Questions about the test.

It's the entrance exam for electrical apprenticeships offered through the IBEW and NECA. It's built by the electrical Training ALLIANCE, formerly the NJATC, and validated by the American Institutes for Research. There are two sections: algebra and functions, and reading comprehension. It's checking whether you can learn the trade, not whether you already know it.

69 questions in about 97 minutes. The math section is 33 questions in 46 minutes and the reading section is 36 questions in 51 minutes. That works out to roughly 85 seconds per question in either section.

No. Nothing on the test assumes you have ever touched a wire. The math is ordinary high school algebra and the reading passages are about everyday subjects. It's an aptitude test rather than a knowledge test, so what it's measuring is whether the trade can be taught to you.

It's meant to be, but not because it's obscure. Nothing on it goes past high school algebra. The pressure comes from the clock, about 85 seconds a question with no calculator. Most people who struggle aren't missing the concepts. They're slow on the arithmetic underneath the concepts, which is a different problem and an easier one to fix.

A 4 or better on the 1 to 9 scale qualifies you for an interview at most locals. 5 is average. There isn't really a pass or fail: locals rank applicants by score, so a higher number usually means an earlier call for an apprenticeship slot.

A stanine is a 1 to 9 score based on where you land relative to everyone else who took the test, not on the percentage you got right. 5 is average by definition. Getting 70% of the questions right does not mean you scored a 7. About 20% of people land on a 5, and only about 4% land on a 9.

It's an estimate, and I'd rather say so than imply otherwise. The official conversion tables are proprietary to the American Institutes for Research and aren't public, so nobody outside the test maker can put a raw score onto the real curve. What I do is apply the actual stanine method against a documented estimate of how applicants perform, and show you the percentile next to the number so you can see the reasoning. It sharpens as more people take it.

It depends on your local. Three months is the standard minimum, plenty of locals ask for six, and some make you wait a full year. Your local sets the window, so check with the one you applied to.

You wait out your local's retake window and sit it again. It isn't a verdict on you, it's a measurement taken on one day. The useful thing is finding out which part actually cost you the points, because that list is almost always shorter and more fixable than it feels like from the outside.

No, and nobody's are. The real exam's questions are secured, so anyone selling you “real” IBEW questions is guessing. I wrote every question here myself, matched to the published structure of the real test: same topics, same style, same difficulty spread.

Not here. I want you to answer all 69 questions so the diagnostic has something complete to work with. I do time you in the background, and afterward I'll tell you whether you'd have finished inside the real 46 and 51 minute limits. Better to find out you're slow now than on test day.

A score on the 1 to 9 stanine scale, a skill-by-skill breakdown of where you're strong and where you're not, and a study plan that starts with the gaps that move your score the most. Next to each gap I point you to a free resource to work on it, so you leave knowing not just your number but exactly what to do next.

Yes. The test is free and it's staying free. I'll probably build deeper study material later and charge for that. I'd rather tell you now than have you wondering what the catch is.

The data you generate gets handed back to you. That's what the results page is. I use aggregate performance across everyone to calibrate the scoring curve, which is what makes the estimate better over time. I'm not selling you ads.

No. VLTG isn't affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the IBEW, NECA, or the electrical Training ALLIANCE. It's an independent practice tool. Those names only describe the exam this test prepares you for.

I'm Bhav. I'm not an electrician. What I do is measure learning: a math and statistics background, somewhere north of 700 tutoring sessions, and a stretch as a data analyst at an education company. I built this because a friend went into the test blind and came out of it still not knowing what he should have studied.