PSI is the testing company that administers TDLR's barbering and cosmetology licensing exams. Initial licensure requires two: a written exam and a practical exam, each with a 70% passing score. They are not trivial — in FY2025, 77,520 exams were administered with a 66.48% overall pass rate. Operator written exams were the highest volume (21,331), followed by manicurist (9,591), esthetician (8,544), and Class A Barber (8,457).
Two facts every renewing licensee should keep straight:
- Continuing education never has a licensing exam. CE is completion-based — finish the required hours and the certificate issues. TDLR mandates no final exam and no passing score; an approved course may still include short in-lesson knowledge or attendance checks as part of its design.
- You risk facing PSI again only if your license lapses 3 or more years. At that point TDLR treats you as a new applicant: a new application and the current new-applicant requirements, which may include the written and practical exams again.
That second point is the real cost of letting a license expire. The late renewal fees ($75 if expired 90 days or less, $100 beyond that) are recoverable; starting over as a new applicant after the 3-year mark is not.
What it means for your renewal
Renewal CE will never put you back in a testing center — our courses have no final exam, just short in-lesson knowledge or attendance checks depending on the approved course design. The way you do end up back at PSI is letting the license sit expired past 3 years, so renew on time even in seasons you are barely practicing (or use inactive status instead).