The three gates in front of the Texas master exam, and how the paper differs from the journeyman one

Three gates, set in statute

Eligibility for the master examination is set in statute, and Tex. Occ. Code 1305.153 asks for three separate things: 12,000 hours of on the job training under the supervision of a master electrician, at least two years holding a journeyman electrician license, and a passing score on the master examination.

The figure most often quoted alone is the 12,000. It qualifies nobody on its own, because the two years is a gate of its own and hours do not satisfy it. Somebody who logged the hours fast and has held the journeyman license for eighteen months has one gate open and one shut, and the later of the two dates is the one that governs the day you can apply.

The two years has to sit on a journeyman electrician license specifically. Journeyman industrial electrician is a separate license with a separate scope, and its own 8,000 hours have to be worked as a licensed electrical apprentice under a master electrician per Tex. Occ. Code 1305.1601, so holding it does not open this gate. All fourteen license types sets out which rung sits under which.

What the master paper is

The master examination is a NEC Knowledge portion and a Calculations portion, scored separately, with 70 percent clearing each one. Pass one and lose the other and you rebook only the portion you lost.

Set the two papers side by side and the step is visible. The master adds sixteen knowledge items and seven calculation items, and buys you twenty more minutes on one portion and sixty on the other. The master calculations portion gives more time per item than any other portion of these examinations, and it still carries the lowest published pass rate. The journeyman paper is set out in the same detail one page across.

The gap in each row is unscored pretest items. They carry no weight, they are not flagged, and you answer them anyway, which is why pacing against the total is the honest basis.

Where the weight sits

Each portion has a published content outline naming ten subject areas with an item count beside every one, and the counts add up to the scored total, so the weighting below is the published blueprint itself.

On the master knowledge portion, two areas tie at eleven items each: services, service equipment and separately derived systems, and branch circuit conductors. Electrical equipment and devices carries eight and so does special occupancies, equipment and conditions. Definitions, theory and plans carries seven, wiring methods and materials seven, and motors and generators seven. Electrical feeders carries four, renewable energy technologies four, and control devices and disconnecting means three.

On the calculations portion the weight sits in two places. Services, service equipment and separately derived systems carries eight of the thirty scored items and motors and generators carries six, so those two areas are nearly half the portion between them. Branch circuit calculations and conductors carries four, feeders three, and calculations and theory, wiring methods and materials, and equipment and devices carry two each.

That is the real difference between the two papers and it is worth more than the extra minutes. On the journeyman calculations portion motors and generators carries two scored items, and here it carries six. Services doubles from four to eight. The idea that motors dominate the calculations describes this paper, so a study plan copied from a journeyman candidate points the extra evenings at the wrong distribution. Motor circuit questions and the service and feeder calculations are the two areas to weight for.

What the published rates say

TDLR publishes every Texas electrical examination result by fiscal year, and fiscal 2025 ran 1 September 2024 to 31 August 2025. The master calculations portion tested 3,946 candidates and passed 753, a rate of 19.08 percent. The master knowledge portion tested 3,472 and passed 771, a rate of 22.21 percent.

Both figures sit below the matching journeyman rates of 20.56 and 24.46 percent, and the gap between the two master portions repeats the gap one level down. Calculations is the harder half for everybody who sits these papers.

Read that as a statement about where to spend hours. Four master candidates in five leave the calculations portion without it, and the content outline says where those items came from, since services and motors between them account for fourteen of the thirty scored calculation items.

How our bank maps onto it

Our bank runs 500 questions and it splits close to evenly between the two halves of this examination. Two hundred and forty three are calculation items and two hundred and fifty seven are knowledge items, which weights the bank toward the portion that fails people, since calculations is 30 of the 100 scored items on the master program.

Inside the calculation half, 43 items are motor circuit questions and 42 are load, feeder and service calculations. Those two groups are aimed squarely at the fourteen scored items the master outline puts on services and motors. Conductor sizing carries 68 and conduit and raceway arithmetic 51.

Fifty one questions sit in the exam administration area, which tests the arrangement of the book, the status of the text and the licensing machinery around the paper. Ninety six of the 500 sit at our hardest level, and that level is where the multi step chains live: an item where two factors have to be applied and multiplied, or a conductor started in one temperature column and never checked against the termination in the path. How the wrong options are built names the error behind each one.

Money and paperwork

A master electrician application costs 45 dollars under 16 TAC 73.80(a) and the examination costs 78 dollars to the provider, covering both portions. A retake costs 78 dollars as well, priced the same whether one portion or both went down. Every fee in the schedule is non refundable under 16 TAC 73.80(e), so an application rejected on eligibility costs you the 45 dollars.

The initial application is filed by mail. TDLR publishes the master form as ELC-LIC-007-E and the experience verification form as ELC017, and two numbering styles run side by side on the department forms page, which is departmental housekeeping, with both kinds current. Take the form from the department's own page, since a superseded PDF looks exactly like a current one.

A master electrician is the licensee authorized to verify on the job training for the master, master sign, journeyman and journeyman sign licenses under Tex. Occ. Code 1305.153(b)(3). The same 30 calendar day window and the same knowledge limit at 16 TAC 73.26(b) apply to your own verification, so hours spread across several supervisors mean several forms. The application order and its fees walks the sequence, and every amount in the chapter carries its subsection.

