Massachusetts Class D Exam Day: Open-Book Rules and the 70% Trap

An open-book exam is not an easy exam. It is a different exam — one that tests whether you can find things quickly under a clock, in books you were smart enough to prepare in advance.

The Massachusetts Class D Systems Technician exam is open-book on both parts, administered by PSI. Here is what the day looks like, what you may and may not carry in, and the specific mistakes that end otherwise-solid attempts.

Where you will sit it

PSI runs the Board's examinations at test centres in Auburn, Boston, Fall River, Lawrence and Springfield. Applications and scheduling moved online on 3 December 2024.

The rule that fails good candidates

The exam is two parts, scored independently, and you need 70% on each:

Part	Questions	Time	Passing mark
Part I	60	120 min	42 correct
Part II	30	60 min	21 correct

There is no combined score. A candidate who scores 54 out of 60 on Part I — a comfortable 90% — and 20 out of 30 on Part II has answered 74 of 90 questions correctly, which feels like a clear pass, and has failed.

Part II is half the length and covers applied skills rather than code lookup, which is exactly why people under-prepare for it. Ten questions of margin on Part I buys you nothing on Part II.

What you may bring

These are the permitted references in the examination centre:

• National Electrical Code (NFPA 70)
• NFPA 72 — National Fire Alarm Code
• 527 CMR 12.00 — Massachusetts Electrical Code, State Amendments to the NEC
• 237 CMR 12.00–23.00 — Board Rules and Regulations
• M.G.L. Chapter 141 — Supervision of Electricians

Tab them before you go. On an exam that gives you roughly two minutes a question and expects you to look things up, the difference between a tabbed NFPA 72 and a clean one is several minutes across the paper — which is several questions.

Build tabs around the blocks the exam actually weights: detection and initiating devices, notification appliances, circuit and power-supply requirements, and Article 760 in the NEC. Tabbing every chapter is the same as tabbing none.

The five books you can be tested on but cannot bring

This is the detail that catches people, and it is worth reading twice.

The Board's bulletin lists a second set of references that questions may be drawn from, and which are not permitted in the examination centre:

• Ugly's Electrical References (2008)
• American Electricians' Handbook (14th edition, 2002)
• Fire Alarm Signaling Systems Handbook (2nd edition, 1994)
• Certified Alarm Technicians Manual, Level 1 (2001)
• Understanding and Servicing Alarm Systems (3rd edition)

So there is material on this exam you cannot look up on the day. Anything sourced from those five has to be in your head when you walk in — which, in practice, means the applied and conceptual content: how systems behave, how you troubleshoot them, what components are called. That is Part II territory, and it is another reason the smaller part deserves more of your preparation than its length suggests.

Which code edition are you being tested on?

The Candidate Information Bulletin names the NEC and NFPA 72 without edition years, while saying code questions come only from the listed edition. The Board's own rule fills the gap: new items may appear seven months from the enforcing date of an adopted code.

Massachusetts adopted the 2026 National Electrical Code effective 24 April 2026. Seven months later is 24 November 2026.

If your exam date is near or after that, ask the Board directly which edition your sitting uses before you buy a codebook or build your tabs. Turning up with the wrong edition of the NEC on an open-book exam is a bad way to discover a transition date.

Budgeting the clock

Two minutes per question on Part I, two minutes on Part II. That is the whole budget, lookups included.

A workable approach:

1. First pass — answer everything you know cold. No book. Most candidates can clear 40–60% of a part this way.
2. Second pass — the lookups. Now you know how many minutes you have per remaining question, because you know how many are left.
3. Third pass — the guesses. Nothing is gained by leaving an item blank.

The failure mode to avoid is answering in strict order and opening a book on question 3. Twenty minutes disappear into four questions, and the clock never recovers.

Practical checklist

• Confirm your test centre and report time the week before — five sites, and they are not close to each other
• Bring the permitted references and nothing else — pack them the night before
• Tab to the exam's weights, not to the whole book
• Know the per-part rule and pace Part II like the independent exam it is
• Confirm the tested code edition with the Board, especially for dates after 24 November 2026

What to do next

The best preparation for a timed open-book exam is timed open-book practice — with the books, doing the lookups, under the clock.

Our Massachusetts Class D practice tests cite the exact section behind every answer, so each session trains the navigation skill the exam is quietly testing as well as the knowledge. Work through them with your tabbed NFPA 72 and NEC open beside you, the way you will sit the real thing.

If you have not started yet, the free 10-question Massachusetts Class D sample test is the quickest way to find out how fast you actually are at finding a requirement under time pressure.

Test-centre locations, permitted references, item counts and passing standards come from the Board of State Examiners of Electricians' PSI Candidate Information Bulletin. Confirm current details with the Board before your exam date.