Washington electrician exam passing score

Two scores, not one

PSI Services delivers the (01) exam in two scored sections, and 70% on each section separately. you retake only the section you fail. That is the single most misread fact about this test. Most candidates pour their nights into the NEC and theory and treat the Washington laws and rules section as an afterthought, then walk out having cleared the big section and failed the short one.

• NEC and theory (60 questions, 3 hours): grounding and bonding, box and conduit fill, voltage drop, motor and feeder sizing, and dwelling load, all paraphrased from the 2020 NEC. Needs 70% on its own.
• Washington laws and rules (17 questions, 1 hour): RCW 19.28 and WAC 296-46B, covering licensing scopes, permits and inspection, supervision ratios, and renewal. Also needs 70% on its own.

What the laws and rules section costs you

About a fifth of the scored exam is Washington-specific law and rule, and it is a separate gate. Seventeen questions sounds small until you realize that missing six of them drops you below 70% on a section you cannot make up anywhere else. There is no carrying points over from the NEC half. Each section stands alone.

Is there a published pass rate?

No. L&I and PSI Services do not publish a pass rate for the Washington general journeyman exam. Any site quoting you a hard percentage is guessing, and we will not. What we can tell you honestly is where the difficulty lives, because the structure of the exam makes it plain.

How hard is it, really

The Washington (01) exam is not hard because the material is exotic. It is hard because of two pressures that catch prepared candidates off guard.

• The clock. Sixty NEC and theory questions in 3 hours is three minutes a question, and the calculation questions eat far more than that. Guys who know the code but cannot land on the right article fast run out of time before they run out of knowledge.
• The open-book trap. It is open book on the 2020 NEC, and a lot of candidates read that as a safety net. It is not. If you do not already know roughly where the rule lives, the book slows you down instead of saving you. Open book rewards navigation, not page-flipping.
• The two-section gate. Passing the part you studied is not passing the exam. The laws and rules section is the quiet failure point precisely because it gets the least study time.

How to study to the score

Hitting 70% twice means weighting your time by where you are weakest, not by what feels productive. Find your weak section first, then drill it. A free 15-minute diagnostic scores you against both halves of the (01) exam separately and shows which one is dragging you under the line, so you study to the score instead of to a feeling.

Ready to see which section is below the line? Take the free Washington diagnostic.