Florida GC exam pass rates: what you're up against.
Florida GC exam pass rates from Pearson VUE, 2020 to 2026: first-time and repeat rates for all three parts, plus building and residential.
Short answer: about half. In 2025, first-time takers passed Business and Finance 56% of the time, Contract Administration 63% and Project Management 51%. If you have to retake, the odds drop. Repeat takers passed Business and Finance only 37% of the time. Every figure below is from Pearson VUE’s own reports, with the dates attached.
If you’re still checking whether you qualify, start with the requirements for a Florida general contractor license.
Florida GC exam pass rates at a glance
Pearson VUE runs the Florida contractor exams for DBPR. Its Exam Performance Summary reports every graded exam by exam code, split into first-time takers and repeaters. Here are the three general contractor parts.
2025 (Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2025)
| Exam part | First-time pass rate | Repeat pass rate | All attempts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business and Finance | 56% (4,055 of 7,213) | 37% (1,500 of 4,053) | 49% (5,555 of 11,266) |
| General Contract Administration | 63% (1,544 of 2,450) | 54% (497 of 912) | 61% (2,041 of 3,362) |
| General Project Management | 51% (1,227 of 2,388) | 46% (666 of 1,442) | 49% (1,893 of 3,830) |
2026 so far (Jan 1 to Sep 8, 2026)
| Exam part | First-time pass rate | Repeat pass rate | All attempts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business and Finance | 55% (2,452 of 4,425) | 34% (887 of 2,576) | 48% (3,339 of 7,001) |
| General Contract Administration | 67% (1,001 of 1,497) | 57% (317 of 552) | 64% (1,318 of 2,049) |
| General Project Management | 50% (731 of 1,470) | 45% (450 of 1,010) | 48% (1,181 of 2,480) |
Source: Pearson VUE, Exam Performance Summary, FL DBPR Electrical and Construction. Exam codes 36-FL-CN, 36-FL-CA and 36-FL-CM.
How to read these numbers
Three things before you let a number scare you or relax you.
They count exams, not people. Someone who fails Business and Finance twice and passes on the third try shows up as one first-time fail, one repeat fail and one repeat pass. So “56% of first attempts passed” is right. “56% of people pass” isn’t.
Business and Finance is shared. General, building and residential contractor candidates all take the same Business and Finance exam (36-FL-CN). Its rate covers all three license types, not just general contractors. Contract Administration and Project Management have separate exams for each license type.
An average includes everyone. Self-studiers, classroom students, people who prepped for six months and people who crammed for two weeks. Your result depends on how you prepare, not on the average.
The trend, 2020 to 2026
First-time pass rates have been steady for six years. Business and Finance has stayed between 52% and 61%.
| First-time pass rate | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business and Finance | 61% | 53% | 52% | 55% | 57% | 56% | 55% |
| General Contract Administration | 63% | 61% | 62% | 57% | 60% | 63% | 67% |
| General Project Management | 53% | 53% | 49% | 52% | 54% | 51% | 50% |
| Repeat pass rate | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business and Finance | 37% | 33% | 32% | 36% | 42% | 37% | 34% |
| General Contract Administration | 45% | 55% | 46% | 43% | 53% | 54% | 57% |
| General Project Management | 39% | 43% | 39% | 41% | 48% | 46% | 45% |
*2026 covers Jan 1 to Sep 8, 2026. Every other year is Jan 1 to Dec 31. Source: Pearson VUE, Exam Performance Summary, FL DBPR. 2020 had far fewer exams than later years.
Two patterns hold in every one of those seven years:
- Repeat takers pass less often than first-time takers, on all three parts.
- Business and Finance has the lowest repeat pass rate of the three. In most years, about one in three retakes passed.
That second one is the number I’d pay attention to. Failing B&F once doesn’t make the next attempt easier. It usually makes it harder. Prepare properly the first time.
Building and residential contractor pass rates
If you’re going for a certified building (CBC) or residential (CRC) license, you take the same Business and Finance exam as above, plus your own Contract Administration and Project Management exams.
| 2025 (Jan 1 to Dec 31) | First-time | Repeat | All attempts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Building Contract Administration (36-FL-BC) | 63% | 64% | 64% |
| Building Project Management (36-FL-BM) | 59% | 49% | 56% |
| Residential Contract Administration (36-FL-RA) | 51% | 57% | 53% |
| Residential Project Management (36-FL-RM) | 47% | 51% | 49% |
These exams are much smaller (338 to 697 first-time exams each in 2025), so their rates move more from year to year. Source: Pearson VUE, Exam Performance Summary, FL DBPR.
Not sure which license your experience supports? The license planner walks you through it.
Section-by-section breakdown
The Florida CGC exam has three parts. You need 70 percent on each.
Business and Finance: the longest part
Business and Finance is 120 scored questions over 6 hours 30 minutes. That’s the longest and most content-heavy part of the exam. In 2025, first-time takers passed it 56% of the time, and repeat takers passed it 37% of the time.
Here’s the content breakdown straight from the state’s Examination Content Information document:
| Content Area | Weight |
|---|---|
| D — Conducting Accounting Functions | 32% |
| B — Managing Administrative Duties | 26% |
| F — Complying with Government Regulations | 15% |
| A — Establishing the Contracting Business | 11% |
| C — Managing Trade Operations | 10% |
| E — Managing Human Resources | 6% |
Nearly a third of the exam is accounting. Not “business math,” actual accounting: accounts receivable, accounts payable, cash flow, payroll, tax returns and financial ratios. Another quarter is administrative duties: overhead, bids, proposals, insurance and contracts. If you’re strong on the jobsite but haven’t spent time with a balance sheet, B&F is where the exam gets you.
