# National Electric Code study tips



## Phatso86 (Dec 28, 2016)

Can anyone give me some tips on studying and getting to know this code?

I've gone through the mike holt UNEC 1 &amp; 2 as well as the exam prep and I still feel completely lost.

I was trying to work the CI drill book and cannot figure out how to find anything!

My terrible knowledge of this code is what had me convinced for 2 months that I failed the power exam in October.


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## Owism (Dec 28, 2016)

These tabs are nice: https://www.amazon.com/Color-Coded-Tabs-National-Electrical/dp/1285200365

Really just need to do practice problems and searching the code book to feel comfortable. The table I've referenced the most through my study has been Table 310.15(B)(16) - Conductor ampacity. I havnt done the CI code drill book yet but hear great things about it


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## Ken PE 3.1 (Dec 28, 2016)

Reading and even a basic level of understanding of the code comes from experience. I used to use it regularly and it can be a challenge. No practice test is going to substitute for OJT.


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## Phatso86 (Dec 28, 2016)

Owism said:


> These tabs are nice: https://www.amazon.com/Color-Coded-Tabs-National-Electrical/dp/1285200365
> 
> Really just need to do practice problems and searching the code book to feel comfortable. The table I've referenced the most through my study has been Table 310.15(B)(16) - Conductor ampacity. I havnt done the CI code drill book yet but hear great things about it


yeah, still waiting on these for my 2011 copy (that code year is used for the Florida contractor exam)

I guess I did feel way more lost than practicing 2011 since I didn't have the tabs on this one.



Ken PE 3.0 said:


> Reading and even a basic level of understanding of the code comes from experience. I used to use it regularly and it can be a challenge. No practice test is going to substitute for OJT.


I guess it's a matter of simply doing problems over and over.


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## Ken PE 3.1 (Dec 28, 2016)

Phatso86 said:


> > 1 hour ago, Owism said: These tabs are nice: https://www.amazon.com/Color-Coded-Tabs-National-Electrical/dp/1285200365 Really just need to do practice problems and searching the code book to feel comfortable. The table I've referenced the most through my study has been Table 310.15(B)(16) - Conductor ampacity. I havnt done the CI code drill book yet but hear great things about it
> 
> 
> yeah, still waiting on these for my 2011 copy (that code year is used for the Florida contractor exam)I guess I did feel way more lost than practicing 2011 since I didn't have the tabs on this one.
> ...


I haven't seen any practice test that covers sections that are on the actual test.

Comfort in using the code is learned, not studied.


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## TWJ PE (Dec 28, 2016)

Phatso86 said:


> I guess it's a matter of simply doing problems over and over.


Definitely! My advice would be to get Tom Henry's Key Work Index and practice with it.

Also, as a test taking strategic (I believe it came from Spin Up), when you're simulating an exam (and I did this on the actual exam), when I came to an NEC question I wrote NEC and circled it and moved onto the next question. Once I got to the end, I would start at the beginning and start tackling all the NEC questions.


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## Phatso86 (Dec 28, 2016)

Ken PE 3.0 said:


> I haven't seen any practice test that covers sections that are on the actual test.
> 
> Comfort in using the code is learned, not studied.


To which Florida electrical contractor practice tests are you referring?


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## Phatso86 (Dec 28, 2016)

TWJ PE said:


> Definitely! My advice would be to get Tom Henry's Key Work Index and practice with it.
> 
> Also, as a test taking strategic (I believe it came from Spin Up), when you're simulating an exam (and I did this on the actual exam), when I came to an NEC question I wrote NEC and circled it and moved onto the next question. Once I got to the end, I would start at the beginning and start tackling all the NEC questions.


I gave Tom Henry book away. Mostly because it was 2014 and I don't think they would have allowed it at the testing center.


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## Ken PE 3.1 (Dec 28, 2016)

Phatso86 said:


> To which Florida electrical contractor practice tests are you referring?


I am not a contractor, so I am not referencing contractor review material.


