What IDFPR published
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation’s notice reads:
“Effective October 1st 2026 examinations for the barber, cosmetology, esthetician and nail technician professions will be available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese.”
That is the whole of the official statement, and it covers four licenses and five languages. It was reported in the press on 3 October by WAND-TV; the notice above, not the news story, is the source we rely on.
The candidate bulletin now in force says the same thing from the testing side. Every page of it is footed Effective 10/1/2026, and it lists the available languages as “English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, and Simplified Chinese”.
Who does what, because three organizations are involved
This trips people up constantly, and it matters more once you are choosing a language on a form.
- Continental Testing Services (CTS) takes your application and returns your score.
- PSI is where you schedule and where you sit — the computer-based test centers across Illinois.
- IDFPR issues the license.
So the language you test in is chosen in the examination process those three run between them. If you are unsure which step takes your language preference, ask CTS before you pay, not PSI on the day.
The passing standard
The bulletin in force states that you need a score of 75 or higher. That is the figure, in the words the bulletin uses. We quote it that way deliberately: Illinois does not describe it as a percentage of questions answered correctly, and we are not going to translate it into one for you.
What this changes about preparing
The obvious reading is that nothing changes except a dropdown. That is not quite right, and the difference is worth ten minutes of thought before you start.
The vocabulary is still the hard part
A written licensing exam is mostly a test of whether you know what the words mean. Sitting in Spanish or Korean removes the burden of reading a second language under time pressure — which is real, and for some candidates decisive. What it does not remove is the need to know that the thing you call one name in your kitchen has another name on the paper.
If you learned this trade in Spanish, Chinese, Korean or Vietnamese, you already have the concepts. What you may not have is the exam’s own term for each one, in the language you have now chosen to sit in.
Decide the language early, then study in it
The worst version of this is to prepare entirely in one language and then sit in another because the option was there. Pick the language you will test in, and spend your last fortnight reading the terms in that language, whatever language you do the thinking in.
Check the outlines in the bulletin that is in force
Whatever you prepare from, prepare against the content outline in the bulletin currently in force for your license — the one footed Effective 10/1/2026 — rather than a copy saved earlier. Domain names and weights are what tell you where the questions come from, and they are the part of a bulletin most worth reading twice.
What we offer today
Our Illinois banks are the English edition: English questions, with explanations you can switch into your own language as you work. That combination suits a candidate who is comfortable reading English terms but wants the reasoning in the language they learned the trade in.
If you want the questions themselves in Spanish, Chinese, Korean or Vietnamese for Illinois, that is not something we sell today. We would rather say so plainly than let a product page imply otherwise.
Where to check before you book
Fees and language options are set by the agencies, not by us, and they move. Confirm what is in force on your own test date with IDFPR and with Continental Testing Services. Our Illinois licensing guide carries the current figures, the fee per license and the examination content areas, and we date every claim on it.