Montana Master Electrician Exam Prep

About the Montana Master Electrician license

Montana licenses electricians through the Montana State Electrical Board. The Master Electrician is the senior credential. Unlike many states, Montana does not require you to already hold a Montana journeyman license to sit for the master exam — you qualify by documented experience or an engineering-degree path instead. Specifically, you need either 8,000 hours of legally obtained journeyman-level experience in planning, laying out, or supervising the installation and repair of wiring, apparatus, or equipment for electrical light, heat, and power (not more than 50 percent residential; ARM 24.141.515 allows that experience to be commercial, residential, industrial, institutional, or a combination), or an electrical engineering degree from an accredited college or university plus 2,000 hours of practical experience (MCA 37-68-304; ARM 24.141.515). You then pass a more demanding exam that adds heavier load-calculation, design, and code-application content. A holder at this level can typically pull permits, supervise journeymen and apprentices, design installations, and serve as the qualifying individual for a licensed contracting business.

The exam is National Electrical Code (NEC) based, because Montana adopts the NEC as its electrical code. It is open book. The 2020 master block of the PSI bulletin updated 6/21/2022 names three references: the 2020 NEC, with factory markings, factory highlights, and factory tabs only on that line; the print-reading book based on the 2020 NEC published by American Technical Publishers; and the Montana Building Codes Amendments. A later sentence in the same PDF says books must be unmarked and that marking is reported to a board that is not the Montana Electrical Board. Do not obey that leftover sentence as if it were Montana. ARM 24.141.503 allows highlights, underlining, and notes in the materials the rule permits. The morning you sit, follow the reference line that names the 2020 NEC. Plan to tab and index your code book before test day, because the exam is as much a test of how fast you can locate a section as it is of what you have memorized.

Know these scope facts cold, because the exam asks them in plain-language form: the license is held by the individual, not the company; most installations require a permit and inspection before concealment (rough-in) and again at final; you must work within the classification you hold; and performing electrical work without the required license, or beyond your scope, is a violation that can cost you the license and carry civil penalties.

How Montana licensing works

• Experience: 8,000 hours of documented journeyman-level experience (no more than 50 percent residential), or an accredited electrical engineering degree plus 2,000 hours of practical experience — see Section 1.
• Proof: the board checklist asks a third party to verify the 8,000 journeyman-level hours. On the degree path, transcripts come from the school and may be sent to dlibsdhelp@mt.gov. Montana does not require a Montana journeyman card before this exam.
• Application: submit the application, fees, and proof of experience (verified by an employer or corporate officer, not the applicant) to the board before you are approved to sit.
• Exam vendor: PSI. The exam is 80 questions covering the NEC and Montana's electrical laws and board rules (Title 37, MCA), and the passing score is 75 percent (60 of 80 correct), and the same bulletin gives this paper 240 minutes. ARM 24.141.503 agrees with the 75 percent master cut. The 2020 journeyman block in that bulletin is 60 questions and 180 minutes and is not this exam.
• Renewal: ARM 24.141.2102 renews the license on July 15 of even-numbered years. The continuing-education total is 16 hours, and at least 8 of those hours are NEC updates.

Before you rely on any value in this guide, confirm the currently adopted NEC edition on the board and PSI bulletin. Ampacities, GFCI/AFCI scope, working-clearance distances, and receptacle-spacing rules all change between editions, and the exam is written to the edition your state has adopted — not necessarily the newest one published.