NIETC Portland Aptitude Test and Interview
How the NECA-IBEW Electrical Training Center in Portland uses the IBEW aptitude test and its panel interview
IBEW Aptitude Test tasks NIETC uses
Inside Electrician and Limited Energy Technician applicants.
- Algebra and Functions: 33 questions, 46 minutes
- Reading Comprehension: 36 questions, 51 minutes
- Panel interview: Ten minutes, if you qualify
Source: NIETC aptitude test and interview page, 2022.
The aptitude test at NIETC
NIETC trains electrical apprentices for the Portland area on behalf of IBEW Local 48 and the National Electrical Contractors Association. Its page on preparing for the aptitude test and the interview describes the electrical training ALLIANCE test that every IBEW and NECA programme uses: Algebra and Functions, 33 questions in 46 minutes, then a brief break and Reading Comprehension, 36 questions in 51 minutes. You may not use a calculator, and there is no penalty for guessing, so answer every question.
An independent facility scores the tests. The training centre receives the results two to four weeks later and lets you know. As everywhere this test is used, you learn whether your score qualified, not the score itself, and NIETC sets its own qualifying score.
The interview sets your place
If you qualify, you are booked for an oral interview about a month after the test: ten minutes in front of a panel of four to ten people from IBEW Local 48, the training centre and NECA. Your interview score decides your place on the ranked list, and it stays valid for two years from your first interview, during which you cannot apply again.
You can ask for a second interview once at least 180 days have passed, if you have since added 1,000 hours of trade-related work or passed at least six credits of trade classes after high school, one of them electrical. Distance learning courses do not count, and a re-interview is not guaranteed. The two-year clock still runs from the first interview.
If you do not qualify
NIETC's page asks you to wait three months before you apply and test again. Other JATCs set three to six months, so if you are applying elsewhere too, ask each one. Use the gap on whichever test felt weaker: the algebra paper improves fastest with timed practice by hand.
How to prepare
NIETC points applicants to a tuition-based prep class run with Mt Hood Community College, MATHX.31, with 16 hours of maths and 4 of reading comprehension, usually in March, July and November. Check the dates with NIETC. You can also practise on your own against the real clocks:
- Algebra and Functions (46 minutes, free) - 33 questions in 46 minutes: formulas, expressions, number patterns and tables, without a calculator.
- Reading Comprehension (51 minutes) - 36 questions in 51 minutes, each answered from the passage in front of you.
- Full Aptitude Test (Both Tests) (97 minutes) - Both tests back to back with a short break, as on the day.
Our guides to Algebra and Functions and Reading Comprehension walk through the question types, and how the IBEW aptitude test result works covers qualifying, the interview and retakes.
Common questions
Do I need to know about electricity to pass?
No. The test covers algebra and reading only. No electrical knowledge is needed, and each question gives you any formula it uses.
Is the Limited Energy test different?
No. NIETC gives Inside Electrician and Limited Energy Technician applicants the same two tests. Ask NIETC whether the qualifying score differs between the two programmes.