CST Pass Rates by Surgical Technology Program: 2026 Data

The finding. Across 66 dated school disclosures, the median published CST pass rate was 86.8%. In the stricter 18-row set where the school itself said “first attempt” or “first time,” the median was 82.0%. NBSTSA’s national first-time CST pass rate for 2025 was 68.6%.

Last verified: August 7, 2026 · Dataset version: 1.1 · By the Castleport Test Prep Editorial Team

Here is the short version. Most schools in this snapshot post a strong CST pass rate. The national first-time number is much lower. Both things are true. They are also not clean copies of the same measure.

One line matters more than any other here. NBSTSA owns the exam. In its 2026 on-campus testing guide, it says the CST is “not intended to be utilized as a program exit examination.”

The current ABHES Accreditation Manual tells surgical technology programs to show “100% credentialing participation prior to graduation.” It also requires the program to give each student a national credentialing exam after the curriculum content is done and before graduation.

Those rules pull in different directions, but they can be followed at the same time. A student can sit before graduation while NBSTSA holds the score until proof of graduation arrives. That tension shapes the numbers on this page.

Download the data

• Program disclosure register, CSV — 78 rows
• Evidence workbook, XLSX
• National CST trend, CSV — 2021–2025

The compiled register is released under CC0 1.0. The school pages and documents still belong to the schools and organizations that made them.

What are CST pass rates by surgical technology program?

Below are the 66 rows in the broad dated disclosure set, sorted by state. Each row shows the newest public period we found, the rate exactly as the school printed it, counts when the school gave them, and the source page.

The CST is the Certified Surgical Technologist exam from the National Board of Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting, or NBSTSA.

We found no current national program-by-program table. Each school posts its own number, on its own page, in its own format. We went and gathered them.

The Grade column tells you what the source actually says. A means the school wrote “first attempt” or “first time.” B means the school posted a dated official CST or OAE outcome but did not print the attempt basis. Grade B rows are useful, but they are not strict first-attempt evidence.

If a school is missing, that does not mean anything bad. Version 1.1 is a snapshot, not a census.

What does this CST pass-rate data show?

It shows the newest public CST outcome we found for each listed program or campus. It also shows the period, the school’s printed rate, counts when available, the disclosure grade, and the source.

It shows one plain problem: 47 of 66 rows do not print both the passed and tested counts. You can check the school’s math in only 19 rows.

It does not show:

• Every surgical technology program in the country.
• A school’s full quality.
• Tuition, job placement, clinical training, teaching, or student support.
• Your personal chance of passing.
• Current accreditation status for every row. Use the CAAHEP directory for CAAHEP programs and the ABHES directory for ABHES programs.
• Results for the NCCT TS-C exam. This register covers the NBSTSA CST only.

How did we build the CST pass-rate dataset?

We read official school pages and PDFs one at a time. For each disclosure, we recorded the newest rate we could locate, its period, the campus, passed and tested counts when printed, the source URL, and the date checked.

We ran no survey. No school gave us private data. Every row came from a page the public can open.

The disclosure grades

The inclusion rules

A row entered the broad set only when all of these were clear enough to record:

1. It was an official school page or school PDF.
2. It named or clearly tied the result to a surgical technology program or campus.
3. It gave a CST or OAE pass result.
4. It gave a usable period.
5. It was not clearly cumulative, all-attempt, mixed-attempt, or for a different exam.

A row entered the strict first-attempt set only when the school itself said “first attempt” or “first time.”

The calculation rules

• Broad-set median means the middle of all 66 Grade A and Grade B school-published rates.
• Strict median means the middle of the 18 Grade A rates.
• At or above 70% means the printed rate is 70.00% or higher.
• Count transparency means both the passed count and tested count appear.
• Latest rate means the newest usable period found on that source as of August 7, 2026.
• No silent conversion. A cumulative, all-attempt, or mixed-attempt figure stays out.
• No invented precision. If a school prints 76%, this page prints 76%—not 76.19%—even when counts let us calculate more digits.
• No guessed counts. A graduation count is not treated as a tested count unless the school says it is.

