ARRT Exam Results: When They Post and What Your Score Means

The score you saw at the test center is preliminary, not your final result. For ARRT certification and registration exams, ARRT emails you when your official results are in your ARRT online account, generally within about 10 business days.

Find your official ARRT result

1. Watch for ARRT's email. Check your spam folder, and look in your ARRT Message Center, where a copy is posted.
2. Log in to your ARRT account.
3. Open your score report. It shows your total scaled score and your score in each content section.

Sources: ARRT Exam Scoring, State Licensing Exam, and Imaging Assistant application. Last verified: October 26, 2026.

Your results timeline and deadlines

Older study guides and school handouts may still say ARRT results are mailed in three or four weeks. ARRT moved score reports online in early 2026 (announcement). Only people who pass get something in the mail now: their certificate packet.

For a standard ARRT certification and registration exam, the sequence is:

1. Finish the exam. You normally see a preliminary scaled score at the test center.
2. Pearson returns the exam data to ARRT. ARRT completes its analysis before issuing the official score.
3. Watch your email and Message Center. ARRT says your official score report is normally available in your online account within about 10 business days (Exam Scoring).
4. If you pass, watch for the certificate packet. ARRT says it mails the packet about two weeks after it notifies you that your result is available.
5. Credential verification follows separately. ARRT's 2026 Primary Eligibility Pathway Handbook says Verify Credentials should reflect your certification and registration status within about four weeks of your exam date (p. 52).

ARRT uses the word about for the 10-business-day result window. Don't treat a projected calendar date as a guaranteed posting date.

Two short deadlines matter if something went wrong:

• A test-administration appeal must be received by ARRT within two business days after the exam (Eligibility Appeal Request).
• A rescore request must be postmarked within 14 calendar days of the date your score report became available in your ARRT account (ARRT FAQ). Use the actual posting date, not your exam date and not the day you happened to log in.

Is the preliminary score final?

No. ARRT says the test-center score isn't final and doesn't confirm whether you passed (ARRT FAQ). After your exam, Pearson sends all the data to ARRT. ARRT analyzes the exam and confirms your eligibility before it issues the official score report. That report is your result.

Two practical details from ARRT's 2026 handbook (p. 52): you're the only person who sees the preliminary score, and you can't print it or bring it back up once you leave that screen. If you want to remember the number, write it down after you leave.

Can a preliminary 74 turn into a 75?

ARRT doesn't publish how often a preliminary score differs from the official one, in either direction. So we can't honestly tell you a 74 will stay a 74, or that it might become a 75. What ARRT does say is that the number is preliminary, and the official score comes only after its analysis.

The useful move: treat the 74 as unofficial, wait for the report, and use the time well. If you think you'll need a retake, the section breakdown in your official report is what you'll plan from (see below). And if the official score ever looks miscalculated, there's a formal rescore process.

Results late? Check these in order

1. Count business days, not calendar days. Use the timeline above.
2. Check spam and your ARRT Message Center. ARRT posts a copy of the results email there.
3. Confirm which path you're on. State licensing candidates get results from the state, not ARRT (details). Fall 2026 Imaging Assistant candidates have a January timeline.
4. Look for a hold on your account. ARRT can hold results while it reviews eligibility, including an ethics review. If your Candidate Status Report listed a condition, results wait until you meet it (2026 handbook, pp. 10, 55).
5. Fix application problems fast. Inaccurate or incomplete information or unpaid fees can delay results up to six months (Exam Scoring). If the issue isn't resolved by then, or you're found ineligible, ARRT cancels the score. Per the handbook, that canceled attempt still counts (p. 55).
6. Contact ARRT, not Pearson. Pearson delivers the exam; ARRT scores it. Use Message Center or call 651.687.0048 or 877.560.ARRT (2778) and choose the option for earning an ARRT credential. ARRT doesn't give exam scores over the phone, so ask about status (ARRT FAQ).

Other reasons ARRT lists for canceling scores include evidence the exam's security was compromised, and severe technical problems during your exam. In the technical-problem case, ARRT arranges a makeup exam at no added cost (handbook p. 55).

What your score means

75 is a scaled score, not a percentage

ARRT reports your total on a 1–99 scale, and every ARRT exam uses 75 as the required total scaled score, however many questions it has (How to Interpret Your Score Report). Sonography and Imaging Assistant (MR) also have section-score minimums, described below.

