Learn by year
Pick the year you are in. Each one lists what apprentices usually meet in that period — plain lessons, interactive diagrams you can switch and trace, and drills that mark you on the spot. 128 pages so far, all free. The order is a study order, not your province’s syllabus: check your own course outline and code book for what your exam covers.
First-year apprentice
Staying safe, the tools, what voltage, current and resistance actually are, Ohm’s law, series and parallel, prints, boxes and devices, grounding and bonding, the circuits in a house, and your meter.
- Lesson 15 min
Safety, PPE and arc-flash awareness
How electricity hurts people, what shock and arc flash are, the PPE that goes with the job, and why you test before you touch.
New lesson - Lesson 12 min
Hand tools and testers
The kit a first-year carries, what each tool is for, and the difference between a non-contact tester, a two-pole tester and a meter.
New lesson - Lesson 15 min
What electricity is
Voltage, current, resistance and power in plain words — the water-hose picture, where it helps and where it lies.
New lesson - Lesson 18 min
Ohm’s law and power
V = I × R and P = V × I, the wheel that joins them, and five worked examples with real loads.
New lesson - Lesson 15 min
Series circuits
One path: the current is the same everywhere, the voltages add up, and one open stops the lot.
New lesson - Lesson 15 min
Parallel circuits
Many paths: the voltage is the same across every branch, the currents add, and the total resistance drops below the smallest branch.
New lesson - Lesson 18 min
Combination circuits
Series and parallel in one circuit — how to reduce it step by step and work back out to every current and voltage.
New lesson - Lesson 14 min
Conductors and insulation
Why copper and aluminium, what makes a conductor’s resistance, what insulation does, and where the ampacity tables come in.
New lesson - Lesson 15 min
Reading prints and symbols
Floor plans, legends, symbols, home runs and schedules — how to find your work on an electrical drawing.
New lesson - Lesson 15 min
Boxes, devices and terminations
Stripping, the screw terminal loop, back-wire clamps, wire connectors, torque and the habits that stop a joint from burning up.
New lesson - Lesson 16 min
Grounding and bonding
Two different jobs that people mix up: connecting to earth, and tying metal together so a fault trips the breaker.
New lesson - Lesson 18 min
Basic residential circuits
Receptacle and lighting circuits, switch legs, and what GFCI and AFCI protection actually watch for.
New lesson - Lesson 15 min
Trade math refresher
Fractions, decimals, percent, metric and imperial, square roots and powers of ten — the arithmetic every other lesson leans on.
New lesson - Lesson 16 min
Using your meter
Continuity, voltage and current: where the leads go, what the reading means, and the three-point test before you trust a dead reading.
New lesson - Drill 12 min
First-year review quiz
Fifteen questions across the whole first year. Take it cold, then go back to whatever it catches.
New lesson - Lesson 5 min
Start here: the apprentice path
Five stages in order — read, try, drill — with your progress kept in your browser.
- Lesson 8 min
Hot, neutral, ground
The three conductors by the job each does, and what a fault does to each.
- Drill 3 min
Tape measure test
Read a tape to the nearest sixteenth, to a streak of ten.
- Lesson 8 min
Fractions on a tape
Halves, quarters, eighths, sixteenths — and adding them without a calculator.
- Lesson 6 min
Reading a tape the fast way
Count back from the nearest big mark instead of up from the inch.
- Drill 3 min
Fraction / decimal drill
Fractions of an inch to decimals and back, self-marking.
- Drill 4 min
Ohm's law practice
Find V, I, R or P at three levels, marked on the spot.
- Drill 5 min
Series / parallel practice
Total resistance, string current and the drop across one resistor.
- Interactive 6 min
Series vs parallel lighting
Pull a lamp from each circuit and see why houses are wired in parallel.
- Interactive 6 min
Single-pole switch wiring
The simplest switched light, traced conductor by conductor.
- Interactive 6 min
Switch loop wiring
Power at the light, a loop down to the switch — and which wire is which.
- Interactive 6 min
Duplex receptacle wiring
Brass, silver and the tab — and why an empty outlet is still live.
- Interactive 8 min
3-way switch wiring
Two switches, one light: toggle each and trace the travellers.
- Lesson 10 min
How to read a schematic
Symbols, lines and the conventions every drawing assumes you know.
- Lesson 5 min
Electrical symbols
The common schematic symbols, drawn and grouped by category.
- Lesson 8 min
Meter safety and CAT ratings
What the category on your meter means and the live-dead-live habit.
- Lesson 10 min
Using a multimeter
Volts, continuity and amps — which jack, which setting, and what lies to you.
