What Is MD-JE?

What "MD-JE" Means on This Site

On mdjeexam.com, MD-JE refers to one credential only: the Maryland Journeyman Electrician License Exam. It is the written examination a Maryland candidate must pass on the way to a journeyperson electrician license. The acronym is a site identifier. The Maryland State Board of Electricians and its testing vendor use the term Journeyperson Electrician, so when you read official bulletins or the Board's website, that is the wording you will see. Same exam, different label.

If you are searching for other credentials that happen to share similar initials, this is not the page for them. Everything below concerns the Maryland journeyperson electrician examination and nothing else. For related definitions, see MD-JE Meaning and What Does MD-JE Stand For?, and for the credential as a whole, MD-JE Certification.

It helps to be clear about what the exam is and is not. It is a knowledge test on electrical theory and the National Electrical Code. It is not a practical, hands-on examination, and passing it is one step toward a license rather than the license itself. The site's questions are independently authored supplementary preparation material. They are not actual exam questions, and they do not measure practical field competence.

Who Governs and Administers the Exam

Two organizations matter, and it is worth keeping their roles straight:

• Maryland State Board of Electricians (part of the Maryland Department of Labor) governs licensing. It decides who is eligible, approves applications, issues licenses, and handles renewals.
• PSI Services LLC administers the examination. You apply online, receive prior approval, and then schedule through PSI's Maryland electrician portal.

Prior approval is required before you can sit for the exam. The application process is online only (the issuer's bulletin carries an online-only notice effective March 31, 2025), so there is no paper-form shortcut. The primary documents are the Board's "Taking the Exam" page and the PSI Master and Journeyperson Electrician Qualification Information Bulletin, the version updated 9/1/2024. That bulletin also covers the master electrician exam, which is a separate test with a different structure. Do not mix the two outlines when you study.

Exam Format at a Glance

Two format details trip people up. First, because PSI may add five to ten unscored experimental questions, the total number of items you see can exceed 70, and you will not know which ones do not count. Treat every question as if it counts. Second, no fixed overall item total or aggregate appointment timer is published, so plan around the 70 scored questions and the 210-minute figure rather than inventing a precise per-question pace. For a deeper look at the passing mark, see MD-JE Passing Score 2026.

You must arrive 30 minutes early and present valid photo and signature identification that matches your registration. Cancellations must be made at least two days in advance, and the exam payment is nonrefundable and nontransferable. Payment is valid for one year.

The Seven Content Headings

The published outline for the journeyperson exam has exactly seven headings. The numbers published beside them (20, 20, 12, 6, 4, 2, and 6) are question counts, not percentage weights, so do not convert them into percentages when planning your study time. The letters below continue from the source's own labeling, which is why the lettering for each heading does not start at "a."

Notice the gap between the last two ranges (708 to 720). The published outline does not fill it, and neither does this article. Study what the outline lists. For a longer walkthrough of each heading, see MD-JE Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 7 Content Areas.

The issuer's public preparation guidance also points to Ohm's law, electrical theory and mathematics, practical field-work knowledge, and applicable local rulings. That guidance describes what a prepared candidate should know. It does not create a practical exam or any additional weighted headings.

The Code Book and Tab Rules

The tested reference in the bulletin is NFPA 70, the 2020 National Electrical Code. It is the only admitted reference, the testing site does not supply it, and you must bring your own copy. Since a large share of the exam turns on finding and applying code language, how you prepare the book matters as much as how well you know it.

• Allowed: indexing, highlighting, and underlining in the book.
• Prohibited: handwritten notes, study guides, and additional papers.
• Tabs: the bulletin names Avery Swift Tabs Self-Adhesive Permanent Plastic Tabs and Redi-Tag Self-Stick Permanent Adhesive Index Tabs. Removable flags and paper-insert tabs are prohibited, and tabs that can be removed without ripping the page must be taken off.

Eligibility and the Apprentice-License Condition

The ordinary route requires four years of experience principally providing electrical services under a Maryland-licensed master electrician (or a similarly qualified government employee), documented with experience evidence and approved by the Board. Under COMAR 09.09.03.02, applicants using the ordinary experience route on or after July 1, 2024 must also have held a current Board or local apprentice license for four years during the qualifying work period.

No exam-preparation course is mandatory, and independent preparation does not replace field experience or guarantee approval.

The Board also describes an approved-apprenticeship experience waiver involving 576 classroom hours, 8,000 work hours, and a certificate issued within two years. That is an experience pathway, not an automatic exemption from the written exam. Local examinations and reciprocity are separate alternative routes. The older bulletin says there are no out-of-state journeyperson waiver provisions, while the Board's current application page lists reciprocity with Virginia, Delaware, and DC under conditions. Those routes do not replace the exam described here, so check the Board directly if one might apply to you. For the full picture, read MD-JE Requirements 2026.

What You Pay and When

The point candidates miss most often: passing the test does not itself issue the license. The USD 65 exam fee and the Board's license fee are separate charges at separate stages. See MD-JE Certification Cost 2026 for a fuller breakdown.

On retakes, the sources disagree. PSI specifies 30 days from the most recent failed attempt. The Board FAQ says 30 days before the first reapplication and 60 days for subsequent retest requests. Confirm authorization with the Board and PSI before you commit to a rebooking date.

After You Pass: Licensing and Renewal

Once you pass, you apply separately to the Board and provide supporting documents within 30 days of the license application. That deadline runs from the license application, not from your exam date. Licenses run two years from issuance.

Journeyperson renewal requires five qualifying continuing-education hours during the preceding 24 months plus the USD 18.50 renewal fee. Eligible subjects include applicable NEC and local variants and relevant NFPA electrical-service standards. The master license has a different continuing-education requirement, so do not apply those hours to your journeyperson renewal. If you are weighing the career side, MD-JE Jobs and MD-JE Training cover what comes next.

Pass Rates, Salary, and Other Unsettled Questions

Published pass-rate evidence is thin and inconsistent, so treat any single figure with caution. Board minutes reported March journeyperson results of five passes among 27 tests, a rounded 19%. Other minutes report May results of 12 of 36 (rounded 33%) and, in a later set of minutes also labeled May, 5 of 39 (rounded 13%), with other inconsistencies in that table. Those samples cannot be combined or relabeled, and none of them is a first-attempt probability. The honest conclusion is that results vary widely from one reporting period to the next and the published records have gaps. Read MD-JE Pass Rate 2026 for the fuller discussion.

Salary is similarly unsettled. A single employer's pay listing is not a statewide benchmark and is not evidence of a license-related earnings premium, so this article makes no earnings claim. Our MD-JE Salary Guide and Is the MD-JE Certification Worth It? look at the question with those limits in mind.

Scheduling Your Preparation by Heading

Because the question counts are lopsided, your calendar should be too. Electrical Theory and Wiring and Protection together account for 40 of the 70 scored questions, so they deserve the earliest and longest blocks. The sequence below is one reasonable way to order the work.

Finish with timed mixed sets so you practice finding answers in your tabbed book under pressure. Our MD-JE Study Guide and MD-JE Cheat Sheet can support each stage, and you can try questions in the MD-JE practice test as a supplement to your reading. Keep in mind that practice questions here are independently written preparation, not issuer questions. If you want a sense of the challenge before committing, see How Hard Is the MD-JE Exam? and check scheduling details in MD-JE Exam Dates 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions