Where you can take the Law and Business exam

Twenty-one computer-based test centers run the Contractors State License Board (CSLB) exams, twenty of them in California and one in Wilsonville, Oregon, outside Portland. All of them belong to PSI, the company CSLB contracts with to administer its 58 examinations. Between August 2025 and July 2026 those centers delivered 60,100 exams, and the board’s Testing Program Update in its September 2026 meeting packet breaks that total down by location, which tells you where the crowds are.

The California centers

CSLB’s Examination FAQ lists the twenty California locations by city: Agoura Hills, Atascadero, Bakersfield, Carson, Diamond Bar, El Monte/Santa Fe Springs, Fresno, Irvine, Lawndale, Redding, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Santa Rosa, Union City, Ventura, Visalia and Walnut Creek. The packet’s count for each, August 2025 to July 2026:

Sacramento and San Diego each handle more than a tenth of the state’s sittings, and the six busiest centers together account for over half. If you want a particular day at one of those, book the moment the Notice to Schedule arrives. Diamond Bar and Redding, at the other end, administered a few hundred exams each.

Street addresses and driving directions for every center are in PSI’s candidate information bulletin for the CSLB exams, which also carries the identification and security rules for the door.

Taking the Law and Business exam in another state

Since April 2024 the Law and Business exam has been available at the other 20 PSI test centers approved by the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) across the country. The Examination FAQ names the states: Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. The 255 exams the packet files under “Various” were sat at those centers.

The trade exams are different. Most of them can only be taken in California or at Wilsonville. The packet ties a trade exam’s nationwide release to the digitizing of its physical exam booklet, a transition CSLB began in September 2024, and as of May 1, 2026 eight trade exams are offered nationwide: C-6 Cabinet, Millwork and Finish Carpentry, C-9 Drywall, C-15 Flooring and Floor Covering, C-32 Parking and Highway Improvement, C-33 Painting and Decorating, C-35 Lathing and Plastering, C-39 Roofing and C-55 Water Conditioning. If your classification is not on that list and you live out of state, plan on two trips or one trip with both papers on the same day, which PSI allows.

The Spanish versions of the exams are on a separate track. The packet says their nationwide release is pending while PSI works on Spanish graphics and the toggle that shows the English text beside the Spanish, so for now a Spanish sitting is a California or Oregon sitting.

Hours and booking

PSI’s centers are open for testing from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday, except on major holidays. You book online at test-takers.psiexams.com/cacon, any hour of the day, or by phone at (877) 392-6422 on weekdays from 4:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and on weekends from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Pacific time. Booking opens only after CSLB has referred your application for testing and mailed the Notice to Schedule for Examination; there is no prescheduling. Each exam is its own fee and its own appointment, so the law and trade papers can be on the same day or weeks apart.

You can cancel or move an appointment without losing the fee if PSI receives the notice two days before the sitting, measured to the hour: for a 9:00 a.m. Monday appointment, before 9:00 a.m. the previous Saturday. A voicemail or an email does not count; use the PSI website or speak to a PSI representative on the phone. Inside that window, or after a missed appointment, you forfeit the fee and pay PSI again to rebook. The rescheduling fee CSLB sets is $100 under 16 CCR s. 811(b)(1). The fees, scheduling and retakes post covers the rest of the money.

What to bring, and what to leave in the car

One valid, unexpired, government-issued photo identification: a U.S. driver’s license or state identification card from any state, a passport book or card, a permanent resident card, a U.S. military identification or a U.S. employment authorization card. The name on it has to match the name on your application; if you changed your name with the board recently, check with PSI that their file agrees. Arriving without acceptable identification counts as a missed appointment.

The prohibited list is long and includes purses, bags and luggage, phones, food and drink including water, good-luck items and calculators; a calculator is provided. Every exam is on a computer, multiple choice, and you leave with a printed score report.

Sources

• CSLB board meeting packet, September 2 and 3, 2026, Testing Program Update, packet pages 186 to 187 (“Examination Administration Unit”, the test center list, the nationwide release note and “Number of Examinations Administered by Test Center”) and page 189 (digitized booklets)
• CSLB Examinations Frequently Asked Questions, sections on scheduling, test center locations, canceling and rescheduling, identification and prohibited items
• CSLB rules, 16 CCR Division 8, s. 811(b)(1), as reprinted in the CSLB Law Book 2026
• Licensing Examination Information Guide, PSI’s candidate bulletin for the CSLB examinations, test center addresses and directions, committed in the corpus as psi-candidate-information-bulletin