The exam format and the references allowed

The night before her Business and Law exam, Lucía laid out what she would carry into the test center: a NASCLA contractor's guide with permanent tabs, a bound copy of the Construction Industries Licensing Act, a bound copy of 14.6.3 NMAC, a silent calculator, two forms of identification and a printout of her confirmation. She had read the bulletin's reference rules three times. A candidate at another shop had been turned away from the testing room the year before because her code book had loose pages tucked inside it, and Lucía did not intend to repeat the mistake.

This lesson describes the format, passing score and allowed references of the Business and Law exam and the three parts of the EE-98 trade exam as published in the PSI candidate bulletin for New Mexico construction trades in late 2026. It also covers the test-center rules for references, how the parts are scored and what the content outlines emphasize. Lesson 12 turns this into a study and pacing plan.

Four scored exams

A new EE-98 qualifying party faces four scored exams: the Business and Law exam, required of all new contractor candidates unless they complete an approved course, and the three parts of the EE-98 combination exam. Each is open book, each is scored separately and each has a passing score of 75. The bulletin expresses the passing score both as a scaled 75 and as a raw number of points, which differs by exam because the exams have different numbers of questions.

The Business and Law exam

The Business and Law exam tests what a contractor needs to run a lawful, solvent business in New Mexico: licensing law, business organization, estimating and bidding, contracts, project management, accounting basics, payroll and tax obligations, insurance and bonding, lien law and safety. It has 50 questions and a time limit of 130 minutes, and a candidate needs 38 correct answers to pass. A silent, non-programmable calculator is allowed.

The bulletin lists three references for the exam. The first is the NASCLA Contractors Guide to Business, Law and Project Management, in the New Mexico edition the bulletin names. The second is the Construction Industries Licensing Act, NMSA Chapter 60, Article 13. The third is the contractor license requirements rule, 14.6.3 NMAC. A large share of the exam can be answered from the NASCLA guide, but the New Mexico-specific questions come from the Act and the rule, and they tend to be the ones candidates miss.

EE-98 Part 1: commercial and industrial

Part 1 is the longest exam: 80 questions in 200 minutes, with 60 correct answers needed to pass. It covers commercial and industrial electrical work: services and feeders, overcurrent protection, grounding and bonding, wiring methods, conductor sizing and ampacity, motors and motor controls, transformers, hazardous locations, special occupancies and equipment, and the state amendments that affect commercial work. Calculation questions, such as feeder and service load calculations, motor circuit sizing and voltage drop, make up a meaningful share.

The bulletin's references for Part 1 are the NFPA 70 National Electrical Code in the 2020 edition, or the NEC Handbook of that edition, the New Mexico Electrical Code at 14.10.4 NMAC in its 2020 version, and an older edition of the National Electrical Safety Code. The NESC applies to utility-type installations, and a few questions draw on it.

EE-98 Part 2: residential

Part 2 covers residential wiring: dwelling load calculations, branch circuits and receptacle placement, GFCI and AFCI protection, services for one- and two-family dwellings, grounding electrode systems, wiring methods common in homes and the state amendments that change residential requirements. It has 40 questions in 100 minutes, and 30 correct answers are needed. Its references are the 2020 NEC or NEC Handbook and the 2020 New Mexico Electrical Code. Because New Mexico's amendments are heaviest in residential work, a candidate who knows only the national code will find Part 2 harder than they expect.

EE-98 Part 3: specialties

Part 3 covers the specialty scopes included in EE-98: signs and outline lighting, lightning and cathodic protection, low-voltage systems such as fire alarm and communications, and water well pumps, along with related NEC articles. It has 50 questions in 135 minutes and requires 38 correct answers. Its references are the 2020 NEC or NEC Handbook and an edition of NFPA 72, the National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code, named in the bulletin. Many EE-98 candidates have little hands-on specialty experience, which makes Part 3 a common retake.

exams = [
    ("Business and Law", 50, 130, 38),
    ("Part 1 commercial/industrial", 80, 200, 60),
    ("Part 2 residential", 40, 100, 30),
    ("Part 3 specialties", 50, 135, 38),
]
print(f"{'exam':<30}{'min/question':>13}{'can miss':>10}")
for name, q, minutes, need in exams:
    print(f"{name:<30}{minutes / q:>13.2f}{q - need:>10}")

exam                           min/question  can miss
Business and Law                       2.60        12
Part 1 commercial/industrial           2.50        20
Part 2 residential                     2.50        10
Part 3 specialties                     2.70        12

Every exam allows roughly two and a half minutes per question or more, which is generous for recall questions and tight for calculations that need two or three lookups. The column on the right matters as much: on Part 2 a candidate can miss only ten questions, while on Part 1 they can miss twenty.

