Master plumber exams are not one test: Montana's master exam is 125 open-book questions on the 2021 UPC (as amended) in 3 hours, Louisiana's has three written parts ending in business and law, and New Jersey's pairs a code exam with a practical and a laws-and-regulations exam.
The shared anatomy is code, design and sizing questions — plus law where the board adds it.
Here is what each portion asks, and the prep worth paying for.
Design and sizing questions
The top rung is where plumbing stops being installation and starts being design.
A clear example is the NBOPE journeyman/master exam — an industry board's certification, required in Nevada's Clark County and by the City of Reno rather than issued by the state: 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.
That second block is pure sizing — no book on the desk, just the numbers your system has to obey.
Drawing and plan tasks show up the same way.
Kentucky's plumbing exams are written plus a pipe-sizing drawing, and a Kentucky master candidate must score at least 80% on each portion of the master exam — the drawing included.
Omaha's plumbing board writes its own exams with plans, written and practical parts, and requires 80% on each part at the master level.
North Dakota's master exam is four parts — one closed book, three open book — with five hours total on the 2018 North Dakota Plumbing Code, and the passing grade at the master level is 80%.
Formats otherwise vary by board.
Montana's master written exam is 125 multiple-choice questions on the 2021 Uniform Plumbing Code as amended plus board statutes and rules — open book, 3 hours, and candidates bring their own tabbed code book.
Louisiana's master exam opens with a written part on the 2021 IPC and IRC (80 questions in 3 hours, per the board's breakdown).
New York City's master plumber written exam is multiple-choice on the NYC Construction Codes, rules and regulations — closed book, 70% to pass.
Hands-on practicals appear where the research found them: Texas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, New Mexico and Utah — New Jersey's sits at the master level — plus Montana's diagram-based practical and the local practicals in New York City and Omaha.
Whoever runs the test, you book it through the vendor your board names: PSI is the most common vendor in the research, delivering state plumbing and/or HVAC licensing exams in 20 states, with Prov next in 8 states, and Pearson VUE (the Texas TSBPE written exams), IAPMO (Montana plumbing) and NITC (Nevada's NBOPE cards) also delivering plumbing exams, alongside boards such as Minnesota DLI, NYC DOB and Omaha that write their own.
New Jersey's master candidates schedule through PSI after board approval; Delaware's master exams run through Prov in person or remotely via ExamRoom; Texas's master written exam is a Pearson VUE sitting, after a $25 processing fee to the board and a $128.50 exam fee paid to Pearson VUE.
What the exam does not change is the gate in front of it.
Texas wants a journeyman licence held at least 2 years (or 1 year plus a DOL Office of Apprenticeship program); Arkansas wants 5 years' experience with the journeyman licence held 1 full year first; DC wants 8 years and 16,000 work hours.
The application, fees and timing are covered step by step in our master plumber license guide.
Your board's outline is the one that counts
Business and law
Some boards test law outright, and they say so on the record.
Louisiana's master plumber exam has three written parts: the 2021 IPC/IRC, the Louisiana Sanitary Code Part XIII (sewage disposal), and business and law built on the NASCLA Louisiana Master Plumbers and Master Natural Gasfitters Guide, 2nd ed. — the business-and-law part runs 40 questions in 2 hours, per the board's breakdown.
New Jersey's master plumber exam is also three parts: a written exam on the National Standard Plumbing Code as adopted by NJ, a practical exam, and a written laws-and-regulations exam.
Every Utah master plumber applicant passes the Utah Master Plumber Law and Rule exam alongside the hour requirements, and Alabama's business law exam has applied to master plumber and master gas fitter applicants since January 1, 2026, referencing the NASCLA Contractors Guide, 14th edition, plus an Alabama supplement.
The business context behind those law portions: in Georgia, Maine, Kentucky, Delaware, Montana, Wisconsin, Texas, Louisiana, New Jersey, North Dakota, Connecticut and Rhode Island, the master licence is the business licence — each lets a plumbing business contract through the individual master licence — and the same holds in New York City and under Nebraska's city licences.
One boundary keeps this page honest: a business-and-law exam attached to a separate plumbing contractor licence is its own subject, and our plumbing license exam guide covers who sits it and what is on it.
Practice questions
A master plumber practice exam is only as good as its match to your board's blueprint, because portions diverge sharply from board to board.
The mismatch is real, not theoretical: Indiana's plumbing exams still reference the 2006 International Plumbing Code (Indiana edition) with 2012 Indiana amendments, per the May 2026 Prov bulletin — so practice questions written on the 2021 or 2024 IPC can train the wrong numbers even for the right trade.
Build the set from your board's outline, not a national bank
Your bulletin names the portions, and the sections above are the four templates: a sizing block, an open-book code portion, a law portion, and a drawing or practical where your board has one. One question set, built to that shape, beats five borrowed ones.Drill sizing closed-book, on the clock
NBOPE's model is the one to copy: 100 sizing questions in a 2-hour block with the book closed. Hold that pace until a full block runs without a lookup.Drill the open-book portion as a lookup test
Montana's master format — 125 questions in 3 hours in your own tabbed book — rewards speed to the table as much as knowledge. Tab your own edition and practice the navigation, not just the answers.Sit a law drill if your board has one
Work from the guide your board names: the NASCLA Louisiana guide for Louisiana's business-and-law part, the NASCLA Contractors Guide 14th edition plus the Alabama supplement for Alabama's exam. Law questions are recall, and recall comes from repetition.Score every drill per portion, not just overall
Kentucky fails a master candidate below 80% on any portion, and Omaha requires 80% on each part — a strong average with one weak section still fails you. Grade each portion at your board's bar.
Vendor-built practice exists where your vendor offers it — Prov, which delivers HVAC and/or plumbing exams in eight states, sells practice exams for $25 each in Indiana — but treat a product written for another state's exam as a warm-up, not a forecast.
Calibrate instead to the scores boards publish: Colorado, Maine and New Hampshire set 75% at the master level, New York City 70%.
Practice above your bar, then cash the licence in: browse plumber jobs to see what contractors are hiring master-level plumbers for right now.
Prep courses worth paying for
We found no verified ranking of commercial master plumber prep courses or review programs, so this is not a ranking — it is a filter.
Pay for what your board names or requires; treat everything else as optional.
- The guide your board names — Louisiana's business-and-law part is built on the NASCLA Louisiana Master Plumbers and Master Natural Gasfitters Guide, 2nd ed., and Alabama's exam references the NASCLA Contractors Guide, 14th edition, plus an Alabama supplement. When your board names the book, that purchase maps straight onto the exam.
- The class your board requires — Massachusetts requires master plumber candidates to complete the 110-hour Tier Five course unless they completed it as an apprentice, before sitting the PSI-run exam. A required course is a prerequisite, not a purchase option.
- Your exact code book and edition — Montana's master candidates bring their own tabbed book, and North Dakota's master exam runs on the 2018 North Dakota Plumbing Code. Studying a near-miss edition trains the wrong numbers; check the edition your bulletin names before you buy.
- Timed, portion-level practice — vendor practice exams where your vendor offers them, or the self-built drills above, scored per portion at your board's published bar.
What costs nothing and matters most: your board's candidate bulletin or content outline, which names the portions, the code edition and the passing score before you spend anything.
And if your state turns out to have no state master rung to test for — Alaska, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington license at the journeyman level — our plumbing license requirements guide maps who licenses what, where.
Career information, not legal advice. Exam formats, passing scores and prep requirements 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 or buy.