- The Exam at a Glance
- The Two Official Content Headings
- Open-Book Rules: What You Can Bring and Mark
- Fees, Paperwork and Validity Windows
- Eligibility Routes and the Apprenticeship Catch
- Retake Rules in Plain Terms
- High-Value Topics to Tab and Drill
- A Domain-Ordered Study Sequence
- Journeyman vs. Master, Plus Renewal
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The Montana journeyman exam is 60 multiple-choice questions in 180 minutes, and the passing score is 70%.
- Ignore any source saying 75% or factory-only reference markings; the June 13, 2024 bulletin and ARM 24.141.503 replaced them.
- Bring the 2020 NEC, the Montana Building Codes Amendments and Hittinger's Printreading; tabs and highlighting made beforehand are allowed.
- Budget $75 for the exam and $190 for the state application, plus $50 if you want a temporary work permit.
The Exam at a Glance
This page condenses what a Montana journeyman candidate needs to have memorized, bookmarked or at least recognized before sitting for the test. The credential is issued by the Montana State Electrical Board, and the official examination is titled Journeyman Electrician 2020. It is delivered by PSI Services LLC at testing centers that operate nationwide, so you do not have to test in Montana to take it.
| Item | Must-Know Fact |
|---|---|
| Licensing body | Montana State Electrical Board |
| Test provider | PSI Services LLC |
| Format | Computer-based, multiple choice |
| Questions | 60 |
| Time allowed | 180 minutes |
| Passing score | 70% |
| Code edition tested | 2020 NEC |
| Exam fee | $75 |
| State application fee | $190 |
| Optional temporary work permit | $50 |
Three hours for sixty questions works out to a generous three minutes per item, but do not read that as an easy test. Because the exam is open book, many items are designed so that you cannot answer from memory alone; you have to locate the right article, table or amendment quickly and apply it correctly. Time pressure comes from slow navigation, not from a short clock. For a frank look at difficulty, see How Hard Is the MT-JE Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026.
The Two Official Content Headings
The Board's candidate bulletin (updated June 13, 2024, printed page 4) publishes two high-level content headings for the journeyman exam. It does not publish percentage weights or per-heading question counts, so anyone quoting a precise split is guessing. The two headings are also not an exhaustive sub-objective blueprint; they are the official top-level labels and nothing more granular.
Domain 1: National Electrical Code
This is the open-book, look-it-up-and-apply-it heading. Expect questions that send you into the 2020 NEC and into the Montana Building Codes Amendments, where state changes can override what the base code says.
- Navigating Chapters 1 through 4 and the general-use tables efficiently
- Conductor ampacity, correction and adjustment factors, and overcurrent protection
- Grounding and bonding requirements, including grounding electrode systems
- Box fill, conduit fill and raceway installation rules
- Wiring methods, special occupancies and equipment-specific articles
- Checking whether a Montana amendment modifies the NEC rule in question
Domain 2: General Trade Knowledge & Theory
This heading covers the working knowledge behind the code: electrical theory, calculations, and the ability to read and interpret drawings. Hittinger's Printreading is on the approved reference list precisely because plan interpretation belongs in scope.
- Ohm's law, series and parallel circuit analysis, and power relationships
- Single-phase and three-phase fundamentals
- Voltage drop, load and conductor-sizing calculations
- Reading plans, symbols, schedules and one-line diagrams
- Motors, transformers and general installation practice
Statute adds one more layer: Montana Code Annotated section 37-68-305 requires examination coverage of Board rules and the applicable Title 37 laws. That requirement is a legal scope note, not a third vendor-published heading, so treat Board rules and the licensing statutes as background reading that can surface inside the exam. The full breakdown lives in MT-JE Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 2 Content Areas.
Open-Book Rules: What You Can Bring and Mark
This is the area where outdated information does the most damage. An earlier bulletin (June 21, 2022) stated a 75% journeyman pass mark and limited reference markings to factory-printed ones. The newer June 13, 2024 bulletin changed both, and ARM 24.141.503, amended effective May 25, 2024, agrees with the newer bulletin. The 75% figure now applies to the master exam, not the journeyman exam.
Permitted references
- The 2020 National Electrical Code
- The Montana Building Codes Amendments
- David L. Hittinger's Printreading based on the 2020 NEC
What you may do to those books
- Add notes, highlighting, underlining and tabs before the exam
What you may not do
- Bring loose or attached additional papers
- Write in your references during the exam
Calculators
You may use the on-screen calculator, or a compliant silent, battery-operated, nonprogrammable calculator. If you plan to bring your own, confirm it meets those conditions well before test day, because a programmable model can be turned away at check-in.
Key Takeaway
Prepared references are legal and valuable. Spend real time building a tab system in your NEC and amendments, and rehearse using it under a timer. A well-tabbed code book converts a three-minute search into a thirty-second one.
Fees, Paperwork and Validity Windows
Three separate charges can appear in your journey, and candidates often confuse them. A full cost walk-through is in MT-JE Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown; the essentials are below.
- Exam fee: $75. Paid for the examination itself.
- State application: $190. A separate charge tied to the Journeyman Electrician Application (revised July 22, 2024), which also governs documentation and reciprocity or substantial-equivalency procedures.
- Temporary work permit: $50. Optional, for candidates who want one.
To sit for the test you need Board approval, an admission letter and valid photo identification. Both your Board examination eligibility and the paid exam fee last one year, so schedule with that clock in mind rather than letting an approval lapse. Scheduling mechanics and windows are covered in MT-JE Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.
