Electrician Apprentice HQ #1 Online Resource For Becoming An Electrician 
Last updated on October 22nd, 2026.
Whether you are a first year apprentice, electrical technician, or getting ready to take the journeyman’s or master’s license exam, you need to know your way around the National Electrical Code book. Finding information in the NEC is difficult without understanding its layout and how to use it.
You can learn more about the NEC here.
I’ll show you how to prepare your codebook so you can use it during an exam.
Learning how to use the NEC takes practice. Once you understand the codebook’s system, you can use it to find information.
Highlighting and tabbing your codebook is the most effective way to increase your ability to find answers to questions related to the code.
Using Tabs On NEC Code Book
Tabs help you find information in the NEC faster. They are an affordable starting point for organizing your codebook.
I used EZ Tabs from the Electrical Association for my codebook. EZ Tabs make studying the codebook a lot easier and improve your speed when searching for answers.
As you can see they’re color-coded by chapter which makes it easier to locate where you should look before you even open the book. These EZ Tabs help you organize your codebook.
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The clear tabs are easy to position on the edge of each page.
Instructions are provided and they explain where to place each tab. Plus, it only takes maybe 5 or 10 minutes to put all of them on your codebook.
You have the option to use all 96 tabs or just index certain areas you refer to most. Do yourself a favor and pick up a set – they cost around $15.
Best Way to Highlight Your NEC Code Book
The 2020 National Electrical Code or NFPA70 is around 910 pages long, separated into 9 Chapters, broken down into 125 Articles, including 12 Tables, 10 Annexes and 1 Index.
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The NEC 2020 code is an electricians training book, but it can be hard to read. To make it easier to find specific information related to an exam question, you’re going to break down each article within the code by: Parts, Sub-articles and specifics. Each one gets its own special color.
I used ORANGE for parts, GREEN for sub-articles, and PINK for specific info within each sub-article.
My first choice was blue, but it was dried out and I was stuck with pink (that’s my story and I’m sticking with it!).
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Parts (I, II, III, IV,…..)
Some large articles in the code are subdivided. These groups organize information about the main subject so it is easier to use.
Pick one color and use it only for “parts” within your codebook. By doing this you’ll be able to know right away if you’re looking in the “Under 600 Volts” section or “Over 600 Volts” within an article.
For example, in the picture below I’ve highlighted Part IV. This is an easy visual clue that lets me know I’m looking at short-circuit and ground fault protection for motor branch circuits, and not motor overload protection (Part III).
Sub-Articles
An article would be “430 Motors, Motor Circuits, and Controllers” and a sub-article would be “430.52 Rating or Setting For Individual Motor Circuit”.
Sub-articles are the next phase of breaking down the information in the code. This is where you can start to over highlight the NEC.
Specifics Within Sub-Articles
Restrain yourself from highlighting EVERYTHING. In some areas I got a little carried away and started highlighting a lot more than should have been (as you can see).
You can also prepare for an electrical exam in other ways. In this video, electrical training expert Mike Holt talks about a few more things that will help on your path to becoming an electrician.
And if all this is brand new to you, you might want to get started by signing up for an electrician apprenticeship.
If you have tips to share, leave a comment below.
