Are You Making These Electrical Exam Mistakes?

The electrical exam is tough. I don't expect you to become engineers when taking the seminars we teach or anything like that.  By the time we're done I do hope that you get out of this class the scope of what you're dealing with.

So watch out for the tricks and traps and things that they will keep throwing at you.  Watch out for the “dumb mistakes” that aren't actually dumb but you won’t really know they're “dumb”.  Not until you go back and look at the tricks they played you'll go “I can't believe I fell for that kind of deal!”

Learning from mistakes is a good thing.  Use this study time to make mistakes and learn from them before taking the test. Don’t wait to take the test first then learn based on your score report.

Since 2008 we have seen the most common mistakes electricians make when prep and taking test.

3 Mistakes when preparing for the electrical exam

1. Only taking 1 or 2 weeks to study for the exam

We have seen the most success when our guys go to our seminar, take the two week homework material then take another electrical practice test and finally take the real exam.  This takes about 3 to 4 weeks of daily studying. If you don’t have the time to immerse yourself, do shorter study times like 30 to 45 minutes per night and do 5 to 6 weeks instead.

 

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2. All nighters/cramming nights

It never fails that someone will say, “my buddy took the test with only reviewing the code book the night before and passed.”  That’s great for him! However, after being in the electrical exam prep business for over a decade I can tell you that’s a rare exception.  Don’t waste your time and test fee on that one exception. Cramming for the test the night before will leave you tired and grumpy the next day.  Even if you took the 3 to 4 weeks and the seminars to prepare for this test, do not stay up late the night before going over everything! You most definitely should review items you need to refresh on but do it earlier in the evening and get a good night sleep.

3. Memorizing electrical exam questions they see on practice tests

Very often we have people commenting on YouTube or Facebook that all they have to do is memorize answers to the questions.  If you have a great memory that’ll come in handy but not to memorize answers. You should use your memory for formulas and steps to calculations.  The PSI exam is designed to use a bank of questions over a small period of time before changing things up. We don’t teach you to memorize anything other than useful information you’ll need on the field and the testing center.  When you are taking practice tests for the electrical exam, instead of memorizing the questions focus on the articles and tables that you will encounter. Also look at the way the questions are being asked.

3 Mistakes when taking the electrical exam

1. Running out of time spending too much time on 1 electrical question

A big factor that causes a failed exam is running out of time.  The electrical exam is timed so avoid running out of time but going through the entire test in round one answering the super easy questions and tagging the harder questions.  Round two will be to answer the hard questions and round three will be to answer any questions you had to skip in the first two rounds. This way, you would have answered all the questions with time to spare.  

2 Using the wrong calculator

First, you can only bring a basic calculator to the exam.  Check your local electrical exam information bulletin to see exactly what you can bring.  The wrong calculator is one that has small tiny buttons for your big grown-up fingers. The wrong calculator is also one that depends on the same power that pretty little daisies rely on…..solar.  If you have a solar calculator make sure it runs on back-up battery power.

3. Not using a straight edge for tables

You are allowed to have a straight edge for the electrical test, use this straight edge to help guide you when you are looking at tables.  You should not have a wrong answer simply for looking at the wrong line on the darn table. Many guys have kicked themselves for doing the calculations correctly but following the wrong numbers on the tables.

This is it for now, we can go on for hours - and we do go on for hours at the Texas electrical exam prep courses.  We talk about exam prep tips, subject categories that are on the electrical test and also review and explain the articles and tables you’ll need to know for the test.  The seminars are two days and you have homework for 2 weeks after that. The classes are small enough so that if you have questions, you can ask them and actually get an answer!

If you are thinking of signing up do it as soon as you see a location/date you like cause we sell out fast.

Thanks for reading and good luck!

If you need to renew your license, take a look at these CEU Courses.