California Electrician PrepCertification, exam and code, in one place

Checked against primary sources 2026-09-05

Start here

California Electrician Practice Questions, Free by Topic

Everything on this site that asks you a question, in one place. Thirty timed questions free, fifty four topic sets of twenty five, four labs you work rather than read, and a daily question. We're also straight about one thing: the sets are numbered to the 2026 code and California tests on the 2023 book.

Test yourself: thirty free questions, timed

On this page
  1. The five places to start
  2. What the free question sets are
  3. The timed practice test, and the $79 bank
  4. The honest problem: the sets are numbered to 2026
  5. The 15 sets, and how to translate them
  6. What reads straight in both books
  7. The labs, the games and the calculators
  8. What this isn't
  9. Questions people ask
  10. What this page cites

The five places to start

Start the free practice test. Thirty timed questions, weighted toward calculations the way the real paper is, answers withheld until you submit and then every miss worked through.

Free question sets by topic. Fifty four topics, twenty five questions each, no account and nothing gated.

Hands-on labs. Four pages you work with your hands rather than read, from conduit bending to grounding electrodes.

Calculators, games and drills. Eight calculators that show the working, six games and five timed drills.

The daily question. One original question every morning, the same one for everybody, with the section cited and a streak counter.

What the free question sets are

Fifty four topics, twenty five questions each, free, with no account. Every question shows the arithmetic worked through and names the section the answer comes from, so a miss teaches you the trap rather than just the letter.

They're original questions. None of them came from a real exam paper and none of them came from anyone's memory of one. We don't publish exam content and we don't reproduce code text or tables.

The topics that map most directly onto the California outlines are receptacle spacing, branch circuits, GFCI and AFCI locations, box fill, conduit fill, grounding electrodes, grounding versus bonding, ampacity derating, termination temperature and load calculations. Exam content explains why those and not others.

The timed practice test, and the $79 bank

The practice test is 500 questions in total. Thirty are free inside the page and work with no account, no email address and no network. The other 148 open together for $79, once.

No subscription, no password and no email address on file with us. Buying for a crew, a shop or a class is one payment for everybody: each person claims a seat with their own email, on any device, and the seat licenses sit under the buy button on the practice test page.

For scale, a re-test of the California certification exam costs $100 on its own. We'd rather you passed the first time.

The honest problem: the sets are numbered to 2026

The California certification exam supplies NFPA 70, the National Electrical Code, 2023 Edition, inside the testing system. The 2025 California Electrical Code is built on the same 2023 model code.

Our question sets were written on the 2026 numbering. The rules and the arithmetic don't change with the edition. A handful of addresses do, and we'd rather list them than let you find out mid question.

We checked all 54 sets. Fifteen of them cite a section that carries a different number in the 2023 book California tests on. The other 39 read straight.

The 15 sets, and how to translate them

Load calculations: Article 120 in the 2026 book, Article 220 in the 2023 edition California tests on

Eight sets cite the new article number. Read Article 120 in a question as Article 220 in the 2023 book. Three sections have a recorded counterpart on our crosswalk: 120.13 is 220.12, 120.6 is 220.60, and 120.82 and 120.83 are 220.82 and 220.83.

The rest of the 120 sections our sets use, including 120.5, 120.11, 120.41, 120.52, 120.53 and 120.61, have no counterpart recorded on the crosswalk. Look those up by subject inside Article 220 in your own book rather than carrying the last two digits across.

Physical damage: 300.6 in the 2026 book, 300.4 in the 2023 edition California tests on

Four sets cite it. In the 2026 book 300.4 is now Limitations, so the old address is occupied by a different subject rather than empty, which is the kind that wastes your time.

Transformer overcurrent: 450.5 in the 2026 book, 450.3 in the 2023 edition California tests on

Two sets cite it, and the tables that go with it moved too.

Re-bonding downstream: 250.24(B) in the 2026 book, 250.24(A)(5) in the 2023 edition California tests on

One set cites it. In the 2023 book the lettered subsections behind 250.24(A) sit one place higher.

What reads straight in both books

Nearly everything. Ampacity is Article 310 and Table 310.16 in both editions. Box fill is 314.16. Overcurrent is Article 240, with 240.4(D) and 240.6. Grounding and bonding is Article 250, with 250.66 sizing the grounding electrode conductor. Branch circuit outlets are 210.8 and 210.52. Motors are Article 430. Chapter 9 is still the tables.

Article 760, the fire alarm article the Fire/Life Safety certification sits on, keeps its number in both editions too.

Which edition carries the full list of moves, including the ones no question set on this site touches.

The labs, the games and the calculators

The four labs are the fastest way to make a rule stick, because you build the thing. Conduit bending, three way and four way switch wiring, box fill and grounding electrodes.

The tools hub holds eight calculators that print each step rather than only the total, six games including two timed table sprints, and five drills. The diagnostic is the one to run first, because it scores eight content areas and names your two weakest.

And the hours calculator answers a different question: when your 8,000 hours actually get you to the exam.

What this isn't

We're an independent study site. We're not a school, not an approved provider, not a registered apprenticeship and not an exam vendor, and nothing here is approved or endorsed by DIR, by CSLB or by any exam vendor.

California approves schools for the electrician trainee route. We're not one of them. If you need the approved curriculum for a certification, the trainee page explains where that comes from.

No practice question here is a real exam item, and we can't promise you a pass.

Questions people ask

Are the California electrician practice questions free?

The 54 topic sets are free with no account, and 30 questions of the timed practice test are free. The other 148 questions in that bank open together for $79, once.

Which NEC edition are the questions written on?

The 2026 numbering. California's certification exam supplies the 2023 edition on screen, so this page lists the 15 sets that cite a section which carries a different number in the 2023 book.

Are these real California exam questions?

No. Every question is original. We don't publish real exam content, we don't reproduce code text or tables, and nothing here came from anyone's memory of a paper.

How many questions are in the paid bank?

The practice test holds 500 questions in total. Thirty are free in the page and the other 148 open together for $79, once, with no subscription and no account.

Can I buy it for a crew?

Yes. One payment covers everybody, and each person claims a seat with their own email on any device. The seat licenses sit under the buy button on the practice test page.

Which topic sets should I start with?

Run the diagnostic first so you're working from evidence. If you want a default order, start with receptacle spacing, branch circuits, box fill, grounding electrodes and load calculations, since installation and sizing are most of the California outline.

Do these questions cover California amendments?

No, and the exam doesn't either. The bulletin lists NFPA 70 itself as the code supplied on screen, rather than the California Electrical Code, so both our sets and the exam turn on the model code.

Put it to the test

Thirty free questions, timed, with the working shown

Every miss comes back with the arithmetic worked out and the code section named, so you learn the trap and not just the answer. No account.

Start the free practice testSee the $79 question bank

All questions here are original. They are not actual exam questions, and no question bank can promise you a pass.

What this page cites

Built and maintained by Jeff Clerisier, Trojan Digital Marketing.

Every rule here is cited to the section it comes from, and corrections are logged in public with the date. This is study material rather than electrical advice, and it does not replace your own code book or your inspector.

Free, weekly

One exam question a week, worked all the way through

One original question in the California style, the arithmetic worked, the code section named, and a short note whenever a California licensing or code rule moves. Unsubscribe in one click.