California Solar Contractors License Exam Preparation Course

AET 150F-8561 Notes

This course is being taught on 6 Saturdays at Diablo Valley College www.dvc.edu in Pleasant Hill, CA from 9/12/09 through 10/17/09.

AET 150F Syllabus.pdf (PDF — 13 KB)

AET 150F schedule.pdf (PDF — 58 KB)

Here are some important links:

California Contractors State License Board (CSLB) website:

www.cslb.ca.gov

Application for Contractors License:

(click on image below for pdf application)

Disclosure of Criminal Plea/Conviction:

(it is important that you put anything here, since they already know about it and if they catch you lying, it would disqualify you, whereas if you tell the truth, you will appear to have learned an important lesson).

Here is a link to various guides and documents that you should order (they will mail them to you for free). This will help you study for the exam & let you know more about the process. This is required reading for the class.

Also, do not worry about the Asbestos open book examination. Once you pass your exam, you will get to take an open book examination & all of the answers are in the back of the book.

Here is what you will get once you are a California Licensed Solar Contractor:

It is the only Government Sanctioned Solar License that I know about & is a good credential to have in the industry. Also, getting NABCEP certified is another good goal to accomplish.

If you haven't already heard, the C46 license exam has more solar thermal than it does PV (solar electric). There are more questions on the exam about plumbing, than there are about electricity.

Another good & free resource for learning about Solar Hot Water (SHW) is the Pacific Energy Center. The have a SHW class coming up that is not full yet. The course is given online & in person. Find them at:

www.pge.com/classes

(search for solar under the audience heading)

Official C46 Study Guide:

Notes Week 2

Here is a link to a LinkedIn Group where we can exchange information untill we are all Licensed Solar Contractors:

Notes Week 3

This book is highly recommended:

A year before I sat for the exam, I carefully read:

Notes Week 4

The easiest way to study for the Law & Business portion of the exam is to review the multitudes of practice tests that are out there. Every contractor in any specialty & general contractors have to take this exam, so that means there is a lot more information out there than there is for the C46 solar specialty exam.

Here are some practice questions:

c46 business law.pdf (PDF — 191 KB)

c46 business law2 key.pdf (PDF — 78 KB)

Next weeks quiz will be exact questions from the practice questions above. This is an exercise in memorizing multiple choice questions, which is how most people pass contractors license exams.

Here is a link to the CSLB study guide for the Law & Business portion of the exam:

http://www.cslb.ca.gov/Resources/StudyGuides/LawStudyGuide.pdf

Talk about extra credit!

A student showed up to class Sat. 10-3-09 on a

Solar Powered Bike

Check him out at: www.solarpoweredbike.com

That was 116 miles round trip for a C46 class!

Notes Week 5

Here is a mobile study guide:

c46 mobile study guide.pdf (PDF — 85 KB)

One of the best ways to assimilate extraneous information is to input it into your subconscious on an ongoing basis, not necessarily all at once, but throughout the day. Put this in your pocket & every time you have 30 seconds to spare, take in some information.