What is the passing score for the TDLR Journeyman exam?

70%. The TDLR Journeyman exam has 80 multiple-choice questions, so 56 correct answers is the minimum passing score. The 70% threshold is the same across both portions if you take the new (March 2025+) split exam structure with separate Knowledge and Calculations portions.

What is the passing score for the California General Electrician exam?

70%. The California DIR General Electrician exam has 100 multiple-choice questions, so 70 correct answers is the minimum passing score. The threshold is the same as TDLR.

Is the passing score the same across all electrician licensing exams?

Most state electrician exams use 70% as the passing threshold, including Texas TDLR and California DIR. Some local jurisdictions (city-level licensing in Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York) may set their own thresholds — verify with the specific licensing authority before scheduling.

Do all questions count equally toward the score?

On standard TDLR and California exams, yes — each question is worth one point. Some exams may have unscored 'pretest' questions seeded in to validate new content; you cannot tell which are scored vs unscored, so answer all questions seriously. The 70% threshold applies to scored questions.

What does the score report show after I pass or fail?

TDLR sends a domain-by-domain score report after the exam (calculations, wiring methods, grounding, branch circuits, motors, general code). California DIR provides a similar breakdown across the four DIR domains (installation, determination, safety, maintenance). The breakdown tells you which domains lost you the most points — essential information whether you passed by a thin margin and want to be solid for future master license, or you failed and need to plan a targeted retake.

What's a safe practice-mode score before sitting for the real exam?

Aim for 80%+ in practice mode before scheduling. The reason: real-exam pressure typically drops scores 5-10 percentage points compared to relaxed practice. If you're scoring 80% in untimed practice with your codebook open, you're in striking distance of the 70% real-exam threshold. If you're scoring 65% in practice, you're not ready.

ICP question · scoring

Electrician Exam Passing Score: 70%

Both the Texas TDLR Journeyman exam and the California General Electrician exam require 70% to pass. That's 56 of 80 on TDLR or 70 of 100 on California. Same threshold, different question counts. Here's how to know if you're ready before paying the exam fee.

Last reviewed May 2026

Passing score by state

Texas TDLR Journeyman: 70% (56 correct out of 80 questions)
California General Electrician: 70% (70 correct out of 100 questions)
Most other state journeyman electrician exams use the same 70% threshold

Why 70% specifically?

70% is a standard professional licensing threshold used across many trade exams, not just electrician. It reflects a balance between ensuring competency and recognizing that no candidate is perfect on every detail. The threshold is set by the state licensing authority based on the exam’s difficulty calibration — TDLR sets it for Texas, DIR sets it for California.

The math: how close to the line are most candidates?

Per TDLR FY2024 published statistics, 27.86% of attempts pass and 72.14% don’t (verified stats). Of the candidates who fail, the majority don’t fail by a wide margin. They typically fail by 4 to 8 percentage points — scoring 62-66% when 70% is needed.

That means a typical failed exam is the difference of 3 to 6 questions out of 80. Picking up those 3-6 questions on the next attempt is what targeted retake prep is built around. The score report breakdown tells you exactly which 3-6 questions to fix.

How to know if you're ready before scheduling

The readiness benchmarks we recommend

Practice mode (untimed, open book): aim for 82%+ before scheduling. This is your ‘ready to test’ threshold.
Timed mock exam (full length, exam conditions): aim for 75%+. The drop from practice to timed-mock is the test-day pressure premium.
Wave-pass mock (with the 5-pass strategy): aim for 78%+. The Wave Mock simulates the time-management strategy that decides exams.
Per-domain readiness: no single domain below 65%. If grounding is at 50% but everything else is at 85%, your overall might pass but a bad grounding draw could sink you.

What the diagnostic tells you

JourneymanIQ’s free diagnostic is a 15-question micro-version of the real exam, weighted to actual TDLR or California domain proportions. It takes 90 seconds. The score it shows isn’t calibrated to be a precise prediction (sample size is too small for that), but it tells you:

Which domains you’re currently strong in
Which domains will lose you points if you walked into the exam this week
Whether 30, 60, or 90 days of prep is more realistic for you

Take the diagnostic →

How JourneymanIQ tracks your readiness

On the platform, the readiness score updates after every practice session. It’s a synthesis of your per-topic proficiency weighted by exam-domain importance. We don’t inflate the number to keep you subscribed. If your readiness score reads 58, it reads 58. The honest signal is what you actually need to plan around exam scheduling.

For more on what the readiness score actually measures and how it’s calculated, see how long to study.

See your distance from the 70% line

The diagnostic shows your score in 90 seconds. If you're already at 80%+, you're ready. If you're at 60%, the platform's adaptive engine concentrates your prep on the gap.

Predict my score →Verified pass rates →