- Lesson 8 min
Lockout / tagout
Your lock, your key, and proving it dead before a hand goes in.
- Lesson 7 min
Common wiring devices
What the screws and markings on switches and receptacles are telling you.
- Lesson 5 min
Fittings index
Connectors, couplings and boxes by name, so you grab the right one.
- Drill 3 min
Conversion drill
Inches to millimetres and feet to metres, both ways.
- Lesson 6 min
Metric and imperial
Converting in your head: the anchors worth memorising.
Second-year apprentice
Alternating current: the sine wave, inductance and capacitance, reactance and impedance, power factor, transformers, three-phase, motors, lighting controls, services, wiring methods, voltage drop and a troubleshooting method.
- Lesson 16 min
AC fundamentals
The sine wave, frequency, peak and peak-to-peak, and why a 120 V supply actually swings to about 170 V.
New lesson - Lesson 15 min
Inductance
A coil fights any change in its own current: what that looks like on DC, on AC, and when you open a switch on one.
New lesson - Lesson 15 min
Capacitance
Two plates and a gap that store charge: charging, the time constant, and why a capacitor can bite after the power is off.
New lesson - Lesson 18 min
Reactance and impedance
XL = 2πfL, XC = 1/(2πfC), and how resistance and reactance combine into impedance at right angles.
New lesson - Lesson 16 min
Power factor and the power triangle
Watts, VARs and volt-amps, what a lagging power factor costs, and how capacitors correct it.
New lesson - Lesson 18 min
Single-phase transformers
Turns ratio, full-load current from kVA, additive and subtractive polarity, and series or parallel windings for 120/240.
New lesson - Lesson 18 min
Intro to three-phase
Why three phases, 120° apart; line and phase values in wye and delta; where √3 comes from.
New lesson - Lesson 17 min
Magnetism and motors
Fields, electromagnets, force on a conductor, the rotating field, synchronous speed and slip.
New lesson - Lesson 15 min
Lighting circuits and controls
Switching from one, two and three places, dimmers, occupancy sensors, photocells, contactors and low-voltage control.
New lesson - Lesson 16 min
Services and panels
From the utility to the branch circuit: the service, the meter, the main disconnect, the panel, and where neutral and ground meet.
New lesson - Lesson 14 min
Cables and raceways
NM, armoured and TECK-style cable, EMT, rigid, PVC and flex — what each wiring method is and why you would pick it.
New lesson - Lesson 16 min
Voltage drop
Why long runs lose volts, the out-and-back formula, and working it with the resistance from your own code book.
New lesson - Lesson 15 min
A troubleshooting method
Symptom, half-split, test, fix, verify — a method you can use on any circuit instead of swapping parts.
New lesson - Drill 12 min
Second-year review quiz
Fifteen questions across AC, transformers, three-phase, motors and troubleshooting.
New lesson - Interactive 8 min
4-way switch wiring
Three or more switch points: what the 4-way does to the travellers.
- Interactive 7 min
Split receptacle wiring
Break the tab, switch half the outlet, and keep the neutral right.
- Interactive 7 min
GFCI wiring
Line versus load, and what a trip actually disconnects.
- Interactive 7 min
240 V receptacle wiring
Two hots, no neutral (or one) — and how a two-pole breaker feeds it.
- Interactive 6 min
Photocell wiring
A dusk-to-dawn switch in the circuit, traced.
- Interactive 6 min
Occupancy sensor wiring
Sensors that need a neutral, and ones that do not.
- Lesson 8 min
Reading a panel schedule
Odd left, even right, and how a two-pole breaker spans.
- Lesson 10 min
Conduit bending basics
Stub-ups, offsets and saddles — what the marks on the bender mean.
- Drill 4 min
Offset math practice
Distance between bends from the rise and the angle.
- Lesson 8 min
Right triangles on the job
Pythagoras and the 3-4-5 check, where they actually get used.
- Lesson 6 min
Percent in the trade
Percent of, percent change and the working behind a derating.
- Drill 5 min
Trade math practice
Mixed practice plus a printable 20-question worksheet.
- Lesson 8 min
Low-voltage and data basics
Cable categories, terminations and keeping data away from power.
- Lesson 5 min
Bonding vs grounding
Two words used as one, and the different jobs they do.
- Lesson 5 min
AFCI vs GFCI
Shock protection versus fire protection, side by side.
- Lesson 4 min
Ampacity
What the word means and why it comes from your code book, not a chart online.
- Tool 3 min
Bending multipliers sheet
Multipliers and shrink by angle, from the trigonometry — printable.
Third year
Three-phase in depth, transformer banks, AC motors and how they start, your first PLC, protection and grounding as systems, and the commercial jobsite: wiring methods, prints and fire alarm.
