# How to Prepare for Journeyman Exam?



## green4now

I have all of my hours approved and I'm allowed to take my PSI exam.

What is the best way you can think of to pass the exam? I've been doing service work and rough-ins on residential and commercial since '08. But I have ZERO industrial experience (lots of commercial, but always in residential-like buildings. 1950s office buildings and motels and stuff.) Definitely nothing over 240V.

What is the best way that you can recommend that I learn how to use the codebook to quickly answer questions on the test?

BTW: I'm not stupid enough to then apply for industrial work without more experience obviously. But I'm also not going to spend another two years as an apprentice since my approval is in. 

Do you know any good books on how to use the NEC book for the open-book test? Some other advice?


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## John Valdes

Tom Henry. Find his training course and buy his training videos. If you do as he recommends, you should pass on the first try. 
Some tech schools have a night course using his materials. Find one!

Good Luck.


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## MechanicalDVR

John Valdes said:


> Tom Henry. Find his training course and buy his training videos. If you do as he recommends, you should pass on the first try.
> Some tech schools have a night course using his materials. Find one!
> 
> Good Luck.


Great advice! :thumbsup:


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## Electrozappo

Find a good test prep near you and take it. 
Pay out for it, it's worth it!
400 now or 500 in failed tests?
Having the accountability of a teacher will help a lot too. 
Not many guys I work with can pass on their own


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## green4now

Electrozappo said:


> Find a good test prep near you and take it.
> Pay out for it, it's worth it!
> 400 now or 500 in failed tests?
> Having the accountability of a teacher will help a lot too.
> Not many guys I work with can pass on their own
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


 Shoot really? Money is super tight right now and it could take me 1-2 months before I can put away $400 because I have so many other things lined up. What is it that you'd say is hardest for most people in passing the test? I would think that if you know your basics and have a copy of the code and know how to use it, you should be golden. Open book test and everything?


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## Mouser

In my experience most people loose track of time, so time management is crucial. If your test is 4 hours long and 100 questions then every hour you need to have answered 25. you need to practice this and subject indexing. 

Subject indexing is the most reliable way find and code related question. The table of contents (front of the book) works great when using wiring methods found in articles 320-399.

All questions have a “main keyword” or a “subject” word. Also a “secondary keyword” or a “sub-heading” word. Determine the subject in a specific question. Read the question carefully and try to figure out the subject then look it up in the index of your NEC. If you can’t find the subject you chose in the index don’t give up. You may have just chosen the wrong subject word. Read the question again and try to find a different subject word and try again. 

Look up the article reference number. When you believe you have the correct sub-heading it will give you one or more article number. Look up each reference number until you find the correct information that answers the question. This takes practice, the more you do the better you will become at navigating the NEC.

There are many sites that offer code questions such as over at Mike Holt's. Tom Henry's as mentioned previously has practice exams for $25.00 which is a great deal and a wise investment.

Good luck. :thumbup:


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## Electrozappo

To me I couldn't study in my own, that's just how I am. 
You have I think 2 minutes per question 
When I took it 430 was big and 250. There was only 3 calculations. Knowing the tables will help a lot. 



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## Sparky Girl

In my local, there is a mutual agreement that if you study Ugly's, and know the basics pretty well, you'll pass the test.


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## MechanicalDVR

Do as much as you can afford but Ugly's is a great place to start.


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## John Valdes

When I was preparing for my test, our instructor made us do a practice exam once a week.
So on thurs. night, we tested open book. Timed just like it was at the actual test. Then we were allowed to leave as soon as we finished. The next night in class we went over the correct answers.
So we were prepared for the time limit. Then on Tues. night we did one Tom Henry video and quick test on the video we watched. We also got instructions on video from Tom himself as to "how to pass". Little stuff no one thought of. From dressing comfortable, to having the right calculator. He also discussed many of the most common mistakes people make going in for the test.
Tom Henry's course is all about passing the test. Not how to become an electrician.

My instructor also told each of us to get a test date at the very first class. To have a test set up by the second or third class. (back then you had to travel as the test in your area could be a year away).
This helped weed out those who were not ready to test.
He also had us pick a test date as close to the last class as possible.
I tested on a Saturday and my last class was the previous Thursday.

Passed first try. Thanks Tom Henry.

Funny part is. The closed book, I did the worst on, second worse was the open book and the very best was the calculations.
I expected my results to be the exact opposite. So I did learn something after all.


