The Massachusetts Journeyman Plumber license is issued under the Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters, operating under M.G.L. c. 142 and 248 CMR inside the Division of Occupational Licensure. Massachusetts examines on 248 CMR 10.00, its own Uniform State Plumbing Code — a state-written code that adopts no model code. The examination is delivered by PSI, is entirely closed book, and is scored in two stand-alone parts: a candidate must reach at least 70 percent on each part. The PassProfessor Massachusetts Journeyman Plumber program prepares candidates for that sitting and for the Massachusetts code it is built on. The companion guide to this page is at /massachusetts-journeyman-plumber-exam-guide/.
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What this credential certifies
A Massachusetts Journeyman Plumber is a licensed tradesperson authorised to perform plumbing work under the Commonwealth’s licensing structure, working within a system that also licenses master plumbers, apprentices and gas fitters through the same Board. The Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters sits inside the Division of Occupational Licensure, and its authority runs through M.G.L. c. 142 and the Board’s regulations at 248 CMR. The journeyman license is not a general permission to contract independently; it is the examined middle rung of a deliberately supervised ladder, and the rules around who may employ an apprentice, who may supervise, and in what ratio, are part of what the credential means in practice.
That context matters for preparation. The apprenticeship behind the license is long and formally structured — 6,800 hours of practical experience combined with 550 hours of theory instruction delivered across five tiers — and the examination then tests, from memory, whether the candidate has internalised the Commonwealth’s own plumbing code. A candidate trained under a model code in another state starts this sitting with a translation problem as well as a knowledge problem.
The examination at a glance
| Item | Verified position |
|---|---|
| Program | Massachusetts Journeyman Plumber |
| Regulator | Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters (M.G.L. c. 142 + 248 CMR), housed in the Division of Occupational Licensure |
| Code examined | 248 CMR 10.00 — the Massachusetts Uniform State Plumbing Code, state-written; Massachusetts adopts no model code for this examination |
| Pre-approval | Board pre-approval through eLIPSE is required before scheduling |
| Vendor | PSI, under the Board-written Candidate Information Bulletin dated 10/3/2025 |
| Book status | Closed book — all parts |
| Structure | Part I: 80 questions / 160 minutes. Part II: 40 questions / 160 minutes |
| Passing standard | Minimum 70 percent on EACH part — the parts carry stand-alone scores and do not average |
| Part II character | Labelled “Practical” but computer-based; Isometric Analysis accounts for 20 of its 40 questions; there is no hands-on component |
| Official fees | Application $31; PSI examination $80; license on passing $52 |
| Administrator note | PassProfessor is independent and is not affiliated with the Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters or the Division of Occupational Licensure |
A code Massachusetts wrote for itself
The single most important fact about this examination is the code behind it. Many states examine on an edition of the International Plumbing Code or the Uniform Plumbing Code, sometimes with state amendments layered over the model text. Massachusetts does neither. The code examined is 248 CMR 10.00, the Uniform State Plumbing Code written for Massachusetts, and it adopts no model code at all. Provisions that a candidate remembers from a model-code state — a sizing table, a venting arrangement, a clearance, a definition — may be close to the Massachusetts position, or may differ in exactly the detail an examination item is built to test. “Close” earns nothing in a closed-book sitting.
Preparation therefore has to be code-specific in a stricter sense than usual: learn the Massachusetts text as the primary authority, and treat model-code habits as a source of error to be identified and set aside. Every familiar rule needs checking against 248 CMR 10.00 before it is trusted.
Closed book changes what preparation means
Both parts of the Massachusetts examination are closed book: no code book, no notes, no reference material. That condition reorganises the entire study task. Navigation knowledge — knowing where a provision lives — is worthless on the day unless it has been converted into recall. The candidate must hold the code’s requirements in memory and produce them under time pressure: 80 questions in 160 minutes in Part I, 40 questions in the same 160 minutes in Part II.
The pacing contrast matters. Part I allows two minutes per question across a broad knowledge paper; Part II allows four minutes per question, because its questions demand working time — reading a drawing and reasoning through an isometric — rather than simple recall. Preparation that drills only one tempo leaves the other part exposed.
Two parts, two separate verdicts
The Massachusetts Journeyman Plumber examination is scored as two stand-alone parts, and the passing rule is uncompromising: a minimum of 70 percent on Part I and a minimum of 70 percent on Part II. There is no combined score and no averaging. A strong Part I cannot rescue a weak Part II, and a strong Part II cannot rescue a weak Part I. Candidates should plan, study and self-assess part by part, because the Board’s verdict is delivered part by part.
That structure has a practical consequence for readiness judgements. A candidate who feels “about ready overall” may in fact be comfortably above the standard in one part and below it in the other, and only part-level practice scores reveal which. Balanced preparation is not a slogan in Massachusetts; it is the arithmetic of the pass rule. The guide companion to this page, at /massachusetts-journeyman-plumber-exam-guide/, works through the two-part structure, the sitting itself and a study sequence built around it in full detail.
Part II is called “Practical” — read that word carefully
Part II carries the label “Practical,” and that label misleads candidates who do not read the Board’s bulletin closely. Part II is computer-based, sat at a PSI testing centre, on a screen, in the same closed-book conditions as Part I. Half of it — Isometric Analysis, 20 of its 40 questions — examines the ability to read and reason about isometric drawings of plumbing systems. There is no bench work, no pipe to cut or join, and no assessor watching the candidate’s hands.
