If the last person who told you about the Texas journeyman exam took it before March 2025, half of what they said is out of date. TDLR reformatted it into two portions, and the way you fail changed with it. You can now pass the knowledge half and fail the calculations half, and you go back only for the half you missed.
Everything below is from PSI's Candidate Information Bulletin updated September 15, 2026, and TDLR's exam page. No folklore.
The two portions
NEC Knowledge: 59 questions, 130 minutes. Three of the 59 are unscored trial items, so 56 count. You need 70 percent of the 56, which is 40 correct. Calculations: 26 questions, 110 minutes. Two are unscored, so 24 count. Again 70 percent, which is 17 correct. Both are multiple choice, both are open book on the 2026 NEC, and the time does not roll over. Finish the knowledge portion with 40 minutes to spare and those 40 minutes are gone. You pay $78 for both portions. If you fail one or both, the retake is $78, and you retake only what you failed.What each portion asks, by subject
PSI prints the count per subject area. This is the knowledge portion:
- Definitions, theory and plans: 3
- Services, service equipment and separately derived systems: 6
- Feeders: 3
- Branch circuits and conductors: 10
- Wiring methods and materials: 10
- Equipment and devices: 10
- Motors and generators: 5
- Control devices and disconnecting means: 1
- Special occupancies, equipment and conditions: 6
- Renewable energy technologies: 2
- Calculations and theory: 2
- Services and separately derived systems: 4
- Feeders: 3
- Branch circuits and conductors: 4
- Wiring methods (raceway fill): 2
- Equipment and devices (HVAC, appliances): 2
- Motors and generators: 2
- Control devices and disconnecting means: 1
- Special occupancies (RVs, mobile homes, marinas): 3
- Renewable energy (EV chargers): 1
Budgeting the clock
Knowledge portion: 130 minutes for 59 questions is 2 minutes 12 seconds each. Most knowledge questions are a lookup. If you know which article, you find the answer in under a minute and bank the difference for the ones where you do not. The candidates who run out of time are the ones who read every exception on the page. PSI's own instruction is that you do not consider exceptions or optional methods unless the question tells you to. Answer the main rule and move on. Calculations portion: 110 minutes for 26 questions is 4 minutes 14 seconds each. A dwelling service calc done by hand with the 2026 numbers (2 VA per square foot, 1,500 VA per small-appliance circuit, Table 120.45 demand, Table 120.55 for the range) takes four to six minutes if you have done twenty of them and fifteen if you have done two. That is the whole difference. Also remember PSI's other standing instruction: all conductors are copper unless the question says otherwise.Two rules that decide close calls
Copper unless noted. If a question does not name aluminum, you are in the copper columns of Table 310.16, Table 250.66 and Table 250.122. No exceptions unless invoked. A question about GFCI in a garage is asking about 210.8(A), not about Exception 2 for the security system. If the exam wants the exception, it will say "under the exception" or describe the exact condition.What you can bring
One soft-bound 2026 NEC. Publisher tabs only, no homemade tabs, no Handbook, no loose paper, nothing written in the book during the exam. A non-programmable silent calculator. PSI gives you an electronic notepad. Everything else, including your phone and your hat, goes in a locker.
What I would do the week before
- Take one full timed mock of each portion, separately, with the clock running and your own book. Our mock draws the exact counts above.
- Look at the diagnostic. If calculations is where you lost points, spend the week on Article 120 worked examples and motor sizing (430.22, 430.52, 430.32). If knowledge is where you lost points, tab the thirty numbers and read the two chapters you missed most.
- Mock again two days out. Two passes in a row above 70 on both portions and you book.