We checked the arithmetic where we could

Nineteen broad-set rows print both counts. We divided passed by tested for all 19.

Eighteen reproduce the school’s printed rate within its displayed rounding. One does not: North-West College’s San Diego page prints 66% beside 8 passed out of 12 tested. Direct division is 66.67%. We keep the school’s printed 66% in the register and use the exact fraction when we calculate from counts.

The disclosure grade changes the answer

The broad median is 86.8%. The strict first-attempt median is 82.0%, which is 4.8 points lower. Both numbers are published because they answer different questions.

What is the national CST first-time pass rate?

NBSTSA reported a 68.6% national first-time pass rate for 2025. It listed 11,931 first-time candidates and 12,117 total examinees.

That was the lowest first-time pass rate in the five years NBSTSA published. It was not the only year below 70%. The 2023 rate was 69.1%.

\*Repeat examinees are derived as total examinees minus first-time candidates. NBSTSA does not print that column.

From 2024 to 2025, the first-time candidate count rose 21.5%, from 9,823 to 11,931. The first-time pass rate fell 3.2 points, from 71.8% to 68.6%.

A warning before using the trend

The split between first-time and repeat examinees changes sharply in this file. In 2022, the derived repeat count is 3,370. In 2023, it is 999. In 2025, it is 186.

NBSTSA’s file gives no method note and no definitions for the count fields. It also gives rounded rates, not the number who passed. The table above shows the arithmetic that can be reproduced. It does not invent an explanation the source does not give.

Why are school CST pass rates higher than the national rate?

The broad school median is 86.8%. The strict first-attempt median is 82.0%. The national first-time rate is 68.6%.

That is a real gap. It is not proof that one side is wrong. The three figures are built from different sets.

One difference can be tested. The broad headline gives each school one vote. The national figure gives each candidate one vote.

Nineteen school rows publish both counts, so we pooled those candidates.

Weighting by class size does not close the gap in that 19-row subset. It raises the subset figure from a median of 84.6% to a pooled rate of 85.9%.

That test answers one narrow question. It does not explain the whole gap. The school set is incomplete, spans several years, and includes 48 rows that do not print the attempt basis. The national figure covers a different population in one year. The source data is not strong enough to assign the gap to one cause.

Why do CAAHEP and ABHES measure CST pass rates differently?

Surgical technology programs commonly sit in one of two accreditation systems:

• CAAHEP, with ARC/STSA serving as the committee that reviews surgical technology programs.
• ABHES, which directly accredits surgical technology programs within its recognized scope.

Both use a 70% pass-rate floor. They do not build the rate the same way.

The ARC/STSA outcomes policy tells programs to report the total number graduating and the number who passed the CST on the first attempt.

The ABHES 19th Edition Accreditation Manual, effective June 9, 2026, defines the pass rate as graduates who passed on any attempt divided by graduates who took the exam.

Example 1: everyone takes the exam

Say 20 students graduate. All 20 take the CST. Thirteen pass on the first try. Three more pass on a retake.

Same class. Same exam. Same year. The pass-rate column moves 15 points because ABHES counts later passes and ARC/STSA does not.

Example 2: two graduates do not test

Keep the same passing results, but now only 18 of the 20 graduates take the exam.

The printed pass rates now sit 23.9 points apart. But both systems also require 100% participation, so a 90% participation result misses that separate rule in both systems.

This is the clean way to read the formulas: the pass-rate column can change a lot, and the participation column still has to be checked on its own.

When do surgical technology students take the CST?

NBSTSA offers an on-campus service for complete graduating groups. When a program uses that service, the timing is tied closely to graduation.

ABHES goes further for its surgical technology programs. Its current manual says the program gives each student a national credentialing exam after the curriculum content is complete and before graduation.

This helps explain why participation is treated as a program outcome, not just a private choice made months later. It does not mean every CST candidate uses the on-campus service.

NBSTSA still says the CST and CSFA are post-graduate national certification exams and are not meant to be used as a program exit exam. The score-hold rule is how a student can test near graduation without getting a released result before proof of graduation.

What counts as a good CST pass rate?

