Important Oregon licensing fact: Oregon's master-level electrical credential is the General Supervising Electrician (S), not a license officially titled Master Electrician. The S license carries responsible-charge duties including design, planning, layout, permit signing, supervision, and control of electrical service work.
Oregon Master Electrician Contractor Exam Prep is advanced electrical preparation for experienced electricians moving beyond journey-level installation work and into Oregon's General Supervising Electrician license.
The General Supervising Electrician is the master-level individual credential most closely connected to responsible charge. The licensee may design, plan, and lay out electrical work, sign permits, and is the individual authorized to direct, supervise, or control the installation or alteration of an electrical service.
This is different from the Oregon Electrical Contractor (C) license. The S license belongs to the individual electrician. The C license belongs to the company. For an unrestricted Electrical Contractor business, the General Supervising Electrician serves as the key signing-supervisor credential.
Official master-level credential: General Supervising Electrician (S).
Exam: 64 questions.
Exam structure: 52 code questions + 12 calculation questions.
Time: 4 hours.
Passing score: 75%.
Format: open book.
The 2026 Oregon Master Electrician + Electrician Calculations Study Guides + National Electrical Code Combo is designed for supervising-level code navigation and advanced electrical calculation practice.
Understand where the General Supervising Electrician fits into Oregon's individual and business licensing structure.
| Path | License Structure | What to Verify |
|---|---|---|
| General Journeyman Electrician (J) | Statewide journey-level individual electrical license | Journeyman qualification, BCD examination, continuing education, and supervised work requirements |
| General Supervising Electrician (S) | Oregon master-level individual electrical license | Journeyman qualification, additional 8,000 journeyman hours, 64-question exam, and responsible-charge duties |
| Limited Supervising Electrician (PS) | Advanced supervising license limited to qualifying plant, hospital, commercial-building, or institutional work | Plant-journeyman qualification, additional experience, scope limits, and 64-question exam |
| Electrical Contractor (C) | BCD company contractor license | Business registration, active CCB license, qualified signing supervisor, and company licensing requirements |
| CCB Contractor License | Oregon construction contractor business license | RMI, endorsement, bond, liability insurance, workers' compensation, and business requirements |
| Reciprocal General Supervising Electrician | Master-level reciprocal individual license | Current reciprocity with Arkansas and Utah, active master/supervisor license, testing history, and Oregon application requirements |
Current Oregon Building Codes Division licensing information, Oregon Business Xpress, electrical code adoption information, continuing education requirements, contractor rules, and current 1 Exam Prep Oregon Master Electrician products were reviewed for this page.
| Verified Point | Authority | Current Result |
|---|---|---|
| Master-level credential | Oregon Building Codes Division | General Supervising Electrician (S) is Oregon's advanced statewide supervising electrical credential |
| S license scope | Oregon BCD / Business Xpress | Design, plan and lay out work, sign permits, and direct, supervise, or control installation or alteration of an electrical service |
| S examination | Oregon BCD / Business Xpress | 64 questions, 4 hours, open book, with 52 code questions and 12 calculation questions |
| Passing score | Oregon Building Codes Division | 75% or better for Oregon licensing examinations |
| Current Oregon electrical code | Oregon Building Codes Division | 2026 Oregon Electrical Specialty Code effective October 1, 2026 and based on the 2026 NEC |
| Experience requirement | Oregon Building Codes Division | Oregon journeyman qualification plus an additional 8,000 hours of on-the-job journeyman experience |
| Continuing education | Oregon Building Codes Division | 24 hours total: 4 Oregon rule and law, 12 code change, and 8 code related |
The Oregon General Supervising Electrician examination goes beyond ordinary journeyman code lookup. Current licensing information describes a two-section format with 52 code questions and 12 calculation questions.
The code side rewards fast, accurate use of the NEC, Oregon Electrical Specialty Code amendments, Oregon electrical statutes and administrative rules, services, feeders, branch circuits, conductors, grounding, bonding, wiring methods, equipment, motors, transformers, special occupancies, special equipment, and supervisory responsibilities.
The calculation side demands clean setup and accurate math. Candidates should be comfortable with services, feeders, conductor ampacity, motor loads, transformer calculations, box and raceway fill, overcurrent protection, voltage drop, grounding sizes, and other NEC-based calculations.
Field experience helps, but the test still expects you to prove that you can locate, interpret, calculate, and apply the rule under a clock. Years in the trade are useful. The exam, sadly, does not accept "I've always done it that way" as a code reference.
