FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is the purpose of the California Responsible Beverage Service (RBS) training?

The purpose of RBS training is to train those who are seeking employment or are currently employed as servers of alcoholic beverages or as managers of such servers. Such training provides servers with the knowledge and skills to responsibly serve alcoholic beverages in order to prevent underage drinking; alcohol-related incidents, such as injuries, property damage, public disturbances, and illegal activity; and damage to businesses, such as fines, closings, loss of liquor licenses, and lost jobs.

You need to complete RBS Training if you are a server of alcoholic beverages or a manager of such servers. Servers include those who check IDs, take customers’ orders for alcoholic beverages, pour alcoholic beverages for customers, or deliver alcoholic beverages to customers. Managers of alcohol servers include those who train, directly hire, or oversee alcohol servers.

Yes, this course has been approved by the CA ABC. You will see us listed on the approved training provider list at the RBS Portal.

You must obtain a certificate within 60 calendar days from your first day of employment.

  1. Register as an Alcohol Server with the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (CA ABC) at their Responsible Beverage Service Portal. Please note that CA ABC charges a $3.00 registration fee that is separate from the training course fee. 
  2. Once you have registered, you will be given a nine-digit Server ID number by CA ABC. You will need this number to register for our training course.
  3. Register and pay for the Responsible Beverage Service Training course .
  4. Complete and pass the training course. Within 24 hours of your passing the course (and usually much quicker than that), we will submit your name and Server ID to the RBS Portal to give you access to the official RBS certificate exam. 
  5. Pass the RBS certificate exam with a score of 70% or better. You must pass the certificate exam within 30 days of passing the training course.

Our course, which includes an assessment at the end, takes around 2 hours to complete (more or less depending on how quickly you work). This time does NOT include the time to take the state certificate exam that is required for RBS certification after you have completed training.

No. If you take a break and exit the course, when you sign back in you will be taken to the point at which you left off.

The course is $12.50 for an individual or $11.00 per person for a group purchase of 10 or more.

How long do I have to complete the training?

You will have access to the course for 90 days after you sign up. Be sure, however, that you complete the course and the official certificate exam by your deadline as explained in “When do I need to complete California RBS Training?” above.

If you are having trouble getting back to where you left off, try the following:

  • From within the course, open the course outline (if it is not already open) by clicking on the three horizontal lines.
  • Scroll to near the top of the outline and click on “Main Menu” to go to the Main Menu page.
  • If there is a blue box on the Main Menu page, click on that box and see if you are taken to where you left off.

If this doesn’t work, try logging out of your RBSTrainingCA.com account and logging back in.

NOTE: In the sidebar with “Welcome,” “RBS Training,” “RBS Assessment,” and “Thank You”, when you click on “RBS Training” you’ll see an image of the first page of the course. When you click on that image, though, it should take you to the page where you left off.

If your problem isn’t solved by doing the above, please e-mail us at support@rbstrainingca.com or call 800 878-4239.

What the end of the course is a 25-question test. In order to pass the course, you will need to answer 80% (or 20 of 25) of the questions correctly. We provide a study guide and infographics that you may use when taking the test.

IMPORTANT: Passing this course (or any RBS training course) does NOT mean you are then RBS Certified. You will still need to take the official state certificate exam and pass that exam with a score of 70% or better.

You may retake it as many times as you need to pass.

You will have three attempts to pass the state certificate exam with a score of 70% or higher. If you do not pass within those three attempts, you will need to retake training before taking the exam again.

You will need to re-certify every three years.

Yes, this RBS training course is approved by the CA Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control for the entire state.

We cannot guarantee a passing score on the official certificate exam, but our course is based on the CA Department of ABC’s official curriculum for RBS training providers. In addition, we provide a downloadable study guide and useful infographics that you can use when taking the certificate exam (which is an open book exam).