- The Short Answer: What the Board Actually Charges
- Fee-by-Fee Breakdown
- What the $25 Application Fee Does Not Cover
- Costs Outside the Fee Schedule
- What a Failed Attempt Costs You
- Eligibility Costs: Hours, Schooling, and Documentation
- Why the Exam Format Affects Your Prep Spend
- The NEC Edition Question and Your Reference Budget
- After You Pass: License Issuance and Renewal
- Sample Budget Scenarios
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The North Dakota State Electrical Board charges $25 to apply for the journeyman exam, and a separate $25 to issue the license after you pass.
- Annual journeyman renewal is $25, due by March 31, with eight approved CE hours including at least four code hours.
- Every failed attempt means a new application and a new $25 fee, plus a score-dependent wait of zero, three, or six months.
- The Board supplies codebooks, calculators, and pencils, so you do not need to buy exam-day materials.
The Short Answer: What the Board Actually Charges
If you are searching for the cost of the North Dakota Journeyman Electrician License Exam, here is the useful framing: the government-side charges are small, and the real money in this process lives elsewhere. The North Dakota State Electrical Board (NDSEB) publishes a $25 fee for the journeyman examination application. After you pass, issuing the license is a separate $25 charge. Each annual renewal after that is another $25.
That means the direct, published Board charges to go from approved applicant to licensed journeyman total $50 if you pass on the first attempt. This is a government application and license charge, not an all-inclusive testing package, and it should not be read as the total cost of becoming a journeyman. The true investment is the eight-thousand-hour apprenticeship, the related training classroom hours, and whatever preparation materials you choose to buy.
This article separates those layers so you can budget honestly. If you want the eligibility side in detail, see our guide to ND-JE requirements, eligibility, and prerequisites.
Fee-by-Fee Breakdown
The table below lists every published Board charge for the journeyman route. Amounts come from the Board's exam application forms and the 2026 Laws, Rules, Wiring and Conveyance Standards (sections 24.1-03-01-01 and 24.1-03-01-03).
| Charge | Amount | When You Pay It |
|---|---|---|
| Journeyman examination application | $25 | When you apply to sit for the exam |
| Re-examination application (after a failed attempt) | $25 | Each time you reapply |
| License issuance | $25 | After you pass the exam |
| Annual journeyman renewal | $25 | Each year, with renewal opening January 1 and the license expiring March 31 |
| Reinstatement of an expired license | Equal to the annual license fee | If you miss the March 31 deadline |
Notice what is absent: there is no published member versus non-member price distinction, and no tiered pricing. One flat amount applies to everyone. Also note that the Board's July 2026 newsletter directs applicants to use the latest posted forms, so always download the current application from the Board rather than relying on an older printed copy.
What the $25 Application Fee Does Not Cover
It is tempting to treat the $25 as the price of the exam. It is better understood as the price of the Board processing your application and issuing an invitation to test. Several things sit outside it.
The provider-fee caveat
The 2026 rules allow an examination-provider charge to be assessed separately if one is required. No separately assessed current provider fee was verified for the journeyman exam. The Board's public process and its July 15, 2026 meeting minutes point to Board-administered testing in Bismarck rather than a commercial or at-home delivery route. In practice, that means you should read your invitation carefully: if any additional charge applies, it should be spelled out there. Do not assume a figure from another state or from a commercial testing vendor.
Exam-day materials are supplied
One genuine cost saver: the Board supplies codebooks, calculators, and pencils. You are not buying an NEC for exam day, and you are not hunting for an approved calculator model. Advice you may see from other jurisdictions about tabbing your personal code book, bringing your own references, or choosing a specific calculator is not verified NDSEB policy. Follow the instructions on your invitation. For a closer look at how the exam works, read our breakdown of how hard the ND-JE exam is.
Costs Outside the Fee Schedule
Even with a tiny fee schedule, a candidate can spend real money getting to the testing room. Here are the categories worth planning for, none of which carry a dollar figure published by the Board.
- Travel to Bismarck. Because testing is Board-administered in Bismarck, candidates from Fargo, Grand Forks, Minot, Williston, or smaller towns should budget fuel, possibly lodging, and time away from work.
- Time off work. The exam runs four hours and thirty minutes of examination time. Add travel, check-in, and the possibility of an unpaid day.
- Study materials. Practice tests, workbooks, and code-reference study aids are optional and vary widely in price. Nothing about the Board's process requires a purchase.
- Documentation. Transcripts, completion certificates, and employer verification may carry small incidental costs depending on your school or employer.