Rules for references in the test center

Because all four exams are open book, the bulletin's rules about references matter. In general the bulletin allows bound, published references in the editions listed, and allows a candidate to highlight, underline and add permanent tabs. It does not allow loose papers, notes inserted between pages, removable sticky notes or handwritten material beyond what the bulletin permits. Proctors inspect the books before the exam starts. A book that does not meet the rules may be kept out of the room, and the candidate must test without it.

Editions matter as well. A candidate who brings the 2023 NEC to an exam that lists the 2020 NEC is using a different book from the one the questions were written to. Some of the answers will differ. Candidates should bring exactly the editions the bulletin lists, and the bulletin tells them whether a handbook edition is an acceptable alternative.

How the parts are scored and reported

Each exam is scored on its own. A candidate who passes Parts 2 and 3 of the EE-98 exam but fails Part 1 has two passing scores on file and needs to retake only Part 1. PSI reports the result at the test center. A failing report usually shows the score and a breakdown by content area, which is the single best guide to what to study for the retake.

The passing score of 75 is the same on every exam, and 14.6.3 NMAC states it directly. Candidates sometimes hope that a strong score on one part can make up for a weak one on another. It cannot, because each part must be passed separately.

What the content outlines emphasize

The bulletin includes a content outline for each exam that shows the topics and approximately how many questions each one contributes. Candidates often skip the outline. They should not. It shows where the points are. For Part 1, for example, the outline gives significant weight to services, feeders, branch circuits and calculations, while individual topics such as hazardous locations carry a handful of questions each. For Business and Law, the outline shows how many questions come from licensing law, lien law, contracts and financial management.

Lucía made a single sheet from the outlines. For each topic she wrote the number of questions, the reference where answers are found and a self-rating from one to five. Topics with many questions and a low self-rating went to the top of her study plan. Topics with few questions and a high self-rating went to the bottom. Lesson 12 develops that sheet into a full plan.

Lucía's Business and Law exam

Lucía took the Business and Law exam on October 17. Her strategy was to answer every question she could find quickly in the NASCLA guide, flag every New Mexico-specific question and return to those with the Act and the rule open. She finished with twenty minutes to spare and passed. Her score report showed her weakest area as lien law, which she noted for the work she would do on Arroyo Seco's contracts in the spring.

How the exam is delivered

PSI delivers the New Mexico construction exams on computer at its test centers. The session begins with identity checks and an inspection of the candidate's references, followed by a short tutorial on the testing software. The software shows one question at a time, lets the candidate mark a question for review, shows the time remaining and allows a return to marked questions before the exam is submitted. Scratch paper or a writing board is provided by the center under its rules, and it is collected at the end.

The bulletin explains what happens if a candidate arrives late, forgets identification or brings a prohibited item. In general, a candidate who arrives too late or without acceptable identification is not admitted and may forfeit the fee. A candidate who is found with a prohibited item, such as a phone, may have the exam ended. Reading those paragraphs once before test day costs nothing and prevents a painful surprise.

Using two references at once

Part 1 and Part 2 questions often require the NEC and the New Mexico Electrical Code together. A question may ask for the number of outlets allowed on a dwelling branch circuit, or for the conductor size for a concrete-encased electrode, where the national code and the state amendment give different answers. Candidates who keep the rule's pages tabbed at the front of the NEC, or in a thin bound copy beside it, save a great deal of time. Lucía practiced by reading each question, deciding first whether the topic was one the state amends and only then opening the book.

A final point about calculators. The bulletin allows a silent, non-programmable calculator, and candidates should practice with the same model they will bring. A candidate who learns a new calculator on test day loses time on every calculation question, and a calculator that the center rejects as programmable leaves the candidate with none at all. Lucía bought a second unit of the same simple model as a spare.