This program states that plainly because honesty about format is part of preparation: a computer-based preparation program can train isometric reading and the code reasoning Part II examines. What no candidate should expect — from this program or from the examination itself — is a hands-on practical component to rehearse for.
The ladder behind the license
The examination is the gate, but the ladder is the qualification. Behind a Massachusetts journeyman candidate stand 6,800 hours of practical experience and 550 hours of theory instruction organised in five tiers. The supervision rules are strict: the apprentice-to-journeyman ratio is 1:1, and apprentices may be employed by a master plumber only. The closed-book, code-specific sitting is calibrated to that formation — years of one-to-one supervised work alongside a substantial theory curriculum.
For candidates completing their hours, the lesson is to treat the theory tiers and the examination as one continuous task. Material learned for a tier and then forgotten must be relearned for the licensing sitting; material maintained — revisited and tested over time — arrives at the PSI centre still available.
The route, in order
The route runs in a fixed order, and the order itself trips candidates who try to schedule first and ask later. First, Board pre-approval: the candidate applies to the Board and is approved through eLIPSE, the Division of Occupational Licensure’s licensing system, before any examination appointment exists. The application fee is $31. Second, scheduling with PSI: only after pre-approval does the candidate schedule the examination with PSI, under the Board-written Candidate Information Bulletin dated 10/3/2025; the examination fee is $80. Third, the sitting: both parts, closed book, at a PSI testing centre — Part I at 80 questions in 160 minutes and Part II at 40 questions in 160 minutes. Fourth, the standard: at least 70 percent on each part, scored separately. Fifth, licensure: on passing, the license issues on payment of the $52 license fee. A part scored below 70 percent must be addressed under the Board and PSI retake procedures for that part; the passing part’s stand-alone score is the reason part-level preparation matters from the first week of study.
What the examination covers
In Part I, the candidate faces broad code knowledge held in memory: drainage, waste and vent principles; water distribution and supply; fixtures and their installation requirements; the sizing and arrangement rules that decide whether a system complies; and the administrative and definitional framework of 248 CMR. The emphasis throughout is the Massachusetts position — the number, the distance, the arrangement that 248 CMR 10.00 requires — recalled without a book.
In Part II, the same knowledge is examined through representation rather than recitation. Isometric Analysis asks the candidate to read a drawn system and reason from the drawing to the code: what it shows, what it omits, and where it offends a requirement. The skill chain is distinct — visualisation first, code recall second, judgement third — and it is trainable, provided the candidate practises on drawings rather than only on text.
What makes this examination demanding
Three features combine to make Massachusetts demanding. The first is the code itself: state-written, model-free, examined in its own terms. The second is the closed book: every requirement carried in memory, at two very different tempos. The third is the stand-alone pass rule: competence demonstrated twice, in two modes, with no cross-subsidy between them. A candidate can be an excellent plumber, current on a model code, and still be unready for Massachusetts on any one of those axes.
What the PassProfessor program will cover
Built on the platform architecture: a national core plus a Massachusetts delta — with the delta in charge. PassProfessor trades programs combine general trade knowledge with a state layer. For Massachusetts the state layer dominates by necessity: because 248 CMR 10.00 adopts no model code, the program teaches the Massachusetts code as the primary text, flags the points where model-code habits conflict with it, and trains recall to closed-book standard. Isometric Analysis receives dedicated attention as the examined Part II skill it is — drawing after drawing, reasoned against the code — alongside Part I recall work at examination tempo.
Part-level readiness, honestly reported. Because the Board scores the parts separately, the program tracks readiness separately: a candidate sees a Part I position and a Part II position, never a blended average that could hide the part that would fail. That mirrors the verdict the Board will deliver.
Independence, stated plainly. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider, not affiliated with the Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters or the Division of Occupational Licensure, and this program is not a Board course. Completing it confers no license and no examination eligibility; the Board alone licenses, pre-approves candidates through eLIPSE, and sets the examination through its bulletin.
Tell me when enrollment opens. The Massachusetts Journeyman Plumber 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
Who licenses journeyman plumbers in Massachusetts?
The Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters, under M.G.L. c. 142 and 248 CMR, housed in the Division of Occupational Licensure.
Which code is the Massachusetts journeyman examination based on?
248 CMR 10.00, the Massachusetts Uniform State Plumbing Code. It is state-written and adopts no model code, so studying a model code alone does not prepare a candidate for this sitting.
Is the Massachusetts journeyman examination open book?
No. All parts are closed book. No code book or reference material may be used during the sitting.
How is the examination structured?
In two parts. Part I has 80 questions in 160 minutes. Part II has 40 questions in 160 minutes. The parts are scored separately.
What score passes in Massachusetts?
A minimum of 70 percent on each part. A high score on one part does not compensate for a score below 70 percent on the other.
Is Part II a hands-on practical examination?
No. Despite the “Practical” label, Part II is computer-based and sat at a PSI testing centre. Isometric Analysis accounts for 20 of its 40 questions, and there is no hands-on component.
What must happen before scheduling the examination?
Board pre-approval through eLIPSE. Only an approved candidate schedules with PSI, under the Board-written Candidate Information Bulletin dated 10/3/2025.
What are the official fees?
The application fee is $31, the PSI examination fee is $80, and the license fee payable on passing is $52. These are Board and vendor fees, separate from any preparation program.
What experience and education stand behind the journeyman license?
6,800 hours of practical experience and 550 hours of theory instruction across five tiers, under 1:1 supervision, with apprentices employed by a master plumber only.
Is PassProfessor affiliated with the Board?
No. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider. The Board alone licenses plumbers, pre-approves examination candidates and sets 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.