CSLB exam sample questions, with answers
Eleven practice questions for the Law and Business and B – General Building exams, each with the answer, a plain explanation and the law or document it comes from.
These are not real exam questions. CSLB does not release its test questions or answer keys, and nobody else has them. We write our own questions from the same sources the exam is built on: the Contractors License Law, the Labor Code, Cal/OSHA, the California Residential Code and CSLB’s study guides. Each answer names its source so you can check it.
Read the question, pick an answer, then open “Show the answer”. All eleven are taken from our free 25-question tests, which score you by section.
CSLB’s own study guides also include a few official sample questions: see the CSLB study guides.
Law and Business
The seven sections and their weights are on what is on the Law and Business exam.
1. Your contracting company moves its office to a new business address. Under the Contractors State License Law, how long do you have to notify the CSLB Registrar in writing?
- Within 10 days
- Within 30 days
- Within 90 days
- Only at the next license renewal
Show the answer
Answer: C. B&P Code §7083 requires licensees to report any change to recorded information, including the business address, in writing within 90 days. The trap is waiting for renewal: if you report late, the change only counts from the day CSLB receives your notice, and missing the 90 days is grounds for discipline.
Source: B&P Code §7083(a)-(c), California Contractors License Law & Reference Book, 2026 Edition (CSLB)
2. A contractor's balance sheet shows current assets of $300,000 (this includes $75,000 of inventory) and current liabilities of $150,000. What is the company's quick ratio?
- 1.5 to 1
- 2 to 1
- 2.5 to 1
- 3 to 1
Show the answer
Answer: A. CSLB's rule (16 CCR §858.2) defines the quick ratio as current assets minus inventory, divided by current liabilities: ($300,000 − $75,000) ÷ $150,000 = 1.5 to 1. The trap is 2 to 1, which is the current ratio because it leaves the inventory in.
3. A contractor hires a new carpenter. How soon must the employer report this new hire to California's New Employee Registry (EDD form DE 34 or e-Services for Business)?
- Within 20 calendar days of the start-of-work date
- Within 30 calendar days of the hire date
- Within 45 calendar days of the hire date
- Within 60 calendar days of the hire date
Show the answer
Answer: A. The EDD California Employer's Guide (DE 44) requires reporting every new or rehired employee within 20 calendar days of the start-of-work date, meaning the first day the person worked for pay. The 60-day number is a trap: it is the separation period that makes a returning worker count as a rehire.
4. A licensed contractor signs a $7,500 home improvement contract to build a patio cover. The contractor has no performance and payment bond or joint control for the job. What is the largest down payment the contractor may collect?
- $750
- $1,000
- $1,500
- $2,000
Show the answer
Answer: A. B&P Code §7159.5(a)(3) limits the down payment to $1,000 or 10% of the contract amount, whichever is less. 10% of $7,500 is $750, which is less than $1,000. The trap is $1,000: that is only the cap for larger contracts where 10% would be more than $1,000.
5. A claimant has recorded a mechanics lien and was not paid. No extension of credit was given. To keep the lien from becoming invalid, by when must the claimant file a lawsuit to foreclose the lien?
- Within 30 days after recording the lien
- Within 90 days after the project was completed
- Within 90 days after recording the lien
- Within 2 years after recording the lien
Show the answer
Answer: C. CSLB states that a lien claimant must file the lien foreclosure lawsuit within 90 days of the date the mechanics lien was recorded (Civil Code §8460); otherwise the lien is invalid. The trap is counting 90 days from completion of the project: that is a common deadline for recording the lien, not for filing the lawsuit.
Source: Civil Code §8460 (as stated by CSLB), CSLB: What if a Mechanics Lien is Filed on Your Property?
6. Under Cal/OSHA's Construction Safety Orders, how often must supervisors hold "toolbox" or "tailgate" safety meetings with their crews?
- At least once every working day
- At least every 10 working days
- At least once a month
- At least once a year
Show the answer
Answer: B. Title 8, §1509(e) requires supervisors to hold toolbox or tailgate safety meetings, or equivalent, with their crews at least every 10 working days. This is part of the construction Injury and Illness Prevention Program, which also requires a written Code of Safe Practices.
B – General Building
The five sections and their weights are on what is on the B exam.
