What's on the North Dakota Journeyman Electrician Exam?

What's on the North Dakota Journeyman Electrician Exam?

The North Dakota State Electrical Board writes its own journeyman exam. It has a 1-hour closed-book part and a 3.5-hour open-book part, and you need 70%. The Board's only statement of scope is that the exam covers "fundamental electricity, Laws, Rules, and Wiring Standards of North Dakota and the current edition of the National Electrical Code."

No official outline

The Board publishes no content outline and no question count. Prep providers often quote 80 questions, but that is not an official number. Our practice exam uses our own 80-question blueprint, weighted by NEC chapter like comparable state exams, with theory, calculations and a North Dakota law area added. Use it as a study guide, not as the real split:

The edition: 2026 from the December 2026 exams

North Dakota adopted the 2026 NEC on July 1, 2026. The Board's exam page says the exams held in December 2026 are the first based on the 2026 NEC and the 2026 North Dakota booklet. If you test on November 16–17, 2026, expect the 2023 NEC and the 2023 booklet. Material written for 2023 numbers several rules differently:

• Load calculations moved from Article 220 to Article 120, and the dwelling general lighting load dropped from 3 to 2 VA per square foot (120.41).
• The optional dwelling calculation takes the first 8 kVA at 100%, not 10 kVA (120.82(B)).
• Underground installations moved from 300.5 to 300.7; transformer overcurrent protection from 450.3 to 450.5.
• The box-fill table is now Table 314.16(B)(4) and the motor branch-circuit protection table Table 430.52(C)(1).

North Dakota's own rules

The exam also covers North Dakota's laws, rules and wiring standards: NDCC chapter 43-09 and the Board's rules in NDAC title 24.1. Expect licensing questions (who must be licensed, apprentice supervision, the three-apprentice limit, renewal and continuing education, wiring certificates). The Electrical Wiring Standards (NDAC 24.1-06) change NEC answers in places a journeyman meets every week:

• Three 20-ampere small-appliance circuits in a dwelling kitchen, pantry, dining room and breakfast room, not two (24.1-06-02-10).
• One 20-ampere bathroom receptacle circuit may serve no more than two bathrooms (24.1-06-02-10).
• A labeled single receptacle on an individual circuit for a refrigerator needs no AFCI, and no GFCI unless it is within 6 feet of a sink or in a garage; furnaces used as the main heat need no AFCI (24.1-06-02-10).
• Sump and sewer pump and garage-door opener receptacles may be a single receptacle instead of GFCI protected (24.1-06-02-10).
• No feeder surge protection is required for dwelling units, dormitories, hotel guest rooms or nursing-home sleeping rooms (24.1-06-02-15).
• Service masts at least 2-inch rigid or IMC; a single service location in a one-family dwelling; a 100-ampere minimum whenever a dwelling service is altered (24.1-06-02-30).
• Panelboards not in bathrooms, closets, stairways or crawl spaces, and not within 6 feet of plumbing fixtures (24.1-06-02-40).
• A bonding jumper around flexible conduit at motor connections unless a separate grounding conductor is run; the grounding electrode conductor connects in the service-disconnect enclosure (24.1-06-02-50).
• No EMT in concrete below grade or in contact with the earth, no aluminum conduit in earth or concrete, and metal raceway or MC cable in hospitals, nursing homes and places of assembly (24.1-06-03-01).
• Voltage drop of no more than 5% at the farthest outlet, and aluminum conductors smaller than 6 AWG only for Class 2 and 3 circuits (24.1-06-01-10).

Our question pool leaves out reused NEC questions whose answer North Dakota changes.

How to study for the two parts

1. Closed-book hour: theory (Ohm's law, power, series and parallel circuits), definitions and everyday rules have to come from memory. Answer practice questions before you open the book, and use the area scores to find the gaps.
2. Open-book part: the Board hands you the book, so there are no tabs of your own. Learn where things sit in the 2026 NEC's index and chapter layout, and in the North Dakota booklet.
3. Know the North Dakota differences cold. They are the questions an out-of-state study guide gets wrong.

Practice for the exam

Our North Dakota Journeyman practice test follows the blueprint above on the 2026 NEC. For eligibility and fees, see the journeyman license requirements.