What is the common name of California's Business and Professions Code Division 3, Chapter 9, which governs contractors?
Based on: B&P § 7000 (short title)
Law and Business exam · California · 2026
California Contractor Law and Business Exam Prep 2026
Study for the California Contractors State License Board (CSLB) Law and Business exam with 1,232 practice questions, full mock sittings and 804 flashcards. Questions are built mainly from California's own public domain statutes and regulations, not from any copyrighted study guide. Coverage of the blueprint is partial, about 70 percent by weight, and exactly what is left out is set out below.
2,000+ Study items
115 Mock exam
72% To pass
100% Offline
The exam
What the California contractor Law and Business exam involves
Every applicant for a California contractor license must pass the Law and Business examination. It is administered by PSI Services for the Contractors State License Board (CSLB) at a PSI test center, and it is scored separately from the trade (classification) exam.
How many questions are on the California Law and Business exam?
The CSLB does not publish an exact scored-question count. Prep sources commonly describe the Law and Business exam as about 115 multiple-choice questions, and CSLB officially gives you 3.5 hours (210 minutes) to complete it. It is a closed-book, computer-based exam with four choices per question.
- Questions: about 115, multiple choice, four choices, one best answer (CSLB does not publish an exact count)
- Time limit: 3.5 hours (210 minutes), confirmed by CSLB
- Format: closed book, taken on a computer at a PSI test center
What is the pass mark for the California Law and Business exam?
The CSLB does not publish a fixed passing score. Its official guidance is that you are told the percentage of correct answers needed to pass at the test site, and that the percentage varies by examination. Any specific figure such as 72 percent that you see on prep sites is not an official CSLB number. Successful candidates are simply told they passed and are not given a detailed score.
What topics are on the California Law and Business exam?
The CSLB Law and Business Study Guide divides the exam into seven major sections with these approximate weights, and our mock exams and practice topics follow the same official blueprint.
- Business Organization and Licensing: about 13%
- Business Finances: about 15%
- Employment Requirements: about 20%
- Insurance and Liens: about 12%
- Contract Requirements and Execution: about 21%
- Public Works: about 5%
- Safety: about 14%
When does a California contractor license become required?
You need a California contractor license for any construction job where the combined cost of labor and materials is 500 dollars or more. Below that 500 dollar threshold the work may fall under the minor-work exemption, but splitting a larger job into smaller contracts to stay under the cap is prohibited.
How is the exam applied for, and can you retake it?
You apply to the CSLB, which charges an application fee (currently 450 dollars for one classification) that covers exam scheduling through PSI. After a failed exam you are generally eligible to retake it after 21 days, and your application stays valid for 18 months in which to pass both the Law and Business and the trade exams.
Features
A complete study system, on one device
01 / PRACTICE
Practice mode
Work through 1,232 questions by topic across all seven official sections, from business organization and finances to employment, insurance and liens, contracts, public works and Cal/OSHA safety, with an explanation on every answer and a California statute reference on most of them.
02 / MOCK
Mock exam
Sit full mock exams weighted to the CSLB's own seven-section blueprint, so your practice mix matches the real Law and Business exam: licensing, finances, employment, insurance and liens, contracts, public works and safety.
03 / FLASHCARDS
Flashcards
Drill 804 flashcards on the dollar thresholds, bond amounts, deadlines and Cal/OSHA rules the exam expects you to know cold, from the 25,000 dollar contractor bond to the 500 dollar licensing threshold.
What's inside
What to look for in an exam-prep app
| Based on the official public source | Yes, California's own enacted statutes and regulations: Business and Professions Code Division 3, Chapter 9 (the Contractors State License Law), Civil Code works-of-improvement and mechanics lien law, Labor Code (wages, workers' compensation, prevailing wage and Cal/OSHA) and Title 8 construction safety orders, with the CSLB Law and Business exam blueprint for topic weights and CSLB and PSI materials for exam logistics |
|---|---|
| Timed mock exam | 115 questions, 210 min |
| Pass rule applied | 72% to pass |
| Answer explanations mapped to the source | Yes |
| Weak-area review | Yes |
| Flashcards (spaced repetition) | Yes |
| Works fully offline, no account | Yes |
| Ads | None |
| Payment | One-time purchase |
| Last content review | 2026-08-05 |
In the app
Calm, focused study, nothing else
Sample questions
Try 10 real practice questions
Tap an answer to see why it is right, mapped to the official source, exactly as in the app.
How often must the Contractors State License Board meet to transact business?
Based on: B&P § 7006 (board meetings)
In double-entry bookkeeping, each transaction records equal amounts of what?
Based on: Double-entry bookkeeping
Before the CSLB will issue, reinstate, or renew a license, what must an applicant or licensee generally have on file at all times?
Based on: B&P § 7125
Who issues and files the Certificate of Workers' Compensation Insurance required under B&P 7125?
Based on: B&P § 7125
What is the required amount of a California contractor's bond?
Based on: B&P 7071.6
In whose favor is a contractor's bond executed?
Based on: B&P 7071.5
Above what aggregate contract price do the home improvement contract requirements of Section 7159 apply?
Based on: B&P 7159(b)
Under Labor Code 1720, work is a 'public work' when it is construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair done under contract and paid for how?
Based on: Lab. Code 1720(a)
What is the stated purpose of the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973?
Based on: Lab. Code 6300
Free on the web
Free practice questions and tools
Prefer to start in your browser? Work free, topic-by-topic practice questions and use our free calculators, no download needed, then unlock the full bank in the app.
