What's on the North Dakota Master Electrician Exam?

What's on the North Dakota Master Electrician Exam?

The North Dakota State Electrical Board's master exam has a 1-hour closed-book part and a 3.5-hour open-book part, and you need 70%. The Board says only that it 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. Our practice exam uses our own 80-question blueprint. A master plans and supervises work and may contract, so it gives load calculations and North Dakota's contracting rules more weight than our journeyman blueprint:

The edition: 2026 from the December 2026 exams

North Dakota adopted the 2026 NEC on July 1, 2026, and the Board's exams move to it with the December 2026 dates. If you test on November 16–17, 2026, expect the 2023 NEC. The 2026 changes hit a master's calculations hardest:

• Load calculations moved from Article 220 to Article 120.
• The dwelling general lighting load is 2 VA per square foot, down from 3 (120.41).
• The optional dwelling calculation takes the first 8 kVA at 100%, down from 10 kVA (120.82(B)).
• EV charging loads are figured under 120.57; transformer overcurrent protection is 450.5, with Table 450.5(B).

North Dakota rules that change a master's answers

• Electric heat at 125%: service and feeder calculations size electric heating loads at 125% of full load (NDAC 24.1-06-02-30). Don't apply the NEC's heating demand treatment to a North Dakota service or feeder.
• Three small-appliance circuits in a dwelling, not two (24.1-06-02-10), which matters in a dwelling load calculation.
• 100-ampere minimum service whenever a one-family dwelling's service is altered or repaired, the house is moved or rewired; replacing the mast or meter enclosure counts as an alteration (24.1-06-02-30).
• No feeder surge protection is required for dwellings, dormitories, hotel guest rooms or nursing-home sleeping rooms (24.1-06-02-15).
• Metal raceway or MC cable in hospitals, nursing homes, patient care areas and places of assembly (24.1-06-03-01).
• Hazardous locations: the owner or a qualified engineer documents the classification; oilfield sites follow API RP 500; grain elevator services need surge arresters (24.1-06-05-01).

Contracting and licensing law

Expect questions on the rules a master runs a business by: who may contract (NDCC 43-09-20), the $500,000 liability insurance minimum, the three master statuses, one shop per license, the three-apprentice supervision limit, wiring certificates for installations of $500 or more, filed before work starts and finalized within 15 days of completion (NDAC 24.1-05-01-01), and inspection fees figured from the job cost (NDAC 24.1-05-01-02).

How to study for the two parts

1. Closed-book hour: theory, definitions, standard calculation steps and North Dakota's licensing rules have to come from memory.
2. Open-book part: work load calculations with the Board's clean 2026 NEC; practice finding Article 120 and the Chapter 9 tables without your own tabs.
3. Learn the North Dakota differences in the booklet: they are where an out-of-state master gets caught.

Practice for the exam

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