- Lesson 14 min
Wye and delta: line vs phase
The two ways three windings are joined, and the √3 that separates line from phase voltage and current.
New lesson - Lesson 13 min
Unbalanced loads and neutral current
Why a balanced wye neutral carries nothing, what it carries when the loads are uneven, and the harmonics that break the rule.
New lesson - Lesson 14 min
Three-phase power and power factor
kW, kVA and kVAR on a three-phase load: the power triangle, the √3 formula and what a poor power factor costs.
New lesson - Lesson 15 min
Three-phase transformer connections
Delta-wye, wye-wye, delta-delta and wye-delta: what each gives you on the secondary and where you meet it.
New lesson - Lesson 14 min
Polarity, phase shift and open delta
Additive and subtractive polarity, the 30° shift through a delta-wye, and running a bank on two cans.
New lesson - Lesson 15 min
How an AC induction motor works
The rotating field, synchronous speed, slip, and reading the nameplate numbers that come out of them.
New lesson - Lesson 13 min
Motor starting methods
Across-the-line, primary resistor, autotransformer, wye-delta, soft starter and drive — what each trades away.
New lesson - Lesson 16 min
Intro to PLCs: from relays to ladder logic
Inputs, outputs, the scan cycle, and how a hard-wired start/stop becomes three rungs of ladder logic.
New lesson - Lesson 14 min
Overcurrent protection and coordination
Overload versus short circuit, reading a time-current curve, and what "selective coordination" is trying to do.
New lesson - Lesson 15 min
Grounding and bonding as a system
System grounding, equipment bonding, the fault return path and separately derived systems, end to end.
New lesson - Lesson 12 min
Commercial wiring methods
EMT, rigid, flex, cable tray, armoured cable and busway — what each is good at and the questions to ask of the book.
New lesson - Lesson 14 min
Reading commercial and industrial prints
The drawing set, single-lines, risers, panel and luminaire schedules, and finding your way around a sheet.
New lesson - Lesson 13 min
Fire alarm basics
Initiating and notification devices, supervision and end-of-line devices, conventional versus addressable.
New lesson - Drill 20 min
Third-year review quiz
Every third-year question in one place, mixed, with explanations. Filter to a topic you are weak on.
New lesson - Lesson 10 min
Transformer basics
Turns ratio, primary and secondary, and what the nameplate tells you.
- Lesson 10 min
Reading a motor nameplate
Every field on the plate, and which ones you need for the job.
- Lesson 5 min
Power factor
Real versus apparent power, in plain words.
- Lesson 5 min
Wye and delta
The two three-phase connections and the voltages each gives you.
- Tool 3 min
Single and three phase formulas
Power, current and the √3 — a printable sheet.
- Interactive 7 min
Contactor wiring
The coil, the power contacts and the control circuit, traced.
- Interactive 7 min
Motor start/stop station
The classic three-wire station and its seal-in.
- Lesson 15 min
Motor control course
Twelve interactive lessons from ladder diagrams to fault finding.
- Interactive 10 min
Reading a ladder diagram
Rails, rungs, coils and contacts — run the first circuit.
- Interactive 10 min
Two-wire vs three-wire control
Maintained versus momentary, and what happens after a power cut.
- Interactive 10 min
Start/stop and the seal-in
The holding contact that keeps a motor running after you let go.
- Interactive 10 min
The overload relay
What trips it, what it opens, and how it resets.
- Interactive 10 min
More than one station
Starts in parallel, stops in series — prove it in the lab.
- Interactive 10 min
Jogging
Inching a motor without letting it seal in.
- Interactive 12 min
Forward / reverse
Two contactors, swapped phases and the interlocks that stop a short.
Fourth year
Drives, power quality, industrial troubleshooting and 4–20 mA loops; emergency power and hazardous locations as ideas; the service and fault-current arithmetic; relaying; and how to walk into the exam ready.
- Lesson 15 min
How a VFD works
Rectifier, DC bus, inverter and PWM: how a drive makes variable frequency, and why volts-per-hertz matters.
New lesson - Lesson 16 min
VFD parameters and troubleshooting
The nameplate parameters, accel/decel, the common trips (overvoltage, overcurrent, ground fault) and what causes them.
New lesson - Lesson 15 min
Power quality and harmonics
Sags, swells, transients and harmonics: where they come from, what they do to neutrals and transformers, and how to see them.
New lesson - Lesson 15 min
Troubleshooting industrial controls
Half-splitting a control circuit, reading voltage across open contacts, and the PLC I/O lights as a meter.
