The Hardest Topics on the Electrician Exam
Which topics cost candidates the most points?
Sample data, illustrative only
The figures below are placeholders to show what this report covers. They are not findings. Live numbers from real, anonymized diagnostics replace them once the dataset is large enough to be meaningful. See the methodology below.
| NEC topic | Share who miss it | Key articles |
|---|---|---|
| Calculations (load, conduit, motor) | — sample — | 220.12 / 430.22 |
| Grounding and bonding | — sample — | 250.66 |
| Box and conduit fill | — sample — | 314.16 / Ch. 9 Table 1 |
| Services and feeders | — sample — | 230 / 215 |
| Branch circuits | — sample — | 210 |
What it tells you
- We expect calculations to be the hardest cluster, because the open-book format does not save candidates who are slow at setup. The live data will confirm or correct that.
- These rankings come from real diagnostics once the dataset is large enough to be meaningful. Until then the figures above are illustrative, not findings.
Methodology
Ranked by the share of candidates who answer a topic's diagnostic questions incorrectly, across all states, anonymized and aggregated. Live figures replace the sample below once enough diagnostics are collected.
Source: Anonymized JourneymanIQ diagnostic results (pending). · Last updated 2026-06-21 · status: sample (not indexed)
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