Your year and your edition

From the date the department receives your application you have one year to satisfy every requirement, the examination included, under 16 TAC 73.20(b). A pass stays valid for the license term plus three years under 16 TAC 60.56, and the term is one year under 16 TAC 73.22(a), so a master pass is good for four years from the examination date.

The license expires one year from the date it was issued, on your own anniversary. Sources quoting 31 December are reading Tex. Occ. Code 1305.167(a), which sets that default, without 1305.167(b), which lets the executive director adopt varying expiration dates by rule, which is what happened. Our bank carries an item built on that exact disagreement between the statute and the rule.

The edition follows the day you sit. From 1 September 2026 the examinations are referenced to the 2026 National Electrical Code, which Texas adopts on the same day under 16 TAC 73.100, and the bulletin updated 9 July 2026 prints that in capitals. Read on 24 August 2026, the reference material list inside that same bulletin still named the 2023 edition, and so did TDLR's examination page, so two published documents disagreed. The move that costs a master candidate most is load calculations leaving Article 220 for Article 120, because a service calculation begins in the article that moved and services carries eleven scored knowledge items here. Finding the rule in the book lists what changed address.

If a portion goes down

Your score appears on the screen when you finish and an official score report prints at the site, with a duplicate available later from your online account. A failing report carries a diagnostic naming strengths and weaknesses by examination type, mapped onto the same ten subject areas the outline is built from, so a weak area comes back as a named area with a published item count attached to it.

TDLR says you may retake as many times as needed until you pass and may owe a fee each time, and the bulletin allows unlimited attempts inside your eligibility period. Neither document defines that eligibility period, and neither states whether a portion you passed is held for you or for how long. The one published boundary is the year at 16 TAC 73.20(b), so ring PSI when you rebook, ask what your record shows, and write down the answer with the date. Reading your score report takes the diagnostic line by line.

The worked arithmetic for the service and motor chains that carry this paper sits in the question set, which handles the method end to end. Here the question is what qualifies you, where the weight sits and what a result costs. Thirty free timed questions will give you a reading on both halves tonight.

Questions people ask

What do you need to sit the Texas master electrician exam?

Three things under Tex. Occ. Code 1305.153. Twelve thousand hours of on the job training under the supervision of a master electrician, at least two years holding a journeyman electrician license, and a passing score on the master examination. The hours and the two years are separate gates and the later of the two dates governs the day you can apply. The two years has to sit on a journeyman electrician license, so holding a journeyman industrial electrician license, which is a different license with a separate scope, leaves that gate shut.

How long is the Texas master electrician exam?

One hundred and fifty minutes for the NEC Knowledge portion and 170 minutes for the Calculations portion. The two run on separate clocks and minutes left on one stay where they are. Knowledge is 75 items with 70 scored, which works out at exactly two minutes an item counting the pretest items you also answer. Calculations is 33 items with 30 scored, about 5.2 minutes an item, which is more time per item than any other portion of these examinations gives you and still the portion with the lowest published pass rate.

How is the master exam different from the journeyman exam?

It runs longer on both portions and it is weighted differently. The master knowledge portion carries 70 scored items against 56, and the master calculations portion 30 against 24. The weighting is the bigger difference. Motors and generators carries six scored calculation items on the master paper against two on the journeyman one, and services carries eight against four, so those two areas are nearly half the master calculations portion. A study plan copied from a journeyman candidate aims the extra evenings at the wrong distribution.

What is the pass rate for the Texas master electrician exam?

In fiscal 2025, which ran 1 September 2024 to 31 August 2025, the master calculations portion tested 3,946 candidates and passed 753, a rate of 19.08 percent. The master knowledge portion tested 3,472 and passed 771, a rate of 22.21 percent. Both sit below the matching journeyman figures of 20.56 and 24.46 percent. Four master candidates in five leave the calculations portion without it, and the published content outline says where those items came from, since services and motors account for fourteen of the thirty scored calculation items.

How much does the Texas master electrician exam cost?

Seventy eight dollars to the examination provider, covering both portions, and a retake is 78 dollars as well, priced the same whether you lost one portion or both. The application fee is separate and goes to the department: 45 dollars for a master electrician under 16 TAC 73.80(a). Every fee in that schedule is non refundable under 16 TAC 73.80(e), so an application the department rejects on eligibility costs you the 45 dollars. Check the examination figure against your own registration before you pay, because the bulletin is dated and fees are set outside it.

When does a Texas master electrician license expire?

One year from the date it was issued, on your own anniversary date, under 16 TAC 73.22(a). Sources quoting 31 December are reading Tex. Occ. Code 1305.167(a), which sets that as the statutory default, without 1305.167(b), which authorizes the executive director to adopt varying expiration dates by rule. The rule used that authority and anniversary dating is what is in force, so two official documents read in isolation give opposite answers. Four hours of continuing education attach to every renewal under 16 TAC 73.25, and the term is annual, so those hours come round every twelve months.