Arkansas Master Electrician License: Requirements, Fees, and Reciprocity

Arkansas Master Electrician License: Requirements and the Exam

Arkansas master electrician licenses are issued by the Board of Electrical Examiners, part of the Department of Labor and Licensing (ADLL). The Board's page is Electrical Inspection and Licensing, and Prov gives the exam. Here is what it takes.

Experience

The Board's rules (17 CAR 210-404(d)) accept any one of:

• an electrical engineering degree plus 2 years of construction experience;
• 6 years in construction, residential and commercial, including 2 years as a licensed journeyman;
• a combination the Board approves as equivalent.

The Board's Employment Verification form describes the threshold in hours instead: a completed USDOL apprenticeship plus 12,000 hours of qualifying on-the-job training, or 16,000 hours of qualifying on-the-job training in an outside state jurisdiction. The two documents do not line up exactly, so confirm with the Board which one it will apply to your history.

The EE degree route is the only education credit the rules publish. Any other credit for schooling is not stated.

Rules for every class:

• No more than 2,000 hours a year are credited, and overtime does not count.
• Verification letters must be dated within 6 months of applying.
• Unlicensed work done in violation of state law does not count.

Applying

1. Apply through the Board's online licensing portal and attach the notarized Employment Verification form.
2. Applications must reach the Board 5 business days before a Board meeting. The Board then publishes its list of approved applicants.
3. Schedule with Prov. Approval is good for 183 days.

Fees

Fee	Amount
Exam (paid to Prov)	$80
Master license	$50
Annual renewal	$50

We found no separate application fee.

The exam

Item	Master exam
Vendor	Prov
Questions	60
Time	180 minutes
Passing score	70%
Reference	NFPA 70, 2023 edition (open book)

It is the same length and time as the journeyman exam, but the weights are different: grounding and services carry far more, and calculations carry less. There is no business, law or contractor section; Arkansas has no separate electrical contractor exam under this Board. What is on the exam has the full outline.

Which code?

The exam is written from the 2023 NEC. Arkansas does not enforce that edition: the Board's earlier rules adopted the 2020 NEC, and the current rules adopt the 2026 NEC with Arkansas amendments. That update went to a public hearing in April 2026, and we have not found a published effective date. Prov has not announced when the exam will move to 2026. For now, study the 2023.

Once you pass, obtain the license within 6 months after the end of the month you tested, or retest.

Renewal and CE

• Licenses renew every year and expire on the last day of the month, one year after issue.
• Late renewal within 36 months: a year's renewal plus $10 a month. After 36 months: a $1,000 penalty and a retest.
• Continuing education: 8 hours per NEC code cycle, completed in the first year of each new cycle, before renewing. Courses must be Board-approved; hours are tracked through StateReporting.com.

Reciprocity

This is where the Board's own page is unclear.

• The master reciprocity table lists Iowa, Oregon and Texas.
• The text under the same table says a master license from the list "can only be reciprocated with a Journeyman's license except for Oregon and North Dakota."

Read together, a master license from most reciprocal states may get you an Arkansas journeyman license, not a master. The two statements do not agree on which states are the exception, so call the Board before you rely on either.

Only original licenses qualify: "You cannot reciprocate a reciprocated license."

Getting ready

Try our free practice test on the 2023 NEC, or see the full Arkansas Master Electrician exam prep. For logistics, see Arkansas Master Electrician exam day.