newbie with long way to go

[mikex915]

I just started taking classes for my license. I started the classes in the middle of a semester so I don't have a good grip on the codebook. School starts up again in Sep. The plan is to go back with a much better understanding of how to use the book. I'm looking for tips, hints or anything that helped you out in the begining. Any tips that helped you use the index or table of contents? The goal is to learn the codebook fast so I can be very good at using it. Any help would be great.


Mike
from Mass

 

[Pierre C Belarge]

I learned the code book pretty fast... so my advice is take the next 10-15 years and prepare yourself to learn the code book. What I am saying is you will not learn the code book "fast", unless you are of the genius status...it is quite obvious that I am not.


The best way to prepare your CAREER in learning the code book is to start by understanding the organization of the book, and the language used. Also I have now been teaching the code book without the guys going to the index. I think for speed of finding information, that understanding the NEC, using the table of contents (of which, I have extended the table of contents with an insert) is the way to go.

P.S. experience in the field really helps...so does this forum. Time...Time...Patience!!!

 

[bdarnell]

I found that highlighting and tabbing my Code book(s) really helps me find information quickly. I've heard others that disagree and say that the tabs are more of a hinderance than a help, but I like them. I use the TOC more than the Index. A "key word" index is a great thing to have also. I think Tom Henry publishes the best one around.

Good luck.

 

[petersonra]

I don't like the tabs either. learn to use the TOC and index.

I suggest you read one chapter every night. Don't try to understand it just read it. Some of it will stick and you will start to get a feel for where things are and how they word stuff.

 

[George Stolz]

I suggest you read one chapter every night.

Bob, did you really mean to say a "chapter" every night? Yikes!

Maybe an article a night?

Mike, see this formula for studying from Pierre, it's a good way to get comfortable with the book, IMO.

The goal is to learn the codebook fast so I can be very good at using it.

Here's another thing you can do to speed things along. Devote a reasonable amount of time to doing the process outlined in Pierre's Method above. When your eyes start to glaze over (be mindful, incidental memory will fade when your head hits the pillow - you have to be paying attention to be productive) come back here, and look at the threads. Many of them will lean heavy on Article 210 (residential questions), but some of them will be all over the place.

You don't have to try to answer the questions - many of them will already be answered. Do look for each of the code references cited, glance around at the neighborhood in the code they reside in, and see if you agree with the answer.

The most important step is devoting time to it. There's no magic. The only answer is working at it diligently.

 

[rcarroll]

I always had my apprentices read art. 110 & 300 first. they are pretty much the basis for elec. installations. I then had them read articles that pertained to what we did during the day. Romex, pipe, etc. I am also not a tab guy. Good luck with the trade. I enjoyed it very much. Ron

 

[wirestripper]

Even a genius can't lean the code book via wrote memory in any kind of speed.

You must lean to be a electrician first and then you will understand the code. Only then will you understand it and how and why it relates to the work.

Even a 30 year career electrician will find something in the code that he/she did not see before, because he/she performed a new task and and and saw something in a different light. (so to speak)

Get passionate about the proffession of electricity and all that it entails, and the code will follow naturally and fairly quickly. but you will always find something new in it, no matter how long you have been in the field.

 

[charlie b]

The goal is to learn the codebook fast so I can be very good at using it. Any help would be great.

You've made a good start by registering here. Welcome to the Forum, and best wishes on your career.

If an engineer might be allowed to offer tips to help an aspiring electrician do something that my career path does not have me doing, I would offer two.

First, expect to be occasionally disappointed in your progress, since the book is quite confusing. If you expect to be disappointed, then you will not be discouraged when it happens.

Secondly, go find a copy of "Charlie's Rule," and read it from time to time.

 

[bdarnell]

Secondly, go find a copy of "Charlie's Rule," and read it from time to time.

Since I quote an excerpt from the above mentioned Rule, I feel obligated to post it here:

Charlie's Rule for Reading the NEC:

" It doesn't say what you think it says, nor what you remember it to have said, nor what you were told that it says, and certainly not what you want it to say. If, by chance, you are an instructor, it doesn't say what you have been teaching that it says.

Then what does it say ? It says what it says ! So if you want to know what it says, stop trying to remember what it says, and don't ask anyone what it says. Go back and read it again, and pay attention as though you were reading it for the first time.

If you don't like what it says, then get involved and try to change it. In the process, you might discover that it says exactly what it should be saying."

? 2006, Charles E. Beck, P.E.

Reprinted with permission (I hope) from Charlie Beck

 

[dlhoule]

You must lean to be a electrician first and then you will understand the code

Well I have been called an electrician by the State for 40 years. Could one of you kind gentleman tell me how I can become an electrician?

I sometimes think I understand certain parts of the code, but never in my wildest dreams have I thought I understood the code in its entirety.

I guess I'll just have to go on being envious of all you guys who understand it.

I like the key word listing. I hate it when I read something for 10 min or more only to find out I'm not in the right article for my application. I figure if I could understand the code I wouldn't have to look things up.

Now what were we talking about. Oh that's right, the code. Maybe if I had a better memory I wouldn't have so much trouble.

 

[mikex915]

thanks for the info. Some good thoughts and starting points

 

[charlie b]

Reprinted with permission (I hope) from Charlie Beck

Granted, with pleasure. Anytime.

 

[Shockedby277v]

Article 100 Definitions . They helped me greatly. I don't have much time in myself, as compared to the others. I can say, from my experience, those definitions are used quite a bit through out the book.