Maryland’s Journey Plumber/Gas Fitter credential is examined by PSI under bulletin 7404: 100 questions in 240 minutes, open book, passed at 70 percent, for an examination fee of $65. The examination tests the 2018 International Plumbing Code and the 2018 International Fuel Gas Code — even though Maryland’s State Plumbing Code at COMAR 09.20.01 now adopts the 2021 International Plumbing Code. Tested and adopted are different editions in Maryland, and this page keeps them separate throughout. The PassProfessor Maryland Journey Plumber/Gas Fitter program prepares candidates for the tested 2018 editions and the open-book sitting that examines them. The companion guide to this page is at /maryland-journeyman-plumber-exam-guide/.
This program is part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog — join the notify list and we’ll email you when enrollment opens.
What this credential certifies
Maryland’s journey-level credential joins two trades in a single license title: Journey Plumber/Gas Fitter. The holder is examined across both plumbing and fuel gas work, and the examination reflects that joining — one sitting, one score, drawing on two codes. Candidates whose experience sits mostly on one side of the title should read the credential literally: the gas side is not an endorsement added later, and the plumbing side is not the whole examination. The sitting tests the combination the license names.
Maryland adds a second complication that no candidate can afford to miss, and it is an edition complication rather than a content one. The state’s plumbing code has moved forward; the examination, for now, has not. Everything else on this page — the book strategy, the study sequence, the errors to avoid — follows from holding those two facts at once: a combined credential, examined on editions that are no longer the editions Maryland currently adopts.
The examination at a glance
| Item | Verified position |
|---|---|
| Program | Maryland Journey Plumber/Gas Fitter |
| Vendor and bulletin | PSI, bulletin 7404 |
| Tested editions | 2018 International Plumbing Code (IPC) + 2018 International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC) |
| Adopted code — different from tested | Maryland State Plumbing Code (COMAR 09.20.01) now adopts the 2021 IPC, by dynamic adoption effective November 24, 2025 |
| Book status | Open book |
| Structure | 100 questions / 240 minutes, single sitting |
| Passing standard | 70 percent |
| Examination fee | $65 |
| Related credential | A separate Natural Gas Fitter examination exists (40 questions, IFGC only) — a different credential, not part of this sitting |
| Administrator note | PassProfessor is independent and is not affiliated with the Maryland State Board of Plumbing or PSI |
Tested is not adopted: the Maryland edition line
Maryland’s State Plumbing Code, at COMAR 09.20.01, now adopts the 2021 International Plumbing Code. The adoption is dynamic and took effect November 24, 2025, which means the code governing plumbing work in Maryland today is the 2021 IPC. The Journey Plumber/Gas Fitter examination, however, is still built on the 2018 IPC and the 2018 IFGC, and it remains so until the Board’s updated test takes effect. A candidate sitting the examination in this period is therefore examined on 2018 — full stop.
The trap is obvious once stated and expensive when missed. A candidate who studies the 2021 IPC because it is the code in force — or because a current textbook, a supplier’s course or a well-meaning mentor teaches to it — prepares for provisions the sitting does not test, in an edition whose changes may contradict the tested answers. Edition discipline in Maryland means studying the working code and the tested code as two distinct objects: the 2021 IPC for the job as Maryland now regulates it, the 2018 IPC and 2018 IFGC for the examination as PSI still delivers it. Where the editions differ, the examination follows 2018. This program is built entirely on the tested side of that line, and it says so on every page rather than assuming the candidate already knows.
Open book changes what preparation means
Maryland’s sitting is open book, and that phrase deserves the same scepticism here that “practical” deserves elsewhere. Open book does not mean the examination is easy, and it does not mean an unprepared candidate can look up a passing score. It means the tested skill is retrieval under time: 100 questions in 240 minutes allows 2.4 minutes per question, and a candidate who must search an unfamiliar book from the table of contents for every answer will exhaust that allowance long before the final question. The book rewards the candidate who already knows the material well enough to need the book only for confirmation — for the exact figure, the precise table value, the provision whose wording decides between two close options.
Preparation for an open-book sitting is therefore a fluency discipline. The candidate learns the architecture of the two tested books — how the 2018 IPC organises its chapters, where its tables live, how the 2018 IFGC divides its subject matter — until locating a provision is a practised motion rather than a search. Study and lookup are trained together: answer from knowledge first, verify in the book second, and note every item where the book had to rescue the answer, because those items mark the provisions to learn outright before the sitting. The PassProfessor program trains that two-step habit deliberately, at examination tempo, in the tested editions only.
Two codes in one sitting
The Journey Plumber/Gas Fitter examination draws on the 2018 IPC for its plumbing content and the 2018 IFGC for its fuel gas content, inside a single 100-question paper with a single 70 percent standard. There are no separate part scores to hide behind: a candidate strong on plumbing and thin on gas must reach the combined standard on the combined paper, which means gas preparation cannot be treated as a minor annex to plumbing study. Fuel gas work carries its own code, its own sizing and installation logic and its own safety consequences, and the examination’s combined structure prices that reality into the pass mark.
