IBEW Mechanical Reasoning Section — What to Know

✓ Written by a licensed IBEW journeyman electrician · ✓ Updated May 2026 · ✓ Reviewed for NEC accuracy

Mechanical reasoning is the section most applicants leave underprepared and then breeze through. The principles are simple — most questions reduce to lever balance or gear ratio.

What This Section Tests

Levers and fulcrums
Gears and pulleys
Common hand tools and what they measure
Basic physics: force, pressure, friction
Simple machines: wedge, screw, inclined plane

Example Questions

Lever Question

Q: A 10-ft lever has its fulcrum 2 ft from a 200 lb load. What force is needed at the opposite end to balance the load?

A: Effort arm = 8 ft. Load arm = 2 ft. Mechanical advantage = 8/2 = 4. Required force = 200 / 4 = 50 lbs.

Gear Question

Q: Gear A has 20 teeth and drives Gear B with 5 teeth. If Gear A spins 100 RPM, how fast does Gear B spin?

A: Inverse ratio. 100 × (20/5) = 400 RPM. The smaller gear always spins faster.

The Gear Ratio Trick

If Gear A has twice as many teeth as Gear B, Gear B turns twice as fast as Gear A. RPM × teeth is constant in a connected pair of gears.

The Lever Principle (Simply)

Effort × effort arm = load × load arm. A longer lever (longer effort arm) requires less force. If you double the effort arm length, you halve the force needed.

Pulleys

More pulleys means less force needed, but more rope to pull. With 2 movable pulleys, you need 1/2 the force but pull twice as much rope.

5 Practice Questions

Gear C has 40 teeth, Gear D has 10 teeth. If D spins 200 RPM, how fast does C spin?
An 8-foot lever has its fulcrum 2 ft from a 120 lb load. Force needed?
If you push down on one end of a seesaw, what happens to the other end?
Which tool measures resistance: voltmeter, ammeter, ohmmeter, or wattmeter?
A 4:1 pulley system. If the load is 400 lbs, how much force is needed to lift it?

Answers: (1) 50 RPM — large gear spins slower. (2) 40 lbs — 6 ft effort arm, MA = 3, 120/3 = 40. (3) The other end goes up. (4) Ohmmeter. (5) 100 lbs.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does the IBEW mechanical reasoning section test?

The mechanical reasoning section tests basic physics and machinery: levers, gears, pulleys, common tools, force, pressure, and simple machines. No engineering math is required.

How do I prepare for the IBEW mechanical reasoning section?

Learn three concepts: lever balance (effort × effort arm = load × load arm), gear ratios (smaller gear = faster), and pulleys (more pulleys = less force, more rope). Those cover roughly 80% of questions.

Is the mechanical reasoning section hard?

It is the easiest section for most applicants once they learn the basic principles. The questions are pattern-recognition more than calculation. A few hours of focused study is usually enough.

Related Resources

Free IBEW aptitude practice test

Study guide

Math section guide

Michael B.

IBEW Local 134 Journeyman Electrician · Licensed Electrical Contractor

Michael is a licensed electrical contractor and IBEW Local 134 journeyman with years of field experience. He built Sparky AI after ChatGPT gave him wrong NEC code information on a job — costing him $800 in callbacks. Every answer in Sparky AI is verified against the actual NEC.