What's on the Oklahoma Residential Journeyman Electrician Exam? All 12 Areas and How to Study Them
The PSI outline for the Oklahoma residential journeyman exam: 80 items across 12 areas on the 2023 NEC as adopted by the OUBCC, no motors and transformers area, the Oklahoma amendments that change answers and a study plan built on the weights.
Contents
What's on the Oklahoma Residential Journeyman Electrician Exam?
The PSI candidate bulletin for the Oklahoma Construction Industries Board publishes the Residential Electrical Journeyman outline as 12 areas with the number of scored items in each. It is 80 scored items, and you need 56 (70%) to pass.
The outline (80 items)
| Area | Items |
|---|---|
| General Knowledge | 4 |
| General Electrical Knowledge | 12 |
| Electrical Installation Requirements | 10 |
| Services, Feeders, and Branch Circuits | 10 |
| Overcurrent Protection | 8 |
| Grounding and Bonding | 8 |
| Conductors and Cables | 8 |
| Raceways and Boxes | 6 |
| Special Occupancies and Equipment (Including Swimming Pools) | 4 |
| Low Voltage, Alarms, Signaling Systems, and Communications | 2 |
| Lighting and Signs | 4 |
| Safety (29 CFR 1926) | 4 |
| Total | 80 |
These counts are PSI's own. The bulletin lists subtopics under each area but no counts for subtopics and no NEC article numbers. Up to 10 unscored experimental questions are added on top.
How it differs from the unlimited exam
- No Motors and Transformers area. The unlimited exam has 6 items on it; the residential exam has none.
- Theory is the biggest area: 12 items, 15% of the exam. Series, parallel and combination circuits, power and heat lost, single- and three-phase AC theory, cost of power, and troubleshooting, plus NEC definitions, temporary wiring, and elevators and escalators. Cranes and hoists are dropped.
- Special Occupancies shrinks to 4 items and only two subtopics: mobile homes, mobile home parks, RVs and RV parks, and wiring for swimming pools, fountains and hot tubs. No hazardous locations, no health care.
- Lighting and Signs is 4 items and has no neon or sign subtopic. It is fixtures: installation, grounding, wiring, recessed fixtures and systems under 30 volts.
The middle of the exam is the same Code ground as the unlimited exam: installation requirements (10), services, feeders and branch circuits (10), overcurrent protection (8), grounding and bonding (8) and conductors and cables (8). Together those five are 44 of 80 items, more than half the exam.
On the 2023 NEC, as amended in Oklahoma
The exam tests NFPA 70, 2023 edition, "as revised and adopted by the Oklahoma Uniform Building Code Commission" (OUBCC). Exam questions moved to the 2023 NEC on December 14, 2024, and no switch to the 2026 NEC has been announced.
The bulletin says a state-specific code overrides the national one where they conflict. Oklahoma's two changes to Code text both land in dwellings:
- 210.8(F) outdoor outlets: the exception that says GFCI is not required for listed HVAC equipment is kept with no expiration date. In the national 2023 NEC it expired September 1, 2026; in Oklahoma it is permanent.
- 422.16(B)(5), added: a gas-fired central furnace supplying a dwelling unit may be cord-and-plug connected with a grounding-type plug, enough ampacity and protection from damage, on a cord no longer than 9 feet.
None of the NEC's informative annexes is adopted in Oklahoma, though they are still printed in your book.
The NEC, not the IRC
Oklahoma regulates home wiring through the electrical chapters of the International Residential Code, as amended, and the 2024 IRC took effect there on September 14, 2026. But the IRC is not on the exam's reference list. The exam is written to the NEC.
That matters where the two disagree. Oklahoma's IRC strikes the outdoor emergency disconnect (E3601.8), but NEC 230.85 is not amended, so it still applies on the exam. Oklahoma's IRC also exempts garage refrigerators and freezers from GFCI; Oklahoma's NEC 210.8(F) does not. Answer by the NEC.
A study plan built on the weights
- Theory first. Twelve items. Ugly's Electrical References (any edition is allowed) has the formulas; work Ohm's law, series and parallel circuits, power and cost-of-power problems until they are quick.
- Services, feeders and branch circuits, and installation requirements (20 combined). Articles 110, 210, 215, 220, 225, 230 and 300, plus dwelling load calculations.
- Overcurrent protection, grounding and bonding, and conductors and cables (24 combined). Articles 240, 250, 310 and the cable articles, especially NM, SE/USE and UF.
- Raceways and boxes (6). Conduit fill and box fill with Chapter 9 and Article 314.
- Pools, mobile homes and RVs, lighting, and safety (12 combined). Article 680, Articles 550 to 552, Article 410, and 29 CFR 1926.
- Learn the two Oklahoma amendments. Both are dwelling rules.
- Sit a timed, full-length exam. 80 questions in 3½ hours is about 2.6 minutes each.
Our free practice test gives you a feel for the questions on the 2023 NEC. The full exam prep has full-length practice exams weighted to this outline, with every answer explained. For the day itself, see Oklahoma Residential Journeyman exam day.
Ready to pass Oklahoma Residential Journeyman Electrician?
Start your prep with unlimited practice tests and codebook-referenced answers.
Start Studying →
