Ask three states what is on the journeyman plumber exam and you get three formats: Montana's is 100 open-book multiple-choice questions on the 2021 UPC, New Mexico's is 70 questions in 185 minutes, and Louisiana pairs an 80-question written exam with a 1-hour practical.
The anatomy is consistent: a written code portion, a drawing or hands-on practical in some states, a published passing score and board-set retake rules.
Here is what is on the test and how to pass it.
Written, code and practical portions
The written code exam is the portion every candidate sits: timed, multiple-choice questions drawn from a plumbing code book and the board's own rules.
What varies is everything else.
New Mexico's journeyman written exam runs 70 questions in 185 minutes and requires 75% to pass, per its PSI content outline — drainage, waste and vents get 21 of the 70 questions, general knowledge and regulations 10, fixtures including water heaters 8, water supply 6, backflow 6, storm drainage 6, isometric analysis 5, interceptors and traps 4, septic and sewer 4.
Indiana's journeyman exam, per the May 2026 Prov bulletin, runs 90 questions in 3 hours: vents 17, sanitary drainage 15, water supply and distribution 14, fixtures 10, developed length/isometric analysis 8, general requirements 7, water heaters 7, storm water 6 and Indiana business 6.
Other boards reshape the whole format.
Montana's journeyman written exam is 100 multiple-choice questions on the 2021 Uniform Plumbing Code (as amended) plus board statutes and rules — open book, with a 3-hour limit.
Louisiana's Journeyman Plumber exam is an 80-question, 3-hour written exam on the 2021 International Plumbing Code and the 2021 International Residential Code, plus a separate 1-hour practical.
Nevada's NBOPE exam splits in two: 50 open-book questions in 2 hours, then 100 closed-book sizing questions in 2 more hours, with 75% or 113 cumulative points to pass.
North Dakota's journeyman exam has five parts — two closed book, three open book — with five hours total.
The practical portion is where exams differ most.
Plumbing licence exams with a hands-on or practical component were found in Texas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, New Mexico and Utah — plus New Jersey's, at the master level — along with Montana's diagram-based practical and the local practicals in New York City and Omaha.
Kentucky's journeyman exam is written plus a pipe-sizing drawing, and adds a practical section where the applicant supplies the materials.
Montana's practical is three virtual diagrams, limited to 2.5 hours.
Who delivers the test depends on where you live, too.
PSI is the most common vendor, delivering state plumbing and/or HVAC licensing exams in 20 states; Prov is next, in 8 states.
Beyond them, the research found Pearson VUE (Texas TSBPE written exams), Prometric, IAPMO (Montana plumbing), ICC, and NITC (Nevada's NBOPE cards), plus boards that write and run their own exams — Minnesota's DLI, New York City's DOB and Omaha's plumbing board among them.
Whether the test is open book is the board's call as well: Mississippi's State Board of Contractors runs all of its exams, its plumbing trade exams included, open book through PSI.
What it takes to sit this exam — the supervised hours, the application, the fee — is the journeyman plumber license question, and our guide covers it step by step.
The wider ladder it sits on — apprentice to master, and the states that license locally — is covered in our plumbing license requirements guide.
Your board's outline is the one that counts
Code books: UPC vs IPC
The single biggest prep decision is which code book to study, because boards do not agree on it.
Some test the Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC): Montana's journeyman exam runs on the 2021 UPC, as amended; Alaska's Plumber Journeyman exam is open book on the 2018 UPC; and the NBOPE journeyman and master exam used around Nevada is based on the currently adopted UPC.
Others test the International Plumbing Code (IPC): Louisiana's journeyman written exam covers the 2021 IPC and the 2021 International Residential Code, and Washington, D.C.'s plumbing exams are open book on the 2012 IPC and the 2012 International Fuel Gas Code.
A third group tests its own state code.
Massachusetts's plumbing exam sits on 248 CMR 10.00, the state's Uniform State Plumbing Code, whose latest changes took effect December 8, 2023; North Dakota requires the 2018 North Dakota Plumbing Code for its journeyman exam.
The edition matters as much as the title — note that Alaska tests a 2018 UPC where Montana uses 2021 — and boards layer their own rules on top: Montana's written exam includes board statutes and rules alongside the code itself.
What a code question actually tests is whether you can find and read the right table.
One example, from the 2024 IPC: Table 704.1 sets the minimum slope for horizontal drainage pipe at 1/4 inch per foot for pipe 2-1/2 inches or smaller, 1/8 inch per foot for 3- to 6-inch pipe, and 1/16 inch per foot for 8-inch and larger — and the same code requires at least 1/4 inch per foot (2 percent) for drainage piping upstream of a grease interceptor, whatever its size.
