Journeyman & Master Electrician Exam Pass Rates: Texas TDLR + California
Most pass-rate articles on the internet are years out of date or quote numbers without sourcing. This page uses figures published by TDLR and the California Department of Industrial Relations directly, with source URLs, for the Journeyman and Master exams both. We also explain what the numbers mean for your prep and what they don't.
Last reviewed July 2026
Source: TDLR Electrician Exam Statistics (FY2025), DIR pass-rate data (2022)
Texas TDLR Journeyman pass rate (FY2025)
TDLR publishes Electrician Exam Statistics annually on its website. The fiscal year 2025 report shows the current Journeyman Electrician numbers:
- Overall pass rate: 1,390 passed of 5,050 (27.52%)
- NEC Knowledge pass rate: 1,402 passed of 5,731 on the NEC Knowledge part (24.46%)
- Calculations pass rate: 1,301 passed of 6,328 on the Calculations part (20.56%)
- Exam format: 59 NEC Knowledge questions and 26 Calculations questions
- Source: TDLR Electrician Exam Statistics, https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/electricians/elecExamStats2025.htm
What the 27.52% means for you
Roughly seven in ten attempts in FY2025 did not pass. If your attempt was one of them, you are inside a very normal distribution, not at the edge of it. The candidates who pass on retake share three habits: they read the score report, they target the bottom-2 domains, and they don’t re-study what they already knew. We wrote a separate page on this: Failed the TDLR exam? Here’s what to do next →
The March 2025 exam-format change
TDLR split the Journeyman Electrician exam into two separate portions on March 11, 2025: a Knowledge portion and a Calculations portion taken separately. That matters because you need 70% on each part. A strong NEC Knowledge score no longer covers weak math. TDLR's FY2025 numbers show the split clearly: 24.46% for NEC Knowledge and 20.56% for Calculations.
Texas Master Electrician pass rate (FY2025)
The Master Electrician exam appears on the same TDLR statistics page, split into the same two portions. The FY2025 numbers are lower than the Journeyman numbers on both parts:
- Master NEC pass rate: 771 passed of 3,472 on the Master NEC part (22.21%)
- Master Calculations pass rate: 753 passed of 3,946 on the Master Calculations part (19.08%)
- Source: TDLR Electrician Exam Statistics, https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/electricians/elecExamStats2025.htm
Read that Calculations line again: fewer than one in five Master attempts passed the math portion in FY2025. These are experienced journeymen, most with well over the required 12,000 hours, and the Calculations part still fails four out of five attempts. The Master exam is not a harder version of the same test; it leans heavier on load calculations, service sizing, and design-level questions that day-to-day field work does not rehearse. If you are going for your master license, start with the Texas Master Electrician exam guide →
California General Electrician pass rate (2022)
The California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) publishes pass-rate data for its General Electrician certification exam. The most recently published year with detailed breakdowns is 2022:
- First-time pass rate: 52.95%
- Repeat pass rate: 38.02%
- Exam length: 100 questions, 4 hours 30 minutes
- Passing score: 70%
- Required experience: 8,000 hours
- Mandatory retake wait: 60 days
- Source: California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR)
Why the repeat rate is lower than first-time
The 38.02% repeat rate is counterintuitive but explainable. The first-time cohort includes everyone: the well-prepared, the average, and the underprepared. The retaker cohort is the subset who failed the first time, which by definition skews toward weaker prep. A retake rate below the first-time rate is not the exam getting harder; it is selection bias.
What this tells candidates: if you failed the first time and you change nothing about your study approach, you are statistically in the 62% who fail again. The candidates who flip to the 38% who pass are the ones who read the score report and concentrate on their bottom-2 domains in the 60-day wait window.
The June 2026 California scheduling change
DIR announced new exam scheduling procedures effective June 1, 2026. If your exam is scheduled on or after that date, verify the current procedure on the DIR Candidate Information Bulletin and Pearson VUE before you go. We will update this page if the change affects pass rates materially in subsequent reporting.
What pass rates tell you (and don’t)
Pass rates are useful for setting expectations. They are not useful for predicting your individual outcome. Three things to keep in mind:
- Sample composition matters. Overall rates include underprepared candidates who would fail any exam. First-time rates from a screened population (e.g., people who completed a 30-day prep plan) would be higher.
