- Quick Facts Snapshot
- Registration, Fees & Scheduling Mechanics
- Exam Format at a Glance
- The 25 Domains in One Table
- The Business & Law Block (30 Questions)
- The Electrical Core Domains
- Approved References & Open-Book Rules
- Eligibility Recap
- Renewal & Continuing Education
- Final-Week Review Timeline
- FAQ
- 110 questions, five hours, open book, 75% passing score - administered by Prov, Inc.
- Exam fee is $165 to the Board; initial license is $150; credit cards add a 4% surcharge.
- 30 of 110 questions cover business and law topics spread across the first 11 subjects.
- Bring the 2023 NEC - the Board doesn't move to the 2026 NEC until January 1, 2027.
Quick Facts Snapshot
If you only have five minutes before you close this tab, this is the section to read. The Alabama Electrical Contractors Board (AECB) administers the unrestricted, state-specific Alabama Electrical Contractor exam - not the restricted version and not the NASCLA alternative. The Board treats "electrical contractor" and "master electrician" as the same credential, so don't let the terminology confuse you when you're comparing this page to other resources or job postings.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Testing provider | Prov, Inc. |
| Exam format | 110 questions, computer-based, multiple choice, open book |
| Time allowed | Five hours |
| Passing score | 75% |
| Exam fee | $165 (paid to the Board) |
| Initial license fee | $150 |
| Card payment surcharge | 4% service charge |
| Current bulletin date | July 22, 2026 |
| Code edition tested | 2023 NEC (2026 NEC begins January 1, 2027) |
For a slower walk through every one of these numbers with context, our AL-EC Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown article breaks down where each dollar goes.
Registration, Fees & Scheduling Mechanics
The mechanics of getting into the testing room trip up more candidates than the actual electrical questions. Here's the sequence, stripped to the essentials:
- Submit your contractor application to the AECB with documentation of your qualifying experience.
- Pay the $165 exam fee to the Board - expect a 4% add-on if you're paying by credit card.
- Once approved, you get a 90-day window through Prov, Inc. to schedule and sit for the exam.
- If licensing requirements aren't finished, the underlying application itself expires after one year - a separate, longer clock than the 90-day scheduling eligibility.
For a date-by-date look at how these windows interact with testing availability, see AL-EC Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.
Exam Format at a Glance
This is an open-book, five-hour, 110-question computer-based multiple-choice test. "Open book" doesn't mean easy - it means the exam is designed around finding, cross-referencing, and applying the correct rule under time pressure, not memorizing code verbatim. You're allowed four-function calculators, highlighting, and permanent tabs, so your references need to be organized before exam day, not during it.
Key Takeaway
Tab your NEC by article and your NASCLA business guide by chapter before exam day. With five hours and 110 questions, you have roughly 2.7 minutes per question - time spent flipping through an untabbed book is time you don't get back.
The 75% passing score applies to the exam as a whole, not to each domain individually, but weak domains still drag your composite score down. Our AL-EC Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass guide covers how the scoring actually works if you want the full detail.
The 25 Domains in One Table
The exam is built from 25 subjects that fall into two clusters: an 11-subject business and law block, and a 14-subject electrical knowledge block. Question counts follow the Board's official allocation, and three 10-question subjects are jointly the largest single-topic weight on the exam - meaning no other subject carries more questions than those three.
| # | Domain | # | Domain |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Business Organization | 14 | Conductors and Cables |
| 2 | Risk Management | 15 | Raceways and Boxes |
| 3 | Project Management | 16 | Special Occupancies and Equipment |
| 4 | Estimating | 17 | Electrical Power |
| 5 | Safety and Environmental | 18 | Motors |
| 6 | Labor Laws | 19 | Low Voltage |
| 7 | Payroll and Employment Taxes | 20 | Lighting |
| 8 | Financial Management | 21 | Illuminated Signs |
| 9 | Contracts | 22 | Fire Detection and Alarm Systems |
| 10 | Lien Laws | 23 | Safety Information |
| 11 | Licensing Laws | 24 | Overcurrent Protection |
| 12 | General Electrical Knowledge | 25 | Service, Feeders, and Branch Circuits |
| 13 | Grounding and Bonding |
For a domain-by-domain breakdown of what each of these 25 subjects actually tests - not just the names - read AL-EC Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 25 Content Areas.
The Business & Law Block (30 Questions)
Domains 1 through 11 - Business Organization, Risk Management, Project Management, Estimating, Safety and Environmental, Labor Laws, Payroll and Employment Taxes, Financial Management, Contracts, Lien Laws, and Licensing Laws - together account for 30 of the 110 questions. That's roughly a quarter of the exam coming from areas that have nothing to do with wire sizing or panel layout.
Where This Content Actually Comes From
This block draws heavily on the NASCLA Contractors Guide to Business, Law and Project Management (13th or 14th edition) plus the 2014 Alabama supplement. Candidates who skip this book because "I already run a business" consistently underestimate this section.