What a Failed Attempt Costs You
North Dakota's retake structure ties the waiting period to how close you came. The Board states the following after a failed attempt: scores of 60 to 69 have no waiting period, scores of 50 to 59 require a three-month wait, and scores of 0 to 49 require a six-month wait. To retest, you submit the re-examination application and fee ($25) and receive a new invitation.
| Score Range | Waiting Period | Re-Exam Fee |
|---|---|---|
| 60 to 69 | None | $25 |
| 50 to 59 | Three months | $25 |
| 0 to 49 | Six months | $25 |
The fee is identical in every tier. What changes is the wait, and the wait is where the real cost accumulates: months of delayed licensure mean months at the apprentice or pre-journeyman pay level and months of employer limitations on what work you can sign off or supervise. The Board also does not provide exam reviews, so you cannot request a breakdown of which questions you missed. That makes diagnostic practice before your first attempt especially valuable. Our pass rate discussion explains why no exact-exam pass statistic is cited here, and how the 70% passing grade differs from a pass rate.
Cancellation and no-shows
Your invitation identifies available dates and permits you to test within six months. If you cancel or fail to attend, you must submit a new application and fee. That makes a missed date a straightforward $25 loss plus a delay. Apply and receive approval before choosing a date, and only commit once your travel and work schedule are settled. For scheduling mechanics, see ND-JE exam dates, testing windows, and deadlines.
Eligibility Costs: Hours, Schooling, and Documentation
Before the $25 matters, you must qualify. The Board requires 8,000 qualifying hours over at least three years as a registered apprentice under a contracting master or master of record, in a jurisdiction with similar licensing and inspection rules, plus successful approved apprentice training. At least 4,000 of those hours must be qualifying installation experience.
Several credit categories can shorten or shape your path, each with a cap:
- An approved electrical-school program of at least two years can earn 2,000 hours of experience credit.
- Repair work may count up to 1,000 hours.
- Fire-alarm work may count up to 1,000 hours.
- Process-control and power-limited work may count up to 2,000 hours.
- Approved military experience may count up to 2,000 hours.
- Up to 3,000 Class B experience hours may count under the stated conditions.
Related training hours
The apprentice education curriculum specifies 475 required core hours plus 101 elective hours, totaling 576. The Related Training Policy describes at least 144 hours annually for four years, also 576 total. For applicants whose majority experience was in North Dakota, the application identifies an accepted two-year electrical school, 576 hours of approved training classes, or a recognized professional electrical apprenticeship program as education routes. In other words, the 576 hours are not an extra universal course layered on top of every route.
Tuition for these classes varies by program and is not set by the Board, so it is outside this article's verified fee schedule. What you must do is document everything: employer experience verification goes on the prescribed Employment Verification form (SFN 11845), accompanied by applicable transcripts or completion evidence. Do not invent a count of personal references; the form and Board guidance control what is needed.
Why the Exam Format Affects Your Prep Spend
The North Dakota journeyman exam is unusual in that it combines a closed-book portion and an open-book portion: one hour closed book plus three hours thirty minutes open book, totaling four hours thirty minutes. The passing grade is 70%, though the public page does not clarify whether that grade is applied to each section separately or to the exam as a whole. The exact question count and item format were not published in the retrieved official exam information, so no question total is claimed here.
Why does this matter for cost? Because the closed-book hour rewards memorized fundamentals, while the open-book block rewards fast navigation of the supplied codebook. A candidate who spends heavily on only one style of preparation risks a failed attempt and a second $25 plus a delay. The published exam subjects are fundamental electricity, the Laws, Rules, and Wiring Standards of North Dakota, and the current edition of the National Electrical Code. These are broad issuer-published topics, not a weighted blueprint; no official percentages or question allocations were verified. For a deeper treatment, see our guide to the three ND-JE exam content areas.
Fundamental Electricity
Likely the backbone of what you must carry in memory rather than look up.
- Electrical theory and the relationships behind everyday calculations
- Mathematics used in load and circuit work
- Motors, transformers, and motor controls as foundational concepts
Laws, Rules, and Wiring Standards of North Dakota
State-specific material that generic NEC-only preparation will not cover.
- The 2026 Laws, Rules, Wiring and Conveyance Standards effective July 1, 2026
- Licensing, inspection, and installation rules unique to the state
The Current Edition of the National Electrical Code
The open-book lookup skill that rewards familiarity with the supplied codebook's layout.
- Grounding and bonding, overcurrent protection, branch circuits
- Hazardous locations and fire-alarm provisions as high-value study examples
One more cost-relevant detail: the 15-topic apprentice core curriculum (Electrical Plans/Print Reading; Branch Circuit Distribution; Electrical Grounding/Bonding; Electrical Theory; Fire Alarm System; Industry Orientation (Laws & Rules); Material Identification; Mathematic; Motor Controls; Motors; National Electrical Code; Electrical Safety; Overcurrent Protection; Building Automation; Transformers) is useful preparation material, but it is a training curriculum, not a formal list of exam objectives. Do not buy a study product on the assumption that these 15 headings map one-to-one onto exam content. Our ND-JE study guide shows how to use them as a supplement.