A 75 doesn't mean 75% correct. ARRT runs several versions of each exam, and some are slightly harder than others. Scaling evens that out. ARRT's own example: on one version you might need 131 of 200 questions right for a 75, while on a harder version 130 of 200 might do it (Exam Scoring). Either way, a 75 means the same level of performance.

For a rough sense of the raw bar, ARRT's 2025 report estimates the percent correct needed to pass at 63% to 70%, depending on the exam (67% for Radiography). Those are past estimates, not the cut on your version (2025 Annual Exam Report, p. 3).

Section scores

Your report also scores each content section on a 0.1–9.9 scale, in tenths (How to Interpret Your Score Report).

• Read 8.1 as roughly 81, as if that section were the whole exam.
• Sections are less reliable than your total. Each one rests on fewer questions. ARRT recommends using them only to compare your relative strengths and weaknesses.
• Averaging your section scores won't give your total. Sections have different numbers of questions, and bigger sections pull harder on the total.
• On most exams, sections don't pass or fail on their own. Two exams are exceptions.

Sonography and Imaging Assistant (MR) have extra rules

Source: Exam Scoring, "Exception on sonography and Imaging Assistant, Magnetic Resonance exams."

So a sonography candidate can score 78 overall and still not pass if OB/GYN comes in below 7.5.

Sonography candidates testing on or after Aug. 1, 2026: ARRT adopted a new sonography cut score that day and expected a slight drop in the pass rate (announcement). The marks on your report are still 75 and 7.5. What changed is how many correct answers it takes to reach them.

You passed: what happens next

• Your certificate comes by mail. About two weeks after ARRT notifies you, you'll get a packet with a welcome letter, your official certificate, and a QR code linking to ARRT's Guide to Maintaining Your ARRT Credential (Exam Scoring).
• There's no wallet card. ARRT doesn't issue paper credential cards and tells employers not to accept one (Verify Credentials).
• Employers check you online. ARRT's Verify Credentials directory updates once a day and doesn't show recent examinees until score reports are final. ARRT's handbook says it should reflect your status within about four weeks of your exam date (p. 52). You can also share your score report through a secure link from your account (announcement).
• Check your state before you start work. An ARRT credential and a state license are separate. If your state licenses radiologic technologists, its own application still applies. The ASRT keeps a state licensure directory.
• Keep it active. Your certificate packet points you to renewal requirements. Annual renewal is $65, regardless of how many ARRT credentials you hold (ARRT Fees).

You didn't pass: your next three moves

1. Open your score report and find your weakest sections (method below).
2. Check whether ARRT's appeal process actually fits your situation. A test-administration appeal is for a substantial departure from normal testing procedures; a rescore is for a suspected score-calculation error. An appeal is voided if you also submit a reapplication or reinstatement by examination in the same discipline while it is pending (see Appeals).
3. Reapply when you're ready. After a first or second attempt, log in and click Reapply on your dashboard. After a third, your dashboard explains how to regain eligibility (What If I Fail).

Turn your section scores into a retake plan

Two useful signals are how weak a section looks and how much of the exam that content area represents. Larger sections contribute more scored items to the exam, but ARRT also warns that section scores are less reliable than the total score, so use clear patterns rather than tiny score differences.

Worked example. The section scores below are made up for illustration. The sections and question counts are Radiography's, from ARRT's 2025 report (p. 6). Use the sections on your own report.

How to use it: start with sections that are both low and large, then the lowest-scoring smaller ones. Don't drop your 8s, since holding them steady matters too. Because section scores rest on fewer questions and are less reliable than the total score, don't overinterpret a gap of a few tenths. Look for clear patterns, not tiny differences.

Then map each priority section to the current ARRT content specifications for your discipline. ARRT updates them periodically, and its advice to retakers is to study from the current version (What If I Fail).

Reapplying, fees, and the three-attempt clock

Source: Three Attempts in Three Years unless noted.

Appeals: two different clocks

Both go through ARRT's Eligibility Appeal Request form, sent by mail or fax. The deadlines are short and very different.

Sources: Eligibility Appeal Request; ARRT FAQ; ARRT Fees; 2026 handbook, p. 56.

Before you file, know three things:

• You can't appeal the passing score itself. The cut score isn't open to appeal.
• An appeal and a reapplication can't run at the same time in the same discipline. If both are submitted, ARRT voids the appeal, whichever came first.
• Decisions are slow and in writing. ARRT says to expect findings in up to 60 business days and doesn't give appeal results by phone. ARRT also calls scoring errors extremely rare.

