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Home / Technical Articles / 10 questions to test your electrician skills

Let’s test your electrician skills

These are not-so-easy, but also not-too-hard questions for you to try to answer and test your electrician skills. Whether you are a novice in a field of electrical engineering or a professional electrician, these questions will move your brain cells for sure! To check your results, take a peek for answers at the bottom of article.

10 questions to test your electrician skills
10 questions to test your electrician skills (credit: nwelectricandsolar.com)

Let’s start.


Question #1

Building “A” is supplied with 120/240 volt single-phase power from building “B” on the same property. “B” is supplied from a three-wire with two ungrounded conductors and one neutral without any metallic water pipe or other metal equipment connections to the building or equipment ground fault protection installed.

The neutral conductor must:

A. Not be connected to a grounding electrode in the second building
B. Not be connected to a grounding electrode in either building
C. Be bonded to the disconnect enclosure in the second building and connected to a grounding electrode
D. Tie into the ungrounded conductor of one of the buildings with a grounding jumper

Question #2

A feeder runs from one part of a building to another under the floor in two parallel sets of rigid non-metallic conduits with type RHW copper conductors size AWG #500 and is protected by 800 ampere fuses. It must have a minimum size copper equipment grounding conductor in each conduit run of no less than which of the following:

A. 1/0 AWG
B. 20 AWG
C. 10 amps
D. 5 AWG

Question #3

A surge arrestor for a 480 volt electrical system requires a connecting conductor that is #14 copper or larger.

A. True
B. False


Question #4

If a single family dwelling unit has 2680 square feet of living space and all of the 120 volt general illumination circuits are rated at 15 amperes, then the minimum number of circuits required is which of the following:

A. 5
B. 6
C. 7
D. 8

Question #5

A single family dwelling with 2400 square feet of living area has a 120/240 volt three-wire electrical service and contains the following:

  • 3.5 kW 240 volt electric water heater,
  • 12 kW electric range,
  • 1.5 horsepower 240 volt central air conditioner,
  • 1/2 horsepower 120 volt garbage disposal,
  • 1/3 horsepower 120 volt furnace blower motor, a 1.2 kW 120 volt dishwasher, and
  • 5 kW clothes dryer.

The total minimum load required for the general illumination, small appliances, and laundry without any demand factors would be which of the following:

A. 1500 VA
B. 7200 VA
C. 11700 VA
D. 15000 VA

Sharpen up your electrician knowledge
Sharpen up your electrician knowledge (photo credit: electricianqualifications.info)

Question #6

If a three-phase 75 kVA transformer is connected to the primary at 480 volts and 120/208 volts on the secondary, then the full load current of the transformer secondary would be which of the following:

A. 240 amps
B. 208 amps
C. 90 VA
D. 25 VA

Question #7

In order to correct the power factor, a three-phase, 480 volt, 92 kVAR capacitor bank located 6 feet from the main service of a 3200 square foot office building has a minimum required ampere rating for the conductors in the capacitor bank of which of the following:

A. 240 amps
B. 180 amps
C. 150 amps
D. 110 amps

Question #8

In an 8 unit apartment building, each kitchen contains a 3.5 kW 240 volt electric range. The demand load for the electric service to the building must include an allowance for the minimum demand load of all of the ranges, which would be which of the following:

A. 28 kVA
B. 21 kVA
C. 14 kVA
D. 7.5 kVA

Question #9

A retail store has 3000 square feet and 30 feet of show window. The service is a 120/240 volt single phase 3-wire service, and there is an actual connected lighting load of 8500 VA.

There are a total of 80 duplex receptacles. Given these facts, the total calculated load is which of the following:

A. 9000 VA
B. 12200 VA
C. 16200 VA
D. 28400 VA

Question #10

A project requires the installation of twelve 1.4 ampere, 120 volt, fluorescent lights fixtures on two 20 amp branch circuits, as well as three 120 volt, 5.6 ampere electric fans on individual circuits in a building with a 120/240 single phase three-wire electric service.

