- Which Exam This Cheat Sheet Covers
- Format and Scoring at a Glance
- The Three Published Exam Subjects
- Code Edition: Adoption vs. Exam Cutover
- Eligibility Snapshot: Hours and Documentation
- Fees and Retake Waiting Periods
- The 15 Core Curriculum Topics as a Review Checklist
- Renewal Card: March 31 and Eight CE Hours
- A Domain-Ordered Review Sequence
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The exam is one hour closed book plus three hours thirty minutes open book: four hours thirty minutes total.
- The passing grade is 70%, but the public page does not say whether it applies per section.
- NDSEB supplies codebooks, calculators, and pencils; confirm your invitation's supplied-reference instructions.
- Scores of 60-69 have no retake wait; 50-59 wait three months; 0-49 wait six months.
Which Exam This Cheat Sheet Covers
This page covers the North Dakota Journeyman Electrician License Exam, administered by the North Dakota State Electrical Board (NDSEB). "ND-JE" is simply the shorthand used on this site. It is not a verified official exam code, and it should not be confused with the Master, Class B, or Power Limited credentials, a generic national exam, or another state's journeyman test. If you are still sorting out the terminology, see What Is ND-JE? and What Does ND-JE Stand For?.
Everything below is drawn from NDSEB's published materials as checked on September 30, 2026. Where the Board has not published a detail, this cheat sheet says so rather than guessing. That matters, because several things commercial sites commonly claim about electrician exams simply do not apply here.
Format and Scoring at a Glance
| Item | What NDSEB Publishes |
|---|---|
| Closed-book portion | 1 hour |
| Open-book portion | 3 hours 30 minutes |
| Total exam time | 4 hours 30 minutes |
| Passing grade | 70% |
| Question count | Not published in the retrieved official information |
| Item format | Precise multiple-choice vs. other written format not published |
| Materials | NDSEB supplies codebooks, calculators, and pencils |
| Location | Board-administered testing in Bismarck per the Board's public process and July 15, 2026 minutes |
| Remote testing | No entitlement verified |
The Mixed Closed/Open Structure
The split is the most important structural fact. In the one-hour closed-book portion, you work from memory: definitions, fundamentals, and anything you simply have to know without looking it up. In the three-and-a-half-hour open-book portion, you work with the references the Board supplies. Those are different skills. Memorized fundamentals carry the first hour; fast, accurate navigation of the code carries the second part.
Do not assume you can bring your own annotated codebook, tabs, or a favorite calculator. Advice about personal references from other jurisdictions is not verified NDSEB policy. Your invitation is the authority on what is supplied and what is allowed, so read it as soon as it arrives.
Passing Score vs. Pass Rate
The 70% passing grade is a cut score, not a pass-rate statistic. No first-attempt or aggregate pass rate for this exam has been publicly verified, so any specific percentage you see quoted deserves skepticism. One unresolved question: the public page does not clarify whether 70% applies to each section separately or to the combined result. Until the Board says otherwise, prepare as though both the closed-book and open-book portions matter on their own. For deeper reading, see ND-JE Passing Score 2026 and ND-JE Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows.
The Three Published Exam Subjects
NDSEB's exam page names three broad subjects. These are issuer-published topic headings, not a weighted blueprint. No percentages, per-subject question allocations, or "largest area" have been verified, so don't let anyone tell you one domain is worth a specific share of the score.
Domain 1: Fundamental Electricity
The conceptual base: how circuits behave and how to calculate what they will do. This is where the closed-book hour is most likely to bite, because there is no code section to look up when a theory question appears.
- Ohm's law and power relationships, including series, parallel, and combination circuits
- AC fundamentals and basic transformer behavior
- Motor and motor-control concepts, including starting and protection ideas
- Conductor and load calculations you can do without a table in front of you
Domain 2: Laws, Rules, and Wiring Standards of North Dakota
The state-specific layer, and the one generic NEC prep tends to skip. North Dakota's own laws, rules, and wiring standards are a separate subject from the national code, so treat them as their own study block.