Had a problem at the test center? Before you leave, confirm that staff are filing an incident report and get the incident number. ARRT gives that instruction in the 2026 Primary Eligibility Pathway Handbook (p. 45) and in the state-candidate handbook.

Took it for a state license?

If you sat an ARRT-administered exam only for a state license, your results work differently (ARRT State Licensing Exam; 2026 Handbook for State Candidates, p. 54):

• You won't see a score at the test center, and ARRT won't release your score to you.
• ARRT scores the exam and sends the result to your state. The state decides whether you passed.
• Your state notifies you. Some states mail notices; others post results online. ARRT's main State Licensing Exam page says to allow up to four weeks and then contact your state entity. ARRT's separate state-licensing portal currently says to allow up to five weeks. Because your state controls the result, follow the instructions from your state entity; if you still have no result after four weeks, contacting the state is consistent with ARRT's main guidance.
• Some state exams report raw results rather than scaled scores. ARRT's 2026 state handbook says the listed scaled-score exams include CT, Fluoroscopy, Nuclear Medicine Technology, Mammography, MRI, Radiation Therapy, Radiography, and Sonography. Other state-entity exams use raw scores. It specifically describes raw reporting for Bone Densitometry Equipment Operator, California-specific permit exams, Radiography Supervisor and Operator exams, and Limited Scope of Practice in Radiography modules.
• Retake rules belong to your state. Some allow several attempts within set windows; others require more coursework.
• It isn't an ARRT credential. Passing as a state candidate doesn't make you ARRT certified. But if you later apply for ARRT certification, that state attempt counts toward ARRT's three-attempt limit (Three Attempts in Three Years).

Find your state office in the ASRT licensure directory.

National results by exam (2025)

ARRT publishes yearly results for each exam. These are first attempts in calendar year 2025.

Source: ARRT Annual Exam Report 2025, p. 3. Pass rates are rounded as ARRT shows them in its summary table.

*The sonography figures predate the Aug. 1, 2026 cut-score change. MRI and Mammography content specifications changed during 2025, and ARRT reports those periods separately inside the report.

Very small groups, like Vascular Sonography and Radiologist Assistant, swing a lot from year to year, so read those rates loosely. Older years are on ARRT's Exam Statistics page.

Looking for school or program results? See our ARRT Radiography pass rates by program.

Sources

Results and scoring

• ARRT: Exam Scoring: preliminary vs. official, timing, certificate packet, delays and cancellation, scaled scoring, sonography and Imaging Assistant rules
• ARRT: How to Interpret Your Score Report: total and section scores, contact
• ARRT: Frequent Questions, Examination: preliminary score, results email, phone policy, rescore deadline and scope
• ARRT: Online score reports announcement (Jan. 5, 2026)
• ARRT: 2026 Primary Eligibility Pathway Handbook: pp. 10, 30, 45, 52, 55, 56, 57

After the exam

• ARRT: What If I Fail the Exam
• ARRT: Three Attempts in Three Years
• ARRT: Eligibility Appeal Request
• ARRT: Fees
• ARRT: Verify Credentials

State candidates and exceptions

• ARRT: State Licensing Exam
• ARRT: 2026 Handbook for State Candidates: pp. 52, 54
• ARRT: Apply for an Imaging Assistant credential: fall 2026 window and January 2027 results
• ASRT: Individual state licensure information

Data and changes

• ARRT: Annual Exam Report 2025
• ARRT: Sonography cut score change, effective Aug. 1, 2026

Last verified: October 26, 2026. We checked results timing and delivery, the preliminary-score rules, score scales and section rules, the sonography and Imaging Assistant exceptions, holds, delays and cancellations, fees, the three-attempt rule, appeal deadlines and scope, state-candidate results, credential verification, the fall 2026 Imaging Assistant window, and the 2025 national results against the ARRT pages and 2026 handbooks linked above. We didn't log in to a candidate account, file an appeal, or test ARRT's authenticated dashboard. ARRT's public state-result pages currently differ on whether candidates should allow four or five weeks; this page follows the main State Licensing Exam page's instruction to contact the state after four weeks while noting the discrepancy.

By the Castleport Test Prep Editorial Team. This page was researched and drafted with AI assistance, and the facts above were checked against the linked official sources on the date shown. See our methodology and editorial standards.

Castleport Test Prep is an independent exam prep publisher. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by The American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT) or Pearson VUE. Exam and credential names identify the subjects of this page, and trademarks belong to their respective owners.