The North Carolina Electrical Contractor Exam

North Carolina's electrical board gives no separate business and law exam. Each classification has one computer-based test, and PSI lists each as a single portion. Rule .0203 requires every classification exam to cover permit and inspection requirements, business practices and the state statutes and rules, and G.S. 87-42 adds plan and specification analysis and estimating. On the exam, that content sits in outline area 11, alongside the trade questions.

Rule .0204(c) sets a minimum grade of 70 out of 100 for every qualifying exam, and the handbook says the passing score is currently 70 percent for all of them. A computer tutorial of up to 15 minutes runs before your time starts, and you may return to any question and change the answer until time expires. On the 100-question exams that works out to about 3.6 minutes per item; SP-SFD allows 4.5.

The handbook's subject table gives an approximate number of questions in 11 areas. Figures below run Limited, Intermediate, Unlimited, then SP-SFD.

The handbook tells Intermediate and Unlimited candidates to expect more areas and harder questions. Only those two exams cover high-voltage grounding, overcurrent protection, wiring methods and protective device sizing, emergency systems, health care facilities, places of assembly, traveling cables, machine rooms and hazardous locations such as bulk storage plants, finishing processes, gas stations and commercial garages. Aircraft hangars appear on Unlimited alone.

The Limited exam keeps special occupancies to mobile homes and swimming pools, as does SP-SFD, which gives the whole area a single question. SP-SFD also drops the Lighting and Power Plans and estimating item from area 11, while Limited, Intermediate and Unlimited candidates work from the plan sheets printed at the back of the handbook.

Only three books may come into the room: the 2020 National Electrical Code; the 2013 edition of NFPA 72, the National Fire Alarm Code, which Limited, Intermediate, Unlimited, SP-SFD and SP-FA/LV candidates must bring; and the current NASCLA Contractors Guide to Business, Law and Project Management, North Carolina Electrical Edition. Questions also draw on G.S. Chapter 87 Article 4 and 21 NCAC 18B, both printed in the handbook. Reference books are not supplied at the test center, though calculators, scratch paper and pencils are.

G.S. 87-42 ties the exam to the NEC as incorporated in the North Carolina State Building Code, and the Board's list names the 2020 edition, so a newer NEC is the wrong book for this exam until the Board changes its list. The handbook directs candidates to NFPA's catalog to buy the code. The book rules are unusually specific:

Two handbook conventions affect calculation answers. A fraction of an ampere of .5 or more rounds up and anything smaller is dropped, so 99.5 amperes counts as 100 and 99.4 as 99. And where the code permits an exception or alternative method, apply it unless the question specifically excludes it. Each item has one correct answer, though other choices may be partly right, and the Board says it does not write trick questions.

You apply to the Board first, with the $125 fee that covers application and exam. The Notice of Approval arrives by mail and email and sets a 90-day authorization period. PSI emails a Test Taker ID 48 to 72 hours after that period begins; if nothing comes within three business days, call the Board at (919) 733-9042. Book at test-takers.psiexams.com/ncbeec or by calling PSI at (855) 746-8173. Each approval covers one registration and one attempt.

North Carolina test sites are in Asheville, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Greenville, Raleigh, Wilmington and Winston-Salem, and some PSI sites in other states are available. The handbook lets you cancel and rebook without losing the fee if PSI hears from you two days before the exam, but the Board's FAQ says four days, so give the longer notice. Arrive 30 minutes early with two valid IDs that bear your signature, one with a photo, in the exact name on your approval. Disability accommodations must be approved by the Board before you contact PSI.

Your score appears on screen at the end, and the Board has it the next business day. A failing report includes a diagnostic by area and a review request form. Rule .0211 makes you wait three months before retesting in the same classification, and every attempt is a new application with a new $125 fee; you may apply at once for a different classification if you meet its experience requirement. A failed exam may be reviewed once for $25 at monthly group sessions of about four hours at the Board's Garner office.

The handbook advises studying from the content outline, reading every listed reference, practicing calculations and working in steady sessions of 45 to 60 minutes a day, and it includes sample and practice questions. Tab the code articles behind grounding, services and load calculations, and read Article 4 and the Board's rules closely, since area 11 is the largest block on every one of these exams.

ContractorPrepHQ offers practice for the Limited, Intermediate, Unlimited and SP-SFD exams at $149 each, a one-time price with lifetime access and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Each has original questions written from the handbook's outline and reference list, a diagnostic, topic drills and timed practice exams with a readiness score. It has no connection to the Board or PSI and makes no pass guarantee.