What's on the California General Electrician Exam? The Four Areas and How to Study Them

What's on the California General Electrician Exam?

The DIR's candidate bulletin publishes the exam outline as four areas and their share of the 100 questions. Two-thirds of the exam is one area, which tells you where to spend your time.

The outline

The bulletin adds that questions may also draw on trade knowledge and general industry practice. There is no separate calculations portion — calculations sit inside the areas they serve, mostly in Determination of Electrical System Requirements.

The references

These are on screen during the exam, as searchable PDFs:

• NFPA 70, National Electrical Code — 2023 edition. California's 2025 Electrical Code is based on it, and the exam has used it since June 1, 2026. Before that, the exams used the 2020 NEC.
• NFPA 70E — 2024 edition, the standard for electrical safety in the workplace.
• Cal/OSHA Pocket Guide for the Construction Industry (2022 update).

What each area means in the code

Installation (66 questions) is most of the NEC: branch circuits and GFCI/AFCI protection (Article 210), services and feeders (225, 230), grounding and bonding (250), wiring methods, cables and raceways (300–392), boxes and panelboards (312, 314, 408), switches, receptacles and luminaires (404–411), motors, A/C and generators (430, 440, 445), special occupancies such as hazardous locations and health care (500–517), and special systems — signs, EV charging, pools, PV, emergency systems, limited-energy and fire alarm circuits.

Determination of Electrical System Requirements (22 questions) is where the calculations live: load calculations (Article 220), conductor ampacity and sizing (310), overcurrent protection (240), grounding and bonding conductor sizes (250.66, 250.122), and motor, A/C and transformer circuits.

Safety (6 questions) comes from NFPA 70E — establishing an electrically safe work condition, lockout/tagout, shock and arc-flash protection — and the NEC's working-space and arc-flash marking rules.

Maintenance and Repair (6 questions) draws on NFPA 70E's maintenance chapter and NEC rules on testing, marking and reconditioned equipment.

Watch the 2020 → 2023 changes

Prep written for the 2020 NEC cites tables that have since moved:

• Non-dwelling lighting unit loads: Table 220.12 → Table 220.42(A)
• Lighting load demand factors: Table 220.42 → Table 220.45
• Non-dwelling receptacle demand: Table 220.44 → Table 220.47
• EV charging load in a load calculation: new 220.57 — 7,200 VA or the nameplate, whichever is larger
• Class 1 remote-control and signaling circuits: Article 725 → Article 724

The dwelling general lighting load is 3 VA per ft² in the 2023 NEC (220.41). Material written for the 2026 NEC teaches 2 VA per ft² — right for Texas, wrong for California.

A study plan built on the weights

1. Spend two-thirds of your time on Installation. It is 66 of the 100 questions. Work through Articles 210, 250 and 300 first; they are the most heavily used.
2. Drill the calculations in Determination. Dwelling and commercial loads, conductor sizing with correction and adjustment, motor branch circuits, and box and conduit fill come up again and again.
3. Practice searching the NEC as a PDF. The references are on screen with a search box, not in a book you have tabbed. Knowing the words to search for is a skill — practice it.
4. Do not skip Safety and Maintenance. Twelve questions together, mostly from NFPA 70E, and quick points if you have read it.
5. Take a timed, full-length practice exam. 100 questions in 4 hours 30 minutes is 2.7 minutes each — plenty, if you do not get stuck.

Our free practice test gives you 10 questions weighted like the real outline and scores each area. The full exam prep has a full-length practice exam on the 2023 NEC, with every calculation worked out step by step and every answer cited to the code.