License Exam Preparation Steps

Since most exams are “OPEN BOOK”, meaning that you have direct access to the source material used to write questions during the exam, knowing how the code book is organized is a good place to start.  If you know how to find the answers quickly and efficiently, you should be able to get through the first pass of the exam, allowing you more time to go back and do the more detailed calculations or searching.

Studying the subject (or content) list shown in the exam bulletin and practicing how to navigate to the right section of the code will be a tremendous time saving tool.

Most code books are written by attorneys and are very hard to follow.  Words in the text are designed to have meanings that you didn't learn in your English 101 class.In other words, don't assume that you know the meaning of a word unless you look it up in a law dictionary.

TIP:  If you are not sure of the meaning of a statutory code section, use an online AI site where you can paste the section of code into the question field and get a “common english” interpretation.

Please see our web page about “How We Write Questions” for an example of multiple meanings in questions.

First, do not assume you can just “wing it” and not buy books.  You CAN NOT use our study materials without having the actual books recommended in the exam bulletin.  The exception to this would be in jurisdictions where the book titles are “suggested”.

The are pros and cons to both.  We prefer printed versions because generally, you can take them into an exam.  Electronic versions can not be taken into an exam and often make you view on one computer or tablet at a time.  The pro side of digital books is that you can easily search withnin the text which is especially helpful if the book does not have a comprehensive subject index at the back of the book.

Reference books are generally available from Amazon, At Home Prep, and Technical Bookstores such as: Community College or Construction Specialty Bookstores.  Most of these bookstores will have some, but not all of the titles that are needed for your exam.

The advantage of buying from Amazon is that they allow used book sellers to post thier offerings which can save you a lot of money, especially if the book is “out-of-print”.  But, beware of scammers on Amazon.  If you see a book priced at some outrageous amount, you know that the book is probably out-of-orint and not even the seller has a physical copy.

About old book versions shown in the exam bulletin; most exam providers will allow you to use newer versions that are “in print”.  Sometimes they even give you a choice between versions when they are in the middle of transitining to a newer version.

Some exam administrators provide copies of the required books at the exam location.  If you take the time to read your bulletin carefully, you can save yourself a lot of energy by lugging books into the exam.  This is when only having a digital copy for yoursefd would make sense.

REMINDER:  If you make any alterations (handwritten notes, highlighting) to your code books, generally, you can not take them into an exam location, even if they are “allowed”.

Most exam bulletins contain a complete list of references needed to study for your exam.  The investment in these materials is an invaluable resource both for exam preparation and in your future contracting business.

Unfortunately, some reference standards are only available from propietary organizations like; ASME, ANSI, UL, NRCA, SMACNA and others which only give discounts for “members”.  These books have very limited distribution so that these organiztions can keep the price inflated (usually in the $300 to $500 range).

Many “general builders” will have memberships in these organizations.  If you are upgrading or adding to your licensing, check with your employer first before you buy books since you may get them paid for or discounted.

As free copied of statutes and other codes become available, we try to post links on our web site.  Some of these codes are diffuctlt to find such as federal compliance standards (EPA, FAA, USGS).  Oftentimes, links in the exam bulletin go to missing web pages.

For your own private use it is accepted practice. You can not bring your own copies of scanned or photo copies of pages from code books.

Statutory codes are a different situation.  Printing out copies of legal rules and codes is acceptable unless the exam provider specifically stes in the exam bulletin that the code is "NOT ALLOWED" in the exam room.

Most of the large corporations that administer exams like PSI are pretty strict about what you bring with you.  The way they treat you is like you’re going into a prison.  You should expect to get "wanded" for contraband (like recording devices).

The books you bring should be original copies with no writing in the margins.  Some proctors will actually make you remove all of your post-it notes if the find them.

If you're taking an electrical, plumbing or sheet metal exam, you will be expected to know the steps required to find the solution to a mult-step calculation and arrive at a final answer. You won’t get credit for the steps you take to get to a solution, like in a college class.

In the list of bulletin subjects, you’ll simply see an item titled “calculations” but no books are recommended in the required book list.  This should alert you to the fact that you are expected to buy a supplimental reference book specifically for drilling youself on doing electrical or plumbing calcultions.  We have recommentations on our exectrical exam pages for books that are specific to the version of the NEC that is required for you exam.

Use these books to repeatedly drill yourself on doing calculations. For electrical exams, that would involve ohms law and many of the subjects covered in a book titled “Ugly’s Electrical Reference” that is code book version specific.

What the exam companies don't tell you is that the actual NEC code book only includes very limited samples of calculations in an Appendix.  Our point is that you don't want to be in an exam and realize that they have you in a "gotcha moment" where they didn't tell you to do extensive drilling on calculations.

Updated:  8/9/25