Source & accuracy
Where the questions come from, and when we last checked
Built from California's own enacted statutes and regulations: Business and Professions Code Division 3, Chapter 9 (the Contractors State License Law), Civil Code works-of-improvement and mechanics lien law, Labor Code (wages, workers' compensation, prevailing wage and Cal/OSHA) and Title 8 construction safety orders, with the CSLB Law and Business exam blueprint for topic weights and CSLB and PSI materials for exam logistics (2026 edition (California law in force 2026; exam blueprint from the CSLB Law and Business Study Guide for examinations scheduled on or after 1 December 2021)), the official public source, used under California enacted statutes and regulations are uncopyrightable edicts of government and are published free by the State of California at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. This app uses the enacted law, not the copyrighted CSLB or LexisNexis reference book. The Business Finances topic uses independently authored original study material, not statute text.. View the official source .
Last checked against the source: 2026-08-05.
- Study items
- 2,000+
- Questions
- 1,232
- Flashcards
- 804
- Mock exam
- 115
- Pass mark
- 72%
All questions are original and written from the public source. No official exam questions are copied.
Content audit trail
- 2026-08-05 Content expansion and honest-coverage restatement. The bank grew to 1,232 questions and 804 flashcards, 2,036 study items, mined from 780 cited passages of California enacted law; every previously shipped question and flashcard was kept unchanged in wording and answer, and the additions sit on top of it. Independently re-reviewed against the cited statute text before shipping: 0 structural failures, 0 answer-support failures. Coverage of the CSLB blueprint is now stated plainly as partial, about 70 percent by weight: Business Finances and a small payroll-administration slice of Employment Requirements, together with a small number of general business-organization and insurance-principles items in Business Organization and Licensing and in Insurance and Liens, are independently authored general study material, not enacted law, and the generic project-organization part of Contract Requirements and Execution is not covered.
- 2026-07-06 Exam facts verified against primary CSLB and PSI sources across two independent AI research passes. Confirmed as official: the 3.5-hour (210-minute) time limit and the seven-section content blueprint with its topic weights. Confirmed as NOT published by CSLB: the exact scored-question count and any fixed pass mark, both of which are described honestly here rather than stated as precise official figures. Every question was cross-checked against its cited California statute by a second, independent AI model.
- 2026-07-06 Initial build from California public-domain statutes and regulations: 686 questions and 194 flashcards across all seven official Law and Business sections. The copyrighted CSLB reference book and any official examination questions were deliberately not reproduced.
FAQ
Common questions
Is this the official California contractor exam app?
No. This is an independent study aid and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the State of California, the Contractors State License Board (CSLB), or PSI. About 70 percent of the Law and Business blueprint by weight is built from public domain California statutes and regulations; the Business Finances topic and a small payroll-administration slice of Employment Requirements, together with a small number of general business-organization and insurance-principles items in Business Organization and Licensing and in Insurance and Liens, use independently authored general study material instead, which is never presented as enacted law.
How many questions are on the California Law and Business exam?
The CSLB does not publish an exact scored-question count. Prep sources commonly describe it as about 115 multiple-choice questions, and CSLB gives you 3.5 hours (210 minutes) to complete the closed-book exam.
How many practice questions and flashcards does this app include?
The app includes 1,232 practice questions and 804 flashcards, 2,036 study items in total, spread across all seven sections of the CSLB Law and Business blueprint. All of it works offline after a single one-time purchase.
What is the pass mark for the California Law and Business exam?
The CSLB does not publish a fixed passing score. Officially, you are told the percentage needed to pass at the test site, and it varies by exam. Figures like 72 percent that appear on prep sites are not official CSLB numbers, so our mock exams use an internal practice threshold, not a claimed official pass mark.
When do I actually need a California contractor license?
Once the combined cost of labor and materials on a job is 500 dollars or more. Splitting a larger job into smaller contracts to stay under that threshold is not allowed.
What topics does the app cover?
It reaches all seven official CSLB Law and Business sections, but coverage of the blueprint is partial, about 70 percent by weight. Business Organization and Licensing, Safety, Insurance and Liens, Public Works, most of Employment Requirements and the statutory core of Contract Requirements and Execution come from enacted California law. Business Finances (15 percent of the blueprint) and a small payroll-administration slice of Employment Requirements, together with a small number of general business-organization and insurance-principles items in Business Organization and Licensing and in Insurance and Liens, are independently authored general study material. Within Contract Requirements and Execution, cost types, markup, estimating and break-even are covered; project organization is not covered at all.
Does the app work offline?
Yes. Everything is stored on your device. There is no login and no internet connection is needed after you install it, so you can study anywhere.
Who writes these questions, and how do you check the answers are right?
Most questions are written from California's public statutes and cite the section they come from. Before it ships, a second, independent AI model from a different family confirms the cited statute supports the answer, and a human reviews anything the two models disagree on. The Business Finances and payroll-administration items, together with a small number of general business-organization and insurance-principles items, cite our own authored reference instead of a statute, and say so. Read the full process at rivermaplearning.com.
How do I restore my purchase on a new phone?
Use the Restore Purchases option on the same app store account you bought it with, and the full question bank unlocks again at no extra charge.
Guides
2 guides to the California Contractor Law & Business Exam
Free, in-depth answers written from the same official sources the app is built on.
- California Contractor Law and Business Exam Explained
The California CSLB Law and Business exam is a required test for any new contractor license, covering seven official sections in 3.5 hours.
- California Contractor Exam: Questions, Format, and Pass Mark
The California CSLB Law and Business exam runs about 115 questions in 210 minutes. CSLB does not publish a fixed pass mark. Here is the real, sourced format.
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