The minimum neutral current allowed for these loads is which of the following:

A. 0 amps
B. 5.6 amps
C. 16.8 amps
D. 33.6 amps

Answers

To prove your electrician skills, your results should be the same as provided answers. NEC articles mentioned in answers you can observe in a free draft version of NEC 2014 //

NEC 2014 free draft

  1. C – Reference Section [250.32(B)(1)]
  2. A – Reference Table [250.122]
  3. A – Reference Section [280.21]
  4. A – Reference Sections [210.11(A)] and [220.423(A)] for minimum load requirements. Divide the load by 120 volts, then divide this value into the circuits to determine the number of circuits required.
    3 VA ÷ 2680 feet 2 = 8040 VA;
    120 volts × 15 amps (per circuit) = 1800;
    8040 ÷ 1800 4.5 (rounded up to 5)
  5. C – Reference Table [220.3(A)] to see that 3 VA is required for every square feet of living area.
    2400 square feet × 3 VA = 7200 VA.
    The small appliance load in Section [220.11(C)(2)] is 1500 VA and comes to 2 small appliance loads.
    1500 VA × 3 = 3000;
    Section [210.11(C)(2)] requires 1500 VA for a dwelling laundry circuit.
    7200 + 3000 + 1500 = 11700 VA.
  6. B – Use formula Csecondary = 75kVA × 1000 / 1.73 × 208v = 208 amps
  7. C – The first step is to calculate how much current will be going to the capacitor bank once it is energized, which is the same formula you would use to calculate the full load current of a transformer, except you need to use kVAR’s instead of kVA.
    Ccapacitor = 92kVAR × 1000 / 1.73(3 phase) × 480v = 110.8 amps
    Next you need to find the minimum ampere rating of the conductors in the capacitor bank using the requirement in Section [460.8(A)], and you will find that the ampacity cannot be more than 135% (which is 1.35).
    Multiply the capacitor current of 110.8 × 1.35 = 149.58 rounded up to 150 amps.
  8. B – Reference [Section 220.17] lists a demand factor of 0.75 for four or more appliances.
    8 ranges × 3.5 kW each = 28 × 0.75 demand factor = 21 kVA
  9. D – Reference Chapter 9, Annex D, Example D3
  10. A – Balance the load by placing 4 fixtures and 2 fans on one circuit and 8 fixtures and one fan on the other as shown below:
    LEG 1LEG 2
    4 Fixtures5.8 amps8 fixtures11.2 amps
    Fan5.6 ampsFan5.8 amps
    Fan5.6 amps
    Total //16.8 amps  16.8 amps

Reference // Electrician’s Exam Study Guide (Purchase at Amazon)

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author-pic

Edvard Csanyi

Electrical engineer, programmer and founder of EEP. Highly specialized for design of LV/MV switchgears and LV high power busbar trunking (<6300A) in power substations, commercial buildings and industry facilities. Professional in AutoCAD programming.

15 Comments


  1. Omurakaywa Brian
    Jan 12, 2023

    Much educative and level lifting for self recognition about your status of electric world i love the site


  2. Fred Mbayia Jomo
    Jun 17, 2022

    Very educative portal as far as electrical is concerned.Am from Kenya,and I have a diploma in electrical from Kenya polytechnic,if any sponsorship is available to further my knowledge in electrical field,I will be much willing and available.I appreciate.


  3. Ojo babalola
    Aug 28, 2021

    I love to be an Electrical engineer but im financially zero.can someone render help.im a Nigerian with apprenticeship certificate for past 10 years on self employed.07037113772,[email protected].


  4. Chand Ramnarain
    Oct 20, 2018

    Please direct me to more lessons.
    Also questions and answers review exams.


  5. Damarakeswar
    Jul 13, 2018

    I’m very happy to say that this is wonderful site for all electrical and electronic students and engineers ..


  6. Lalo el Hippie
    Jun 01, 2018

    Las puntas del tester no son las adecuadas para el tablero.en la foto, deben ser clase 3 con puntas proteguidas.


  7. MARCEL GUSMAO
    Apr 26, 2018

    I scored 6 points on this electricals quizzes… many questions are multiplied per 0.75 k-factor!


  8. ANSARI
    Feb 03, 2018

    Pls email me


    • Md Jashim uddin
      Nov 03, 2020

      Hello sir


  9. Peter Black
    Jun 03, 2017

    Brilliant help. Thank you Ravindran. I’d be happy to help you refine your accomplished use of English and comply wth some of our dotty grammar rules! I have co-written technical manuals across various industries so may be of some use to you.

    Well done for covering so much detail in a short article!


  10. ISHAN BAXI
    May 23, 2017

    usefull guide for students… I would be happy if you would post a topic on transistor H Parameters


  11. Ravindra.s.Kargaonkar
    Mar 31, 2017

    Very useful guides articles are published and now where they are available in one place. My best wishes


  12. Neeraj sharma
    Oct 07, 2016

    This is very important web site.


  13. Jason
    Jan 27, 2016

    Great quiz! However, a range calculation is performed using table 220.55. The table allows you to take a demand of 36% for question 8. So the answer to question 8 should have been 3.5 kW x 8 x 36% = 10.08 kVA.

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