Alaska test format???
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Alaska test
Alaska test
I to am getting my paper work togather to sit for the alaska test, so anyone with first hand knowalage would be of great help, I'm currantly studying Mike Holts exam prep book and taking practice exams. Is it based on 05 or 08 code? Any administration questions? Or alaska revised statues?
Alaska test
I to am getting my paper work togather to sit for the alaska test, so anyone with first hand knowalage would be of great help, I'm currantly studying Mike Holts exam prep book and taking practice exams. Is it based on 05 or 08 code? Any administration questions? Or alaska revised statues?
ZZDoug
Member
- Location
- North Dakota
I am always reluctant to give out contents of exams because then people just study to pass the exam and nothing else. We have enough ignorance in the trade already. But I feel generous today so....
Alaska journeyman exam is generally all open book code. If you know the code well then its one of the easier exams in the country. If not, you may find it tough. Just know the code well, both navigation (forget the tabs) and content. All open book code exams have one thing in common, the time limitation. You need to be able to answer a certain number of questions without having to look them up, which buys you time for the other questions that you do have to look up.
Just a note for 2009. If you are planning on coming up for the summer, make sure you have a job lined up first. Work in Alaska this year is going to be slow, many many projects put on hold because of low oil prices. Lots of projects planned and they will be done eventually when oil prices go back up, just not this year.
Alaska journeyman exam is generally all open book code. If you know the code well then its one of the easier exams in the country. If not, you may find it tough. Just know the code well, both navigation (forget the tabs) and content. All open book code exams have one thing in common, the time limitation. You need to be able to answer a certain number of questions without having to look them up, which buys you time for the other questions that you do have to look up.
Just a note for 2009. If you are planning on coming up for the summer, make sure you have a job lined up first. Work in Alaska this year is going to be slow, many many projects put on hold because of low oil prices. Lots of projects planned and they will be done eventually when oil prices go back up, just not this year.
Howard Burger
Senior Member
- Location
- N of Anchrage, AK
I took the J test in early April. 50 T-F, 50 multiple choice, 4 hours. 2008 code book w/wo tabs, no notations in book. calculator recommended, I used mine once for series resistor question. About 12 took test, one guy left after 10 min, took me 1 1/2 hr for first 50, 2 hrs for 2nd 50, probably 6 still working when I left. 70 is passing. Know how to use index (tabs are a nuisance). Fee is $50.
ZZDOUG
Thanks for the reply, But didnt understand what you were implying by just studying to pass the test? I have been a journey in OR for 12 years and consider myself to be good electrician. Take lots of classes study code regularly, I was only asking to get a feel for how the test was formatted, to get a better understanding of what to study. Reading back through some of your post I see where you asked about some of the other states test also, I lived in Alaska for a couple of years and am planning on retiring there & thought it would be good to have my lic up there also. In closing this forum should be about electricians helping each other to be better electricians.
Thanks for the reply, But didnt understand what you were implying by just studying to pass the test? I have been a journey in OR for 12 years and consider myself to be good electrician. Take lots of classes study code regularly, I was only asking to get a feel for how the test was formatted, to get a better understanding of what to study. Reading back through some of your post I see where you asked about some of the other states test also, I lived in Alaska for a couple of years and am planning on retiring there & thought it would be good to have my lic up there also. In closing this forum should be about electricians helping each other to be better electricians.
ZZDoug
Member
- Location
- North Dakota
I wasnt implying anything, I thought my meaning was very clear. If an exam is limited in its scope (as the Alaska exam certainly is) then many people will only study for whats going to be on the exam which doesnt make for very well rounded knowledge. If you are already well experienced and knowledgeable then maybe its a moot point for you. But apprentices and those with little experience/knowledge read forums too. I just dont think for them to have foreknowledge of an exams content is a good idea. And I would hesitate to say that telling them would be "helping" them.
At the same time though, I have long had disagreement with the way exams are formatted and given around the country, they generally only test a portion of what people should know. The overwhelming majority have no hands on testing of any kind, and a lot of the questions they ask are very debatable about their importance for a journeyman to know. Of course this doesnt mean that some folks who pass them arent very well qualified. And conversely I have known extremely knowledgeable electricians who couldnt pass some of these written tests, it works both ways.
Anyway, the whole purpose of an exam should be to accurately test what you know about a wide range of things in our field. If you know ahead of time what is going to be asked, then that makes these already flawed exams even less accurate as a gauge of that.
If you have read my other posts here or elsewhere then you know I have never asked about exam content, at least not on a public forum, and this is why.
Probably shouldnt have said anything.
At the same time though, I have long had disagreement with the way exams are formatted and given around the country, they generally only test a portion of what people should know. The overwhelming majority have no hands on testing of any kind, and a lot of the questions they ask are very debatable about their importance for a journeyman to know. Of course this doesnt mean that some folks who pass them arent very well qualified. And conversely I have known extremely knowledgeable electricians who couldnt pass some of these written tests, it works both ways.
Anyway, the whole purpose of an exam should be to accurately test what you know about a wide range of things in our field. If you know ahead of time what is going to be asked, then that makes these already flawed exams even less accurate as a gauge of that.
If you have read my other posts here or elsewhere then you know I have never asked about exam content, at least not on a public forum, and this is why.
Probably shouldnt have said anything.
Alaska test
Alaska test
I whole heartedly agree with you about the exams, And I was not trying to get any inside info about the questions them self, I to have known a few very good electricians that had trouble passing the test and some who could pass any test but would be scarey to work with. And I also currrently have three apprentices that I work with, not only do I try and give them as much exposuer to field work as I can. But am going to there code classes with them to be able to stay on the same page as them when they have questions. I feel it is part of our job to not only be good @ our job but to help other people in our trade to excell. I do agree it would be nice to see some hands on part to the test but that is not likely to happen.
Alaska test
I whole heartedly agree with you about the exams, And I was not trying to get any inside info about the questions them self, I to have known a few very good electricians that had trouble passing the test and some who could pass any test but would be scarey to work with. And I also currrently have three apprentices that I work with, not only do I try and give them as much exposuer to field work as I can. But am going to there code classes with them to be able to stay on the same page as them when they have questions. I feel it is part of our job to not only be good @ our job but to help other people in our trade to excell. I do agree it would be nice to see some hands on part to the test but that is not likely to happen.
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