It's All In Your Perspective

I recently read a report in which the writer was obviously overjoyed at what they had discovered and began by saying:
To be accredited by the National Accrediting Commission of Cosmetology Arts and Sciences (NACCAS), which allows their students to receive federal scholarships and grants, beauty schools must maintain a 70% State Board Exam pass rate among their students...

One thing people seem to agree on is that most cosmetology schools prepare their students well for the State Board Exam...

Typically a state will require a student to pass both a Written exam (to assess their "book" knowledge) and a Practical exam (to demonstrate their hair styling abilities)...

Because instructors tend to know there own state requirements backwards and forwards, it is best to choose a school in the state where you want to work...

It is not unusual to feel nervous while preparing for the State Board Exam...

You should feel nervous while preparing for your State Board Exam. You have spent thousands of hours and many more thousands of dollars preparing for this moment, and if you are not nervous, there is probably something wrong!

I do not want to offend the writer of this article, and therefore I will not mention where I saw it, but there are so many things wrong in the space of a few sentences:

1 - Many states practice reciprocity, so it is irrelevant what state you have your training and license in if the other state will honor the license (you can find this information by visiting http://www.nictesting.org or your state board of cosmetology website).

2 - If reciprocity will not work for you, it is best to choose a school in the state where you will take your exam, not not where you want to work. You will have to pass the exam before you go to work.

3 - Look at the "stats" the article refers to: a 70% pass rate requirement.
That sounds impressive until you realize it means 30% fail.
Almost 1 in 3 fail!
If you and 2 friends take your exams together, 2 will pass and 1 will fail - lets hope it isn't you. And yet, the writer seems to think this is a GOOD THING.

4 - Almost 80% of the states now administer the NIC Exam (so the written portion of the test is the same no matter what state you take it in). And the other 20% of the states still using their own test are asking the same questions, so every instructor, in every school, knows the written portion very well. The problem is they are usually spread to thin, with to many students, and simple do not have time to share all their Written exam knowledge with you. Because the days are to short, you are often left on your own to figure out exaxctly what will be on the Written exam. So, your instructor knows what is on the exam, but...

5 - The question is: Do You?

6 - Although the writer didn't mention this, the failure rate is higher on the Written exam than on the Practical exam (see the previous article, "Life After Beauty School").

There isn't much you can do to change the overall pass rate,
but you can make certain that you are in the 70% pass group and not the 30% fail group.

As a final thought;
if you are not going to take steps to make certain you are in the 70% pass group,
drive to the test site yourself -
you don't want to ruin your friends excitement on the drive home as they celebrate their passing the exam.

For help in passing your written exam;
www.cosmetologystateboardexam.com