Jurisprudence exams: who takes them, when, and where

01 In short

A jurisprudence exam is a state board's test on the practice act and board rules for your profession, usually taken online with the rules open in front of you. Most boards require it once, before the first license: the Texas nursing jurisprudence exam is only for new and endorsement applicants, and licensed Texas nurses instead take 2 contact hours of jurisprudence and ethics CE every third renewal. A few boards repeat the exam at every renewal, including Texas for LPCs and physical therapists and Ohio for physical therapists.

Texas nursing NJE

50 items, 2 hours, pass with 38 correct (75%)

Open-book?

Usually. Texas BON lets you use its website during the NJE

Repeated at renewal

TX LPC, TX PT, OH PT, NC LCMHC, TX EMS

Texas BHEC exam fee

$39 per the Council fee schedule

Counts as CE?

Not the Texas NJE; some renewal exams do (e.g. OH JAM = 2 hours)

02 What it is

What is a jurisprudence exam?

It is a test on law, not on clinical knowledge. The questions come from your state's practice act, the board's rules and a few related statutes. The Texas psychology exam, for example, pulls 15% of its 100 items from other Texas codes, including Family Code chapter 32 on consent to treatment and Health and Safety Code chapter 611 on mental health records.

Boards use it in three places. Before the first license, so applicants prove they have read the rules. At renewal, in a handful of states that want licensees to re-read the rules every cycle. And in discipline, where a board order can require the exam or a jurisprudence course.

The format is friendlier than a licensing exam. Most are online, unproctored and open-book: you keep the rules open in another window and look up the answer. That does not make them a formality. The Texas nursing exam fails you after 13 wrong answers, and the Texas psychology exam needs 85%.

A jurisprudence exam is also different from jurisprudence CE. The exam is a pass/fail test the board runs or contracts out. Jurisprudence CE is an ordinary continuing education course on law and ethics that you buy from an approved provider and count toward your renewal hours. Texas nurses meet both terms at different points in their career, which is where most of the confusion starts.

03 State-by-state table

Which states require a jurisprudence exam or course?

Rows are by board, because one state can run five different exams. Each row links to the page where the board, or the testing service it names, states the rule. A pass on one Texas BHEC exam does not count for another profession's exam.

Washington's licensing page still tells PT applicants to pass the jurisprudence exam, while the rule effective December 31, 2025 moves it to the first CE cycle. If you apply in Washington now, ask the board which version it applies to your file.

04 Texas nursing NJE

Texas nursing jurisprudence exam: format and passing score

The Texas Board of Nursing jurisprudence exam is an applicant requirement. Since September 2008 every NCLEX applicant must complete it before the board issues an Authorization to Test. Nurses coming in by endorsement must pass it before they get a permanent license; the board tells them to file the application, wait fifteen business days, then log on and take it.

You get 50 questions and two hours, in one sitting. A clock and the question number sit in the top right corner. You may keep the BON website open in another window and use the printable resource list, which maps each topic to the Nursing Practice Act section or board rule where the answer lives.

Three things count as a fail besides wrong answers: running out of time, closing the window, and a dropped connection. There is no back button, so you cannot revisit a question. A pass needs at least 38 correct; 13 wrong ends it. You can retake after 24 hours.

When you pass, the result posts to your BON file automatically. Print the certificate for your records and do not mail it to the board.

A new graduate in Houston who finishes the NJE in March and then waits on fingerprints has nothing more to do on the exam. If the result is already on file from an earlier application, board staff apply it to the new one.

The NJE cannot be used to satisfy the jurisprudence and ethics stipulation in a Texas BON disciplinary order. That needs a separate course.

Register for the NJE (Texas BON) · NCLEX applicant steps · Endorsement steps

05 Exam vs. CE hours

Nursing jurisprudence exam vs. the 2-hour jurisprudence CE

Licensed Texas nurses often hear from a colleague that they "have to take the jurisprudence exam". The board's FAQ answers that directly: if you are currently licensed in Texas, you do not. What you owe is a 2-contact-hour CE course on nursing jurisprudence and ethics, once in every block of three two-year licensing periods.

Keep the course certificate for three licensure cycles. The BON checks this requirement by random audit, not at the renewal screen.

06 Texas BHEC exams

Texas LPC, social work and psychology jurisprudence exams (BHEC)

The Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council runs a separate jurisprudence exam for each of its four boards, all delivered online by eStrategy Solutions. The Council's fee schedule lists the same $39 exam fee for social workers, MFTs, professional counselors and psychologists. Every application needs a certificate dated no more than 6 months before the Council receives it (Council rule 882.5), so do not take it a year early.

