Okay so I've been lurking here for months and finally made an account because I need to share what happened. Failed the NEC in March, failed again in June, and honestly I was ready to give up on my electrical apprenticeship entirely. My main problem wasn't knowing the code — I work with it every day — it was the way the exam phrases questions. They'll describe a scenario and three of the four answers are technically correct in some context, you know?
What changed everything for me was actually doing timed practice under test conditions. I started using NEC Code Test and forcing myself to answer without flipping to the codebook first. That sounds obvious but I'd been using the book as a crutch. Also found that Article 210 and 230 questions tripped me up way more than I expected — definitely spend extra time there.
Passed with an 82 last month. If anyone's struggling with specific articles or wants my study schedule breakdown, happy to share. Just don't give up after one or two failures — it's a genuinely hard exam.