What's on the Iowa Journeyman Electrician Exam? 7 Areas, 80 Items, 2023 NEC
The PSI outline for the Iowa journeyman electrician exam: seven areas published as percentages (they add to 101%), the item counts they imply, why there is no Communication Systems area, the unamended 2023 NEC and Iowa's HF 2800 changes, and a study plan.
Contents
What's on the Iowa Journeyman Electrician Exam?
The Iowa journeyman exam has 80 scored items, and you need 70% to pass. PSI's candidate bulletin breaks it into seven content areas, but it publishes percentages only, not item counts.
The outline (80 items)
| Area | Published % | Items (our inference) |
|---|---|---|
| General Electrical Knowledge | 13 | 10 |
| Wiring and Protection | 25 | 20 |
| Wiring Methods and Materials | 19 | 15 |
| Equipment for General Use | 19 | 15 |
| Special Occupancies | 13 | 10 |
| Special Equipment | 6 | 5 |
| Special Conditions | 6 | 5 |
About those item counts. The published percentages add up to 101%; the bulletin notes that percentages may not total 100 because of rounding. Multiplying them by 80 gives fractions (13% of 80 is 10.4). The counts above are our inference: 10, 20, 15, 15, 10, 5 and 5 items out of 80 round to exactly the published percentages (12.5% to 13, 18.75% to 19, 6.25% to 6), so they are very likely the real numbers. But PSI does not publish them.
You also get 8 unscored pretest items, with 30 extra minutes for them.
No Communication Systems area
The master, master residential and residential exams all have a 5% Communication Systems area (NEC Chapter 8). The journeyman exam does not. Chapter 8 can still come up incidentally, but it is not a scored area of its own, so it should be the last thing you study.
No law section
There is no Iowa law or rules area. Every scored item is the NEC or electrical knowledge.
Where the weight is
- Wiring and Protection is a quarter of the exam (20 items). The area name is the title of NEC Chapter 2: branch circuits, feeders, load calculations, services, overcurrent protection, and grounding and bonding.
- Chapters 3 and 4 add 30 more. Wiring Methods and Materials (15) is raceways, cables, boxes and conductor ampacity; Equipment for General Use (15) is cords, receptacles, luminaires, motors, transformers and the rest of Chapter 4.
- Special Occupancies is 10 items, proportionally more than on the master exam (13% against 10%). Hazardous locations, health care, assembly and similar occupancies deserve real time.
- General Electrical Knowledge (10) is not defined in the bulletin. Iowa law bases the exams on the NEC and on electrical theory, so expect Ohm's law, power and basic calculations alongside Chapter 1 definitions.
The bulletin gives no NEC article ranges for any area. Matching area names to NEC chapter titles is the natural way to study, but it is our reading.
Which code: the 2023 NEC, as printed
The exam is on NFPA 70, the 2023 NEC, and the only book allowed is the 2023 NEC or the 2023 NEC Handbook. PSI has tested the 2023 edition since January 1, 2024.
In the field, Iowa has changed some of those rules. HF 2800, in effect since June 2, 2026, adopted the 2023 NEC in state law with Iowa changes: it drops 210.52(C)(3), 230.67 and 406.4(D)(4); rewrites parts of the 210.8(A) GFCI list (basements limited to unfinished, non-habitable areas, for example) and removes GFCI for sump-pump and refrigerator receptacles; removes the 210.12(B) AFCI requirement for one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses; and changes island and peninsula receptacles, paddle-fan boxes, receptacles near tubs and showers, and garage floor area in 220.5(C).
None of that is in the exam bulletin. PSI names only the 2023 NEC. On the exam, the printed 2023 rule is the answer, even where Iowa installation law now differs. That matters most on GFCI and AFCI questions, which are favorite journeyman topics.
The Board has also proposed moving to the 2026 NEC (ARC 0549D). It is not adopted yet, and no exam switch date has been announced.
A study plan built on the weights
- Chapter 2 first. Twenty items. Know where branch-circuit, feeder, service, overcurrent and grounding rules live, and practice Article 220 load calculations.
- Chapters 3 and 4. Thirty items. Table 310.16 and its adjustment and correction factors, box and raceway fill with the Chapter 9 tables, and motor basics in Article 430.
- Special Occupancies (10) and General Electrical Knowledge (10) next.
- Chapters 6 and 7 last among the scored areas, 10 items between them.
- Prepare your 2023 NEC: highlight, underline and add permanent tabs before exam day. No writing in the book.
- Sit a timed, full-length exam. 88 items in 210 minutes is about 2.4 minutes each.
Our free practice test gives you a feel for the questions on the 2023 NEC. The full Iowa journeyman exam prep has full-length practice exams weighted to this outline, with every answer explained. See also Iowa journeyman requirements and Iowa journeyman exam day.
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