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Checked against primary sources 2026-09-07

The gate to contracting

Colorado Master Electrician Exam: Format, Fee, Books

The master paper is the same size as the journeyman paper and it stands between a lot of people and their own company, because an electrical contractor registration cannot exist without a master electrician behind it.

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On this page
  1. The format
  2. The Board wants it passed first
  3. The book, and what you cannot do to it
  4. What is different about the master paper
  5. Results and review
  6. If it goes wrong
  7. What the pass opens for a business
  8. Questions people ask
  9. What this page cites

The format

PSI lists it as Master Electrician: 90 Scored Items, 240 Minutes, 70% (63 Items) Correct to Pass.

Up to 10 non-scored items carry 30 extra minutes, so the seat time is four hours and thirty minutes and the scored window is four hours.

The fee is $78, the retest fee is $73, both non-refundable and non-transferable, and the fee is valid for one year from the date of payment.

The Board wants it passed first

The Board's master application preview is the clearest sentence in the whole application set: you must have taken and passed the Colorado Master Electrician examination administered by PSI Exams before submitting this application.

So the exam is not a formality that follows an approval. It comes first.

Behind the application sit the four experience routes: 10,000 hours in no less than 5 years, an electrical engineering degree with 2,000 hours, a trade school or community college qualification with 8,000 hours, or 2,000 hours beyond the journeyman requirements. The master license page has each one.

The book, and what you cannot do to it

PSI provides the 2026 National Electrical Code and a formula page at the test center. Since August 1, 2026 the questions are consistent with that edition.

You may not write, highlight, underline, and/or index on the references, and you may not use any other materials.

For a master candidate that rule bites harder than it looks, because people at this stage have usually owned the same marked code book for a decade. The book you know is not the book you will be handed. The book rules page covers the habits that replace it.

What is different about the master paper

Honestly, we do not know, and neither does anybody publishing a Colorado content outline, because there is not one.

What we can point at is the statutory difference between the licenses. A journeyman wires, installs and repairs. A master plans, lays out and supervises the installation and repair. That is the Board's own language for what the higher license is for.

What we will not do is invent a subject weighting for a paper nobody has published a scope for. The exam content page explains how we build a study order without one.

Results and review

Pass or fail, in writing, and nothing else. Board rule 3 CCR 710-1.8.C says results will not be given in any other manner, and rule 1.8.D says examinations shall not be subject to review by candidates.

Rule 1.8.B treats examination content and answers as proprietary property, and a licensee or registrant who discloses that content can be disciplined. That is worth remembering if a colleague offers to tell you what was on their paper.

If it goes wrong

There is no published waiting period. PSI says it is not possible to make a new examination appointment on the same day you have taken an examination, and gives a worked example in which a candidate who fails on a Wednesday can call the next day and retest as soon as Friday, depending on space.

The retest fee is $73. The retakes page has the detail, including the cancellation window that decides whether you lose a fee.

What the pass opens for a business

The master license is what an electrical contractor registration is built on. The Board requires a registration to hold or employ a licensed master electrician to serve as the responsible individual for the company, named on an Acknowledgement of Responsibility form signed by the owner and that master.

The state's own data shows what happens when that person leaves: 321 registrations sit in a status of Need Master Hire, Cannot Practice.

So passing this paper makes you the person a company cannot operate without. The contractor page covers the registration itself.

Questions people ask

How many questions is the Colorado master electrician exam?

90 scored items in 240 minutes, with 63 correct needed to pass, plus up to 10 non-scored items and 30 extra minutes.

Do I have to pass the exam before applying?

Yes. The Board's master application preview says you must have taken and passed the Colorado Master Electrician examination administered by PSI Exams before submitting the application.

What does the master exam cost?

$78, with a retest at $73. The fee is not refundable or transferable and expires one year from the date of payment.

Is the master exam harder than the journeyman exam?

The format is identical: 90 scored items, 240 minutes, 63 correct to pass. No Colorado pass rate is published for any of the four papers, so nobody can give you a difficulty comparison that comes from data.

Do I need a journeyman license before the master exam?

Not on every route. The 10,000 hour route and the two education routes do not name a journeyman license, while route four builds on the journeyman requirements and asks for supervision hours held under that license.

Can I bring my own code book?

No. PSI provides the 2026 National Electrical Code and a formula page, bars marking them and bars any other materials.

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

If your notes still say 2023

The 2023 to 2026 section crosswalk maps every section that moved, both directions, $29 once.

NEC and National Electrical Code are registered trademarks of the National Fire Protection Association.

Trojan Digital Marketing is an independent company. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NFPA, the Colorado State Electrical Board, PSI, or any licensing authority, school or union.

The Colorado examinations are open book only in the sense that PSI puts a book on the desk. PSI provides the National Electrical Code and a formula page at the test center, bars writing, highlighting, underlining and indexing on them, and allows no other materials. The questions have followed the 2026 edition since 1 August 2026, and the 2023 book is provided on request until 1 November 2026.

All practice questions are original. They are not actual exam questions.

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.

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