Free practice questions for the California CSLB Law & Business exam — with a written explanation on every answer, in English, Spanish, and Russian.
8 questions, about 4 minutes. 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.
Practice across the full question bank.
Understand why the correct answer works — not just which letter is right.
Spend more time on the questions you miss.
Practice under exam-style time pressure before exam day.
Every question tells you why the correct answer is correct and defines the legal terms it uses — so you learn the rule, not just the answer.
Questions are written from scratch against California's Business & Professions Code and the CSLB Law Book — 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 CSLB Law & Business course is 500 questions across 5 blocks, drawn from these seven areas.
Exam structure, topics, study areas and official resources.
The CSLB Law & Business exam is required of nearly every California contractor-license applicant, whatever trade you hold. It covers contracts, employment and payroll, insurance and bonds, mechanics liens, public works, and jobsite safety. Practice it in the free sample above — no sign-up, with a written explanation on every question.
The Law & Business exam tests whether you can run a contracting business legally in California — not whether you can swing a hammer. The official CSLB study guide breaks it into seven areas, and every CSLB Law and Business practice test worth your time should drill all seven. Here is what each one actually asks, and where candidates typically slip.
Who needs a license and when. The classic trap is the "minor work" exemption: since AB 2622 took effect in 2025, jobs under $1,000 in combined labor and materials (with no permit and no employees) may be done unlicensed — the old $500 figure still floats around study materials and is now wrong. Expect questions on license classifications, qualifying individuals, and what happens when a license lapses.
Basic bookkeeping the board expects a contractor to know: job costing, overhead versus direct costs, cash-flow timing, and reading a simple balance sheet. The math is arithmetic, not accounting — but the wording is exact, so slow down on what a question counts as overhead.
Hiring rules, payroll taxes, and the mandatory coverage employers carry. A frequent miss: workers' compensation insurance is required the moment you have any employee (Labor Code §3700) — general liability insurance, which many candidates pick, is common in practice but is not the legal mandate the exam asks about.
The contractor's license bond is $25,000 (raised by SB 607 in 2023 — older materials still say $15,000). Mechanics liens have their own clock: a subcontractor protecting lien rights serves the preliminary 20-day notice within 20 days of first furnishing labor or materials. Questions here reward knowing the deadline numbers cold.
Home-improvement contracts are the exam's favorite: the down payment is capped at $1,000 or 10% of the contract price, whichever is less, and the buyer gets a three-business-day right to cancel. Watch the "whichever is less / greater" wording — distractors flip it.
Projects paid with public funds over $1,000 require the general prevailing wage for that craft and locality — not the state minimum wage. Add registration and certified-payroll basics and you have the whole area.
Cal/OSHA fundamentals: injury reporting, written safety programs, and who may stop unsafe work. If you are also preparing for a trade like C-10 Electrical or an EPA 608 certification, you will see the same safety logic there — the Law & Business version asks it from the employer's side.
You take the exam on a computer at a PSI testing center, closed book, with 3.5 hours per exam — the time limit published in CSLB's official Examinations FAQ. The result is pass/fail on the spot; a failing report shows your score by section, and you may retake after 21 days (with a re-examination fee to PSI) within your application's 18-month window. Since 2023 CSLB also offers an official Spanish version of the Law & Business exam — you select it when scheduling with PSI.
At 30 questions a day, a 500-question bank takes about three weeks: two passes through the material with time to re-drill your weakest sections before test day. Read the explanation on every question you miss — the exam rewords facts, so memorizing answer letters does nothing, but knowing why the down-payment cap is "the lesser of" carries across any wording. Pair the practice with CSLB's free official study guide, and treat any resource that promises a guaranteed pass as a red flag — no honest one does.
Try the full bank free for 3 days — no card needed. Then $9.99 for your first month and $19.99/month after that if you decide to continue, cancel anytime. A school sells a full prepaid package; this is a question bank you can stop at any time — and you study on your phone, in your language, whenever you have a few minutes.
Continue Law & Business practice 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.