TDLR's exam page says it in capital letters: effective September 1, 2026, the examinations are referenced to the 2026 NEC. PSI's bulletin, updated September 15, says the same. So if you are sitting the Journeyman, Master or Residential Wireman exam this fall, the book on your desk has to be the 2026 edition, and the numbers in your head have to be the 2026 numbers.
I wrote our whole question bank from the 2026 text, page by page, and kept a list of every place the 2023 answer would now be wrong. This is that list, shortest version. Tab these before anything else.
The article that moved: 220 is now 120
Load calculations left Article 220 and became Article 120, in Chapter 1. Every section you used to find under 220 kept its last digits: 220.41 is 120.41, Table 220.42(A) is Table 120.42(A), 220.52 is 120.52, 220.55 is 120.55, 220.82 is 120.82. The habit that hurts is flipping to the middle of the book for a load calc. It is near the front now.Two numbers inside Article 120 also changed:
- General lighting for a dwelling service or feeder: 2 VA per square foot, 120.41. The 2023 book said 3. A 2,400 ft² house is 4,800 VA of lighting now, not 7,200.
- The optional method for one dwelling: 100 percent of the first 8 kVA and 40 percent of the rest, 120.82(B). The 2023 book said 10 kVA. On a 32,000 VA general load the 2026 method comes out 1,200 VA lower, which is enough to change the service size on a close call.
Chapter 8 joined the club
90.3 used to say Chapters 5, 6 and 7 modify Chapters 1 through 7, and Chapter 8 stood alone. The 2026 text and Figure 90.3 put Chapters 5 through 8 together as the ones that may supplement or modify the general rules. If a question asks which chapters can modify Chapters 1 through 4, the answer now includes 8.Services: two numbers and a relocation
- Overhead conductors over a roof: 8 ft 6 in., 230.24(A). The 2023 book said 8 ft. The 12 ft and 18 ft clearances above grade in 230.24(B) did not change.
- The one- and two-family dwelling service disconnect belongs outdoors, readily accessible, marked EMERGENCY DISCONNECT in white letters on red. That rule was 230.85 in 2023; it lives in 230.70(A)(1) and 230.70(B)(2) now, and 230.85 is gone.
- Meter sockets moved from 230.66(B) to 230.68.
Grounding: the letters shifted in 250.122
Table 250.122 itself is where it always was, but the subsections under it were relettered. Upsizing the equipment grounding conductor when you upsize the circuit conductors for voltage drop was 250.122(B); it is 250.122(D) now. The single EGC for several circuits in one raceway was (C); it is (E). Parallel conductors in multiple raceways was (F); it is (H). If your notes say "250.122(B)", fix them tonight.Wiring methods: 300.5 is not the burial table anymore
The 2026 edition renumbered the front of Article 300. The old 300.3 (all conductors of a circuit in the same raceway) is 300.5 now, and the minimum-cover table you knew as Table 300.5 is Table 300.7(A). The depths did not change: 24 in. direct burial, 18 in. for PVC, 6 in. for rigid or IMC, 24 in. under any street or parking lot, 18 in. under a one- or two-family driveway. Only the page did. Also in Chapter 3: the conductor article's general section moved from 310.3 to 310.5, and 310.12 (the 83 percent rule for dwelling services) kept its number.Receptacles and switches: a new Part III in 406
Snap-switch rules that used to sit in 404.9 and 404.10 were relocated to a new Part III of Article 406, sections 406.30 through 406.50: faceplates and grounding in 406.40, mounting in 406.42, rating and use in 406.46. Faceplate thickness is still 0.030 in. for ferrous metal and 0.040 in. for nonferrous. 404.8(A) still puts the switch handle no higher than 6 ft 7 in.Kitchen countertop receptacles are still spaced so no point is more than 24 in. from one, 210.52(C)(1), and an island or peninsula still does not require a receptacle as long as electrical provisions are installed for a future one, 210.52(C)(2).
Motors and transformers
- Article 430 Part XII (over 1000 volts) was renumbered: 430.231 is the scope, and the 8 ft guarding rule is 430.232.
- Adjustable-speed drives: the branch-circuit overcurrent device is sized on the motor full-load current per 430.6 unless the drive is marked "Suitable for Output Motor Conductor Protection", 430.130(A)(1). This one tripped a second reader during our cross-check; it will trip candidates too.
- Article 450 Part I gained sections at the top (parallel operation, guarding, ventilation), which pushed the transformer overcurrent table to Table 450.5(B) and the disconnect rule to 450.16.
Special occupancies
- Temporary installations, Article 590, renumbered: GFCI is 590.7, guarding 590.8.
- Mobile homes (550), marinas (555), commercial garages (511), assembly occupancies (518), emergency and legally required standby (700, 701) and information technology equipment (645) all had sections renumbered. Our questions cite the 2026 number and note the 2023 one; read the 2026 heading before you answer.
- Pools: 680.74 became 680.75.
What to do with this
Open your 2026 book to each section above, read it once, and put a tab on it. Then take the free 20-question exam on this site. It draws from the same bank, cites the 2026 section under every answer, and tells you in twenty minutes which of these moves you have actually absorbed and which ones are still 2023 in your head.
The exam does not grade you on knowing what changed. It grades you on getting the 2026 answer. That is the whole reason to know what changed.