- The Board's licensing structure and the scope of what a journeyman may do
- Rules around installations, inspections, and responsibilities under the state's Laws, Rules, Wiring and Conveyance Standards
- State amendments and adoption language that differ from a plain reading of the NEC
- The Industry Orientation (Laws & Rules) topic from the apprentice curriculum is a useful study parallel
Domain 3: The Current Edition of the National Electrical Code
Open-book fluency. The skill being tested is finding the right article and applying it correctly under time pressure, not reciting text.
- Navigating the code book by chapter, article, and index
- Grounding and bonding, overcurrent protection, branch circuits, and feeders
- Special occupancies and equipment, with hazardous locations and fire alarm systems as sensible high-effort study examples
- Understanding which edition governs, which is covered in the next section
For a fuller treatment of how these areas fit together, see ND-JE Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 3 Content Areas.
Code Edition: Adoption vs. Exam Cutover
This is the trap most likely to cost a well-prepared candidate. The 2026 Laws, Rules, Wiring and Conveyance Standards, effective July 1, 2026, reference NEC 2026 and NFPA 101 (2024). But older general Laws & Rules webpage text still refers to NEC 2023. NDSEB's July 2026 newsletter (Connections, Issue 286) 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.
Practically, this means two things. First, if you own an older codebook, don't assume your section numbers match. Second, don't drop North Dakota wiring standards in favor of NEC-only prep; the state rules remain a published exam subject whichever NEC edition is in play.
Eligibility Snapshot: Hours and Documentation
The core eligibility rule is 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. Of those hours, at least 4,000 must be qualifying installation experience.
| Experience Category | Cap or Credit |
|---|---|
| Approved electrical school (at least two years) | Up to 2,000 hours of experience credit |
| Repair | Up to 1,000 hours |
| Fire alarm | Up to 1,000 hours |
| Process control / power limited | Up to 2,000 hours |
| Approved military | Up to 2,000 hours |
| Class B experience | Up to 3,000 hours under the stated conditions |
Documentation You Actually Submit
Employer experience is verified on the prescribed Employment Verification form (SFN 11845), along with applicable transcripts or completion evidence. Don't invent a count of personal references; none is specified in the sources reviewed. Because hours are sorted into categories with different caps, document your work by category from the start. Reconstructing repair versus installation hours years later is where applications stall.
For applicants whose majority experience was in North Dakota, the linked application identifies three education routes: an accepted two-year electrical school, 576 hours of approved training classes, or a recognized professional electrical apprenticeship program. The ordinary apprenticeship curriculum hours are not an additional universal requirement stacked on every alternative route. For the full picture, see ND-JE Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
Fees and Retake Waiting Periods
The Three $25 Charges
- Exam application or reapplication: $25
- License issuance after passing: $25 (a separate charge)
- Annual journeyman renewal: $25
These are government application and license charges, not a verified all-inclusive testing package. The 2026 rules do allow an examination-provider charge separately if one is required, but no separately assessed current provider fee was verified, and no member/non-member price distinction is published. Be aware that the Board's July 2026 newsletter directs applicants to obtain the latest posted forms, so don't assume an older printed revision is the only one in circulation. Details are in ND-JE Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.
Scheduling Mechanics
Apply and receive approval before choosing an exam date. The invitation lists available dates and permits testing within six months. Cancelling or failing to attend requires a new application and fee, so treat the date as a firm commitment. Current dates and windows are covered in ND-JE Exam Dates 2026.
Score-Dependent Retake Waits
| Score Range | Waiting Period Before Retaking |
|---|---|
| 60-69 | None |
| 50-59 | Three months |
| 0-49 | Six months |
After a failure, you submit the re-examination application and fee and receive a new invitation. The Board does not provide exam reviews, so you will not get a question-by-question debrief. That makes your own post-exam notes valuable: write down which subject felt weakest while it is fresh.