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## Phatso86 (Dec 28, 2016)

Ken PE 3.0 said:


> I am not a contractor, so I am not referencing contractor review material.


not evident by your response to a comment of mine



Ken PE 3.0 said:


> Phatso86 said:
> 
> 
> > yeah, still waiting on these for my 2011 copy (that code year is used for the Florida contractor exam)
> ...


I mentioned that I'm using 2011 for a contractor exam and you replied to it referencing practice for "the actual test"


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## Ken PE 3.1 (Dec 28, 2016)

Phatso86 said:


> not evident by your response to a comment of mine
> 
> I mentioned that I'm using 2011 for a contractor exam and you replied to it referencing practice for "the actual test"


I guess I missed where you pivoted to talking about a state test. My bad, but after all, this is a PE/FE forum.


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## TWJ PE (Dec 28, 2016)

Phatso86 said:


> I gave Tom Henry book away. Mostly because it was 2014 and I don't think they would have allowed it at the testing center.


Ehhh? We are talking about the PE exam, right?


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## Phatso86 (Dec 28, 2016)

TWJ PE said:


> Ehhh? We are talking about the PE exam, right?


no, electrical contractor exam for Florida need good understanding of the NEC


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## TWJ PE (Dec 28, 2016)

Phatso86 said:


> no, electrical contractor exam for Florida need good understanding of the NEC


No dice here. Sorry... probably need to post in a different forum to get better feedback.


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## Phatso86 (Dec 28, 2016)

TWJ PE said:


> No dice here. Sorry... probably need to post in a different forum to get better feedback.


its the same NEC for the PE exam as the contractor exam.

as my first post said, lack of the NEC knowledge would have been the reason I failed the PE exam in October. guessed on most of the questions and there were a lot


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## allgood (Dec 29, 2016)

Phatso86 said:


> its the same NEC for the PE exam as the contractor exam.
> 
> as my first post said, lack of the NEC knowledge would have been the reason I failed the PE exam in October. guessed on most of the questions and there were a lot


Yes, there were lots of code questions but IMO they were easy look ups and not too involved, at least on the October round. I don't recall having to flip between two sections to find the answer and I honestly don't remember whether or not I had to pick up a calculator for any of the questions. I saw more difficult questions in the CI drill book and the questions in the sample tests. The key is to familiarize yourself with the contents and how and where to find the information. Easier said than done, but with practice you can figure out which articles will contain the information you're looking for.

For future test-takers: to reiterate what has been said about NESC, you need the whole book and not just the index. The questions on the NESC required some serious look up; I don't use NESC often so it took longer to find the answers but it was still a simple search.

I use NEC almost daily so I was already familiar with it. The CI drill book was really helpful in teaching me how to quickly find the information. I didn't use Tom Henry's, I found it faster to use the index in the back of the NEC. I also used the tabs from amazon and had my own tabs on important sections. I hi-lited what I thought were important sections from articles like 210, 215, 230, 240, 250, 300, 310, 314, 400, 410, 430, 450 and 500. I also hi-lited the major articles in the TOC for quick reference when needed. I didn't concentrate much on the articles beyond 500 but I familiarized myself with their contents. Most of those articles I hadn't even looked at before the PE prep.

Lastly, I think the amount of time spent on code-related questions is worth it when compared to the percentage of questions on the exam.


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## KatyLied P.E. (Jan 4, 2017)

Phatso86 said:


> Can anyone give me some tips on studying and getting to know this code?
> 
> I've gone through the mike holt UNEC 1 &amp; 2 as well as the exam prep and I still feel completely lost.
> 
> ...


The introduction of the CI Drill book actually has an excellent strategy.  The main thing is to  underline key words (i.e. nouns) in each question.  Those will be the key words you look up in the index..  The introduction provides more detail but it really worked for me.  I only had time to work a third of the drill problems but I practiced that strategy repeatedly and felt like I got every Code problem right.  Read the introduction. It is in there.


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