every miss comes back with the arithmetic worked out and the code section named, so you learn the trap and not just the answer. No account.

Start the free practice testSee the $79 question bank

All questions here are original. They are not actual exam questions, and no question bank can promise you a pass.

What this page cites

If your book is the other edition

The 2023 to 2026 section crosswalk maps every section that moved, both directions, $29 once.

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.

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