Free practice for the California C-39 Roofing contractor exam (CSLB, PSI) — planning and estimating, tear-off, low-slope and steep-slope systems, flashings and safety, with a written explanation on every answer.
The C-39 Roofing exam is the trade exam California requires of roofing contractor applicants, taken alongside the Law and Business exam. CSLB's official study guide splits it into five sections — planning and estimating, job site preparation, low-slope roof projects, steep-slope roof projects, and safety — with steep-slope the largest at about 26 percent. Practice it below: free, no sign-up, with a written explanation on every question.
No account needed. Pick an answer to see whether it's right and read the explanation — the same explanations you get on every question in the full course.
Every question tells you why the correct answer is correct and defines the terms it uses — so you learn the rule, not just the answer.
Questions are written from scratch against the official codes and agency publications for this exam — never copied from the real exam.
Every question and explanation is fully translated, with the English exam term kept alongside — not a shallow machine translation.
LICENA is a practice tool, not a school. We don't promise a pass — we help you understand the material and walk in prepared.
The full C-39 Roofing course is 500 questions across 5 blocks, built on these five official CSLB exam sections.
The C-39 Roofing exam is the trade half of a California roofing contractor licence — the Law and Business exam covers the paperwork, this one covers the roof. CSLB's official study guide divides it into five sections with published weights, and the weights are worth reading before you plan your studying: steep-slope work is the single biggest block at 26 percent, while planning and estimating and safety are 22 percent each. Here is what each section actually asks, and where candidates lose points.
Take-offs, slope, materials and the decisions you make before anyone climbs a ladder. Roof area is priced in squares, and one square is 100 square feet — most of the arithmetic is converting plan dimensions into squares, adding waste, and sizing fasteners, underlayment and ventilation from that. Slope is written as rise per 12 units of run, so a 7:12 roof rises 7 feet over 12 feet of run, and slope drives almost every other answer on the exam. A California-specific trap lives here too: replace more than 50 percent of a roof's total area within any one-year period and the entire covering must meet the fire-retardant class for that location, not just the part you replaced.
The smallest section, and the one people skip. It covers protecting the surroundings — landscaping, walls, windows, gutters, solar equipment — correcting problems you find once the old roof is off, and the tear-off itself. Deck deterioration, hidden layers and open roof holes are the recurring themes. Cover a skylight opening with plywood instead of railing it and that cover has to be secured, marked "Opening — Do Not Remove", and strong enough to carry 400 pounds or twice the load imposed on any square foot, whichever is greater. Questions here reward thinking about the order of operations, not just the finished detail.
Built-up roofing, modified bitumen, single-ply membranes and spray polyurethane foam, plus drainage, flashings, ventilation and underlayment on low-slope decks, and repairs to all of it. Hot-work rules show up constantly: a kettle needs a Class B:C extinguisher sized to its capacity, an attendant within reach, a tight lid and supports that keep it from turning over. Substrate questions matter too — what has to come off an existing built-up roof before a new system goes over it, and when a recover is not allowed at all.
The largest section: asphalt shingles, wood shakes and shingles, concrete and clay tile, slate and metal panels, plus the flashings, ventilation and underlayment that go under them. Sequence questions are the favourite. Underlayment laps over the drip edge at the eaves but runs under it at the rakes, because that is the direction water travels. Attic ventilation is 1 square foot of net free area per 150 square feet of attic, reducible to 1 per 300 only when 40 to 50 percent of the vents sit near the ridge. Both are easy marks if you learned the rule and easy losses if you learned the habit.
Personnel safety, job site safety and fall protection, tested against California's construction safety orders rather than the federal ones — and California is stricter. On residential-type roofing (houses, townhouses, duplexes) fall protection starts at 6 feet of fall distance up to and including a 7:12 slope, and applies at any height above 7:12. Roof jack intervals cap at 10 feet with at least 2×6 planking. If you are also preparing for a CSLB Law and Business exam or a trade like C-10 Electrical, you will meet the same Cal/OSHA logic there, asked from a different angle.
You take C-39 on a computer at a PSI testing centre, closed book, with 3.5 hours per exam — the limit published in CSLB's Examinations FAQ. Every question is multiple choice with four options and one best answer; some require arithmetic, and a calculator is provided because you cannot bring your own. You get a printed pass/fail report before you leave, and a failing report breaks your score down by section. A retake is allowed after 21 calendar days, with a re-examination fee to PSI, as long as you are inside your application's 18-month window. C-39 is one of the ten CSLB exams with an official Spanish version, which you select when scheduling.
The full LICENA course is 500 questions in 5 blocks. At 30 questions a day that is about three weeks — enough for two passes with time to re-drill whatever is weakest. Weight your effort the way the exam does: give steep-slope roughly a quarter of your time, and do not treat safety as filler when it is 22 percent of the paper. Read the explanation on every question you miss, because the exam rewords facts and memorising answer letters teaches you nothing; knowing why the underlayment flips sides at the rake carries across any wording. Pair the practice with CSLB's free official C-39 study guide, and be sceptical of anything promising a guaranteed pass — no honest resource makes that offer.
The full 500-question C-39 bank across 5 blocks, with a written explanation on every answer, weak-area practice and a timed final exam, in EN·ES·RU. California exam-prep schools list programs from about $250 to $1,200 — this is $20/month, on your phone, cancel anytime.
Create free account The free sample above stays free. Creating an account is free — no card needed.LICENA gives you practice questions to study with. We are not an accredited school and we do not guarantee that you will pass any exam.
LICENA provides online practice only. Registration, exam scheduling and licensing are handled by the CSLB and its exam vendor PSI — not by LICENA. LICENA is not affiliated with the CSLB or PSI.