Eligibility Routes and the Apprenticeship Catch
Under Montana Code Annotated 2025, section 37-68-305, there are three eligibility routes to the journeyman exam:
- An approved apprenticeship or a substantially equivalent electrical program
- 8,000 hours of legally obtained practical experience
- 20,000 hours of electrical-maintenance experience with employer certification, including at least 8,000 practical hours
The detail that trips people up: the statute expressly excludes experience from an uncompleted apprenticeship from its definition of legally obtained practical experience. If you left an apprenticeship before finishing, those hours cannot simply be counted toward the 8,000-hour route. Where an older application summary or secondhand advice differs from the newer statute, the newer statute governs. Check your own situation against MT-JE Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify and the official application before paying anything.
Retake Rules in Plain Terms
| Situation | What Happens |
|---|---|
| First failure | No waiting period; you may retake |
| Second failure | An approved eight-hour code seminar, completed after the first failure, is required before a third attempt |
| Eligibility and fee validity | Each lasts one year |
The practical lesson is that the first retake is cheap in terms of waiting but not in terms of preparation. Because there is no cooling-off period, it is tempting to rebook immediately. A better approach is to review exactly which kinds of questions slowed you down, usually navigation or calculation setup, and fix those before the next sitting. Remember that the seminar must be one the Board approves and must come after the first failure, so do not assume an older seminar certificate will count.
Passing score and pass rate are different things. The 70% requirement tells you what you must achieve; it says nothing about how many candidates succeed. Verified cohort pass-rate statistics were not available at the time of research, so treat any precise pass-rate claim skeptically. Our own treatment is in MT-JE Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows, and the scoring threshold is detailed in MT-JE Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.
High-Value Topics to Tab and Drill
The Board publishes only two headings, so the topics below are editorial study priorities, not official sub-domains. They are the areas where open-book candidates most often gain or lose time.
Calculations you should be able to set up fast
- Ohm's law and power: know the wheel of relationships cold, so you never need the book for basic circuit math.
- Voltage drop: practice single-phase and three-phase setups, including how conductor resistance enters the formula.
- Conductor sizing: combine ampacity tables with correction and adjustment factors, then check overcurrent protection limits.
- Box and conduit fill: know where the tables are and how to count conductors, devices and fittings.
Grounding and bonding
This topic generates a lot of confusion because it requires distinguishing grounding from bonding, identifying the electrodes that make up a grounding electrode system, and sizing grounding conductors from the correct table. Tab the relevant article and the sizing table separately so you can jump to either.
Printreading
Because Hittinger's Printreading is an approved reference, expect questions that ask you to interpret symbols, read a schedule or trace a circuit on a plan. Practice with real drawings, not just symbol lists, so you can find the relevant detail under time pressure.
Montana amendments
Build the habit of asking, on every code question, whether the Montana Building Codes Amendments change the answer. Tab the amendments at the front of your reference stack so this check costs seconds.
A Domain-Ordered Study Sequence
If you have about four weeks, ordering matters more than hours. Start with the heading that depends on book navigation, because tabbing takes calendar time to internalize, then layer in theory and calculations. A broader plan is available in MT-JE Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt; this is the compact version.
Build the Code Toolkit (Domain 1)
- Tab the 2020 NEC and the Montana amendments
- Practice looking up ampacity tables and correction factors
- Read the amendments once through to see what Montana changes
Grounding, Bonding and Raceways (Domain 1)
- Work grounding electrode and conductor-sizing problems
- Drill box fill and conduit fill
- Time every lookup and shorten your slowest ones
Theory, Calculations and Plans (Domain 2)
- Voltage drop, load and single-phase and three-phase problems
- Read plans and schedules from Hittinger's Printreading
- Review Board rules and Title 37 basics
Timed Mixed Practice
- Sit full 60-question, 180-minute simulations
- Review every miss by cause: lookup, calculation or concept
- Confirm your calculator and ID before test day
Journeyman vs. Master, Plus Renewal
Two quick distinctions help you avoid studying for the wrong test. The master exam carries a 75% pass mark and includes Major Load Calculations; the journeyman exam uses 70% and excludes that section. If you are comparing levels, including how residential licensing differs, the broader context is in MT-JE Certification.
After you pass and are licensed, renewal occurs on July 15 in even-numbered years. Renewal requires 16 continuing-education hours, including at least eight code hours. The 50% fee abatement mentioned earlier applies to the 2026 renewal cycle. Keep your continuing-education certificates organized from day one so renewal is a paperwork exercise, not a scramble.
Many candidates also ask whether the effort pays off. Verified salary amounts were not available, so we avoid quoting figures here. For a qualitative look at earning potential and return on investment, read MT-JE Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis and Is the MT-JE Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
The passing score is 70%. Older sources citing 75% or factory-only reference markings reflect the superseded June 2022 bulletin; the June 13, 2024 bulletin and ARM 24.141.503 set the current rule. The 75% mark applies to the master exam.
Yes, as long as you do it before the exam. Notes, highlighting, underlining and tabs are permitted under the newer bulletin. During the exam you may not write in your references or bring loose or attached extra papers.
The computer-based exam has 60 multiple-choice questions with 180 minutes allowed. The Board does not publish per-heading question counts or percentage weights for the two content headings.
There is no waiting period after a first failure. After a second failure, you must complete an approved eight-hour code seminar, taken after the first failure, before attempting a third time.
No. Montana Code Annotated section 37-68-305 expressly excludes experience from an uncompleted apprenticeship from the definition of legally obtained practical experience. Other routes include an approved apprenticeship or equivalent program, 8,000 practical hours, or 20,000 maintenance hours with employer certification.
Keep this sheet handy, verify every date and fee against the Board's current pages before you pay, and then put the facts to work with timed practice at the MT-JE Exam Prep practice tests.