Prepare for two jobs at once: fast code interpretation and accurate electrical calculations. The current S exam contains a large code section plus a dedicated calculation section.
Code preparation: practice NEC navigation, Oregon amendments, ORS 479, OAR 918, services, feeders, branch circuits, grounding, conductors, wiring methods, equipment, special occupancies, and supervisor responsibilities.
Calculation preparation: work service loads, feeders, conductor ampacity, motors, transformers, overcurrent protection, voltage drop, box fill, raceway fill, and grounding calculations.
Supervisor preparation: understand responsible charge, permit signing, safety oversight, electrical-service supervision, licensed-worker requirements, and code compliance.
Open-book speed: know which reference controls the question before you begin searching. Four hours can disappear surprisingly fast when every lookup becomes a sightseeing tour.
The dedicated calculation section is one of the biggest differences between Oregon's journeyman and supervising-level exam formats. Practice calculations as complete timed problems, not simply as formulas written on a flash card.
Oregon master-level electrical exam-prep illustration for supervising-level NEC calculations and code application.
Move from journeyman qualification into the General Supervising Electrician license and then into unrestricted electrical contracting if that is your business goal.
Begin with the General Journeyman Electrician qualification path through an approved apprenticeship or Oregon's accepted education and experience alternatives.
Document an additional 8,000 hours of on-the-job journeyman electrical experience beyond the journey-level qualification requirements.
Provide the electrical-license application, experience verification, required education and identity documentation, and other materials requested by BCD.
After approval, BCD mails a Letter of Authorization with scheduling information and the approved testing-material list.
Train separately for the 52-question code portion and the 12-question calculation portion while building four-hour exam stamina.
Complete the 64-question open-book examination in four hours and meet Oregon's 75 percent passing requirement.
Complete 24 hours of required continuing education, including Oregon rule and law, code-change, and code-related education.
If operating an unrestricted electrical contracting company, maintain the separate Electrical Contractor (C) company license and an active CCB contractor license. The General Supervising Electrician is the key signing-supervisor credential for that business path.
The exam officially contains 64 questions. Oregon Business Xpress identifies 52 code questions and 12 calculation questions. The topic bars below organize study priorities within those two major sections rather than claiming an unpublished official topic-by-topic question count.
Key difference: the General Supervising exam includes a dedicated calculation section. Do not spend all your study time on code lookups and then introduce yourself to electrical math in the parking lot.
Oregon publishes electrical exam-material guidelines, and your Letter of Authorization provides the list approved for your examination. Always compare your final exam library with the current BCD instructions.
| Reference / Resource | Primary Study Use | Important Note |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 NEC + Oregon Amendments | Electrical code, services, feeders, grounding, conductors, raceways, equipment, motors, transformers, special occupancies, and calculations | 2026 OESC is based on the 2026 NEC |
| National Electrical Code Handbook | Additional NEC explanation and code navigation | Current Oregon electrical exam guidelines list the NEC Handbook among allowed publications |
| ORS Chapter 479 | Oregon electrical statutes and legal responsibilities | Important for supervising-level law and responsibility questions |
| OAR Division 918 | Oregon administrative rules, licensing, electrical requirements, and supervision | Review the provisions that apply to electrical licenses and work |
| American Electrician's Handbook | Electrical theory, practical reference material, and trade calculations | Listed in current Oregon electrical exam-material guidelines |
| Electrical Black Book / Ugly's Electrical References | Formulas, electrical reference data, tables, conversions, and quick trade information | Listed among current Oregon-approved electrical exam publication types |
| Ferm's Fast Finder / Tom Henry's Key Word Index | Faster NEC keyword and article navigation | Listed in current Oregon electrical exam-material guidelines |
Current Oregon reference-marking guidance: approved materials may use commercial or self-generated tabs, highlighting, and limited handwritten side-margin references that point to another code section or a state or local amendment. Practice tests, class-prep materials, calculation examples, and added pages are not permitted.
Oregon does not officially call the license "Master Electrician." The advanced statewide electrical credential is General Supervising Electrician.
The terminology matters because your application, examination authorization, license record, and contractor paperwork use the official S classification.
The General Supervising Electrician may design, plan, and lay out electrical work, sign permits, and direct, supervise, or control electrical-service installation or alteration.
The S license also has an important contractor connection. Oregon's unrestricted Electrical Contractor (C) is a separate company license. The contracting company must satisfy BCD and CCB business requirements and designate the appropriate signing supervisor. The General Supervising Electrician is the qualifying signing-supervisor license for unrestricted electrical contracting.
