NH-JE Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows

What the Pass-Rate Data Actually Shows

If you searched for the New Hampshire Journeyman Electrician License Exam pass rate hoping for a clean number, here is the honest answer: an official cohort pass rate was not verified. The New Hampshire Electricians' Board, part of the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification (OPLC), and its testing vendor Prov, Inc. publish exam rules, content outlines and candidate bulletins. The research behind this article, checked September 30, 2026, did not turn up a published first-attempt or overall pass-rate table for the journeyman exam.

That matters because many exam-prep pages print a confident percentage anyway. Treat those figures with suspicion. Without a source tied to the Board or Prov, a number is marketing, not data. This article takes the opposite approach: it tells you what is verified, what is not, and how to use the verified facts to judge your own readiness.

A 70% Passing Score Is Not a Pass Rate

The most common confusion in this topic is mixing up two different numbers. The passing score is the threshold you must reach on your own exam. The pass rate is the share of all candidates who clear that threshold. The first is verified for New Hampshire; the second is not.

Practically, a 70% score on 110 questions means you need to answer at least 77 correctly. That arithmetic comes straight from the verified question count and passing percentage. For a deeper breakdown of how the threshold works, read NH-JE Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.

Format That Shapes Your Odds: 110 Questions in 270 Minutes

The journeyman written exam is computer-delivered and multiple choice. With 270 minutes for 110 questions, you have roughly two and a half minutes per item on average. That is generous compared with many trade exams, and it changes how you should think about difficulty. Running out of time is rarely the failure mode; misreading a code-lookup question or choosing the wrong reference article is.

Delivery is available at Prov testing centers or remotely through Examroom.ai. Remote candidates follow separate system and equipment instructions, and the calculator rule differs by setting: a simple four-function calculator is permitted at test centers, while remote requirements are covered in their own instructions. Confirm your delivery method's rules before exam day, not during check-in.

Where the Points Live: Twelve Headings, Two Bulletins

The exam content is organized under twelve official subject headings common to two Prov Candidate Information Bulletins. Here are the headings and the question allocations printed in each bulletin, listed in Domain 1 through 12 order.

Both columns total 110 questions. General Electrical Knowledge is the largest heading in both, and Motors and Generators holds steady at 19. Percentage weights are not published and are not inferred here. For a heading-by-heading walkthrough, see NH-JE Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 12 Content Areas.

The Motors and Generators Hotspot

At 19 questions in both bulletins, Motors and Generators is the second-largest heading and the most consistent one. Candidates who treat it as a side topic often pay for it. Expect conductor sizing, overload and short-circuit protection concepts, disconnecting means and motor-circuit calculations. Since many questions here are calculation-based, practice with the same simple four-function calculator you will be allowed to use.

The Administrative Heading

Administrative carries nine or ten questions depending on which bulletin governs, and it is where New Hampshire-specific rules show up, such as the state references listed in the bulletins. Some commercial courses explicitly exclude Administrative topics from their NH products, so verify that any course you buy actually covers it. For more on this gap, see NH-JE Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt.

The Code-Edition Conflict That Can Move Your Score

This is the single most important unresolved issue for anyone trying to predict their own result. The two bulletins disagree:

• The December 2025 bulletin (CIB 2025.12.12) labels the exam Journeyman Electrician (2023), and its reference list includes both a 2023 NEC entry and a separate 2020 NEC entry.
• The newer August 2026 bulletin (CIB 2026.08.06) labels it Journeyman Electrician (2020) and specifies the 2020 NEC.

The allocations for General Electrical Knowledge (22 vs. 21) and Administrative (9 vs. 10) also differ. The governing NEC edition and these allocations require confirmation from OPLC or Prov. Permission to bring older or newer reference editions does not tell you which edition the question bank follows, and neither a 2026 article date nor the state's installation-code adoption proves a 2026 NEC exam exists.

Why Eligibility Rules Filter the Candidate Pool

Pass-rate numbers always depend on who is sitting the exam. In New Hampshire, you cannot simply register and test: Board approval is required, and testing eligibility lasts 365 days. The retrieved Elec 304.01 text sets a demanding entry path, which means the candidate pool is pre-screened for experience.

The baseline is 8,000 practical or field apprenticeship hours under a Board-licensed journeyman or master, plus one prescribed alternative:

• 600 electrical-schooling hours, including 24 safety hours (a qualifying electrical associate or higher degree is recognized within that schooling provision); or
• 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. Field-experience evidence includes employment dates, work type and the supervising master's signature. Note that 600 schooling hours is the figure in the rule text; commercial summaries citing 576 hours do not match it. These provisions were checked in regulatory republications rather than state-hosted rule files, so confirm current wording with the Board. Details are in NH-JE Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.

The takeaway for pass-rate thinking: because candidates arrive with years of supervised field work, a hypothetical pass rate would reflect experienced applicants, not a random sample. That also means field experience alone does not guarantee a pass. Code navigation and calculation habits are a separate skill from daily installation work.

Retake Mechanics and What a Miss Costs

Because a missed attempt is part of any honest pass-rate discussion, here is what a retake involves under the verified rules:

• Fee: $90 per attempt, including retakes (effective February 1, 2025). Separate state licensing charges were not verified and are not quantified here.
• Interval: retakes require a two-day interval.
• Window: testing eligibility lasts 365 days from Board approval, so a plan for a second attempt should fit inside that window.

The low per-attempt fee and short interval make a retake financially manageable, but they should not become a strategy. A quick second attempt with no change in preparation usually repeats the same weak domains. After any miss, identify which headings cost you points before rebooking. Pricing context is in NH-JE Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown, and scheduling details are in NH-JE Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.

Reference Rules That Protect (or Sink) Your Score

Open-reference rules are one of the biggest hidden variables in pass outcomes, because candidates lose points to preparation errors rather than knowledge gaps. The bulletins list the permitted references and the rules for marking them:

• Listed references include: the NEC (see the edition conflict above), American Electrician's Handbook 17th edition, Ugly's Electrical References 2020, NH Elec 300-400 and RSA 319-C, and named 2017 state amendments.
• Allowed: prior highlighting, pen underlining and permanent tabs; authorized printed state reference documents.
• Prohibited: handwritten notes, movable tabs or sticky notes, and practice tests.

A Domain-Ordered Prep Sequence

Rather than a generic schedule, order your preparation by question weight and dependency. Because the exam is open-reference, the goal is fast, accurate lookup and clean calculations. Adjust the weeks to your own timeline.

For a compact reference to review alongside this plan, use the NH-JE Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts, and test yourself on original questions at the NH-JE practice test site. Note that practice tests are prohibited inside the exam room, so use them only in preparation. Original practice questions are exactly that: original, not copies of live exam items.

Frequently Asked Questions