What's on the Minnesota Power Limited Technician Exam? Topics, the 2026 Table Moves, and a Study Plan
The Minnesota PLT exam covers far more than low voltage: DLI's knowledge areas, our 80-question blueprint, where the 2026 NEC moved the limited-energy tables, and how to study for an untabbed code book.
Contents
What's on the Minnesota Power Limited Technician Exam?
The PLT exam is 80 questions in 5½ hours, every question worth the same, and you need 70%. It is on the 2026 NEC, in effect in Minnesota since August 17, 2026.
DLI's knowledge areas
DLI's examination guide lists the knowledge areas each license is tested on. For the power limited technician, that list is broader than most candidates expect. Alongside the limited-energy articles, it includes:
- Articles 90, 100 and 110 — definitions, listing, mechanical execution of work, working space,
- grounding and bonding, including electrodes and equipment grounding conductors,
- Chapter 3 wiring methods — securing and supporting, spread of fire, plenums, boxes, cable trays,
- hazardous (classified) locations,
- special occupancies — health care, places of assembly, pools, information technology equipment rooms,
- emergency, standby and power production systems, energy storage and critical operations power,
- theory — Ohm's and Watt's law, voltage drop, series and parallel circuits, transformers.
Services, feeders, load calculations and motors are not on the list.
Our blueprint
DLI does not publish how many questions come from each area, so our practice exam uses our own 80-question blueprint, weighted toward the limited-energy articles:
| Area | Questions |
|---|---|
| Class 1, 2, 3 and 4 circuits and limited-energy wiring (Articles 722–726) | 12 |
| Wiring methods, boxes and cable trays | 10 |
| Fire alarm systems (Article 760) | 8 |
| Communications, antenna, CATV and broadband (Articles 800–840) | 8 |
| General (Articles 90, 100, 110) | 6 |
| Grounding and bonding | 6 |
| Theory and calculations | 6 |
| Hazardous locations | 5 |
| Special occupancies and ITE rooms | 5 |
| Emergency, standby and power production | 4 |
| Low-voltage lighting and equipment | 3 |
| Optical fiber (Article 770) | 3 |
| Overcurrent protection of small conductors | 2 |
| Minnesota laws and rules | 2 |
The 2026 NEC moved the tables you use most
The 2026 edition gathered the limited-energy cable and raceway tables into Articles 722 and 723. Study guides written for the 2023 NEC send you to tables that are no longer there:
| Table | 2023 NEC | 2026 NEC (your exam) |
|---|---|---|
| Applications of Class 2, Class 3 and PLTC cables | 722.135(B) | 722.120 |
| Permitted cable substitutions | 722.135(E) | 722.122 |
| Applications of PLFA cables | 760.154 | 722.170 |
| Applications of communications wires and cables | 800.154(a) | 722.130 |
| Communications raceways; cable routing assemblies | 800.154(b), (c) | 723.20, 723.30 |
| Ampacity of 4-pair Class 2 and 3 cables (PoE) | 725.144 | 722.140(B)(2) |
The Class 2 and Class 3 power source limits are still in Chapter 9, Tables 11(A) and 11(B), and the PLFA limits in Tables 12(A) and 12(B).
A study plan for an untabbed code book
DLI hands you a soft-cover NEC without tabs, so the skill being tested is finding a rule through the index and the article structure, fast.
- Learn Article 722's layout. The cable application, substitution and ampacity tables now all live there. Know them cold.
- Then Article 760 and Chapter 8. Sixteen of our 80 questions: power-limited and non-power-limited fire alarm circuits, communications, antennas and broadband.
- Don't skip the general code. Grounding, Chapter 3 and Articles 90–110 together carry 22 questions in our blueprint — more than the low-voltage core alone.
- Theory every week. Ohm's law and voltage drop with a basic calculator, the kind DLI supplies.
- Practice index lookups against the clock, without your own tabs. 5½ hours for 80 questions is about 4 minutes each.
Our free practice test gives you 10 questions on the 2026 NEC. The full exam prep has a timed 80-question practice exam on our blueprint, with every answer citing its 2026 section. For the day itself, see Minnesota PLT exam day.
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