The NEC Edition Question and Your Reference Budget
This is the one area where paying for the wrong book is a real risk. The 2026 Laws, Rules, Wiring and Conveyance Standards, effective July 1, 2026, reference NEC 2026 and NFPA 101 (2024). Meanwhile, older general Laws and Rules webpage text still refers to NEC 2023. The Board's NDSEB Connections newsletter (Issue 286, July 2026) says exams were being updated with NEC 2026 questions for introduction in early fall 2026, and the July meeting minutes also describe exam-question updates.
The critical point: legal adoption on July 1 does not prove the exam-conversion date. Neither source establishes the exact cutover date for an individual journeyman examination. So if you are tempted to purchase a personal code book for study, confirm which edition your invitation specifies before you spend money. Because the Board supplies the codebook on exam day, the safest approach is to confirm the edition in your invitation and practice navigating that same edition.
Key Takeaway
Do not buy an NEC edition for study until you have confirmed the edition named in your Board invitation. A mismatch between your practice book and the supplied exam reference can cost you time on the open-book portion, and a failed attempt costs another application fee.
After You Pass: License Issuance and Renewal
Passing the exam does not end your fee obligations. After a successful exam, license issuance is a separate $25. From there, your journeyman license is annual and expires March 31. Renewal opens January 1, so you have a roughly three-month window to complete it.
Continuing education as a recurring cost
Renewal requires eight approved CE hours, including at least four code hours, and the credit must be on file. The CE provider has 15 days to submit its completion roster, so verify that your recorded credit appears with NDSEB before the deadline. CE course tuition is set by providers and is not a Board-published figure, so shop for approved offerings early. Late completion can push you into reinstatement territory, where the fee equals the annual license fee ($25 on top of the missed renewal).
Do not confuse this with the Master or Class B renewal schedule; the journeyman deadline is March 31, and applying a different credential's deadline is an easy and avoidable mistake. For a longer view of what the credential returns, see whether the ND-JE credential is worth it and our earnings analysis; salary figures require separately sourced wage data and none are asserted here.
Sample Budget Scenarios
The scenarios below use only verified Board fees. They intentionally leave out tuition, travel, and study materials, since those are not set by the Board.
| Scenario | Board Fees | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pass on first attempt | $50 ($25 application + $25 issuance) | Plus the first annual renewal the following cycle |
| Fail once, pass on second attempt | $75 ($25 + $25 re-exam + $25 issuance) | Waiting period depends on your score band |
| Fail twice, pass on third attempt | $100 | Two waits, possibly up to six months each |
| Miss a scheduled date without cancelling | Additional $25 | New application and fee required |
The pattern is clear. The Board's fees scale gently, but the schedule delays scale heavily. A candidate scoring in the 0 to 49 range faces a six-month pause that dwarfs the $25. The most cost-effective move is not shaving a few dollars off preparation materials; it is arriving prepared enough to avoid a second trip.
One short sequencing note
If you have about two months to prepare, a sensible order follows the exam's structure rather than a generic template: spend the early weeks on fundamental electricity and math, since that material feeds the closed-book hour. Move next to the North Dakota laws, rules, and wiring standards, because that content is state-specific and easy to under-prepare. Finish with timed NEC lookup practice for the open-book block, using the edition named on your invitation. For a quick-reference companion, our one-page ND-JE review condenses the facts above. You can also test yourself on the main practice test site before deciding whether you are ready to commit to a date.
Frequently Asked Questions
The North Dakota State Electrical Board charges $25 for the journeyman examination application. After you pass, license issuance is a separate $25. No separate commercial provider fee was verified, though the 2026 rules allow one to be assessed if required, so check your invitation.
No. The Board does not publish any member versus non-member price distinction. The same published application, re-exam, issuance, and renewal fees apply to everyone.
You submit the re-examination application and a new $25 fee, then receive a new invitation. Waiting periods depend on your score: none for 60 to 69, three months for 50 to 59, and six months for 0 to 49. The Board does not provide exam reviews.
No. The Board supplies codebooks, calculators, and pencils. Confirm the NEC edition and reference instructions in your invitation, and do not rely on tabbing or calculator advice from other jurisdictions, which is not verified NDSEB policy.
Annual journeyman renewal is $25. The license expires March 31 and renewal opens January 1. You also need eight approved CE hours, including at least four code hours, with credit on file. An expired license requires a reinstatement fee equal to the annual license fee. See our overview of the ND-JE credential for broader context.