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State guides · Georgia
The Georgia Journeyman Electrician Exam, Explained
Search for the Georgia journeyman electrician exam and you'll find a dozen prep courses happy to sell you one. Here's what they bury: Georgia does not issue a statewide journeyman license at all. There is no journeyman exam to sign up for. The state license that actually exists — and the exam that actually matters — is the Electrical Contractor license, in two classes. This page covers that exam: who runs it, what it costs, what Code edition it tests, and how to prep for it.
- The twist: there is no Georgia journeyman license
- The exam format: 140 questions, 8 hours, 70%
- Who runs it
- Class I vs. Class II: which one you test for
- Who qualifies and what it costs
- What's tested
- Which NEC edition the exam uses
- Open book, calculator, and exam-day rules
- Worked examples: the math the exam rewards
- How to study for it
The Twist: There Is No Georgia Journeyman License
In most states, the ladder is apprentice, then journeyman, then master or contractor. Georgia skips the middle rung at the state level:
- Apprentices and journeyman-level electricians are not state-licensed in Georgia. You work under a licensed electrical contractor. Finishing an apprenticeship earns you a journeyman certificate from the program — it does not come from the state, and no state exam is attached to it.
- The only statewide electrical licenses are Electrical Contractor Class I and Class II. You cannot contract electrical work on your own — bid it, pull the permits, run the business — until you hold one of them.
- Some cities and counties layer on their own requirements for working locally. Check with your jurisdiction before you assume the state picture is the whole picture.
So if your goal is "get licensed in Georgia," your goal is the contractor exam — and the experience you build at the journeyman level is exactly what the Board requires before it lets you sit for it.
The Exam Format
The Georgia Electrical Contractor exam is a computer-based, multiple-choice test administered by PSI at PSI test centers. It runs as two parts in a single long day:
| Detail | |
|---|---|
| Scored questions | 140 — 30 on Regulations, Laws & Administrative Functions + 110 on Technical Functions |
| Unscored pretest questions | 15 extra for Class I (155 presented) · 22 extra for Class II (162 presented) |
| Time | 8 hours total — 4 hours per part, with a break in between |
| Passing score | Scaled score of 70 |
| Format | Multiple choice, on a computer at a PSI test center, open book |
| Results | Score report before you leave the test center |
Do the pacing math now, not on test day: 140 scored questions in 480 minutes is about 3 minutes 25 seconds per question — generous, if you can find answers in the book instead of reading for them. The pretest questions are mixed in and unscored; you can't tell which ones they are, so treat every question like it counts.
⚠️ Fail twice, and the rules change. If you fail the exam twice, you must complete a Board-approved review course before you can test again. The exam fee is paid again on every attempt, too. Pass the first time — drill the lookup reps until finding answers is boring.
Who Runs the Exam
Licenses are issued by the Georgia State Construction Industry Licensing Board, Division of Electrical Contractors, under the Georgia Secretary of State's Professional Licensing Boards Division. The Board approves your application first — you cannot schedule anything until it does. Once approved, you register and sit with PSI. Applications are filed online through the Secretary of State's GOALS portal, and the document that controls your test day is the current Candidate Information Handbook — question counts, the approved reference list, and the tabbing rules all live there. If a forum post disagrees with the handbook, the handbook wins.
Class I vs. Class II: Which One You Test For
Both classes take the same style of exam — 30 law and admin questions plus 110 technical questions — but they license different work:
- Class I (Restricted): electrical contracting limited to single-phase installations that do not exceed 200 amperes at the service drop or service lateral — the residential and light-work license, per Board Rule 121-3-.01.
- Class II (Unrestricted): no limits — any electrical contracting work, including three-phase commercial and industrial projects of any size.
Pick the class that matches your experience. Class II asks more on the application — including experience on work exceeding single-phase, 200-ampere systems. And there's no separate business and law test: the 30 law and admin questions are built into the same sitting.
Who Qualifies & What It Costs
The Board screens you before PSI ever sees your name. The core requirements:
- Age: at least 21 years old.
- Experience: years of documented primary experience — hands-on installation work of the type covered by the NEC — attested by affidavit. Under O.C.G.A. § 43-14-8, recodified effective July 1, 2026, the standard path is at least 3 years of full-time experience for Class I and at least 4 years for Class II (with at least 2 of those years in three-phase work). Completing a two-year electrical diploma or certificate program, or a U.S. Department of Labor-approved apprenticeship, opens alternate paths — confirm your exact path in GOALS, because the statute changed in 2026.
- References: three references who can attest to your electrical experience; at least one must be a licensed electrical contractor.
- Background check: applying is your consent to a criminal background check run through the Secretary of State; you pay its associated fees.
- Exam application fee: $40 ($30 application + $10 processing), paid through GOALS.
- Exam fee: paid to PSI after the Board approves you — the current amount is set in the Candidate Information Handbook, so pull it from there rather than trusting any prep site's number, including this one.
