CSLB exam pass rates: the official numbers
In 2022/23, 57% of Law and Business exams and 44% of B – General Building exams were passes. First-time takers do far better than people retaking.
Most pages that mention a CSLB pass rate say “about half” and leave it there. CSLB publishes the real figures, exam by exam, in its Sunset Review Report to the California Legislature. The latest one, from 2023, covers four fiscal years up to 2022/23 (a fiscal year runs from July to June). These are the numbers, with the page they are on.
Law and Business and B, year by year
| Law and Business, fiscal year | Exams | Passed |
|---|---|---|
| 2019/20 | 14,844 | 52% |
| 2020/21 | 16,724 | 58% |
| 2021/22 | 25,061 | 54% |
| 2022/23 | 17,737 | 57% |
| B – General Building, fiscal year | Exams | Passed |
|---|---|---|
| 2019/20 | 6,363 | 40% |
| 2020/21 | 7,109 | 53% |
| 2021/22 | 10,642 | 41% |
| 2022/23 | 7,243 | 44% |
Source: CSLB 2023 Sunset Review Report, Table 8 “Examination Data”: B on p. 50, Law and Business on p. 56. CSLB reports “number of candidates” and “overall pass %” for each exam; the overall figure counts first attempts and retakes together.
Two things stand out. Law and Business sits in the mid-50s every year: roughly one sitting in two fails. And B – General Building is harder still: in three of the four years fewer than half of B exams were passes. For comparison, the newer B-2 Residential Remodeling exam passed 42% in 2022/23 (812 exams), and A General Engineering 60% (696 exams).
First attempt versus retake
The same report splits all CSLB exams into first attempts and retakes. The gap is large and it is the same every year:
| Fiscal year | First attempts passed | Retakes passed |
|---|---|---|
| 2019/20 | 74% of 17,944 | 38% of 6,851 |
| 2020/21 | 76% of 23,705 | 37% of 6,937 |
| 2021/22 | 74% of 30,212 | 40% of 11,999 |
| 2022/23 | 71% of 24,536 | 37% of 7,497 |
Source: CSLB 2023 Sunset Review Report, p. 57, “Examination Pass Rates – First Time and Retakes”. These figures are for all CSLB exams combined; CSLB does not publish the split for Law and Business or B on their own.
What this means for you. Between 71% and 76% of first attempts pass. Between 37% and 40% of retakes do. A retake is not a second roll of the same dice: people who fail once tend to fail again, and CSLB notes that in 2022/23, 44% of the candidates who failed were already on a second or later attempt, some on their eighth (p. 102). Your first attempt is the one to prepare for.
Pass rates in Spanish
CSLB has not published a pass rate for each Spanish-version exam. What it has published:
- The first months. From 1 August to 1 November 2023, PSI gave 631 Spanish-version exams (589 Law and Business, 33 B). 96 of those candidates had failed in English before; 42 of them passed in Spanish, which CSLB says matched the overall retake pass rate (p. 57).
- Since then. In September 2025 CSLB’s licensing and examinations chief told the board that the Spanish exams led to a 10 percent increase in pass rates, and that a toggle showing the English text improved them by another 6 percent (draft minutes in the December 2025 board packet, pp. 48–49). The underlying numbers were not published.
How many people take each exam in Spanish, and how to request it: taking the exam in Spanish.
Why so many fail
CSLB’s own explanation, in the same report, is mostly about the candidates rather than the exam: some trades are broad and candidates know only part of them, retakers often fail several times and pull the averages down, and small exams swing on a few people. Its answer has been free study guides for every exam, in English and Spanish, and unscored “pretest” questions that are checked for clarity before they count.
For Law and Business the usual problem is simpler. It is a closed-book exam on contracts, liens, payroll and safety rules that many working contractors have never had to look up, with numbers that have to be exact: deadlines, dollar limits, percentages. That is learnable, and it is what the official study guide’s section weights tell you to spend your time on.
Common questions
What is the pass rate for the CSLB Law and Business exam?
57% in fiscal year 2022/23 (17,737 exams), and between 52% and 58% in each of the four years CSLB reported. Source: CSLB 2023 Sunset Review Report, Table 8.
What is the pass rate for the B – General Building exam?
44% in fiscal year 2022/23 (7,243 exams). In the three years before it was 40%, 53% and 41%.
Is the pass rate better on a retake?
No, it is much worse. Across all CSLB exams, 71–76% of first attempts passed against 37–40% of retakes, every year from 2019/20 to 2022/23.
Are there newer figures?
The 2023 Sunset Review Report is the latest CSLB publication with pass rates for each exam that we found as of 1 October 2026. CSLB’s December 2025 board packet reports exam volumes (59,074 exams from November 2024 to October 2025) but not pass rates by exam. We will update this page when CSLB publishes new figures.
What score do I need to pass?
CSLB does not publish a fixed passing score. See what score you need to pass.
Last reviewed 1 October 2026 against the CSLB 2023 Sunset Review Report and the CSLB Board Meeting Packet of 11 December 2025. Figures are CSLB’s; we have rounded nothing beyond what CSLB printed. Not affiliated with CSLB or PSI.