Pass rates
Cosmetology pass rates in California
How many people pass the written exam, by language, by route and by quarter, from the board's own published results.
Board figures for January to March 2026.
The headline numbers
- First-time takers
- 65%
- First-time tests: 1,744
- Taking it again
- 33%
- 1,512
- Tests in the quarter
- 3,256
By exam language
| Exam language | First-time tests | Passed first time | Passed on a retake |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | 1,346 | 69% | 35% |
| Spanish | 137 | 27% | 19% |
| Vietnamese | 168 | 63% | 47% |
| Korean | 24 * | 63% | 48% |
| Chinese | 69 | 78% | 48% |
* A row with fewer than 50 tests moves on a single result. Read it as a sign, not as a number.
The board counts tests, not people, so somebody who took the exam twice is in the figures twice.
By how you trained
| How you trained | Passed first time |
|---|---|
| School program | 70% |
| Apprentice program | 29% |
| Trained outside the United States | 33% |
The Spanish gap is real
Spanish takers pass far less often than English takers on the same paper. The board checked the translation for bias and found almost nothing, and some schools that teach in Spanish tell students to take the exam in English. Our Spanish questions keep the English term in parentheses for that reason.
Take these numbers as a JSON file
Published by California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology, Board meeting materials, May 18, 2026, agenda item 9b.