NH-JE Meaning

What the NH-JE Label Means on This Site

On this site, NH-JE stands for exactly one thing: the New Hampshire Journeyman Electrician License Exam. It is the written examination a candidate passes on the way to a New Hampshire journeyman electrician license. It is not a national certification, and it is not a vendor credential. It is a state licensing exam tied to New Hampshire law, New Hampshire rules, and the electrical code references the state tells candidates to use.

That distinction matters because acronyms collide. Searching for a short label can surface unrelated credentials, and mixing their fees, dates, or pass rates with New Hampshire's would lead you to plan around the wrong numbers. Every concrete fact in this article is tied to the New Hampshire exam. For a broader orientation, see our companion pieces What Is NH-JE? and What Does NH-JE Stand For?.

Who Runs the Exam and Who Delivers It

Two organizations are involved, and candidates sometimes confuse their roles.

• The New Hampshire Electricians' Board, part of the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification (OPLC), is the licensing authority. It decides who is approved to test and who is licensed. The issuer page is the Board's page on the OPLC site.
• Prov, Inc. is the examination provider. It publishes the Candidate Information Bulletins and delivers the test, either at Prov centers or remotely through Examroom.ai.

This split explains why searches like "nh PROV electrician exam" and "new hampshire electrician license requirements" lead to different places. Eligibility and licensing questions go to the Board. Scheduling, test-day rules, and exam content outlines come from the provider's bulletins.

Format at a Glance: 110 Questions, 270 Minutes

Some commercial summaries describe shorter or different formats. Treat the official figures above as your baseline: 110 questions and 270 minutes. Our NH-JE passing score guide covers what 70% means in practice. Note that a passing score is a threshold, not a pass rate. We have not verified any official cohort pass-rate statistics, so be skeptical of any site that quotes one without a source. Our pass rate article explains what can and cannot be said.

The Twelve Official Subject Headings

The two retrieved Candidate Information Bulletins share twelve examination subject headings. These are the exam's headings, not a prep-course curriculum, so they are the most reliable guide to how questions are organized. They are listed below in official order, with the question allocation the 2025 bulletin prints for each.

The allocations total 110. The official percentage weights are not published, so we do not convert these counts into percentages. (Yes, Domain 9 carries a trailing colon in the source. We preserve it as printed.) For a deeper walk through each heading, see the complete guide to all 12 content areas.

The Edition Conflict You Should Know About

This is the most important caution for anyone buying books or practice material. The two retrieved bulletins do not agree.

The 2025 bulletin's reference list includes both a 2023 NEC entry and a separate 2020 NEC entry. The 2026 bulletin specifies the 2020 NEC. A generic allowance to bring older or newer reference editions does not tell you which edition governs the question bank. And a 2026 article date, or the state's adoption of an installation code, does not by itself prove a 2026 NEC exam.

What "Journeyman" Means Under New Hampshire Rules

The word journeyman signals a qualification level: someone who has completed supervised field experience and can work without direct supervision, in contrast to a master, who holds the higher license. The retrieved text of Elec 304.01 sets the entry requirements for the journeyman exam. The rule text was checked in a regulatory republication, not a state-hosted file, so confirm details with the Board.

The experience requirement

• 8,000 practical or field apprenticeship hours under a Board-licensed journeyman or master.
• Evidence of that experience includes employment dates, the type of work performed, and the supervising master's signature.

The education or experience alternative

In addition to the 8,000 hours, the rule prescribes one of several alternatives:

• 600 hours of electrical schooling, including 24 safety hours, with a qualifying electrical associate or higher degree recognized within that schooling provision;
• ten years licensed as a journeyman or master elsewhere; or
• a previous New Hampshire journeyman or master examination.

Approved school-based practical credit can cover up to 2,000 hours, with documentation and no concurrent double counting. Note that some commercial summaries cite 576 schooling hours; the retrieved rule text says 600. For the full picture, read our NH-JE requirements guide.

Reference Materials and the Calculator Rule

New Hampshire's exam allows certain printed references, which changes how you should prepare. The bulletins list, among others, the NEC (with the edition question above), the American Electrician's Handbook (17th edition), Ugly's Electrical References (2020), NH Elec 300-400 and RSA 319-C, and named 2017 state amendments.

Remote test-takers should read the separate system and equipment instructions, since the calculator rule above is stated for test centers. If you plan to test remotely through Examroom.ai, check your setup well before exam day.

Because permanent tabs and highlighting are allowed, the practical skill is navigation: knowing where a topic lives in your code book and finding it quickly across a 270-minute session. That is one reason our NH-JE study guide emphasizes code-book familiarity over memorization. A tabbed, highlighted reference you have actually used is worth more than a pristine one.

Registration, Fees, Eligibility Window and Retakes

The mechanics are straightforward but have a few sharp edges.

1. Get Board approval. You must be approved before you can test.
2. Mind the 365-day window. Testing eligibility lasts 365 days, so avoid applying long before you are ready.
3. Pay $90 per attempt. That fee applies to each attempt, including retakes, effective February 1, 2025. Separate state licensing charges are not quantified here because they were not verified.
4. Choose your delivery. Test at a Prov center or remotely through Examroom.ai.
5. Plan any retake. A two-day interval is required between attempts.

The two-day retake interval is short, but it is not a study plan. If you miss, spend the gap diagnosing which headings cost you points. For a broader cost picture, see the NH-JE certification cost breakdown, and for timing logistics see NH-JE exam dates and scheduling.

After the Exam: Renewal and Code-Cycle Education

Passing the exam is not the end of the regulatory story. Two separate obligations apply, and they are easy to conflate.

• Biennial renewal. Elec 401.01, amended effective May 4, 2024, sets renewal at two years from issuance. Older descriptions of a three-year cycle are out of date.
• Code-cycle education. Elec 403.01 requires 15 hours on the latest-NEC changes, including at least one hour on New Hampshire laws, rules, and installation concerns. It must be completed by the end of the calendar year following the NEC edition's publication.

These are separate clocks. The education requirement follows the code cycle, while renewal follows your license's issuance date. Like the qualification rules, these were checked in regulatory republications rather than state-hosted rule files, so confirm current details with the Board.

Scheduling Your Review by Domain

Rather than a generic plan, order your weeks by where the questions are and how much they build on each other. This sample sequencing uses the official allocations and assumes you adjust for your own strengths.

Add timed practice with original questions throughout. Our NH-JE cheat sheet is a handy one-page review, and the practice test site lets you rehearse the multiple-choice format. Remember that practice tests are not permitted in the testing room, so use them beforehand, not as a test-day reference. For a realistic sense of the challenge, read how hard the NH-JE exam is.

Frequently Asked Questions