TDLR Journeyman Electrician Study Guide (2026 Edition)

What the exam tests

The TDLR Journeyman exam is open-book, multiple-choice, and graded to a 70% pass threshold. It draws from the NEC 2023 plus the Texas amendments. You will not be asked NFPA trivia. You will be asked what the rule says, what number applies, and which article controls.

Five clusters carry most of the points: calculations, wiring methods and materials, grounding and bonding, branch circuits and feeders, and motors. Anything outside those five is short-tail. A question or two on each, sometimes none.

How much time each topic deserves

Allocate study time roughly in proportion to point weight, with a kicker on the topics where you are weakest. A common mistake is to study what you already know because it feels productive.

• Calculations (≈25-30% of points). Voltage drop, conduit fill, box fill, motor sizing, service load. Daily reps. This is the section that decides most exams.
• Wiring methods and materials (≈20%). Articles 300, 310, 312, 314, 320-396. Conductor types, ampacity tables, raceway rules, support spacing.
• Grounding and bonding (≈15%). Article 250, top to bottom. The split between grounding electrode conductors and equipment bonding jumpers fails more candidates than any other concept.
• Branch circuits and feeders (≈15%). Articles 210, 215, 220. Continuous loads, demand factors, dwelling unit calculations.
• Motors and HVAC (≈10%). Article 430 with a side of 440. Branch-circuit conductor sizing, overload protection, short-circuit and ground-fault protection. Different percentages, different code paths.
• Everything else (≈15%). Definitions (Article 100), services (Article 230), GFCI/AFCI requirements (210.8/210.12), special occupancies, transformers, and a handful of safety items.

A 30-day allocation

This is the schedule we recommend if you have your test in 30 days and 60 to 90 minutes a day to study. Adjust if your math is rusty (push calculations earlier) or if you just got out of trade school (push code navigation later, since the rules are fresh but the speed is not).

Days 1-7: codebook speed

The single biggest gain in the first week is learning where things live. Open the book, find Article 250 in under five seconds. Find Table 310.16 in under five seconds. Find Chapter 9 Table 1 in under five seconds. Most candidates lose 40 minutes of exam time hunting through pages. Train the muscle now.

Days 8-15: calculations

Voltage drop, conduit fill, motor FLA, box fill, dwelling unit load. Two new calculation types per day, plus 10 minutes of yesterday’s type as warm-up. By day 15 you should be able to set up any of the five without looking at the formula sheet.

Days 16-22: weak topics + grounding

Grounding gets its own block because it carries 15% of points and it’s the topic candidates most often confuse. Spend three days on Article 250 alone. Then use the remaining four days on whatever the adaptive engine flagged as your weakest cluster.

Days 23-30: full mocks + cleanup

Two full two-part mocks (85 questions) under timed conditions. Score them. Spend the days between mocks fixing whatever you missed. Last two days: light review, no new material. Sleep wins more exams than cramming.

What NOT to study

People waste days on these because they look like exam topics. They’re not, in any meaningful weight:

• Hazardous locations (Article 500-516). One question, sometimes zero.
• Health care facilities (Article 517). Niche, rarely tested at journeyman level.
• Audio signal processing (Article 640) and similar special systems. Not on the typical TDLR draw.
• Memorizing Chapter 9 tables word for word. You have the book. Learn to find them, not recite them.
• Old NEC editions. TDLR is on NEC 2023. Anything from a 2017 prep book may be a rule that changed.

Resources we recommend

Keep the stack small. The TDLR exam rewards fast lookup, daily calculation reps, and knowing which section is weakest before the clock starts.

• Softbound NEC 2023. Match the format allowed by the current PSI bulletin. Train with the book you expect to use on test day.
• Current PSI candidate bulletin. Confirm exam sections, allowed references, fees, and scheduling rules before you pay for another attempt.
• JourneymanIQ diagnostic. Find the weak section first. A broad study plan feels busy, but it usually repeats the same mistake that caused the last miss.
• Calculation drills. Box fill, conduit fill, voltage drop, motor sizing, dwelling load, and service load. Do these by hand until the setup is automatic.

The exam-day rule we wish we’d known

Read every question twice before reaching for the book. Half the time the answer is in the question itself: a clue word, a unit, a specific scenario that maps to one article. Reaching for the book on every question is how candidates run out of time.

Studying from Houston, Fort Worth, Dallas, or Austin

The TDLR exam is identical in every Texas city. Same PSI question pool, same 4-hour clock, same 70 percent bar in Houston, Fort Worth, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, or Tyler. This study guide is the study guide, wherever you are. What changes by metro is the PSI test center lineup, how far out seats book, and the local wage picture after you pass.

City-specific pages with test center details and local employer notes: Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Austin.