MA-JE Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass

The Two-Part Passing Rule

The Massachusetts Journeyman Electrician exam (Certificate B, issued by the Massachusetts Board of State Examiners of Electricians and administered by PSI Services LLC) does not produce a single blended score. It is built from two separately scored parts, and each one has its own cut line of 70%.

That structure is the most important thing to understand about the passing score. Candidates sometimes hear "110 questions" and picture one pool where a few strong areas can offset weak ones. That is not how it works here. The 110 figure aggregates two different examinations with different formats, different clocks and different passing thresholds:

Each part runs on its own timer. Time left over on Part I does not carry into Part II. Both exams are computer-delivered and open-book at an authorized Massachusetts testing center; the bulletin excludes remote and out-of-state administration.

What 70% Actually Means in Questions

Percentages feel abstract until you convert them into the number of questions you can afford to miss. The official thresholds translate to this:

• Part I: You need 56 correct out of 80, which means you can miss at most 24.
• Part II: You need 21 correct out of 30, which means you can miss at most 9.

Part II looks forgiving at first glance because nine misses sounds like a lot. But with only 30 questions, each one is worth a larger share of the part. A cluster of three or four misses in one subject can consume nearly half your margin. Part II is also an applied written examination: it asks you to work problems, read plans and diagnose scenarios, not to recall a code section. It is not a hands-on assessment and it is not the master's Business and Law examination.

One thing this article deliberately does not do is claim a historical pass rate or tell you how many candidates clear each part. No such figure is established in the verified facts for this exam, so any number you see quoted elsewhere deserves skepticism. For the honest picture of what is and is not known, read MA-JE Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows.

Where the Points Live: Part I Domains

Part I draws on thirteen published objectives. The official item counts per domain are fixed, which lets you see precisely where 56 correct answers have to come from. These are question counts as published, not converted into percentage weights.

Part II: 30 Applied Questions, 21 to Clear

Part II covers six published objectives, numbered Domains 14 through 19 in the supplied outline. The distribution is much flatter than Part I, which means there is no single dominant subject to lean on:

Troubleshooting and Testing is the largest block at six questions, but it is only one point ahead of four other subjects. To reach 21 correct, you need competence in nearly every area. A candidate who skips Licensing Laws and Regulations as "just memorization" gives up four of thirty questions, which would burn a large part of the nine-miss allowance.

For the full list of domain names and what each one tests, the MA-JE Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt walks through how to build a complete preparation plan.

Open-Book Rules and the Note Conflict

Both parts are open-book. Approved references include the NEC, NFPA 72, the Massachusetts amendments and the licensing regulations. A qualifying nonprogrammable calculator is also permitted. Open-book does not mean easy: with 80 questions in 180 minutes on Part I, you have roughly two and a quarter minutes per question, and every minute spent hunting through a code book is a minute not spent answering.

The candidate information bulletin addresses highlighting, underlining and permanent tabs. Those preparation methods are the safest way to make your references faster to navigate. Where it gets murky is handwritten notes in the margins:

A practical consequence: build your speed through pre-exam practice rather than through dense annotation. Familiarity with where things live in the book beats any set of margin scribbles you might later be told to ignore.

The Code Edition Question

Candidates reasonably want to know which edition of the NEC the exam will test. The honest answer, at the time of this research, is that it should be treated as unconfirmed. The state's code page identifies a 2026-code adoption, but adoption alone does not establish when the examination cuts over to questions based on that edition. The bulletin's own statements about July timing and a seven-month update window conflict with each other.

What to do about it:

• Check the Massachusetts Electrical Code page and the Board's published policies before purchasing references.
• Obtain an explicit examination-date confirmation from the Board or PSI before committing to an edition-locked study set.
• Be wary of any prep source that guarantees a specific edition without citing that confirmation.

Scheduling decisions that depend on this are covered in MA-JE Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.

Fees, Retakes and the Three-Attempt Rule

The score you need is tied to money and time, because failing a part has both a fee and a calendar consequence.

Retake fees depend on which part you retake; sitting for both again totals $135. Two rules govern how long you have:

1. The 12-month window. Both parts must be passed within the applicable 12-month eligibility period. Passing Part I and then letting the window lapse means starting over.
2. The three-attempt limit. After three unsuccessful attempts, the bulletin requires additional education before further attempts.

The fee structure and what else you will pay for are broken out in MA-JE Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown. And because you cannot sit for either part without qualifying first, review MA-JE Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify for the high-school, 600-hour education, 8,000-hour work experience, 15-hour Code Update and CORI requirements. Those hours are eligibility prerequisites, not exam timers.

A Domain-Ordered Plan for Hitting the Mark

Generic study advice is plentiful. What matters here is sequencing your effort around where the questions actually are. Because you must clear each part separately, a sensible ordering front-loads the heavy Part I domains and reserves dedicated time for the Part II skills that require practice rather than reading.

Finish with timed sets that mirror the real split: an 80-question block in 180 minutes, then a separate 30-question block in 60 minutes. Practicing them as two distinct sittings builds the pacing habits you need. If you want question sets organized this way, the MA-JE practice test is built around the two-part format, and the MA-JE Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts is a useful last-week reference.

Frequently Asked Questions

Understanding the passing score is the first step; the rest is building the skills behind it. Start with the full study guide and test yourself against both thresholds on the MA-JE practice exam site.