If it's been a few years since a math class, that list might look intimidating. It shouldn't. The scope here is narrow and fixed, which means you can actually cover all of it. Let's go through exactly what shows up.
The format
The math half of the IBEW aptitude test (given by the electrical training ALLIANCE through your local JATC) is 33 multiple-choice questions in 46 minutes. That's about 84 seconds a question, and you work it all out by hand: pencil and scrap paper, no calculator.
The full topic list
Drawing from what local training committees tell applicants to study, here's what to be fluent in. It breaks into a few groups.
- Whole numbers and order of operations
- Positive and negative numbers (integers)
- Multiplying and dividing decimals
- Rational and irrational numbers
- Adding, subtracting, and multiplying fractions
- Finding common denominators
- Working fractions and whole numbers together
- The distributive property
- Evaluating and simplifying expressions
- Function notation
- Exponents
- Solving linear equations
- Solving by substitution
- Inequalities
- Equivalent ratios
- Setting up and solving proportions
- Factoring, including FOIL and multiplying factors
- Factoring quadratics
- The quadratic formula
- Number series (finding the rule and the missing number)
- Plotting points and reading simple graphs
What is not on the test
This is the reassuring part. The IBEW aptitude test does not cover geometry, trigonometry, statistics, or calculus. It stays inside basic arithmetic and Algebra 1. So if you've been dreading having to relearn a whole math degree, you can let that go. The real job is getting quick and confident with the list above, by hand.
How to actually study this
A list of topics is a starting point, not a plan. The trap is treating all of it as equally urgent and grinding through everything, when the truth is usually that two or three of these topics are the ones costing you points and the rest are already fine.
So the efficient move is to find out which ones are your weak spots first, then spend your time there. That's exactly what the free VLTG practice test is built to do: it runs the full section, timed and by hand like the real thing, and hands back a breakdown of which of these topics to work on. (More on that approach in how to study without wasting time.)
Take the free practice test →: see which of these topics are actually holding your score back.
Related: How to study without wasting time · Can you use a calculator? · What's a good score?
Sources: IBEW Local 99 aptitude and reading prep sheet; electrical training ALLIANCE, "Applying for Apprenticeship"; and multiple local JATC study guides, which describe the math section as arithmetic and Algebra 1 with no calculator. Confirm specifics with your own local JATC.