The 360-Degree Rule: How Many Bends Between Pull Points
One of the most-answered questions in our bank, and three in ten candidates still miss it. The rule is a single number. The misses come from two directions: calling four 90s a violation when it is the exact maximum, and forgetting that offsets, kicks and saddles are bends too.
Last reviewed September 2026
What counts as a bend
- A 90: 90 degrees.
- An offset: two bends, so a 30-degree offset is 60 degrees, a 45-degree offset is 90.
- A kick: whatever angle it was bent to, once.
- A saddle: a three-bend saddle at 45 in the middle and 22.5 on each side is 90 degrees; a four-bend saddle at 30 each is 120.
- The bend the conduit makes entering a box through a fitting does not count; the fitting is the pull point.
What counts as a pull point
Any place you can get at the conductors to pull: a box, a conduit body like an LB or a T, a wireway, an enclosure. The count resets at each one. When a run needs more than 360 degrees of bends to get where it is going, the answer is another pull point, not a bigger pull.
Worked example
An EMT run between two boxes has four 90-degree bends. Is it permitted?
- Four times 90 is 360 degrees.
- 358.26 allows not more than 360 between pull points.
- 360 is not more than 360. Permitted, and exactly at the limit.
- Add one 30-degree offset (60 degrees) and the run is 420: not permitted without a pull point.
Where candidates lose the point
- Calling four 90s a violation. It is the maximum, and the maximum is allowed.
- Counting only 90s. Offsets, kicks and saddles add every degree.
- Counting an offset as one bend. It is two.
- Forgetting the count resets at a conduit body. An LB in the middle of a run is a pull point.
- Applying the rule to flexible cords or cable. It is a raceway rule.
Wiring methods are the biggest block on the exam
Raceway rules, cable limits and support intervals make up the largest section. The free diagnostic shows which of them you would miss today.