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## green4now

Sparky Girl said:


> In my local, there is a mutual agreement that if you study Ugly's, and know the basics pretty well, you'll pass the test.


I'm studying for a PSI exam. Were you talking about a different type of exam? Something specific to your union? I'm not a part of any union myself.


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## green4now

Mouser said:


> There are many sites that offer code questions such as over at Mike Holt's. Tom Henry's as mentioned previously has practice exams for $25.00 which is a great deal and a wise investment.
> 
> Good luck. :thumbup:


Thanks for the whole post but especially this. I think I'll probably get a practice exam. 

I'm not too worried about time management. I haven't taken a test in 20 years (since high school) but I was always a good test taker I think. And the science of electricity isn't worrisome, or the math. It's just all of the obscure code(s) I don't know about that really worry me. Especially since I've never worked on anything more than two phase. 

So I guess I'll start with a couple of practice exams and see how I do.


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## MikeFL

I've taken many professional licensure tests. Here's my advice:
1. Find a syllabus/ outline/ overview of the test. It will tell you what % of the test is in each content area, it will tell you what references are required, it will tell you what you are allowed to bring to the test, etc. It should either be in the application package, in the acceptance letter, or available in the public domain.
2. Start with each reference book and read the Scope (that tells you what it applies to). Read the Table of Contents. Read the Index looking for unfamiliar terms and looking for commonly used terms which may be more likely to come up in test questions (Classification of an area, for example). 
3. You're never going to remember tables, footnotes, etc. but you need to know where they are, what they apply to and how to find them in a timely fashion, read and interpret them and come to the correct application of the information.
4. Find practice tests and practice, practice, practice. You're going to bomb out on the first practice test and this is normal & expected. Don't let it get you down but do let it open your eyes. You need to figure out why you got each answer wrong and it's almost always because you were not yet familiar with how they pose the questions. Learning how to read and interpret the questions is very critical on any test. Go through each Q&A from that first practice test and figure out why you got each question wrong.
5. Now that you know the question format & structure, do some more practice tests. 
6. If there's one thing I can say from taking tests, it's that on that first practice test I did worst with the content area I was most familiar with. In each question they're going to slide something in there that seems moot. If it was moot they would not waste the ink writing it. Every word & iota of punctuation is there for a reason.
7. Good luck!


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## 04gixx6

Old thread but I'm taking my journeyman exam on Monday. Been taking practice tests each night. The exam is 3 hours, 60 questions. The practice tests are 50 questions in 1 hour. I've been scoring 85% on average. The index has been my go to.

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## MikeFL

04gixx6 said:


> Old thread but I'm taking my journeyman exam on Monday. Been taking practice tests each night. The exam is 3 hours, 60 questions. The practice tests are 50 questions in 1 hour. I've been scoring 85% on average. The index has been my go to.
> 
> Sent from my LG-H900 using Tapatalk


Best of success on that test! :thumbsup:

Let us know how it goes.


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## PlugsAndLights

04gixx6 said:


> Old thread but I'm taking my journeyman exam on Monday. Been taking practice tests each night. The exam is 3 hours, 60 questions. The practice tests are 50 questions in 1 hour. I've been scoring 85% on average. The index has been my go to.
> 
> Sent from my LG-H900 using Tapatalk


What your doing is the way to pass. With your 85% scores you'll be 
golden. Here's another idea; some evenings don't actually do the
exam, just read the Q and think to yourself how you would answer it
or where you would look for the answer, then look at the answer 
you recorded previously. This way you can go through many more 
questions and get a wider review of the material in the same 
amount of time. This is especially useful when exam time is getting 
close. 
Good Luck,
P&L


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## 04gixx6

Oops


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## 04gixx6

04gixx6 said:


> I passed! Had 45 min to spare but felt good with my answers. I'll get my actual score in 7 days from PSI.
> 
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> Sent from my LG-H900 using Tapatalk




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## wcord

04gixx6 said:


> Sent from my LG-H900 using Tapatalk


Congratulations.

Now the real learning starts. The apprentices will be expecting you to know the answers


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## 04gixx6

wcord said:


> Congratulations.
> 
> Now the real learning starts. The apprentices will be expecting you to know the answers


Thanks. I'm looking forward to it.

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## MikeFL

That's awesome. congrats!


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## JoeAPinkley

You should do hard to prepare your exam.


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