What's on the Rhode Island Journeyperson Electrician (Certificate B) Exam?

What's on the Rhode Island Journeyperson Electrician (Certificate B) Exam?

Rhode Island's Department of Labor and Training (DLT) writes and gives its own journeyperson exam for Certificate B, the license most electricians call Class B. It is a written exam of 80 questions in 4 hours on the 2023 NEC, closed book by rule unless the Board permits otherwise, and you need 70%. DLT's study list for electricians names just two things: the "Current National Electrical Code Book – Latest State Approved Edition" and "General Trade Knowledge."

No official outline

The exam is 80 questions in 4 hours, but DLT publishes no content outline or area weights. Our practice exam matches that format, and its area counts are our own blueprint, weighted by NEC chapter like comparable state exams, with electrical theory and calculations standing in for "general trade knowledge." Use it as a study guide, not as the real split:

The edition: 2023 NEC

The Board's rules base the exam on the NEC edition the state has adopted "at the time of the examination." The Rhode Island Electrical Code (510-RICR-00-00-5) moved from the 2020 to the 2023 NEC on December 1, 2025, and no move to the 2026 edition has been announced. If you studied from 2020 material, these moved in 2023:

• Non-dwelling general lighting loads are now Table 220.42(A) (was Table 220.12), and the lighting demand factors Table 220.45 (was 220.42).
• EV charging loads enter a load calculation at 7,200 VA or the nameplate, whichever is larger (220.57).
• Class 1 remote-control and signaling circuits moved to Article 724, with general rules in Article 722.

What Rhode Island changes

Rhode Island adopts the 2023 NEC with only a handful of changes, all in Article 90 and Chapter 2:

• 90.6 (formal interpretations) is deleted, and a new 90.10 reads references to the I-codes as Rhode Island's own building, residential, fire safety and energy codes.
• 210.25(B) keeps the national rule against feeding common-area circuits from a dwelling unit's equipment, but lets common-area smoke and CO alarm circuits in an existing three-family dwelling stay on a unit's panel, until the service is upgraded or a meter is added.
• 230.24(A) Exception No. 5 (3 ft clearance above a guarded roof) is deleted.
• 230.82 is rewritten: the supply-side equipment list, and a meter disconnect with its own ratings, the "METER DISCONNECT NOT SERVICE EQUIPMENT" marking and a separate service disconnect.

Chapters 1 and 3 through 9 are adopted unchanged. Our question pool stays off the provisions Rhode Island changes. DLT documents no state-law or business section on the electrician exams.

How to study for a closed-book exam

1. Answer before you look. Work each practice question from memory first, then check the cited section. The area scores show where your recall is thin.
2. Know the everyday numbers. Common conductor ampacities and overcurrent sizes, box fill, receptacle spacing, GFCI and AFCI locations, working space and the grounding electrode system come up again and again.
3. Drill the theory. Ohm's law, power, series and parallel circuits, voltage drop and transformer basics are the "general trade knowledge" you cannot look up.
4. Ask about the book. The rule allows books only with the Board's permission. When your exam notice arrives, ask DLT at (401) 462-8580 whether the code book is allowed at your sitting.

Practice for the exam

Our Rhode Island Journeyperson practice test follows the blueprint above on the 2023 NEC. For eligibility and fees, see the journeyperson license requirements.