Maryland Journeyperson Electrician Study Guide (2026)

Before you build a plan, find out what actually needs work. Take the free Maryland diagnostic first. Fifteen minutes, no card, and it hands you the article families to put at the top of this guide instead of guessing.

What the exam actually tests

The Maryland Journeyperson Electrician exam is administered by PSI Services for the Maryland State Board of Electricians. It is open book on the 2020 NEC and graded to a 70% pass line. That open book is the trap. The Board's own numbers put the pass rate at about 27 percent, because the test rewards finding the rule fast under the clock, not remembering it. You get 3 hours 30 minutes for 70 questions. That is 3 minutes a question, lookups included.

The article families to work, in priority order

Study time should follow your diagnostic results, with a heavier hand on whatever bled points. Absent a diagnostic, this is the order that pays off for most Maryland candidates.

• Calculations. Voltage drop, box fill, conduit fill, motor and feeder sizing. The open book will not set up a calculation for you. Daily reps until the setup is automatic. Start at Maryland calculations practice.
• Grounding and bonding. Article 250 top to bottom. The split between grounding electrode conductors and equipment bonding jumpers confuses more candidates than any other concept in the book.
• Wiring methods and materials. Articles 300, 310, 312, 314, and the raceway articles. Conductor ampacity, box sizing, support and securing rules.
• Branch circuits, feeders, and services. Articles 210, 215, 220, and 230. Continuous loads, demand factors, dwelling unit calculations.
• Motors. Article 430. Conductor sizing, overload protection, and short-circuit protection use different percentages and different code paths. Know which is which.
• Maryland law and rule. Title 6 and COMAR 09.09.01 questions are woven into the exam. Know where state code overrides the NEC.

A 30-day plan for the open-book format

This assumes 60 to 90 minutes a day. If your math is rusty, pull the calculation block earlier. If you just finished an apprenticeship program, the rules are fresh but your lookup speed probably is not, so give the first block extra days.

Days 1-7: codebook speed

The biggest first-week gain on an open-book exam is knowing where things live. Find Article 250 in under five seconds. Find Table 310.16 in under five seconds. Find Chapter 9 Table 1 in under five seconds. Slow lookups are what fail Maryland candidates, not missing knowledge. Mind the book rules while you prep: Open book on the 2020 NEC only. Permanent highlighting, underlining, and printed index tabs are allowed. Study guides, handwritten notes, removable tabs, and writing in the book are not allowed. Train with the exact book you will carry into the PSI Services center.

Days 8-15: calculations

Voltage drop, box fill, conduit fill, motor sizing, dwelling load. Two calculation types per day, plus ten minutes of the previous day's type as warm-up. By day 15 you should set up any of them without hunting for a formula.

Days 16-22: grounding plus your weak articles

Give Article 250 three days on its own. Then spend the rest of the week on whatever your diagnostic flagged. Studying what you already know feels productive. It is not. It is how candidates repeat the same miss twice.

Days 23-30: timed practice at exam pacing

Two full timed runs at the real pacing, 70 questions in 3 hours 30 minutes, book open, clock running. Score them and fix what you missed between runs. Last two days are light review only. Sleep wins more exams than cramming.

What not to waste nights on

• Memorizing tables word for word. The exam is open book. Learn to find Table 250.66 and Table 310.16, not to recite them.
• Prep books written for other NEC editions. The Maryland exam cites the 2020 NEC, per the PSI bulletin. A 2017 or 2023 study book can teach you a rule that reads differently in the edition you will be tested on.
• Copied exam dumps. Sites claiming real PSI questions are a legal and accuracy problem, and plenty of them quiz the wrong edition or call the exam closed book.
• Handwritten notes and removable tabs in your codebook. They are not allowed in the exam room, so do not build a study habit around them.

Journeyperson or master: study for the right exam

Maryland runs two tiers through the same Board. The journeyperson exam is 70 questions in 3 hours 30 minutes. The master exam is 90 questions in 4 hours and leans much harder on calculations. Both are open book on the 2020 NEC with the same 70% pass line, but the study allocation is different. If you are not sure which credential fits your hours, read journeyperson vs master first. Going for the higher tier? The master exam page covers that path.

If the first attempt does not go your way

Wait 30 days from your most recent attempt to retest, and pay the $65 exam fee again. Your exam approval is valid for one year. Use the wait to study your score report, not to start over from page one. The failed-the-exam page lays out a focused recovery plan for the 30 days.