Oklahoma Residential Electrical Contractor Exam Day: PSI, Two Portions, and 80 Questions in 3½ Hours
What to expect on the Oklahoma residential electrical contractor exam with PSI: booking the trade and Business and Law portions, the three books and how you may mark them, the calculator rule, 210 minutes, the 56-of-80 pass mark, 30-day retakes and the three-year window.
Contents
Oklahoma Residential Electrical Contractor Exam Day: What to Expect
PSI gives the Oklahoma electrical exams for the Construction Industries Board (CIB). CIB approves your contractor application; PSI schedules you and runs the test center. For the residential contractor license you pass two portions: the residential trade exam covered here, and the Electrical Business and Law exam.
Scheduling
Schedule online at test-takers.psiexams.com/okcontractors or by phone at (855) 834-8750. Online, you create a PSI account with the Ok Con ID number CIB gave you, find the exam you are approved for already selected, enter a zip code, pick a test center and date, and pay. You get an email confirmation.
- $92 per portion, so $184 for the trade exam and Business and Law. The fee is charged for every registration, first attempt or retake, and it is not refundable or transferable.
- Phone registration needs a credit card. Registrars take calls Monday through Friday, 6:30 am to 9:00 pm, and weekends, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, Central Time.
- ADA candidates must schedule by phone.
- PSI has test centers in Oklahoma and in many other states, and you can test at any of them.
Arriving
Arrive at least 30 minutes early. A late arrival may be turned away and lose the fee. Bring one valid, unexpired ID with your photo and signature, such as a driver's license or passport, in the same legal name you registered under.
Phones, watches, bags, coats and jackets, hats, pens and pencils go into storage. Nobody who came with you may wait in the building or on the property.
Three books, open book
Bring your own copies of:
- NFPA 70, National Electrical Code, 2023 edition, as revised and adopted by the Oklahoma Uniform Building Code Commission. No NEC Handbooks and no spiral-bound NEC copies.
- 29 CFR Part 1926 (OSHA), with the latest amendments: the osha.gov version, a Mancomm hard copy, or PSI's selections from it.
- Ugly's Electrical References, any edition.
The International Residential Code is not on the list. Answer by the NEC, even on dwelling questions.
Your NFPA 70 will not show Oklahoma's two amendments, so know them before you go: listed HVAC equipment stays exempt from the outdoor-outlet GFCI rule in 210.8(F), and a dwelling gas furnace may be cord-and-plug connected on a cord up to 9 feet under 422.16(B)(5).
How you may prepare your books:
- Highlighting, underlining and permanent tabs are allowed.
- Post-it tabs are not, and must come off before the exam starts.
- Writing in the books is not allowed, before or during the exam. Books written in during the exam are confiscated and reported.
- No loose papers. Anything extra is removed. A reference downloaded from the internet must be spiral-bound, hole-punched in a binder, or stapled in the left-hand corner.
Calculator
A silent, battery-operated, non-programmable calculator with no paper-tape printing and no alphabet keyboard. A magnifying glass is available on request.
The clock
80 scored questions in 210 minutes (3½ hours), plus up to 10 unscored experimental questions whose time does not count against you. You will not know which ones they are.
A tutorial of up to 15 minutes comes first and is not counted in your exam time. Questions appear one per screen, the minutes remaining show at the top, and you can go back and change answers until time runs out. You may leave only for the restroom, with the proctor's permission, and you get no extra time.
Pacing
That is about 2.6 minutes per scored question.
- Theory is 12 items, the largest area. Work it from what you know and from Ugly's.
- Tab the dwelling articles you will reach for most: 210, 220, 230, 240, 250, 314, 334 and 680.
- Don't let one lookup eat your time. Give your best answer and come back if time allows.
- Answer every question. A blank is always wrong.
- Check the clock at the halfway mark: about 40 done at 1 hour 45 minutes.
Scoring
You need 70%, which is 56 of 80. Your score appears on screen when you finish. A failing candidate gets a diagnostic report showing strengths and weaknesses. If a question looks wrong, use the Comments link on the question screen; it is the only review of the exam PSI offers.
If you do not pass
You can retake after 30 days, and again at least 30 days after each later failure. No attempt limit is stated, and each retake is another $92.
Watch the three-year window. A passed portion counts for three years from the date CIB approved you to test. Pass the trade exam and Business and Law within that window, or you retake both. CIB does not publish pass rates.
After you pass both
CIB issues an active license once your $5,000 bond, $50,000 liability certificate and workers' compensation proof are on file, or an inactive one until they are. Oklahoma Residential Electrical Contractor requirements covers the fees and paperwork.
Before you go
Work through practice questions with your own books open. Our free practice test gives you a feel for the questions on the 2023 NEC, and the full exam prep has full-length practice exams weighted to the PSI outline, with every answer explained. For what each area covers, see what is on the exam.
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