What's on the Iowa Residential Master Electrician Exam? 8 Areas, 60 Items

What's on the Iowa Residential Master Electrician Exam?

The Iowa Residential Master exam (PSI calls it Master Residential Electrician) has 60 scored items and a 70% pass mark. PSI's candidate bulletin lists eight content areas with a percentage for each. It does not publish item counts, but at 60 items every percentage works out to a whole number, so the counts below are simple arithmetic.

The outline (60 items)

There are also 6 unscored pretest items, with 15 extra minutes.

The bulletin gives no NEC article ranges. The area names are the titles of NEC Chapters 2 through 8, which is how we suggest studying them, but that mapping is our reading.

How it differs from the master exam

The two exams share area names, but the weights tell you what each license is for:

• Wiring Methods and Materials is 25%, against 20% on the master exam. Cable wiring, boxes, raceways and conductor sizing are the daily work of a dwelling.
• Special Occupancies drops to 5%, half the master weight. Hazardous locations and health care facilities are a small part of this exam.
• No law section, the same as every Iowa electrical exam.

Where the weight is

• Chapters 2 and 3 are half the exam: 30 of 60 items.
• Wiring and Protection (15) for a residential master means dwelling branch circuits and required receptacle outlets (210.11, 210.52), GFCI and AFCI protection (210.8, 210.12), dwelling load calculations under Article 220 (including the 3 VA per square foot general lighting load in 220.41), services and their sizing, and grounding and bonding under Article 250.
• Wiring Methods and Materials (15) is nonmetallic-sheathed cable (Article 334), box fill (314.16), raceways and Table 310.16 ampacity.
• Equipment for General Use (12) covers receptacles and switches (Article 406 and 404), luminaires, appliances, and the space-heating and air-conditioning equipment found in houses.
• General Electrical Knowledge (6) is not defined in the bulletin; Iowa law bases the exams on the NEC and electrical theory, so expect basic theory and calculations.
• Chapters 5 to 8 share 12 items, three each. Swimming pools (Article 680) is the Special Equipment topic most likely to touch a residential job.

The code: 2023 NEC as printed, not Iowa's 2026 version

Residential candidates need to read this section carefully, because Iowa's recent changes land almost entirely on dwellings.

The exam is on the 2023 NEC. The only book allowed is NFPA 70-2023 or the 2023 NEC Handbook, and PSI has tested this edition since January 1, 2024.

Iowa's installation code has moved on. HF 2800, effective June 2, 2026, put the 2023 NEC into state law with changes including:

• AFCI: the 210.12(B) requirement is removed for one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses.
• GFCI: 210.8(A) is modified (kitchen 125 to 250 volt receptacles; basements limited to unfinished, non-habitable areas), and sump-pump and refrigerator receptacles need no GFCI.
• Excluded sections: 210.52(C)(3), 230.67 (surge protection for dwelling services) and 406.4(D)(4).
• Other changes: island and peninsula receptacles under 210.52(C)(2), paddle-fan boxes under 314.27, receptacles near tubs and showers under 406.9(C), and garages excluded from floor area in 220.5(C).

The PSI bulletin does not mention any of it. It names only the 2023 NEC. So when a question asks whether a dwelling bedroom circuit needs AFCI protection, or whether a dwelling service needs a surge protective device, answer from the 2023 NEC as printed, not from Iowa's amended version. Know both: one for the exam, one for the job.

A further change to the 2026 NEC has been proposed (ARC 0549D) but not adopted, and no date has been announced for the exam to switch.

A study plan built on the weights

1. Chapter 2, dwelling-first. Fifteen items. Required outlets, GFCI and AFCI as written in the 2023 NEC, and a full single-family dwelling load calculation done by hand more than once.
2. Chapter 3. Fifteen items. Article 334, box fill and ampacity tables.
3. Chapter 4. Twelve items. Receptacles, luminaires, appliances and HVAC equipment.
4. Theory and Chapters 5 to 8, 18 items in all, in proportion.
5. Prepare your 2023 NEC: highlight, underline and add permanent tabs before exam day. No writing in the book.
6. Practice under time. 66 items in 195 minutes is close to 3 minutes each, so you have room to look things up, but only if your tabs are good.

Our free practice test gives you a feel for the questions on the 2023 NEC. The full Iowa residential master exam prep has full-length practice exams weighted to this outline, with every answer explained. See also Iowa residential master requirements and exam day.