The 15 Core Curriculum Topics as a Review Checklist
Separately from the three exam subjects, NDSEB lists 15 required core classes for apprentices. These are preparation-curriculum subjects, not exam domains, not weighted, and not proof of exhaustive exam coverage. They are still a useful checklist of what a journeyman candidate should be comfortable with:
- Electrical Plans/Print Reading
- Branch Circuit Distribution
- Electrical Grounding/Bonding
- Electrical Theory
- Fire Alarm System
- Industry Orientation (Laws & Rules)
- Material Identification
- Mathematic (the source's spelling)
- Motor Controls
- Motors
- National Electrical Code
- Electrical Safety
- Overcurrent Protection
- Building Automation
- Transformers
The curriculum totals 475 required core hours plus 101 elective hours, for 576 in all, consistent with the Apprenticeship Related Training Policy's at least 144 hours annually over four years. The NEC class carries 140 classroom hours, but that is a training allocation and says nothing about how heavily the exam weights the code. Map each item above to one of the three exam subjects: theory, math, motors, motor controls, and transformers feed Domain 1; Industry Orientation feeds Domain 2; the NEC class, grounding/bonding, overcurrent protection, and branch circuits feed Domain 3.
Renewal Card: March 31 and Eight CE Hours
Once licensed, the clock that matters is the renewal cycle:
- Journeyman licenses are annual and expire March 31; renewal opens January 1.
- The renewal fee is $25.
- You need eight approved CE hours, including at least four code hours, with credit on file.
- CE providers have 15 days to submit their completion roster, so verify that credit is actually recorded with NDSEB rather than assuming it posted.
- An expired license requires a reinstatement fee equal to the annual license fee.
Key Takeaway
Do not use the Master or Class B renewal deadline for a journeyman license. The journeyman date is March 31. Finish CE early in the cycle and confirm the recorded credit so a late roster submission never becomes a late renewal.
A Domain-Ordered Review Sequence
Because the exam splits closed and open book, the order of review matters more than the volume. Build memory-dependent skills first, then code navigation, then state-specific rules reinforced against the edition your invitation names. For a broader plan, see the ND-JE Study Guide 2026.
Fundamental Electricity (closed-book material)
- Drill Ohm's law, power, and series/parallel math until you can do it without a reference
- Review motors, motor controls, and transformers
- Work calculation problems by hand with the type of calculator you expect to be supplied
North Dakota Laws, Rules, and Wiring Standards
- Read the current Laws, Rules, Wiring and Conveyance Standards directly
- Note where state language differs from the NEC
- Review licensing scope and Board responsibilities
NEC Navigation (open-book material)
- Practice finding answers by index and table of contents under a clock
- Focus on grounding/bonding, overcurrent protection, branch circuits, hazardous locations, and fire alarm
- Confirm the code edition against your invitation
Tools like the ND-JE practice test help you rehearse timing across all three subjects, and the difficulty guide explains where candidates tend to struggle.
Frequently Asked Questions
Total exam time is four hours thirty minutes: one hour closed book plus three hours thirty minutes open book. NDSEB has not published an exact question count in the information retrieved.
The published passing grade is 70%. The public page does not clarify whether that grade applies separately to each section, so prepare to perform well in both the closed-book and open-book portions.
NDSEB supplies codebooks, calculators, and pencils. Advice about personal references or tabbing from other jurisdictions is not verified NDSEB policy, so follow the instructions in your Board invitation.
The 2026 state standards reference NEC 2026, and NDSEB said exams were being updated with NEC 2026 questions for early fall 2026. No exact cutover date for an individual exam is established, so confirm the edition in your invitation and supplied references.
It depends on your score: 60-69 has no waiting period, 50-59 requires three months, and 0-49 requires six months. You submit the re-examination application and fee and receive a new invitation. The Board does not provide exam reviews.
Whether the credential justifies the investment is a separate question, covered in Is the ND-JE Certification Worth It? and, for earnings context, the ND-JE Salary Guide. Keep this one-page review handy, verify details against your Board invitation, and let the closed-book hour, the open-book code work, and the North Dakota rules each get their own dedicated preparation.