- The exam doesn't get harder year over year unless the format changes. The 27.52% TDLR rate and the 52.95% California rate reflect candidate preparation as much as exam difficulty.
- What you study and how you study matter more than the headline pass rate. Calculations is the largest single source of lost points on both exams. Codebook navigation is the second.
How to be in the passing percentile
The candidates who pass have three things in common, regardless of state:
1. Codebook navigation speed
They can find the rule in the allowed reference materials in under 30 seconds. Most exams are open-book and most candidates lose 30+ minutes hunting for articles. Our tabbing guide covers a minimal scheme that survives PSI scrutiny.
2. Wave-pass exam strategy
They answer easy questions first, mark the hard ones, and return in priority passes. Burning 8 minutes on question 4 because the calculation is unfamiliar is how candidates run out of time. We wrote up the wave-pass method in detail at Open-book exam strategy →
3. Calculation muscle memory
They can run voltage drop, conduit fill, motor sizing, and box fill without consulting the formula sheet. Calculations is the single largest source of lost points on both exams. Daily reps for 30 days is what gets you there.
Frequently asked questions
What is the TDLR Journeyman Electrician pass rate?
TDLR's published Electrician Exam Statistics for fiscal year 2025 show 1,390 passed of 5,050 (27.52%). The figure is overall, so it includes retakers and is not first-time only. Source: TDLR Electrician Exam Statistics, https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/electricians/elecExamStats2025.htm.
What is the Texas Master Electrician exam pass rate?
TDLR's FY2025 Electrician Exam Statistics show 771 passed of 3,472 on the Master NEC part (22.21%) and 753 passed of 3,946 on the Master Calculations part (19.08%). Both portions must be passed at 70%. The Master Calculations portion has the lowest pass rate of any exam part TDLR publishes. Source: TDLR Electrician Exam Statistics, https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/electricians/elecExamStats2025.htm.
What is the California General Electrician pass rate?
Per DIR official statistics, the 2022 first-time pass rate for the California General Electrician (DIR) exam was 52.95%. The repeat pass rate was 38.02%. Second-attempt candidates passed at a lower rate than first-time takers, which reflects sample bias because the retaker cohort is skewed toward weaker prep. Source: California Department of Industrial Relations.
Why is the TDLR pass rate so low?
Three factors drive the 27.52% figure. First, the figure is overall, so it includes retakers who may fail multiple times in the same fiscal year. Second, the exam is open-book but time-pressured, with two separately-scored parts and 85 questions total since March 2025. Third, the Calculations part is brutal: 1,301 passed of 6,328 on the Calculations part (20.56%).
Why do California first-timers pass at a higher rate than retakers?
Counterintuitive but explainable. The first-time cohort includes everyone: well-prepared candidates, average candidates, and the unprepared. The retaker cohort is the subset who failed the first time, which by definition skews toward weaker prep. The 38.02% repeat rate is not telling you the exam gets harder. It's telling you that without changing study strategy between attempts, the same gaps fail you again.
Is the TDLR exam getting harder?
TDLR split the Journeyman exam into two parts effective March 11, 2025. FY2025 now shows the new structure: 1,402 passed of 5,731 on the NEC Knowledge part (24.46%) and 1,301 passed of 6,328 on the Calculations part (20.56%). The headline is not just that the test is hard. The headline is that Calculations is now visible and scored on its own.
What pass rate does JourneymanIQ candidates achieve?
We do not publish a JourneymanIQ-specific pass rate. We are a small team and the platform is new. Sample sizes are not yet large enough for honest reporting. Anyone claiming a specific pass-rate uplift from a prep platform without published methodology is either guessing or marketing. If you want to know how prep affects your odds, the diagnostic shows your weak topics in 90 seconds; from there you control the rest.
Methodology and updates
All figures on this page come directly from official agency publications. TDLR pass-rate data: TDLR Electrician Exam Statistics page for the relevant fiscal year. California pass-rate data: DIR official statistics. Where a figure is cited from a third party, we link the third party and note the citation chain.
We update this page when new agency reports publish. Last reviewed: July 2026.
See where you stand on the actual exam
The diagnostic shows your weak topics in 90 seconds. Free, no signup. From there you'll know whether your biggest risk is code lookup, calculations, or another domain.