Checked against primary sources 2026-09-07
One exam, six numbers
Minnesota Electrician Exam Pass Rates: What the Board Says
The Board of Electricity publishes pass rates in its quarterly minutes, and the figures move a great deal between meetings because the basis of the count moves with them. Anybody quoting you a single Minnesota pass rate has picked one row out of several.
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On this page
October 14, 2025 minutes
Under the heading Examination Pass Rates (2024 and 2025 YTD): master 72 percent, journeyworker 69 percent, power limited technician 68 percent.
The same minutes carry a second heading, DLI Apprenticeship Program Pass Rate (2025 YTD), and put journeyworker at 90.92 percent.
No basis label is attached to the first set. It does not say whether it counts exams or people.
January 15, 2026 minutes
The January minutes report four different sets for 2025, each with its own heading.
- Exam pass rates for 2025 by total exams: master 50 percent, journeyworker 40 percent, power limited technician 51 percent.
- Exam pass rates by test taker: master 63 percent, journeyworker 60 percent from 820 testers, power limited technician 63 percent from 177 testers.
- Five year average, 2021 to 2025: master 47.8 percent, journeyworker 38.1 percent, power limited technician 43.7 percent.
- First attempt pass rate: master 46 percent, journeyworker 32 percent, power limited technician 42 percent.
The same minutes print DLI Apprenticeship Program Pass Rate (2025 YTD) for journeyworker as 32 percent.
April 14, 2026 minutes
Two sets for 2026 year to date.
- Exam pass rates for 2026 by total exams: master 44.7 percent, journeyworker 42 percent, power limited technician 52.2 percent.
- Exam pass rates by test taker: master 47 percent, journeyworker 45 percent from 349 testers, power limited technician 58 percent from 74 testers.
The April minutes contain no first attempt set, no five year average and no apprenticeship program line. So the comparison you can make against January is narrower than it looks.
What that adds up to for one exam
For the journeyworker paper alone, the published figures across three meetings are 69 percent, 40 percent, 60 percent, 32 percent, 42 percent and 45 percent.
The number depends entirely on how the board counted that quarter. By total exams a candidate who sits three times and passes once contributes one pass and three attempts. By test taker the same candidate contributes one pass and one person. On a first attempt basis they contribute one failure.
None of those is wrong. They answer different questions, and the answer changes by more than 25 points depending on which one you ask.
The conflict the board has not explained
Two sets of minutes print the same heading, for the same period label, with different numbers. October 14, 2025 gives DLI Apprenticeship Program Pass Rate (2025 YTD) for journeyworker as 90.92 percent. January 15, 2026 gives the same heading and the same year label as 32 percent.
Both are official Board of Electricity minutes. We cannot determine which is correct or what changed in the method, and neither document explains it.
One more thing is worth noting without building on it. The 32 percent in the January minutes is the same number that appears one heading above it as the journeyworker first attempt pass rate. Whether that is a coincidence, a transcription artifact or a genuine figure is not stated anywhere, so no comparison should be built on that line until DLI confirms it.
The single most defensible sentence
If you want one figure with a source and a basis attached: on the most recent published figures, from the April 14, 2026 Board of Electricity minutes, 45 percent of journeyworker test takers passed in 2026 to date, out of 349 testers.
That sentence names the meeting, the basis and the sample. Any pass rate quoted without those three things is not telling you what it measured.
What the board does not publish: any pass rate for the maintenance electrician, lineman, Class B installer or satellite installer examinations, any master tester count, and any total for electrical examinations administered per year. Those are not figures anybody has, and we are not going to estimate them.
What to do with a pass rate
Not much, honestly. A published rate tells you about the population that sat the paper, not about you, and the population changes with the apprenticeship intake and the code cycle.
What it does argue for is preparing for the clock as well as the content. The board reports both by total exams and by test taker, which implies people are sitting more than once, and the retake rule means each attempt costs 30 days and another $50.
Sit the free diagnostic to see which areas are actually weak, then work those rather than everything.
Questions people ask
What is the pass rate for the Minnesota journeyworker exam?
It depends on how the board counted. Published journeyworker figures across three sets of Board of Electricity minutes are 69 percent, 40 percent, 60 percent, 32 percent, 42 percent and 45 percent. The most recent, from April 14, 2026, is 45 percent of test takers out of 349 testers.
Why do Minnesota pass rates vary so much?
Because the basis changes between meetings. The board reports by total exams, by test taker, on a first attempt basis and as a five year average, and those measure different things for the same paper.
What is the master electrician pass rate in Minnesota?
October 2025 minutes give 72 percent with no basis label. January 2026 gives 50 percent by total exams, 63 percent by test taker and 46 percent on first attempt for 2025. April 2026 gives 44.7 percent by total exams and 47 percent by test taker for 2026.
What is the apprenticeship route pass rate?
Two sets of minutes disagree. October 2025 gives 90.92 percent for 2025 year to date and January 2026 gives 32 percent under the same heading for the same period. Neither document explains the difference and we cannot resolve it.
How many people take the Minnesota electrician exam?
The board published 820 journeyworker testers and 177 power limited technician testers for 2025, and 349 journeyworker testers and 74 power limited technician testers for 2026 to date at April 14. No master tester count and no annual total across all exams is published.
Is there a pass rate for the lineman or installer exams?
No. The Board of Electricity publishes pass rates for the master, journeyworker and power limited technician examinations only.
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What this page cites
- Board of Electricity minutes, October 14, 2025 The 72, 69 and 68 percent figures and the 90.92 percent apprenticeship program pass rate. source
- Board of Electricity minutes, January 15, 2026 Four separate 2025 sets, including by total exams, by test taker, the five year average and first attempt, plus the 32 percent apprenticeship figure. source
- Board of Electricity minutes, April 14, 2026 The 2026 year to date figures, including 45 percent of 349 journeyworker test takers. source
- Board of Electricity The board page and its meeting minutes index, including the meeting schedule. source
- DLI Licensing Examination Guide The 70 percent passing score every one of these rates is measured against, and the 30 day retake rule. source
The 2023 to 2026 section crosswalk maps every section that moved, both directions, $29 once.