Candidates should also keep the neighbouring credential distinct. Maryland separately examines a Natural Gas Fitter credential — 40 questions drawn on the IFGC only. That examination belongs to a different credential with a different scope; it is context for understanding Maryland’s ladder, not a shortcut version of the journey sitting and not part of this program. The journey candidate’s task is the full combined paper: plumbing and gas, 2018 editions, open book, 240 minutes.
The route, in order
The route is comparatively direct. First, confirm eligibility for the Journey Plumber/Gas Fitter credential under the Board’s requirements. Second, register with PSI under bulletin 7404 and pay the $65 examination fee. Third, prepare the tested books — the 2018 IPC and the 2018 IFGC — as working examination tools, organised for fast retrieval. Fourth, sit the examination: 100 questions in 240 minutes, open book. Fifth, meet the standard: 70 percent on the combined paper. Retakes after an unsuccessful sitting follow PSI and Board procedures. At every step, the edition rule governs: until the Board’s updated test takes effect, this examination tests 2018, whatever edition governs work in the field.
What the examination covers
Preparation divides along the examination’s own two-code structure. On the plumbing side, the candidate works the 2018 IPC as a complete system: drainage, waste and venting; water supply and distribution; fixtures; and the sizing, materials and installation provisions that tie a system together — each learned to retrieval standard, so the book confirms rather than teaches during the sitting. On the gas side, the candidate works the 2018 IFGC on its own terms: gas piping systems, sizing, installation and appliance connection requirements, studied as a code in its own right rather than as a plumbing appendix.
Across both sides, the examined skill is the same composite: recognise what a question is testing, recall the provision’s substance, and — where the exact figure or wording decides the answer — find it in the tested book quickly. Questions in a combined paper also move between the codes without announcement, so preparation must practise the switch itself: plumbing item, gas item, plumbing item, at tempo, with the correct book open at the correct place each time.
What makes this examination demanding
Maryland’s difficulty is not memory in the closed-book sense; it is discrimination. The candidate must discriminate between editions — answering from 2018 while working daily under 2021 — between codes, moving between the IPC and the IFGC inside one paper, and between answers that differ only in a table value or a condition the book states precisely. Add the clock: 240 minutes sounds generous until a candidate spends six of them hunting one provision. The sitting rewards the organised and the edition-disciplined, and it quietly taxes everyone else.
What the PassProfessor program will cover
Built on the platform architecture: a national core plus a Maryland delta — and here the delta is an edition. PassProfessor trades programs combine general trade knowledge with a state layer. For Maryland the state layer is defined by the tested-versus-adopted split: the program teaches to the 2018 IPC and the 2018 IFGC as the examination’s authorities, names the 2021 IPC adoption at COMAR 09.20.01 plainly so no candidate confuses the working code with the tested one, and trains open-book retrieval in the tested editions at the sitting’s 2.4-minutes-per-question tempo. Combined-paper practice moves between plumbing and gas content the way the sitting does, against the single 70 percent standard the sitting applies.
Independence, stated plainly. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider, not affiliated with the Maryland State Board of Plumbing or with PSI, and this program is not a Board or PSI course. Completing it confers no license and no examination eligibility; the Board alone licenses, and PSI delivers the examination under bulletin 7404. Candidates register for the sitting through PSI’s own channels.
Tell me when enrollment opens. The Maryland Journey Plumber/Gas Fitter program is in the works as our catalog continues to expand, and enrollment is not yet open. Leave an email address and PassProfessor will write to you when the program is ready — and only about this program. No date is promised, because the program will open when it meets the standard described above, not before.
Frequently asked questions
Which code editions does the Maryland journey examination test?
The 2018 International Plumbing Code and the 2018 International Fuel Gas Code. Candidates are tested on those editions until the Board’s updated test takes effect.
But Maryland has adopted the 2021 IPC. Why study 2018?
Because tested is not adopted. Maryland’s State Plumbing Code at COMAR 09.20.01 now adopts the 2021 IPC, effective November 24, 2025 — but the examination still tests the 2018 editions. The sitting follows the tested editions.
Who delivers the Maryland journey examination?
PSI, under bulletin 7404 for the Journey Plumber/Gas Fitter credential.
Is the examination open book?
Yes. The sitting is open book — which makes fast, organised retrieval in the tested editions the skill that decides the result.
How many questions are there, and how long is the sitting?
100 questions in 240 minutes, in a single combined sitting covering plumbing and fuel gas content.
What score passes in Maryland?
70 percent on the combined paper. There are no separate plumbing and gas part scores.
What does the examination cost?
The examination fee is $65. That is the PSI examination fee, separate from any preparation program.
Is the Natural Gas Fitter examination the same credential?
No. Maryland’s Natural Gas Fitter examination is a separate credential — 40 questions drawn on the IFGC only. The Journey Plumber/Gas Fitter sitting is the combined 100-question examination described on this page.
Is PassProfessor affiliated with the Board or PSI?
No. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider. The Board alone licenses, and PSI delivers the examination.
When does enrollment open?
The program is in the works and enrollment is not yet open. Leave an email address on this page and PassProfessor will write to you when the program is ready — and only about this program.