- Alabama-specific lien filing deadlines and notice requirements
- Contract clauses unique to the Alabama supplement, not generic contract law
- Payroll tax classifications and labor law basics as they apply to contractors
Because this block spans 11 separate subjects for only 30 questions, expect broad, shallow coverage rather than deep drilling on any single topic - know the Alabama supplement's structure well enough to locate an answer fast.
The Electrical Core Domains
Domains 12 through 25 - starting with General Electrical Knowledge and running through Service, Feeders, and Branch Circuits - make up the remaining 80 questions and are pulled primarily from the 2023 NEC and the American Electrician's Handbook, 17th edition.
Grounding and Bonding, Overcurrent Protection, Service/Feeders/Branch Circuits
These three subjects sit among the highest-weighted 10-question topics on the exam. Master electricians candidates commonly underestimate the calculation-heavy nature of these areas because they feel "basic."
- Grounding electrode conductor sizing and bonding jumper requirements
- Overcurrent protection device selection and coordination
- Feeder and branch-circuit load calculations under the 2023 NEC
If you're still deciding how much weight to put behind each subject while building your study plan, AL-EC Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt lays out a full prep sequence built around this exact domain list.
Approved References & Open-Book Rules
Because this is an open-book exam, your reference set essentially functions as a fifth "domain." The Board's approved list for the current bulletin includes:
- 2023 NEC
- American Electrician's Handbook, 17th edition
- NASCLA Contractors Guide to Business, Law and Project Management, 13th or 14th edition
- 2014 Alabama supplement
Four-function calculators, highlighting, and permanent tabs are all permitted. Mark this on your calendar: the Board moves to the 2026 NEC on January 1, 2027, so anyone testing under the current bulletin is still working from the 2023 NEC. Don't study from a newer code edition by mistake - the cycle change hasn't happened yet.
Key Takeaway
Buy and tab your reference books at least three weeks before your scheduled date. Highlighting and tabbing under time pressure the night before does more harm than good.
Eligibility Recap
Most candidates qualify through the standard route: four years, or 8,000 hours, of supervisory electrical-construction experience with documented responsibility for planning, layout, and installation. Approved education or apprenticeship training can substitute for up to 2,000 of those hours, but not more. Separately, a valid Alabama-registered professional electrical engineer is also permitted to sit for the exam under current rules - a route that bypasses the hours requirement entirely.
The full documentation checklist, including what counts as "supervisory" experience and how the Board verifies it, is covered in AL-EC Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
Renewal & Continuing Education
Passing the exam and getting licensed isn't the finish line. Once licensed:
- Annual renewal costs $150, due by the end of the original issuance quarter.
- Contractors complete 14 approved continuing education hours every two years.
- The Board directs CE submission in odd-numbered years.
- Your first licensing year is exempt from the CE requirement.
Build this into your planning now - it's far easier to schedule CE hours around a known odd-year deadline than to scramble later.
Final-Week Review Timeline
Generic study frameworks don't map cleanly onto a 25-domain, open-book, five-hour exam, so use this compressed sequence in the final stretch instead of a one-size-fits-all weekly template.
Business & Law Block
- Re-tab the NASCLA guide and 2014 Alabama supplement by domain (1-11)
- Drill lien law deadlines and contract clause differences specific to Alabama
High-Weight Electrical Domains
- Focus on Grounding and Bonding, Overcurrent Protection, and Service/Feeders/Branch Circuits
- Run load calculations under 2023 NEC until they're fast, not just correct
Smaller Domains + Full Timed Runs
- Cover Illuminated Signs, Fire Detection and Alarm Systems, Low Voltage, and Motors
- Simulate the five-hour, 110-question format with your tabbed references
Practicing under realistic conditions matters more here than reading more material. Run full-length timed sessions on our AL-EC practice test platform so the pacing - 2.7 minutes per question across 25 subjects - stops feeling foreign on exam day.
FAQ
Yes. It's a 110-question, five-hour, computer-based, open-book exam administered by Prov, Inc., with a 75% passing score.
The exam fee is $165 paid to the Alabama Electrical Contractors Board, and the initial license fee is $150. Credit card payments add a 4% service charge.
Study the 2023 NEC. The Board doesn't switch to the 2026 NEC until January 1, 2027, so the current bulletin tests the 2023 edition.
30 of the 110 questions come from the first 11 business and law subjects; the remaining 80 come from the 14 electrical domains, from General Electrical Knowledge through Service, Feeders, and Branch Circuits.
Your contractor application expires after one year if licensing requirements remain incomplete. Separately, once you're eligible to test, you have a 90-day window through Prov to schedule and sit for the exam.
Keep this page bookmarked as your quick-reference sheet, but pair it with deeper study - the How Hard Is the AL-EC Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 article and a run through practice questions on our main site will do more for your actual readiness than any one-page summary can.