RRT-NPS Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows

The Headline Numbers From NBRC's 2025 Data

If you are searching for the RRT-NPS pass rate, the most reliable source is the National Board for Respiratory Care (NBRC) itself. Its 2025 Examinations in Review info sheet reports outcomes for the Neonatal/Pediatric Specialty Examination (NPS), the exam that earns the Neonatal/Pediatric Respiratory Care Specialist credential. Here is what the data shows:

Two cautions on reading that table. First, the 21,002 figure is a count of credentials awarded over the program's history. It is not a count of currently active practitioners, and it is not an annual number of candidates. Second, the 1,712 exams administered includes both first attempts and retakes, so it is a count of sittings, not people.

For a broader view of how demanding the exam feels beyond these percentages, see our companion piece, How Hard Is the RRT-NPS Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026.

First-Time vs. Repeat Candidates: Why the Gap Matters

The most useful detail in NBRC's data is the split. A 63.4% pass rate for new candidates means roughly six in ten first-time test takers succeed. The 40.4% rate for repeat candidates means retakers pass far less often. Most pass-rate pages on the web blend these into a single figure or skip the distinction. You should not.

The gap also tells you something about the value of getting it right the first time. NBRC's fee for a first application is $250, and a reapplication is $220. Beyond the money, a retake means waiting, re-mobilizing your study schedule, and facing a statistically harder road. You can see the full cost picture in RRT-NPS Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.

What the Pass Rate Does and Doesn't Tell You

A 63.4% first-time rate is a population statistic, not a personal forecast. Several things it cannot tell you:

• Your preparation level. The candidate pool includes people who prepared intensively and people who sat the exam cold.
• Experience mix. The NPS admission policy requires the NBRC RRT credential but does not add a specified NICU employment duration, a separate training-hour minimum, or a reference requirement. Candidates range from newly credentialed RRTs to seasoned neonatal and pediatric clinicians, and NBRC's published rates do not break results down by experience.
• Difficulty of individual forms. The exam is assembled linear-on-the-fly, so each candidate sees a different form. The overall rate averages across those forms.
• Full-year 2026 outcomes. The 2025 data is the most recent verified full-year set. No 2026 pass rate is asserted here.

If you are weighing whether the credential is worth the effort, pass rate is only one input. Our Is the RRT-NPS Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 covers the cost-benefit side.

The October 2025 Blueprint Transition

This is the caveat most pass-rate summaries miss. NBRC's current Neonatal/Pediatric Specialty Examination Detailed Content Outline took effect October 1, 2025. The 2025 pass rates therefore span the transition: part of the year's candidates sat the previous blueprint and part sat the new one.

What does the current outline look like? It organizes the exam into two domains, and understanding them is more productive than staring at a percentage.

Where the Points Live: Mapping the Two Domains

The exam has 170 multiple-choice questions: 150 scored and 20 unidentified pretest items, with four hours to finish. The pretest items do not count toward your score, but you cannot tell which ones they are, so treat every question seriously.

NBRC assigns scored items to the two domains as follows. The issuer prints item counts, not percentages, so none are invented here.

Notice the practical implication. Ventilation and oxygenation alone accounts for 30 of the 150 scored items. If you are fluent in ventilator management, gas exchange reasoning, and oxygenation strategy across neonatal and pediatric patients, you hold a large share of the available points. For a deeper walk-through of each area, read RRT-NPS Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 2 Content Areas.

The outline also notes cross-cutting case coverage: neonatal and pediatric pulmonary and non-pulmonary disorders plus general care. It describes additional patient-type minipools, but those are not guaranteed counts for each individual disease on a given test form. Do not assume, for example, that every form contains a set number of questions on any one condition.

The Cut Score Question

Candidates constantly ask what percentage they need to pass. The honest answer is that a current numeric NPS cut score was not verified in NBRC's public issuer materials, and no fixed percentage is asserted here. What NBRC does describe is the method: your score is a raw count of correct answers compared against a cut score derived from an expert panel.

That has two consequences. First, any website quoting a precise "you need X%" figure for the NPS should be treated skeptically unless it cites NBRC directly. Second, because the cut score is panel-derived rather than a flat percentage, your best strategy is broad competence across both domains rather than gaming a target. Our dedicated page on the RRT-NPS Passing Score goes further into how scoring works.

Logistics That Affect Your Odds

Exam-day conditions are not reflected in a pass-rate percentage, but they shape your performance.

• Center-only delivery. NBRC discontinued live remote proctoring after December 31, 2024, and requires PSI testing-center delivery from January 1, 2025. Remote testing is not a current option, so ignore any older page that suggests otherwise.
• Closed-book computer testing. An on-screen calculator is available. Personal calculators and reference materials are prohibited.
• Breaks do not stop the clock. The four-hour limit keeps running during any break, so plan your pacing across 170 questions.
• Year-round applications. NBRC accepts applications throughout the year. Planning details are in RRT-NPS Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.
• AARC discount. Qualifying AARC members can receive a one-time $40 first-application discount through the prescribed AARC registration/email-link process, bringing the first-attempt fee to $210 when eligible. It is not a universal membership benefit and is not applied retroactively.

To confirm who may sit the exam, see RRT-NPS Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify. The short version: you must already hold the NBRC RRT credential.

Retake Rules and Retake Math

NBRC permits two initial attempts without the subsequent-attempt waiting restriction. Later attempts require 180 days between attempts. Combine that with the 40.4% repeat-candidate pass rate and the arithmetic of failure becomes sobering: a missed attempt costs a $220 reapplication fee and, after the initial two attempts, six months of waiting.

One more note: practice products from commercial vendors often use their own question counts and timers. Those do not replicate the actual 170-question, four-hour exam, so do not calibrate your pacing to a vendor's format alone.

A Domain-Ordered Study Sequence

Rather than a generic schedule, order your preparation around the blueprint. Because Domain 1 carries more scored items and its content (assessment, airway, equipment, resuscitation) underpins everything in Domain 2, build that foundation first, then concentrate on the ventilation and oxygenation material that Domain 2 weights so heavily.

For a fuller approach, our RRT-NPS Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt expands on resources and pacing, and the RRT-NPS Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts is useful for last-week review. When you are ready to test yourself against realistic questions, try the RRT-NPS practice test.

After You Pass: Renewal and Career Context

The credential is valid for five years from the end of the issuance month. Under NBRC's Credential Maintenance Program (current brochure revised October 7, 2026), you can maintain it through assessment and continuing-education compliance, by retaking the highest applicable credential examination in the last year of the term, or by earning a new NBRC credential. These are alternatives, not three mandatory tests. Annual CMP fees are $25 for payment years before 2027 and $30 from payment year 2027, so a five-year term entirely at the higher rate totals $150. State-license renewal is a separate obligation.

On career outcomes, be careful with salary claims. Salary interest is high, but no credential-specific pay premium for the NPS was established in the research behind this article. General respiratory-therapist pay and employer-specific incentives are not the same as a demonstrated certification bump. For what is known, read RRT-NPS Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis, and for where the credential is put to use, see RRT-NPS Jobs.

If you are deciding between specialties, remember the NPS focuses on neonatal and pediatric patients, while the Adult Critical Care Specialty (ACCS) is a separate NBRC credential aimed at adult critical care. They are different exams for different patient populations. For a primer on the credential itself, see What Is RRT-NPS?

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