Chicago Supervising Electrician Exam Day: What to Expect

Chicago Supervising Electrician Exam Day: What to Expect

Chicago's Supervising Electrician (General) exam is 150 questions in 4 hours, given on paper by Continental Testing Services (CTS) in Chicago, and you need 70. It is not a computer test at a testing center, so the day runs differently from PSI or Pearson VUE exams. Here is what to expect, from CTS's study guide and the Department of Buildings.

What to bring

• Two sharpened No. 2 pencils. Answers go on a paper answer sheet; no other writing tools are allowed.
• A calculator: non-programmable and non-printing, solar or battery powered. There is no power at the test site.
• A clean, printed copy of the 2018 Chicago Electrical Code. This is NFPA's book of the 2017 NEC with Chicago's Title 14E amendments.
• Your admission details and photo ID as CTS instructs when you register.

The book rules

• Tabs are allowed to mark sections of the code.
• Notes, highlighting and other changes are not. A marked-up book will not be allowed in.
• No other books or materials may be used. The American Electrician's Handbook and OSHA 1926 are study references only.
• CTS hands you the city-law handout, "Selected Provisions of Titles 2, 4 and 13," a clean copy for use during the test. You do not bring your own.

Tab the book before exam day by article, and add tabs where Chicago's Title 14E changes the rules you use most: Article 100 definitions, 210, 250, the 300s wiring methods Chicago restricts, Article 560 (Chicago's residential occupancies article) and Article 700 (Chicago's own emergency systems article).

Pacing

150 questions in 240 minutes is about 1.6 minutes per question. A practical plan:

1. First pass: answer what you know or can find in under a minute through the index or a tab. Mark the rest in the test booklet.
2. Second pass: work the marked questions, including the calculations in the principles part.
3. Last 15 minutes: check that every answer you chose is marked on the answer sheet.

Read every question twice

Most questions are keyed to the 2018 book by section number, but CTS's bank still holds some older items with legacy wording or article numbers. If a question names a section that is not where it says, look the subject up in the index. Watch for questions where Chicago's rule differs from the national NEC: the answer follows the Chicago text in your book.

Missing the exam

There are no make-up exams and no refunds. If you cannot attend, register for the next date; CTS gives the exam about three times a year.

After the exam

• Pass (70 or higher): CTS sends a pass notice and an application for licensure. You then pay the $150 license fee to the Department of Buildings.
• Fail: CTS sends a failure notice and an application for re-examination. You must wait six months before applying to retake it, and each attempt costs the $150 exam fee.

Get ready

Try our free, untimed Chicago Supervising Electrician sample test to practice finding answers in the 2018 Chicago Electrical Code. Subscribers can also sit full-length practice exams in Timed Exam mode to rehearse the 4-hour pace. See what is on the exam and the requirements.