7. The plans call for a 4-in layer of gravel base under a 24 ft × 36 ft slab. Your supplier figures 1.4 tons per cubic yard for this gravel (example figure). Rounding up to the next whole ton, how many tons do you order, before any compaction or waste allowance?
- 11 tons
- 180 tons
- 8 tons
- 15 tons
Show the answer
Answer: D. 24 × 36 × (4/12) = 288 cu ft; 288 ÷ 27 = 10.67 cu yd; × 1.4 = 14.9 tons, so order 15. 11 is the cubic yards with no conversion to tons, 180 forgets to change 4 inches into feet, and 8 divides by 1.4 instead of multiplying.
8. A plumber wants to bore a 2-1/2-in hole through a 2x4 stud (actual width 3-1/2 in) in an exterior bearing wall. The hole would take about 71% of the stud's width. No stud shoe or engineered repair is proposed. What does the California Residential Code allow?
- The hole is allowed if the stud is doubled
- The hole is allowed if a metal nail plate is fastened over the stud face
- Not allowed; a bored hole may not exceed 60% of the stud width, even in a doubled stud
- The hole is allowed because the 60% limit applies only to studs in nonbearing partitions
Show the answer
Answer: C. The CRC stud rule (R602.6) limits a bored hole in any stud to 60% of the stud width; in exterior walls and bearing partitions, studs bored over 40% and up to 60% must also be doubled. At about 71%, this hole is over the limit, so doubling does not make it legal; reroute the pipe or change the framing. A nail plate protects the pipe but does not restore the stud, and the 60% limit applies to every stud.
9. A 120-volt branch circuit feeds a 16-amp load at the far end of a long run. The two circuit conductors (out and back) have a combined resistance of 0.30 ohm. Using Ohm's law, about how much voltage is lost in the wiring, and about what voltage reaches the load?
- 4.8 volts lost; about 115.2 volts at the load
- 2.4 volts lost; about 117.6 volts at the load
- 53.3 volts lost; about 66.7 volts at the load
- 4.8 volts lost; about 124.8 volts at the load
Show the answer
Answer: A. Voltage equals current times resistance (E = I × R): 16 A × 0.30 Ω = 4.8 V dropped in the wires, leaving about 120 − 4.8 = 115.2 V at the load. 2.4 V counts only one conductor although 0.30 Ω is the total for both; 53.3 V divides the current by the resistance; and the drop is subtracted from the supply voltage, not added.
10. You are replacing the door between an attached garage and the kitchen of a house that has no fire sprinklers. Which door meets the California Residential Code?
- A 1-3/8-in hollow-core wood door on standard hinges
- A 1-3/8-in solid-core wood door with self-closing and self-latching hardware
- A 1-3/4-in solid wood door on ordinary hinges with a passage latch, since a thicker door needs no closer
- Any exterior-grade door, as long as it is weatherstripped
Show the answer
Answer: B. CRC R302.5.1, as restated in Clovis's 2025 plan-check list, requires the garage-to-dwelling door to be solid wood or solid or honeycomb-core steel at least 1-3/8 in thick, or a 20-minute fire-rated door, and it must have self-closing (or automatic-closing) and self-latching devices. A hollow-core door fails, a thicker door still needs the closer and latch, and weatherstripping has nothing to do with the fire separation.
11. Your framers are laying out and building stud walls on a second-floor deck 10 ft above the ground. No exterior walls are up yet. Under Cal/OSHA's residential framing rule (8 CCR §1716.2), what is required?
- Fall protection, such as guardrails at all open edges, personal fall protection or nets
- Nothing until the walls are stood up, because the framers are working on a floor, not a roof
- Fall protection only once the deck is 15 ft or more above the ground
- Only a warning line flagged every 6 ft, set 6 ft back from the edge
Show the answer
Answer: A. §1716.2(f) says that when employees lay out and build framed stud walls on floors 6 ft or more above the grade or floor below that will later be enclosed by exterior walls, they must be protected by personal fall protection, scaffolding, safety nets, or standard guardrails around all unprotected sides or edges. A fall protection plan with safety monitors and controlled access zones is allowed only if the employer shows conventional methods are infeasible.
Source: 8 CCR §1716.2(f), Cal/OSHA 8 CCR §1716.2 Residential-type Framing Activities
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Questions written by CA Contractor Exam and checked against the sources named under each answer; last reviewed 1 October 2026. Laws and codes change; confirm at the source. Not affiliated with CSLB or PSI.