What to buy, and what to skip
Start here: you do not have to buy anything to pass this exam.
The 2023 NEC, NFPA 70E and the Cal/OSHA construction pocket guide are supplied inside the testing software and are searchable, and you may not bring your own copies anyway. Both standards are free to read from the publishers right now, in a browser. If money is tight, the honest answer is to read them there and spend nothing.
Free, and we earn nothing on these
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NFPA 70, 2023 — free access ↗
Make a free NFPA account and read the whole code in the browser. View only, and slow, but complete and current.
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NFPA 70E, 2024 — free access ↗
The same free account covers this one.
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Cal/OSHA construction pocket guide ↗
A downloadable PDF straight from the State of California, and the exact edition the exam supplies.
NFPA also sells its own searchable digital editions on nfpa.org. Those are not Amazon products, so there is no commission on them for us — they are listed here because for some people they are the better buy.
What paper gets you is the thing a view-only browser reader cannot: somewhere to put tabs, a book that folds flat next to a calculator, and the muscle memory of turning to Article 250 without typing anything. That is worth real money to some people and nothing at all to others.
The book links below go to Amazon and carry a referral tag. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. It costs you nothing extra, no publisher pays for placement, and it is why the free options are listed above rather than below.
For the exam — the 2023 NEC
The code book comes four ways, and NFPA 70E is the other standard the exam supplies. If you want a single recommendation: the spiral bound 2023 NEC, because it stays open.
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NFPA · NFPA 70, 2023 · Softbound
National Electrical Code 2023
The plain paperback, and the right default. It is the exact edition the exam supplies, and the cheapest way to own the book you are being tested on.
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NFPA · NFPA 70, 2023 · Spiral bound
National Electrical Code 2023
The same text that lies flat on a table without being held open. If you plan to work through it with a pencil and a calculator, this is the one.
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NFPA · NFPA 70, 2023 · Spiral bound
National Electrical Code 2023, with tabs
Spiral bound with the tab set already applied. Convenient, though placing tabs yourself is itself decent practice at learning where things live.
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NFPA · NFPA 70, 2023 · Hardcover
National Electrical Code 2023 Handbook
The full code plus commentary, diagrams and worked examples. Excellent for understanding a rule you keep getting wrong — but it is much heavier, costs considerably more, and the commentary is NOT what appears on screen in the exam. Buy it to learn from, not to practise lookups in.
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NFPA · 2024 · Softbound
NFPA 70E, Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace
The second standard the exam supplies. Safety is only 6% of the paper and 70E is part of that — worth owning if you work under it, hard to justify for the exam alone.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
The 2025 California code — for work, not for this exam
Do not study from it
California adopted the 2025 code for field work from 1 January 2026, but this exam runs on the plain 2023 NEC with no California amendments. Studying from a 2025 or 2026 book will have you learning section numbers the exam does not use, which is the single most expensive mistake a candidate can make with their own money. Buy it because you are wiring in California — not because you are sitting the test.
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NFPA · 2025 · Softbound
National Electrical Code with California Amendments
The full code with the California amendments folded into the text. This is the book that governs what you install on a job — buy it for the work, having read the warning above.
Extras that only help at home
None of this comes with you. The test centre supplies three references on a screen and nothing else — no tabs, no pocket guide, not even your own calculator. What that means for how you prepare is its own page. These are for the kitchen table.
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NFPA · 2023 · Tab set, book not included
National Electrical Code tabs, 2023 Edition
Tabs for a softbound copy you already own. Applying them article by article forces you to page through the whole book once, which is the actual benefit.
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Jones & Bartlett · 2023 · Paperback
Ugly's Electrical References, 2023 Edition
Formulas, conduit bending and wiring diagrams in a pocket book. Genuinely useful on a truck. Remember it is not supplied in the exam and you cannot bring it, so treat it as a way to drill formulas at home.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
What we deliberately do not sell you
There is a large market in prep packages for this certification, and most of it is written for a closed-book test or built on the wrong edition. Before buying any of it, check two things: that it is written against the 2023 NEC, and that it teaches you where rules live rather than asking you to memorise their text. If it fails either, it is preparing you for a different exam.
The code map and the free practice test here cost nothing and will tell you fairly quickly whether a book is what you are actually missing.
Written by Chris Furman · last reviewed September 2026
I built Electrician Cards after watching a friend prepare for this exam and discovering how much of the published advice is written for a closed-book test. I am not an electrician — everything here is researched from the candidate bulletin, the 2023 NEC's own structure, and the official content outline, and it is checked against them again whenever it changes. Always verify against the code book itself.