So when people search for Oregon Master Electrician Contractor Exam Prep, they are usually talking about preparation for the S license and the advanced responsibilities that come with it.
The Oregon master-level path adds authority, responsibility, experience, calculations, and supervision beyond the General Journeyman license.
| Credential | Main Purpose | Important Difference |
|---|---|---|
| General Journeyman Electrician (J) | Perform general electrical installation work under required supervision | Journey-level individual license with a 52-question, 3-hour exam |
| General Supervising Electrician (S) | Design, plan, lay out, sign permits, and direct or supervise electrical-service work | Master-level individual license with 64 questions, four hours, and a dedicated calculation section |
| Limited Supervising Electrician (PS) | Supervise qualifying electrical work in plants, hospitals, commercial buildings, or institutions | Advanced license with a limited scope compared with the General Supervising license |
| Electrical Contractor (C) | Allow a company to engage in the business of making electrical installations | Company license, not the individual master-level electrical credential |
| CCB Contractor License | Meet Oregon construction-contractor business licensing requirements | Required separately for contractors performing electrical work |
| Reciprocal General Supervising Electrician | Reciprocal master-level licensing route | Current reciprocity agreements are with Arkansas and Utah |
Experience reminder: Oregon's current S requirements call for an additional 8,000 hours of on-the-job journeyman experience after meeting the journeyman qualification standard. If qualifying through an alternative experience route, Oregon's 300 percent rule can apply.
Build supervising-level code skill, calculation accuracy, Oregon law knowledge, and four-hour exam endurance.
The Oregon General Supervising Electrician exam is harder than the journeyman exam because it adds deeper supervisory responsibility and a dedicated calculation section.
You have four hours for 64 questions, or an average of about 3.75 minutes per question. The questions are not all equal, though. A straightforward code lookup may take under a minute, while a calculation can happily eat five or ten minutes if you lose track of the setup.
Open book helps only if your references are organized and familiar. Strong candidates know where the likely rule lives before opening the book.
Calculation practice is especially important. If the code section feels comfortable but transformer, service, motor, or feeder math still causes panic, keep working the math. The dedicated calculation section is not decorative.
Also practice switching between code interpretation and calculations. That mental shift is part of the exam experience and should not be a surprise on test day.
Oregon testing timeline: take the examination within 60 days of the date on your Letter of Authorization. Candidates who fail must wait 30 days before retesting. Oregon advises allowing up to two weeks to receive results.
Exam-room reminder: 1 Exam Prep products are study resources. Only take a resource into the Oregon exam if it is permitted under the current BCD examination-material rules and your Letter of Authorization.
This Oregon-specific 1 Exam Prep credential artwork is designed for Oregon master-level electrical study and General Supervising Electrician exam preparation.
• Oregon's master-level individual credential is the General Supervising Electrician
• The S exam contains 64 questions
• The exam is divided into code and calculation sections
• Candidates receive four hours
• Oregon requires a 75% passing score
• The examination is open book
• The current 2026 OESC is based on the 2026 NEC
• S candidates need an additional 8,000 hours of journeyman experience
• The General Supervising Electrician is the key signing-supervisor credential for unrestricted Oregon electrical contracting
Practice code navigation and calculations together, because Oregon's master-level exam expects both skills in the same four-hour testing window.
Oregon Master Electrician Licensing
Exam Format
Experience Requirements
Current Code and References
Calculation Section
Exam Process
Electrical Contractor Business
Reciprocity and Renewal
1 Exam Prep
Watch this related 1 Exam Prep Oregon electrician video for guidance on the Oregon electrical licensing ladder, journeyman requirements, supervising electrician progression, experience documentation, current code preparation, and contractor-related licensing.
Oregon master-level exam-prep tip: use the video to understand the licensing path, then prepare specifically for the General Supervising Electrician exam with timed code lookup, Oregon law review, and repeated calculation practice.
Combine current Oregon Building Codes Division requirements with 1 Exam Prep master-level electrical study materials. Recheck BCD instructions before testing because examination references and licensing procedures can change.
Build stronger Oregon electrical-code knowledge, faster open-book navigation, better calculation accuracy, and more confidence with services, feeders, grounding, bonding, conductors, motors, transformers, overcurrent protection, Oregon law, supervisory duties, permit responsibilities, and contractor qualification.
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Oregon Master Electrician Exam Prep