Wisconsin Psychology Licensure Requirements

Not yet independently verified for this state. Confirm with the board →

Wis. Stat. s. 455.04 (1) (d) and Wis. Admin. Code s. Psy 2.10 require at least 3,000 hours of supervised graduate-level experience. At least 1,500 of those must be a completed internship accrued after all doctoral-level coursework is finished. The remaining 1,500 hours are flexible and need NOT be postdoctoral: they may be any combination of pre-internship hours (accrued after the first year of the doctoral program, or during the first year if the applicant already holds a master's in psychology or its equivalent), internship hours in excess of the required 1,500, post-internship hours accrued before the doctorate is conferred, and/or postdoctoral hours. Wisconsin therefore does not mandate a postdoctoral year, which is why postDoc is null rather than a number. At least 25% of the required experience must be face-to-face client contact, and 65% must consist of that face-to-face contact plus direct service (Psy 2.10 (3), (4)). The primary supervisor must be a licensed psychologist with post-licensure experience and training or experience in supervision, and may not be an immediate relative by blood or marriage (Psy 2.10 (5)). Hours are documented on DSPS Form #2555. Caution: the DSPS Psychologist profession web page still carries an outdated summary line reading 'One year of supervised experience following conferral of the doctoral degree' and cites a non-existent 'Psy 2.09(3), Wis. Stats.'; the governing statute and current administrative code quoted in the evidence below control. Applicants for licensure by reciprocity under s. Psy 2.013 are expressly excepted from the 3,000-hour requirement.

Required

Called the Jurisprudence Exam or Wisconsin Statutes and Rules Examination. Wis. Stat. s. 455.045 (1) (b) requires 'a written examination on state law related to the practice of psychology.' DSPS describes it as a computer-based, open-resource test on the Wisconsin Statutes and Administrative Code relating to the practice of psychology, delivered online at https://eptol.drl.wi.gov/ under 'Test Launching.' It is not timed; a candidate may exit and return to it at any point over three months before submitting. A score of 80% is required to pass. Question weighting published by DSPS: Psy 1 - 10.53%, Psy 2 - 1.32%, Psy 4 - 18.42%, Psy 5 - 68.32%, and Wis. Stat. ch. 51 - 1.32%. Candidates receive authorization and instructions for the exam after DSPS's initial review of a submitted application.

Required for all three licensure routes: standard licensure (Psy 2.01 (6)), the interim psychologist license (Psy 2.012 (1) (e)), and licensure by reciprocity (Psy 2.013 (4)) - it is one of the few requirements NOT waived for out-of-state applicants. Under Psy 2.05 (4) the board sets the passing score after consulting subject-matter experts who have reviewed a representative sample of the exam questions and candidate performance statistics; DSPS currently publishes that threshold as 80%. No separate exam fee is published by DSPS for the jurisprudence exam, so the fee is left null rather than assumed to be zero.

1. Earn a doctoral degree in psychology from a program accredited by the APA, the CPA, or another organization approved by the Wisconsin Psychology Examining Board - or obtain academic training the board finds substantially equivalent under s. Psy 2.09, or a credential evaluation from the National Register or another board-approved evaluator.
2. Complete an internship of at least 1,500 hours accrued after all doctoral-level coursework is finished, documented on DSPS Form #2555 by a licensed-psychologist supervisor.
3. Accrue a further 1,500 supervised hours - any combination of pre-internship, excess internship, post-internship pre-degree, and/or postdoctoral hours - for a total of at least 3,000 supervised hours, with 25% face-to-face client contact and 65% face-to-face plus direct service.
4. Apply online through LicensE with the application fee, transcripts, supervised-experience verifications, verification from every jurisdiction where you have ever held a mental health credential, and Form #2687 authorizing an FBI and Wisconsin DOJ fingerprint background check.
5. Take the EPPP Part 1 after DSPS authorizes you, and have ASPPB send your official score (or an official score transfer) directly to DSPS.
6. Pass the Wisconsin Jurisprudence Exam (Statutes and Rules Examination) online at eptol.drl.wi.gov with a score of at least 80%.
7. Optionally obtain a 2-year interim psychologist license first - it requires the doctorate, the 1,500-hour internship, and the jurisprudence exam but not the EPPP, and permits practice only under supervision while you finish your hours and testing.

PSYPACT member

Wis. Admin. Code s. Psy 2.013 lets an applicant who holds an active license in another state, territory, foreign country, or province whose licensure standards the board deems substantially equivalent to Wisconsin's apply by submitting the application form, the application fee, evidence of passing the Wisconsin jurisprudence exam, license verifications, criminal-history documentation, and fingerprints; the 3,000-hour supervised-experience requirement in Psy 2.10 expressly does not apply to these applicants. Wis. Stat. s. 455.04 (3) correspondingly allows the board to waive the degree, supervised-experience, and EPPP requirements for an applicant credentialed by a substantially equivalent out-of-state board. The out-of-state license must remain active until the Wisconsin reciprocal credentialing process is complete, and reciprocity is not available to applicants seeking an interim license. Service members, former service members, and their spouses may obtain a reciprocal license under s. Psy 2.014 and Wis. Stat. s. 440.09 (2). Separately, a psychologist licensed elsewhere whose standards the board considers equivalent or higher may serve Wisconsin-located clients up to 60 days per calendar year without a Wisconsin license, and must report the nature and extent of that practice to the board in writing (Form #8139) once it exceeds 20 days in a calendar year (s. Psy 2.14). Wisconsin is a PSYPACT jurisdiction: Wis. Stat. s. 455.50 enacts the Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact, s. Psy 2.15 requires an active Interjurisdictional Practice Certificate for temporary in-person practice under the compact, and s. Psy 2.16 requires an active E.Passport for interjurisdictional telepsychology.

Wisconsin Psychology Examining Board

(608) 266-2112

Official board page →