What is on the NABCEP? What and How Should you Study?

The NABCEP exam is becoming more and more standard for professionals who are looking to work within the industry at small, medium and large size solar EPC contractors. Even salespeople are seeing pressure to have the NABCEP. A quick glance at many job posting for salespeople and installers are seeing an increase in the demand for the NABCEP certification so companies can be sure their employee’s can speak to clients knowledgeably about solar.

With the next NABCEP Photovoltaic exam coming up in September, we’ve had a lot of questions from students about what will be on the exam and the best way to prepare.

There are many things you can use to study, but two absolutely necessities are the NABCEP Job Tasks Analysis and the National Electric Code 2008 book. Read below to see a description of what will be on the exam, feel free to ask HeatSpring any study questions about the NABCEP you might have on HeatSpring’s facebook page.

If you’re studying for the exam, see our Free NABCEP Exam Study Guide Cliff Notes.

Just to give you an example, there are 6 segments of the NABCEP exam. They are listed below with the percentage of questions in the exam below.

• Designing Systems (30%)
• Managing the Project (17%)
• Installing Electrical Components (22%)
• Installing Mechanical Components (8%)
• Completing System Installation (12%)
• Conducting Maintenance and Troubleshooting Activities (11%)

After talking with our students who have taken the exam, it seems the hardest part of the exam is getting familar with how the questions will be asked. Most professionals have not taken a standardized test in a few years so it can be a shock to take a 2 hour exam that is all multiple choice. Our NABCEP Prep course is tailored to allow you to pass the test on the first time, the course is driven by real study questions and the job task analysis described above. 90% of students who have taken the prepreration course have passed their first time.