TDLR Journeyman Electrician exam pass rate
The numbers are rough, and they are also the most useful thing you can read before a retake. They tell you the exam is beatable and exactly where it takes people down. Here is the data and what to do with it.
Last reviewed June 2026
The format the pass rate is measured against
Read the pass rate wrong and you study the wrong thing. Since March 11, 2025, the TDLR Journeyman Electrician exam is two separately-scored parts, not one test. NEC Knowledge is 59 questions in 130 minutes. Calculations is 26 questions in 110 minutes. That is 85 questions total, but the two parts are timed and graded on their own. You pass each at 70%, and a strong score on one part does nothing for a weak score on the other.
- Overall FY2025: 1,390 passed of 5,050 attempts (27.52%).
- Calculations part: 1,301 passed of 6,328 (20.56%).
- NEC Knowledge part: 1,402 passed of 5,731 (24.46%).
- Both parts are open book on the 2023 NEC, scored separately at 70% each.
- The exam fee is $78 for both parts, run through PSI under TDLR authority.
What the low number is actually telling you
The Calculations part passing at 20.56% is the signal that matters. Both parts are open book, so this is not a memory problem. The book is right there. The exam is timed the way it is because the difficulty is finding the controlling rule fast and running the math without a slip. Under the old single exam, a strong code score could drag a shaky calculations score across the line. That is over. The math now stands on its own, and that is most of why the overall number sits below three in ten.
What moves your odds on a retake
A low pass rate is not a verdict on you. It is a verdict on prep that treats the whole code as equally important. The candidates who pass the second time usually change what they study, not just how long.
- Train the Calculations part as its own discipline, since it is scored on its own and fails the most people. Think conductor sizing per Article 310, box fill per Article 314, and motor loads per Article 430.
- Drill the calculation patterns the exam repeats instead of re-reading the whole code book.
- Practice against the clock, because 110 minutes for 26 calculations rewards a steady pace, not a sprint.
- Tab and learn the soft-bound NEC 2023 you will bring, so lookups cost seconds and not minutes.
The honest note
We do not promise you will pass. A 15-question diagnostic is not the 85-question exam, and anyone telling you it is equivalent is selling you comfort. What we can do is show you, in plain numbers, which TDLR domains across both parts are costing you points, in priority order, so your study time lands where the exam actually grades you.
Don’t run the same prep that failed you.
Your score report is vague. The diagnostic pins your two weakest domains so your retake goes to the right work, not a re-read of what you already knew. The Calculations part fails the most people, and it is now scored on its own.
Start your retake diagnostic