Counselors carry it for their whole career. LPC rule 681.140 says a licensee "must successfully complete the Texas jurisprudence examination each renewal period", and a pass may be claimed as 1 hour of ethics CE. An LPC Associate upgrading to LPC needs a pass within six months before the upgrade, too.

Social work's version is gentler. The board calls it an open-book, no-fail learning exercise with all the material built in, about two hours long and with no time limit. It is required for LBSW, LMSW and LCSW applications. At renewal it is optional, but completing it during the current period earns 1 ethics hour, uploaded to the Council's CE reporting system. The exam you took before licensure cannot count toward your first renewal.

Psychology is the strictest of the three: 100 multiple-choice items, open-book, 85% to pass, and the registration expires 14 days after you sign up with eStrategy. Almost half the items (45%) cover patient care management rules.

Letting any BHEC license sit inactive for four years or more brings the exam back: reactivation requires passing the relevant jurisprudence exam, unless you hold another active license in the same profession.

LPC jurisprudence exam · Social work jurisprudence exam · Psychology jurisprudence exam · Psychology exam information sheet (PDF)

07 PT jurisprudence (JAM)

Physical therapy jurisprudence exams in AZ, OH, WA, NJ, FL and TX

Most PT boards hand the exam to the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT) as a Jurisprudence Assessment Module, or JAM. The state modules share a format: 50 questions, 90 minutes, 80% to pass, $48 plus a 1.6% processing fee. Texas uses a longer version.

• Arizona: A.R.S. 32-2022 makes a passed jurisprudence exam a condition of every PT and PTA license. The AZ JAM must be finished within 96 hours of purchase or you pay again. Compact privilege holders take it with every purchase and renewal.
• Ohio: The OH JAM is required for new applicants and for both PTs and PTAs each renewal period, where it counts for 2 of the 24 (PT) or 12 (PTA) CE hours. First-time renewals have no CE requirement, so they skip the JAM.
• Washington: Under WAC 246-915-085 (effective Dec 31, 2025), PTs and PTAs pass the state jurisprudence exam within their first full CE cycle after initial licensure, and it counts as 1 hour of the 32 (PT) or 24 (PTA) hours.
• New Jersey: Applicants pass the NJ JAM before licensure. At renewal the JAM is the 1.5-credit jurisprudence share of the 4 credits of jurisprudence and ethics.
• Florida: The Florida Laws and Rules exam is a separate test you register for with FSBPT alongside the NPTE, taken through Prometric. The board lists a $65 exam fee to FSBPT and no fee for a retake application.
• Texas: The TX JAM has 75 items and a 140-minute limit with no pausing, and you must finish within 48 hours of registering. It is free for initial applicants and $48 plus 1.6% for each renewal attempt. After a wrong answer you get a link to the reference; after a second wrong answer it shows the correct answer and rationale.

The Texas PT board recommends taking the TX JAM at least one week before your license expires. Attempts are unlimited, but each one is a new fee.

08 Jurisprudence CE hours

Which renewals need jurisprudence CE hours instead of an exam?

Plenty of boards skip the exam and require a law-and-rules course inside your renewal hours. These are ordinary CE purchases: check that the provider is approved for your board, then report the hours like any other course.

A Florida RN who renews this cycle needs 2 hours of Florida Laws & Rules among the 24 required hours, and the board says approved courses are listed at cebroker.com (see how CE Broker works). Florida mental health counselors owe 3 hours of laws and rules every third biennium, included in the 25 general hours of their 30-hour renewal.

Rules for other professions sit on our state pages, for example Florida nursing CE, Florida counselor CE and Texas NP CE. If you hold licenses in several states, the multi-state CE planner puts their renewal rules side by side.

Florida RN renewal requirements · Florida LMHC renewal requirements

09 Step by step

How to take a jurisprudence exam without redoing it

1. Confirm which exam your board names. Texas LPC, social work, MFT and psychology exams are separate, and a pass on one does not satisfy another.
2. Check the timing window before you register: 6 months before the application for Texas BHEC, one year of validity in Colorado, after January 1 of the renewal year in North Carolina.
3. Register only through the link on your board's page (BON site, BHEC page to eStrategy, My TMB, FSBPT, Prometric). Have your FSBPT ID ready for a JAM.
4. Open the practice act and board rules in a second window before you start. Texas BON's printable resource list tells you where each topic is defined.
5. Finish in one sitting on a stable connection. A dropped connection fails the Texas NJE, and the TX JAM cannot be paused.
6. Save the certificate. Texas BON says not to mail it; Texas social workers upload it to the CE system to claim the ethics hour; North Carolina counselors attach it to the renewal.

Answer lists from flashcard sites go stale. The Texas psychology board says its exam is regularly updated as the law changes, so study from the rules and the board's own prep material.

10 Questions

Jurisprudence exam questions