What is the best app to study for the journeyman electrician exam?

It depends on your exam and how you study. For state PSI/Pearson VUE exams, prioritize a bank written to your NEC edition with per-section tagging and spaced repetition (Loomi). If you want the legacy-name paper route, Mike Holt's books remain the standard. If you're on the NASCLA exam, Pocket Prep covers it.

How many practice questions do you actually need?

Enough that you never see repeats and every weak NEC article gets coverage — a few hundred questions runs dry in a week of serious study. That's the argument for the 3,000+ banks (Dakota Prep) and the 12,900+ per-edition bank (Loomi) over smaller apps.

Are there free journeyman practice questions to start with?

Yes — Loomi publishes 2,035 questions free on the web with answers and explanations, organized by NEC article, no signup. Mike Holt also runs free daily code quizzes by email.

Compare

The best journeyman electrician exam prep apps, compared honestly

We build one of these apps, so read this as an informed comparison, not a neutral one — every factual claim below is checkable, and the free question sets on this site let you judge our quality before spending anything.

Updated 2026-07-28

Why Loomi

Journeyman-only — no master/contractor noise
Spaced repetition (SRS) — not a static question bank
Native iOS app · Android Aug 2026
Transparent pricing — subscription or lifetime, no hidden IAP
3-day free trial — the whole app, full access
NEC 2017 · 2020 · 2023 — all three at launch

	Loomi	Dakota Prep	Pocket Prep	Mike Holt	Electrical Code Coach
Exam scope	Journeyman only — NEC 2017 · 2020 · 2023, all three at launch	Journeyman + master + contractor, state pages	NASCLA journeyman exam (general test-prep platform)	Journeyman + master; books, videos, classes	Journeyman NEC prep, web-based
Price	$12.99/mo annual (3-day free trial) · $15.99 monthly · $179 lifetime	$189 lifetime (a $99 in-app upgrade path has applied)	Subscription, as listed on their site	~$399 journeyman library; video bundles run far higher	~$89 lifetime (web)
Notes	12,934 questions per edition, NEC-section tagged, spaced repetition	~3,000-question static bank; the app-niche incumbent	~300 electrician questions; wrong exam for most state candidates	The legacy standard — print-first, no comparable mobile app	Budget option; browser-based rather than a native app

Verdict

Pick by exam and study style: NASCLA takers have Pocket Prep; readers who want the legacy paper course have Mike Holt; for state PSI/Pearson VUE exams — most candidates — the deciding factors are bank depth on your NEC edition and whether the app schedules your review, which is exactly what Loomi is built around. Try the free questions first and decide with your own eyes.

What actually separates these apps, once the marketing is stripped away, is four things: which exam they target (state PSI/Pearson VUE vs NASCLA), how deep the bank goes on your NEC edition (a 300-question bank runs dry in a week; 3,000 lasts a month; 12,900+ per edition never repeats before test day), whether review is scheduled or manual (spaced repetition vs re-grinding a static list), and price shape (transparent subscription/lifetime vs upgrade paths inside the app).

The one thing we'd tell any candidate regardless of what they buy: train code lookups under time pressure, on the edition your state tests. That skill is the difference on every open-book exam — and it's free to start: 2,035 questions and interactive NEC tables live on this site, no signup.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best app to study for the journeyman electrician exam?: It depends on your exam and how you study. For state PSI/Pearson VUE exams, prioritize a bank written to your NEC edition with per-section tagging and spaced repetition (Loomi). If you want the legacy-name paper route, Mike Holt's books remain the standard. If you're on the NASCLA exam, Pocket Prep covers it.
How many practice questions do you actually need?: Enough that you never see repeats and every weak NEC article gets coverage — a few hundred questions runs dry in a week of serious study. That's the argument for the 3,000+ banks (Dakota Prep) and the 12,900+ per-edition bank (Loomi) over smaller apps.
Are there free journeyman practice questions to start with?: Yes — Loomi publishes 2,035 questions free on the web with answers and explanations, organized by NEC article, no signup. Mike Holt also runs free daily code quizzes by email.

Loomi · NEC exam prep

Try Loomi free for 3 days.

12,900+ NEC-referenced journeyman exam questions with spaced repetition. Journeyman-only. Every plan starts with a 3-day free trial of everything — no surprise in-app upsells.

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