The EEI TECH Test: What Is Actually Published

The EEI TECH battery — the Technician Occupations Selection System — has four tests: Graphic Problem Solving, Interpreting Diagrams, Mechanical Concepts and Reasoning from Rules. Of those four, EEI publishes a question count and a time limit for exactly one: Mechanical Concepts, 44 questions in 20 minutes. The rest are described but not quantified, and the battery as a whole is stated only as taking about two hours to administer. This page sets out what the brochure actually says, and why the very specific numbers you will find elsewhere should be treated with suspicion. Our EEI TECH practice test covers all four question types and says plainly which timings are EEI's and which are our own.

Who sits TECH

EEI's catalog says TECH is used for technician jobs that typically require an associate degree, and names examples: laboratory, environmental or chemistry technician; distribution planning technician; communications or telecommunications technician; drafter; and estimator. It is a different population from the trades battery — more analytical, more document-driven — and the test reflects that.

The four tests

Test	What it covers	Questions and time
Graphic Problem Solving	Using numerical information presented in illustrations to solve practical arithmetic problems	Not published
Interpreting Diagrams	Using symbols and codes to locate objects on a map or diagram and to determine an object's status	Not published
Mechanical Concepts	Understanding mechanical principles, from pictures, with three answer choices	44 questions, 20 minutes
Reasoning from Rules	Reading and applying rules to make decisions, and troubleshooting a logic network	Not published

"Not published" means exactly that. Two separate vintages of the TECH brochure name all four tests and give counts and a time limit for Mechanical Concepts alone. EEI also states that two versions of the TECH battery exist, each containing the same four tests.

Why the numbers online are unreliable

Search for TECH and you will find confident claims such as "Interpreting Diagrams: 9 questions in 9 minutes" and "Graphic Problem Solving: 12 questions". Those figures do not come from any brochure. They match the parameters of EEI's own practice exercises, which are shorter than the real tests by design — Entergy, for example, tells applicants the practice tests are shorter than the real tests and differ slightly from them.

The honest position is that if you want to know how many Interpreting Diagrams questions you will face, the answer is that nobody outside EEI and its member companies has published it. We would rather tell you that than invent a number, and it is worth applying the same skepticism to whatever else a site is selling you. We wrote about how to judge EEI prep material, including EEI's own free material.

What you can prepare

The one fully documented test is also the one you can practice properly, and it is not a small part of the battery. Mechanical Concepts at 44 questions in 20 minutes — twenty-seven seconds each — is the same test that appears in CAST, CAST-R, POSS and MASS, which means everything built for those batteries transfers directly. Run it in full blocks against the published time limit; the Mechanical Concepts demo is the place to start.

For the other three, the brochure's one-sentence descriptions are specific enough to practise the skill each one names, even though the format details are not public. That is how our TECH practice is built — by question type, with every number we invent labelled as ours:

• Graphic Problem Solving is arithmetic taken off illustrations: lengths, volumes, costs and times read from drawings and charts. The Graphic Problem Solving demo works from dimensioned plans, a tank elevation, a route on a scaled drawing and a tower elevation.
• Interpreting Diagrams is reading symbols and codes against a key — where something is, and what state it is in. The Interpreting Diagrams demo uses grid maps, switching one-lines, valve diagrams and tag codes. Our tips for the section set out a routine.
• Reasoning from Rules is applying a stated set of rules exactly, in order, and troubleshooting a small logic network. The Reasoning from Rules demo has both, and the guide to rule questions walks through the traps.

Because EEI publishes no count or time for those three, our timed runs use our own pacing, and the full TECH practice mock says plainly which timings are EEI's and which are ours. LG&E and KU, which publishes the brochure, also reminds applicants that EEI's own practice tests differ from the actual tests — the same caution applies to anyone's practice, ours included.

Scoring

The TECH brochure says component scores are combined into an overall score that predicts the candidate's likelihood of success. It does not publish a numeric range — unlike CAST's 1-to-10 index or POSS's zero-to-15 aptitude index. You will find sites that quote a range for TECH; the brochure does not contain one.

Nor does any employer publish the level at which it hires. As with every battery in EEI's catalog, the bar is set internally, company by company. Our guide to EEI index scales sets out what is known and what is not.

Where the battery came from

The brochure credits HR Strategies, formerly Personnel Designs, working with 23 investor-owned electric utility companies, with the test administered to over 2,100 technician job incumbents during development. Some employers refer to it by an internal number rather than by name — Southern California Edison, for instance, catalogs TECH as test 5107 — so an invitation quoting a number rather than a name may still be a TECH invitation.

Frequently asked questions

How many questions are on the EEI TECH test?

EEI does not publish a total. It publishes 44 questions in 20 minutes for Mechanical Concepts and gives no count or time limit for Graphic Problem Solving, Interpreting Diagrams or Reasoning from Rules. The battery takes about two hours to administer.

Why do other sites give exact TECH section counts?

The figures in circulation match EEI's practice exercises rather than the real tests, and utilities that publish access to it, such as Entergy and Dominion Energy, tell applicants the practice tests are shorter than the real tests and differ slightly from them. Treat any precise TECH section count as unsourced unless it cites a brochure.

Can I practice for TECH here?

Yes, by question type. TECH practice covers all four tests — Graphic Problem Solving, Interpreting Diagrams, Mechanical Concepts and Reasoning from Rules — with free demos, unlimited practice and a full practice mock. Mechanical Concepts runs to EEI's published 44 questions in 20 minutes; the other three run to our own pacing, because EEI publishes none, and we say so on every screen. See what TECH includes.

Is TECH harder than CAST?

It is aimed at a different population — technician roles that typically ask for an associate degree — and leans more on diagram interpretation and formal reasoning than on trade-floor mechanics. Whether that is harder depends entirely on your background.