Wisconsin Master Electrician Exam Day: What You Can Bring, the Rules, and Pacing 50 Questions

Wisconsin Master Electrician Exam Day: What to Expect

The Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) runs the master exam. Here is how the day goes.

Where you test

Apply through LicensE and pay $95 to Pearson VUE and $30 to DSPS, then sit the exam at a DSPS paper-exam site or a Pearson VUE computer-based testing center in Wisconsin. PSI is not the vendor.

Materials: what is allowed

The exam is open book:

• One binder with SPS 305, SPS 316 and your own printed notes,
• the 2023 NEC or the NEC Handbook,
• up to two bound reference books, such as Ugly's, Ferm's, Tom Henry or Mike Holt.

Practice or previous exams are not allowed as notes. Tabs are fine only if they came with the book — no sticky notes and no loose paper. Make sure your NEC is the 2023 edition: Wisconsin adopted it effective September 1, 2026, and the exam reflects it from October 1, 2026.

Pacing

50 questions in 4 hours is nearly 5 minutes each — twice the time per question the journeyman exam gives. Use it for the multi-step questions:

• Answer the single-rule questions first; flag load, motor and transformer calculations for a second pass.
• Write intermediate values down as you go, so a check doesn't mean starting over.
• Check the NEC section and SPS 316 on anything where Wisconsin may have changed the rule.
• Answer everything. Each question is 2% of your score, and you need 70% — 35 of 50.

Before you go

Sit a full-length practice exam with the books you will bring. Our free practice test has 10 questions on the 2023 NEC, and the full exam prep has a timed 50-question practice exam. For eligibility, see Wisconsin Master Electrician requirements, and for the topics, what is on the exam.