Both systems use 70% as the pass-rate floor. In the CAAHEP and ARC/STSA system, that sits beside a 100% participation requirement.

Seventy percent is a real accreditation benchmark. It is not a full grade for a school.

A rate above 70% does not prove that a program is strong in every way. One year below 70% also does not mean a program lost accreditation.

ARC/STSA’s policy starts a deeper review when an outcome area stays below its threshold for three years or more. The process includes notice, a document review, time to show compliance, and—if the problem remains—a continuing site evaluation that can lead to a recommendation of probationary accreditation. ARC/STSA also audits at least 5% of otherwise compliant annual reports.

For current status, use the CAAHEP directory. Do not guess from one year’s pass rate.

Which CST program reports show cohort counts?

Only 19 of the 66 broad-set rows show both the number who passed and the number tested.

Twenty-one rows show a tested count. Across those 21, the median tested group is 13 students, the smallest is 5, and the largest is 30. Seven tested fewer than 10 people.

That is why the count matters. A percentage without its denominator hides how much evidence is behind it.

The Baker College page is a useful warning. It lists graduate counts beside CST pass rates, but it does not label those graduate counts as tested counts. Version 1.0 treated them as tested. Version 1.1 does not.

How much can two program pass rates tell you?

Nineteen rows give enough information to calculate a 95% Wilson score interval. That interval shows how wide the uncertainty is when a rate comes from a small group.

We checked all 171 pairs among those 19 rows.

Most of the intervals overlap. Overlap is not a formal pairwise test, and non-overlap is not a full school-quality test. It is a simple warning that small cohorts make the percentages wide and noisy.

Two examples make it concrete:

• Anne Arundel Community College reported 4 of 5, or 80%. Its 95% Wilson interval is 37.6% to 96.4%.
• Southeast Community College reported 29 of 30, or 96.67%. Its interval is 83.3% to 99.4%.

Both printed rates are accurate for their groups. The 30-person result carries much more information than the five-person result.

That is why this page gives no school score or league table. The numbers do not carry that much weight by themselves.

Why can a 100% CST pass rate be misleading?

A 100% rate can be completely true. The problem is that the percentage alone does not tell you how many people it covers.

In the broad set, 18 of 66 rows report exactly 100%. Only five of those 18 publish both passed and tested counts. Those five cover 51 tested candidates in total.

The other 13 rows reporting 100% do not show both counts.

A school can publish 100% beside a small graduating class without saying how many graduates actually tested. Baker College’s Cadillac page, for example, shows one graduate and a 100% CST outcome for 2023–2024. It does not say that one person was the tested denominator, so this register leaves the tested count blank.

A 100% from 20 of 20 and a 100% with no printed denominator are both published as 100%. They are not the same amount of evidence.

Why do CST pass rates jump from year to year?

Small classes move fast when one result changes.

• In a class of five, one person is worth 20 percentage points.
• In a class of ten, one person is worth 10 points.
• In a class of twenty, one person is worth 5 points.

A program can move from 100% to 80% in a five-person group because one result changed. The percentage alone cannot tell you why.

Rates can also move when the cohort changes, the test date changes, a retake is counted, or the reporting window changes. This register records what the school published. It does not invent the cause.

Which CST pass-rate disclosures were left out?

Twelve rows remain in the public register but stay out of the broad headline math.

An exclusion is about the label, not the school. A school may be reporting exactly what its own policy asks for. The number stays out only when it cannot be lined up safely with the broad disclosure set.

Five of the 12 excluded rows report 100%. The exclusions are not a filter that removes weak numbers. They remove unclear or different measures.

Montgomery County Community College is the clearest example. Its 2025 table shows 7 of 8 and 88%, but the same document uses an asterisk to show that a later pass can count in another year. That makes the table’s attempt basis mixed or unclear, so the row stays out.

Herzing’s two rows are labeled as all-attempt figures. Their rates are 23.26% and 37.5%. They remain in the public register, but they do not enter a first-attempt-style comparison. This page does not guess why those rates are low.

How do you compare two CST pass rates fairly?

