News / Events
November 2011: Oceanside College of Beauty Students Prepared for New State Board Exam
Starting on October 1, the practical portion of the cosmetology state board exam was upgraded to the national version of the exam. Oceanside College of Beauty has been working hard to reconnect and retrain all of the graduates who still need to pass the exam and obtain their license. Whatever they're doing to help students prepare must be working, because all of the Oceanside College of Beauty students who have taken the new exam since it was implemented have passed!
The change is good news for beauty school students. The national exam is much more modern than the state version and will test them on services they'll likely be providing after graduation. Mobility is another added benefit. Now when a graduate moves out-of-state, their exam results will be honored if they move to one of the 38 states that also administers the National State Board of Cosmetology exam.
Here are the major differences to the practical portion of the exam:
- Students are no longer tested on finger waving or wet hair styling.
- Students are now tested on blow drying and curling hair with an electric iron.
- Hair cutting is more specific. Students now have to remove 1-inch on hair (previously it was ½ inch). They also must use a razor to cut the bottom half of the hair and scissors to cut the top half of the hair, above the ears.
- The facial portion no longer includes flood lights. It will now be a basic facial, with eyebrow waxing and tweezing.
Information and instructions for the national practical exam can be found on the California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology's website.
“California always had a bizarre practical exam. Before we had to teach students things they’d never actually use after state boards. Now we can teach them about services they’ll actually be using,” the School Supervisor at Oceanside College of Beauty Miss Alicia said.
Miss Alicia has been busy trying to reach out and retrain the graduates who have yet to pass the state board exam. She’s invited all of them to come back to Oceanside College of Beauty to join in Miss Talitha’s morning theory class. They’re also given the Candidate Information Bulletin, which is a packet that includes all information they’ll need to register for the National State Board of Cosmetology exam.
Miss Alicia said that at first the instructors were apprehensive because they weren’t given much instruction from the state about what would be included on the new exam. However, when they received feedback from the first group of students to take the exam, they were happy to hear that all of the students felt extremely prepared.
If you’re a graduate who still needs to pass the state board exam, please contact Oceanside College of Beauty at 760-757-6161 so they can help you prepare for the new version of the exam.
Call us at 1-760-757-6161 ext. 213 or click here to learn more about all that this beauty school has to offer.