New lesson - Lesson 15 min
Instrumentation and the 4–20 mA loop
Why a current loop, live zero, two-wire transmitters, scaling, and measuring a loop without breaking it.
New lesson - Lesson 13 min
Emergency and standby power
Generators, transfer switches, UPS and unit equipment — what each is for and why the circuits are kept apart.
New lesson - Lesson 14 min
Hazardous locations: the ideas
Why a spark matters, how locations are classified (Class/Division and Zones), and the protection concepts behind the equipment.
New lesson - Lesson 16 min
Services and the load calculation method
Connected load, demand, and the steps of a dwelling or commercial calculation — with every table value your own.
New lesson - Lesson 14 min
Available fault current
Where short-circuit current comes from, the infinite-bus estimate from %Z, and why it sets the equipment rating question.
New lesson - Lesson 14 min
Protective relaying concepts
CTs and PTs, overcurrent, differential and ground-fault relays, device numbers, and what a relay actually trips.
New lesson - Lesson 13 min
Finding it in the code book
How the book is built, the index as a skill, reading a rule reference down to its item, and the tabs that save minutes.
New lesson - Lesson 12 min
Exam prep strategy
A study plan backed off from exam day, timing on the day, the calculation habit, and how to use practice questions.
New lesson - Drill 20 min
Fourth-year review quiz
Every fourth-year question, mixed, with explanations — then widen it to the whole program.
New lesson - Interactive 12 min
On-delay and off-delay timers
TON and TOF contacts, timed out in the lab.
- Interactive 12 min
Sequence control
Motor 2 cannot start until motor 1 runs — and stops with it.
- Interactive 10 min
Hand-Off-Auto
A selector switch that hands control to a pilot device.
- Interactive 12 min
Wye-delta starting
Start in wye, run in delta, with the timer and interlocks.
- Interactive 15 min
Motor control troubleshooting
A hidden fault in a live ladder — find the part with the meter.
Journeyman refresher
Rusty on something? Short refreshers for the things you do not touch every week — three-phase math, transformer banks, motors, drives, PLCs, load calcs — plus a practice exam across the whole program.
- Drill 30 min
Journeyman practice exam
Over a hundred questions across the program with explanations. Filter by topic or year; your progress is kept.
New lesson - Lesson 9 min
Rusty on three-phase math?
Line and phase, the √3, power and current in both directions — the whole kit on one page with worked checks.
New lesson - Lesson 9 min
Rusty on transformer connections?
The four bank connections, what each secondary gives you, and the checks before you energize.
New lesson - Lesson 10 min
Motor troubleshooting flowcharts
Will not start, trips on start, runs hot, noisy — a flowchart for each, from the supply to the shaft.
New lesson - Lesson 8 min
The troubleshooting method
Symptom, known-good, half-split, prove it, fix it, prove the fix — the loop every good troubleshooter runs.
New lesson - Lesson 8 min
Meter safety re-cert refresher
CAT ratings, test-before-touch, live-dead-live, leads and fuses — the things a meter re-cert checks.
New lesson - Lesson 9 min
Rusty on PLCs?
The scan, XIC and XIO, the NC stop-button trap, latches, timers and counters, and forcing — safely.
New lesson - Lesson 9 min
Rusty on VFDs?
The parameters you set on every drive, the trips you will see, and what to check before you blame the drive.
New lesson - Lesson 9 min
Rusty on load calculations?
The method in ten steps, the traps (demand twice, wrong voltage), and the arithmetic that turns VA into amps.
New lesson - Lesson 5 min
Journeyman formula card
Three-phase, transformer, motor, power factor, fault current and 4–20 mA formulas on one printable card.
New lesson - Tool 3 min
Single and three phase formulas
The formulas you use weekly, on one printable page.
- Tool 3 min
Trade math cheat sheet
Fractions, triangles, percent and areas in one place.
- Tool 2 min
Ohm's law and power wheel
Every rearrangement of V, I, R and P, printable.
- Interactive 15 min
Fault-finding refresher
Keep the meter method sharp on a hidden control fault.
- Lesson 8 min
Meter safety refresher
CAT ratings and live-dead-live — worth re-reading every year.
- Lesson 8 min
Lockout / tagout refresher
The steps, in order, for when you are the one teaching it.
- Lesson 5 min
Symbols reference
The schematic symbols grouped by category.
- Lesson 5 min
Glossary
The trade vocabulary in plain language — handy when you are teaching an apprentice.
Related
- Start here — the apprentice path for your first weeks
- Tools — calculators, drills and printable sheets
- Interactive wiring diagrams
- Motor control course
- Reference — glossary, symbols, formula sheets
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