How to count one CE course toward ethics and general hours

Suppose your certificate awards 7 CE hours and identifies 3 of them as ethics. If your board accepts the course and those category hours, record 7 total hours and 3 ethics hours. The remaining 4 hours are other content. You have earned 7 hours, not 10.

A total-hours requirement is different from a separate general-content category. The total can include the ethics portion. If you also select a general-content category for the remaining material, enter 4 for that category.

Category requirements can sit within an overall CE requirement. For example, the California Board of Behavioral Sciences says its licensees’ required Law and Ethics hours count toward their overall 36-hour requirement. See the board’s CE information and FAQ.

That does not make every mixed-topic course an ethics course. Use the category breakdown on the certificate or provider’s approved course record. If it is unclear, ask the provider to document the qualifying portion and confirm acceptance with your board. Provider approval, delivery format, renewal dates, and category rules still apply.

If an accepted 1.5-hour course awards 0.5 hours of ethics, enter 1.5 total and 0.5 ethics. Do not round the ethics portion up to 1. These examples assume your board accepts the stated increments; use the hours your provider awards under your board’s rules.

1. Add the course with its full awarded hours and attach the certificate.
2. Select the categories it qualifies for, then enter the hours for each. Each category starts with all course hours, so change any partial category before saving.
3. Review certificate suggestions against the document. A printed “3.0 hours ethics” can prefill the ethics amount.

Each category must be between zero and the course total. Categories can overlap where your board permits it, but the course contributes to the total only once. You do not need duplicate entries for the same course.

Older entries without category allocations still use their full course hours for each selected category. Edit mixed-topic courses when the certificate supports a smaller category amount.