A question written on that table punishes the memory-based answer ("1/4 inch per foot everywhere") and rewards the candidate who checks the row for the pipe size in front of them.
Isometric drawing
An isometric drawing flattens a three-dimensional pipe run onto a single sheet — vertical and horizontal in one view — so a whole plumbing system can be drawn, traced and measured as one picture.
Several boards test it directly: New Mexico's content outline gives isometric analysis 5 of the journeyman exam's 70 questions, and Indiana's blueprint lists developed length/isometric analysis at 8 of 90.
Drawing tasks go beyond isometrics.
Kentucky's journeyman exam includes a pipe-sizing drawing; South Dakota's exam makes pipe-sizing drawings one of its three parts; and Montana's practical is three virtual diagrams in 2.5 hours.
The skill underneath is the same in every version: read the layout, size the pipe from the code's tables, and produce numbers that hold together across the whole system.
Prepare it like a hands-on skill, not a reading topic: sketch a fixture group's drain and vent layout, convert it to isometric view, then size the pipes and check yourself against the code's sizing tables.
And work from the legend on whatever drawing the exam hands you — legends vary, and the one on your paper is the one that counts.
Pass rates and retakes
Start with the number we cannot give you: a pass rate.
Our research did not find a state board that publishes one for its journeyman plumber exam — if a prep site quotes a national pass rate, ask which board is behind it, because we could not find one.
What boards do publish is the score you need, and those are on the record:
| Board | Passing score | Where it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Georgia | 70 | journeyman plumber exam |
| Alaska | 70% | plumbing COF exams, journeyman included |
| South Dakota | 70% plumbers; 80% contractors | state plumbing exam |
| North Dakota | 70% journeyman; 80% master | journeyman and master exams |
| Kentucky | 75% | each portion, practical included |
| Kansas | 75% | state-designated standard exams (ICC, IAPMO or Prometric), 75% where local jurisdictions use them |
| New Mexico | 75% | journeyman written exam |
| Nevada (NBOPE) | 75% or 113 cumulative points | journeyman and master exams |
| Omaha, Nebraska | 75% each part (journeyman); 80% (master) | board-written exams |
Read the fine print: some boards apply the score per portion, not overall.
Kentucky wants 75% on each portion of the journeyman exam, practical included, and Omaha wants 75% on each part at the journeyman level.
A strong overall average with one weak section can still fail you.
Retake rules are set board by board too, and the waits differ sharply:
- Alaska — a 30-day wait after a failed attempt.
- South Dakota — three months between attempts.
- North Dakota — a failed exam means a six-month wait.
- New Jersey — a candidate who fails a section waits six months to retest; after failing a section two more times, all passed scores are forfeited and the whole exam must be retaken.
- Massachusetts — failed exams can be retaken within 12 months.
The lesson is the same everywhere: walk in ready to pass on the first attempt, because the calendar between attempts belongs to the board, not to you.
How to prepare for the journeyman plumber exam
Download your board's content outline
It names the portions, the question counts, the time limits and the weighted categories. New Mexico's puts drainage, waste and vents at 21 of 70 questions; Indiana's gives vents 17 and sanitary drainage 15 of 90. The heavy categories are where study hours pay.Study the exact code book and edition your board names
The 2021 UPC as amended in Montana, the 2018 UPC in Alaska, the 2021 IPC and IRC in Louisiana, 248 CMR 10.00 in Massachusetts. Studying a near-miss edition trains the wrong numbers.Drill the drains-and-vents block first
Both published blueprints weight it heaviest, and it is the block most dependent on code lookups — sizing, slope, venting. Get fluent with those tables before anything else.Practice the drawing and sizing tasks
Isometric analysis, developed length and pipe sizing are skills, not topics — sketch a layout, size it, check it against the code's tables, and repeat until the format holds no surprises.If your exam is open book, organize the book
Closed-book portions test what you memorized; open-book portions test how fast you can look things up. Know your book's layout and mark the tables you keep returning to.Book with the right vendor, and know the retake rules before you sit
Your board's page names the current vendor and booking process — and vendors change: Tennessee's contractor exams moved to Prov for new bookings from July 1, 2026. The retake windows above are the calendar you face if attempt one goes wrong.
Once the outline, the code book and the drawing tasks are covered, finish with timed practice tests under exam conditions — the clock is what turns knowledge into a passing score.
And when you have passed, put the license to work: browse plumber jobs to see what contractors are hiring journeymen for right now.
Career information, not legal advice. Exam formats, passing scores and retake rules are set by each licensing board and change; confirm yours with your state board — or the city or county office where licensing is local — before you book.