People who fail B&F usually trip on one of two things: running out of time, or underestimating how much content there is. We wrote a full breakdown in Why People Fail the Florida Business & Finance Exam.
If Business and Finance is the part you’re worried about, here’s our Florida Business and Finance exam prep.
Contract Administration: the most-passed part
Contract Administration is 60 scored questions over 4 hours 30 minutes. It has the highest pass rate of the three every year: first-time takers passed it 63% of the time in 2025 and 67% from Jan 1 to Sep 8, 2026. The content draws heavily from AIA contract documents (A201, A401, A701), the Contractors Manual and the Florida Building Code. Try a few Contract Administration practice questions.
The people who struggle with CA are usually the ones who didn’t spend enough time on AIA documents. A201 alone, the General Conditions of the Contract for Construction, drives a big chunk of the questions.
Project Management: don’t treat it as the easy one
Project Management is 60 scored questions over 4 hours 30 minutes. It covers scheduling (CPM), safety and OSHA, purchasing, equipment and building code requirements. First-time takers passed it 51% of the time in 2025 and 50% from Jan 1 to Sep 8, 2026. Here are some Project Management practice questions.
Jobsite experience helps here, but it doesn’t carry you. The building code questions are specific, and OSHA questions pull from 29 CFR 1926 in ways that trip up experienced contractors who know the rules on the jobsite but not in print.
What a retake actually costs
You only retake the part you failed. You wait at least 21 days, register again, pay that part’s fee and focus on the gap that cost you points. There’s no limit on attempts, but every part has to be passed within four years of your first attempt.
The state’s fixed fees for a first-time pass are $540, before books, prep and insurance. A single retake adds $175 to $215 in fees alone. And with Business and Finance, the odds get worse on the second try, not better. If you’re already there, read what to study differently the second time.
What the people who pass tend to do
I passed all three parts in 2026. Here’s what worked for me, and what I see in the people who pass:
They budget most of their study time for B&F. Not a third of their time. At least half. The accounting and administrative content is dense, and it’s 120 questions, double the other two parts.
They take full-length timed practice exams. Not ten-question quizzes on their phone. Full-length, timed sessions with only their reference books. Three to five before test day.
They tab and highlight their books properly. The exam is open book, but the reference materials total thousands of pages. If you can’t find an answer in under 60 seconds, open book hurts you instead of helping. Here’s how to tab and highlight your reference books.
They use the three-pass method on exam day. Pass 1: answer everything you know cold. Pass 2: do the fast lookups. Pass 3: tackle the hardest questions last. Full walkthrough in How to Pass the Florida Business and Finance Exam.
The bottom line
About half of Business and Finance and Project Management attempts fail. On a first try, you’re looking at roughly 56% on Business and Finance, 63% on Contract Administration and 51% on Project Management (2025). On a retake of Business and Finance, it’s closer to one in three.
Hard doesn’t mean unpassable. It means the margin between passing and failing is preparation. Our pillar guide on how to pass the Florida GC exam lays out the plan end to end, and the timed practice exam is free to try right now.
Our Business and Finance course is built around the failure patterns above: timed practice, math worked step by step and a book tabbing guide. It’s $197, and it’s still being built. Get on the waitlist and you’ll hear the day it opens.
Figures updated Oct 3, 2026 from Pearson VUE’s Exam Performance Summary for FL DBPR Electrical and Construction, covering Jan 1, 2020 to Sep 8, 2026. We’ll update them when the full 2026 report is out.
Related reading: How Hard Is the Florida GC Exam? · Why People Fail the Florida Business and Finance Exam · How to Pass Business and Finance · How Much Does a Florida GC License Cost?
Frequently asked questions
What is the pass rate for the Florida general contractor exam?
It depends on the part. In 2025, first-time takers passed Business and Finance 56% of the time, General Contract Administration 63% and General Project Management 51%, according to Pearson VUE's Exam Performance Summary for Florida DBPR (Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2025). From Jan 1 to Sep 8, 2026 the first-time rates were 55%, 67% and 50%. These count graded exams, not people.
What is the pass rate for the Florida Business and Finance exam?
First-time takers passed Business and Finance 56% of the time in 2025 and 55% of the time from Jan 1 to Sep 8, 2026. Repeat takers passed 37% and 34% of the time. All attempts combined, it was 49% and 48%. Source: Pearson VUE Exam Performance Summary for Florida DBPR. Business and Finance is the same exam for general, building and residential contractor candidates, so the rate covers all three.
Do people who retake the Florida contractor exam pass more often?
No. Repeat takers did worse than first-time takers on all three general contractor parts in every year from 2020 through 2026. Business and Finance is the hardest to retake: repeat takers passed it only 32% to 42% of the time, depending on the year (Pearson VUE, 2020 to Sep 8, 2026).
Which part of the Florida GC exam has the lowest pass rate?
From Jan 1 to Sep 8, 2026, Business and Finance and General Project Management both passed 48% of all attempts, and General Contract Administration passed 64% (Pearson VUE). Business and Finance is the longest part, at 120 scored questions in 6 hours 30 minutes, and it has the lowest repeat pass rate of the three.
Where do Florida contractor exam pass rates come from?
From Pearson VUE, which delivers the exams for Florida DBPR. Its Exam Performance Summary reports graded exams, passes and fails for each exam code, split into first-time takers and repeaters, for each calendar year. The figures here cover Jan 1, 2020 to Sep 8, 2026.
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