Checked against primary sources 2026-09-05
The first classification
NC Limited Electrical Contractor Exam: 100 Questions
The Limited examination is the same 100 question paper the Intermediate and Unlimited candidates sit, over the same six hours, with the same minimum grade of 70. What differs is the experience you file to get to it and the size of project the license then lets the business take. This page walks the paper, the books, the money and the wait.
Test yourself: thirty free questions, timed
On this page
The license this exam leads to
North Carolina licenses electrical contracting businesses, not individual electricians. You sit the examination as a person, and passing it makes you a qualified individual who can then be listed on a company's license.
The Board's licensing page describes the Limited classification as a single electrical contracting project of a value not in excess of $60,000, with equipment rated at a maximum of 600 volts. The annual license fee in that classification is $100.
The statute prints a higher figure. G.S. 87-43.3 sets the Limited ceiling at $100,000 and adds the phrase as established by the Board, and the Board's own 2025 application still works from the lower numbers. Both are cited below, and until the Board publishes one figure in both places, treat the $60,000 on the licensing page as the working number and ask the Board before you price a job against the statute.
Who can sit for it
The examination application sets three things before the hours are even counted. You have to be at least 18, you have to file a complete application, and two people have to put their names to written statements about your character.
The experience floor for Limited is at least 3,000 hours, of which at least 2,000 hours must be primary experience. Primary experience is the rule set's term for time spent directly on the installation of wiring and equipment governed by the National Electrical Code, or work directly related to it.
The arithmetic the rules use is that 2,000 hours equals one creditable year. So the Limited floor is a year and a half of counted time with at least a year of it primary.
Our hours and experience page walks the credit percentages, because not every kind of work counts at 100 percent.
The paper itself
One hundred multiple choice questions. A maximum of six hours. A minimum grade of 70 out of a possible score of 100 to pass.
Six hours for 100 questions is a long clock by trade exam standards. It works out at three minutes thirty six seconds a question, which is why the Limited paper punishes slow lookups far less than it punishes not knowing which book to open.
The examination is open book. That is not the relief it sounds like, because an open book paper is written on the assumption that you will look things up, so the questions go where the answer is not on one page.
The books you are allowed to carry
A Limited candidate carries two references into the examination center, and no others.
- National Electrical Code, 2020 edition. Required, and you supply it.
- National Fire Alarm Code, 2013 edition, NFPA 72.
The rest of the handbook's reference list is closed book. The Electrical Contractors Licensing Law in General Statutes Chapter 87, Article 4, the Board's rules in Title 21 NCAC Chapter 18B and the NASCLA Contractors' Guide to Business, Law and Project Management, North Carolina Electrical Edition, are studied in advance and stay out of the room.
Lighting and Power Plans are printed at the back of the handbook, so the plan questions arrive with the drawing supplied rather than with something you pack.
The 2020 edition is the one that matters most here. It is the code the state enforces and the code the questions are written against, and it is two editions behind the 2026 book. Our which edition page explains what that costs you when you study from newer material.
The book rules page covers binding, marking and tabs, which is where candidates lose references at the door.
What it costs
The Board charges $125 for the application and examination together, in every classification, and that fee is not refundable.
If you pass and the business then takes out a Limited license, the annual license fee is $100. An examination review, if you want one after a failure, is $25.
Prices change. Check the Board's fee schedule before you send anything, and read fees and renewal for the annual side of it.
Booking a seat, and the 90 days
The Board approves the application first. PSI handles the scheduling after that, at the Board's own PSI page.
Approval starts a clock. You have 90 days from the date of approval to take the examination.
An appointment can be cancelled and rescheduled without losing the fee if the notice reaches PSI two days before the scheduled date. Miss the appointment without that notice and the fee is gone.
Seven North Carolina cities have a test center: Asheville, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Greenville, Raleigh, Wilmington and Winston-Salem. Test day carries the addresses and the identification rules.
If you do not pass
A person who fails is not eligible to take another examination in the same classification until three months after the date of the failed examination. The Board's examinations page states the same rule as a 90 day wait.
You re-apply on the Board's re-apply form rather than the new applicant form. Retakes walks the whole sequence, including the review.
How to prepare for it
The Board does not run a prep class and will not recommend one. Its published advice is to read the Examination Information Handbook cover to cover, work from the examination subject matter scope inside it, study about an hour a day and practice calculations.
That advice is worth taking literally on the last point. Calculation questions are the ones a six hour clock still cannot rescue if the method is unfamiliar.
Free practice on this site: a timed practice test, question sets by topic and calculators that show the working. Read the study plan for the order to do them in.
Questions people ask
How many questions is the NC Limited electrical exam?
One hundred multiple choice questions, with a maximum of six hours to answer them. That is the same paper length as the Intermediate and Unlimited examinations.
What score do I need to pass?
A minimum grade of 70 out of a possible score of 100. The Board's rules and its examinations page both state it that way.
Is the Limited exam open book?
Yes. The Board says the examinations are open book, and the handbook lists which references you may carry. Binding and marking rules apply, so read the book rules before you pack.
How many hours of experience do I need first?
At least 3,000 hours of experience, of which at least 2,000 hours must be primary experience. The rules count 2,000 hours as one creditable year.
What does a Limited license let the business do?
The Board's licensing page describes a single electrical contracting project of a value not in excess of $60,000, with equipment rated at a maximum of 600 volts. The statute prints $100,000 with the words as established by the Board, so the two figures differ and both are cited on this page.
What does it cost to sit?
The Board charges $125 for the application and examination together, and that fee is not refundable. The annual Limited license fee, if you go on to license a business, is $100.
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.
All questions here are original. They are not actual exam questions, and no question bank can promise you a pass.
What this page cites
- NCBEEC licensing classifications The Board's list of the Limited, Intermediate, Unlimited and seven special restricted classifications, with the annual license fee for each. Read 5 September 2026. source
- G.S. 87-43.3, the classifications The statute that sets the classifications and the project value limits, with the words as established by the Board. Read 5 September 2026. source
- NCBEEC Examination Information Handbook The Board's own candidate handbook. Source for the item counts, the time limits, the reference list, the marking rules, the identification rules and the retake wait. Read 5 September 2026. source
- NCBEEC examination application for new applicants The application that sets the age, the character statements and the experience hours for each classification. Read 5 September 2026. source
- NCBEEC fees and services The fee schedule as the Board prints it, including the $125 application and examination fee and the $25 examination review. Read 5 September 2026. source
- NCBEEC examinations page The Board's page on the qualifying examination: open book, the minimum grade of 70, the seven test center cities and the 90 day wait after a failure. Read 5 September 2026. source
The 2023 to 2026 section crosswalk maps every section that moved, both directions, $29 once.