Every applicant for a California contractor license has to pass the Law and Business exam, and the two most-asked questions about it, how many questions and what score you need, do not have official one-line answers. This page lays out exactly what CSLB does and does not publish, sourced from CSLB itself.
How many questions are on the California contractor Law and Business exam?
CSLB does not publish an exact scored-question count. Prep sources commonly describe the Law and Business exam as about 115 multiple-choice questions, each with four answer choices and one best answer. It is closed-book and delivered on a computer at a PSI test center. The exam is scored separately from the trade (classification) exam, so passing Law and Business does not by itself qualify you for a license; you also need to pass the classification exam for your trade.
What is the pass mark for the California contractor exam?
CSLB does not publish a fixed passing score. Its own guidance is that you are told the percentage of correct answers needed to pass at the test site, and that percentage varies by exam. Successful candidates are simply told they passed and are not given a detailed score breakdown. Any specific figure, such as 72 percent, that shows up on a prep site or forum is not an official CSLB number, and you should treat it as an estimate at best.
Because there is no fixed official threshold to aim for, the safer approach is to practice against a deliberately strict internal target rather than chase an unconfirmed number. Our own mock exams use an internal practice threshold of 83 out of 115 (about 72 percent), which is our own study benchmark, not a claimed official CSLB pass mark.
How long do you have to finish the exam?
You get 3.5 hours (210 minutes), a figure CSLB confirms directly. That covers the full Law and Business exam in one sitting, closed-book, at a PSI test center.
What topics does the exam cover?
The exam blueprint splits into seven official sections. Approximate weights, per CSLB’s own study guide:
- Business Organization and Licensing (about 13%): business entity types, license classifications, exemptions, and applying for and keeping a CSLB license.
- Business Finances (about 15%): accounting, financial statements, estimating and bidding, cash flow, and taxes.
- Employment Requirements (about 20%): the largest section. Hiring, wages and hours, payroll taxes, and workers’ compensation.
- Insurance and Liens (about 12%): contractor bonds, insurance types, and the mechanics lien and stop-notice process.
- Contract Requirements and Execution (about 21%): the other large section. Home improvement and service contracts, required terms, cancellation rights, and down payment limits.
- Public Works (about 5%): prevailing wage, DIR registration, and certified payroll on public projects.
- Safety (about 14%): Cal/OSHA duties, the Injury and Illness Prevention Program, and construction safety orders.
Six of these seven sections come straight from enacted California law: the Business and Professions Code (Contractors State License Law), the Civil Code’s mechanics lien provisions, the Labor Code, and Title 8 construction safety orders, all public domain government text. The Business Finances section is the one exception, drawn from independently authored general business-finance material rather than statute text.
When does a license actually become required?
Any construction job where the combined cost of labor and materials reaches $500 or more requires a California contractor license (Business and Professions Code Section 7048). Splitting a larger job into smaller contracts to stay under that threshold does not get around the requirement.
What is the format at a glance?
| Administered by | PSI Services, for the CSLB |
| Format | Multiple choice, four choices, one best answer, closed book |
| Questions | About 115 (CSLB publishes no exact count) |
| Time limit | 3.5 hours (210 minutes) |
| Pass mark | Not published; disclosed at the test site, varies by exam |
| Sections | 7 official topic areas |
The honest version of this exam’s format is: the time limit and the seven section weights are confirmed facts, while the exact question count and pass mark are estimates because CSLB deliberately keeps them undisclosed. Practicing against the real topic weights, with a strict internal pass threshold, is the most reliable way to prepare when the official target itself is a moving number.