After you pass: renewal is due by June 30 of even-numbered years (late window through July 31), the biennial renewal fee is $100, and you need 4 hours of continuing education per year. Georgia also has reciprocity with Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
What's Tested
The 110 Technical Functions questions are a Code exam. Open your Code book to Article 210 for branch circuits, Article 220 for load calculations, Article 230 for services, Article 240 for overcurrent protection, Article 250 for grounding and bonding, Article 300 and Article 310 for wiring methods and conductors, Article 314 for boxes, and Article 430 for motors — you will live in those articles. Expect electrical theory and Ohm's law, services, feeders and branch circuits, raceways and enclosures, grounding and bonding, motors and controls, special occupancies and equipment, and safety, including OSHA's construction rules at 29 CFR 1926.
The other 30 questions cover the business of contracting: Georgia licensing law, workers' comp, taxes, insurance and bonding, contracts, estimating, and permits. Study only the NEC and you walk in ready for 110 questions and blind on 30.
🔎 The lookup-tip that matters most for Georgia: eight hours sounds like forever until you're hunting an untabbed book at hour six. Tab your Code book by article number with permanent tabs — the reference rules expressly allow highlighting, underlining, and permanent tabs — and drill timed reps where every question starts with "find it in the book." Tab your Code book →
Which NEC Edition the Exam Uses
Georgia's State Minimum Standard Electrical Code is the 2023 NEC, with no state amendments, effective January 1, 2025 per the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. The licensing exam follows the state code, so:
- Study and tab the 2023 NEC.
- Don't drill on 2020 rules or 2026 changes — an answer that's right under a different edition can be wrong on your test.
Edition mistakes are silent killers — the answers just come out on the wrong side of a changed rule. Study the edition you'll be tested on. See the 50-state edition table →
Open Book, Calculator & Exam-Day Rules
The Georgia exam is open book — but only with the references on the Board's approved list, the NEC first among them. The rules that trip people up:
- Your books may be highlighted, underlined, and tabbed with permanent tabs. Photocopied material and handwritten notes — even notes pasted into the book — are not allowed.
- Silent, non-programmable calculators without alpha keys or printing capability are allowed. Leave the programmable one at home.
- Bring two forms of ID, arrive early, and expect to empty your pockets and store everything else in a locker. Arriving more than 15 minutes late means you don't test — and you forfeit the fee.
Confirm the current reference list and rules in the Candidate Information Handbook before your test date. Bulletins get revised; the rules printed in your copy of the handbook are the ones the proctor enforces.
Worked Examples: The Math the Exam Rewards
Two question styles show up over and over. Both are free points once the method is automatic.
Example 1 — Continuous loads [Article 220 / 210.19(A)(1)]: A branch circuit supplies a continuous load of 20 amperes. What minimum conductor ampacity is required before derating? Continuous loads are sized at 125%: 20 A × 1.25 = 25 amperes. Open your Code book to Article 210, then check ampacity in Table 310.16 under Article 310. The trap answer is 20 — the exam wants the 125% step.
Example 2 — Box fill [Article 314]: A 4″ square box, 1½″ deep, contains four 12 AWG circuit conductors, two 12 AWG equipment grounding conductors, one duplex receptacle, and two internal cable clamps. Is the box big enough? Per Table 314.16(B), 12 AWG = 2.25 in³ per allowance: 4 conductors × 2.25 = 9.00 in³; all the grounds together count once = 2.25 in³; the receptacle yoke counts twice = 4.50 in³; all the internal clamps together count once = 2.25 in³. Total: 18.00 in³ — exactly the 18.0 in³ volume Table 314.16(A) gives that box. It fits, with zero room to spare. Full box fill walkthrough →
Notice the pattern: the arithmetic is trivial. The skill being tested is knowing which table to open — and that's drilled, not memorized.
How to Study for It
Field experience gets your application approved; it doesn't pass an 8-hour open-book exam. Most candidates who fail, fail on lookup speed and the 30 law questions they never studied. The plan:
- Tab your Code book by article and drill finding any article in under 60 seconds — the tabbing guide →
- Do lookup reps with the book open — Sparky's 1,087 questions across 33 NEC topics are built exactly this way: every question a rep, 15 minutes a day. The method →
- Split your study time like the exam splits: roughly four-fifths Code and calculations, one-fifth Georgia law, business, and admin.
- Learn the calculation articles cold — box fill (314.16), load calculations, motor calculations. They're the highest-value questions on the technical half.
- Take the free 10-question Smart Review to see where you stand before the Board has your $40 and PSI has your exam fee.
Exam facts verified against the Georgia State Construction Industry Licensing Board / Division of Electrical Contractors materials, the PSI candidate handbook structure, O.C.G.A. § 43-14-8 (effective July 1, 2026), Board Rule 121-3-.01, and the Georgia Department of Community Affairs code adoption notice, October 2026. Fees, experience paths, and provider details change — confirm against the current handbook and GOALS portal before your test date.
Keep Drilling
Georgia gives you no journeyman shortcut — the contractor exam is the gate, an open-book speed test wearing a knowledge disguise. Sparky's 1,087 codebook-first questions drill that speed: every question a rep, book open, 15 minutes a day.