Check these five things before putting two program numbers side by side:

1. Same exam. CST from NBSTSA, not the NCCT TS-C.
2. Same attempt basis. First attempt and any attempt are different measures.
3. Same denominator. All graduates and exam takers are different groups.
4. Same kind of period. One class, one reporting year, and a multi-year pool are not the same.
5. Cohort size. Look for passed and tested counts.

If one item is missing, the comparison has a hole. The percentage may still be true. It just may not answer the question you think it answers.

Why does this CST pass-rate data matter now?

The national first-time rate fell to 68.6% in 2025, the lowest in NBSTSA’s five-year file. At the same time, the first-time candidate count rose 21.5% in one year.

Program-level disclosures are the numbers a student sees before choosing a school. Yet in this snapshot:

• 48 of 66 broad-set rows do not print the attempt basis.
• 47 of 66 do not print both passed and tested counts.
• The newest public periods range from 2022 to 2026.
• The two accreditation systems do not use the same pass-rate formula.

That is the gap this register fills. It does not tell you which school to choose. It tells you what each number says, what it leaves out, and whether two numbers can be placed beside each other without hiding the rules.

Limitations

We would rather put these in front of you than bury them.

This is a snapshot, not a census. The broad set has 66 rows across 27 states. The full register has 78 disclosures. A missing program is not a signal.

The broad set is not a strict first-attempt set. Forty-eight of 66 rows do not print the attempt basis. The strict 18-row median is 82.0%, while the broad median is 86.8%.

The periods are mixed. The newest usable rows span 2022 through 2026. A single class, annual report, and multi-year pool can all appear in the same register, and the period is shown on every row.

The collected pages are not a random sample. We gathered official disclosures we found and could classify. That can create selection bias. The direction and size of that bias cannot be measured from this register.

Most rows hide the denominator. Only 19 of 66 show both passed and tested counts. Statistical intervals can be calculated for those 19 and not for the other 47.

The national file has no method note. NBSTSA publishes counts and rounded rates but does not define the sharp change in first-time and repeat counts across years.

A pass rate is not a full program review. It does not show tuition, clinical sites, completion, employment, support, or fit for one student.

Source pages can change. Every row carries its source and check date so a later reader can see the snapshot used.

Frequently asked questions

What was the national CST first-time pass rate in 2025?

NBSTSA reported 68.6%, covering 11,931 first-time candidates out of 12,117 total examinees. It was the lowest rate in the five years NBSTSA published. It was one of two years below 70%; 2023 was 69.1%.

Is there a national list of CST pass rates by program?

We found no current program-by-program table from NBSTSA, CAAHEP, ARC/STSA, or ABHES. Schools publish their own outcomes on separate pages. This register is a partial snapshot of 78 official disclosures, not a census.

What is the ARC/STSA CST pass-rate threshold?

The CAAHEP and ARC/STSA system uses a 70% pass-rate floor and a 100% participation requirement. The policy tells programs to report the number of graduates who passed the CST on the first attempt against the total number graduating.

Do ABHES-accredited programs use the same CST pass-rate formula?

No. ABHES counts graduates who passed on any attempt and divides by graduates who took the exam. It also requires 100% participation before graduation and a 70% pass rate.

Does a graduate who never takes the CST affect the rate?

In the CAAHEP and ARC/STSA system, the pass-rate denominator is the graduating class, so a graduate who never tests stays in the denominator. Under the ABHES pass-rate formula, a non-tester is not in the pass-rate denominator, but the program still misses the separate 100% participation requirement.

Is a 100% CST pass rate always stronger evidence?

No. Eighteen of 66 broad-set rows reported 100%, but only five showed both passed and tested counts. Those five covered 51 candidates total. A 100% result from 6 of 6 and a 100% result from 20 of 20 are the same percentage and different amounts of evidence.

Does a CST pass rate below 70% mean a program lost accreditation?

No. One year below the floor is not the same as an accreditation action. ARC/STSA describes a review process for outcomes that stay below a threshold for three years or more. Check CAAHEP’s directory for CAAHEP programs and ABHES’s directory for ABHES programs.

When do surgical technology students take the CST?

For NBSTSA’s on-campus service, complete graduating groups test no more than 30 days before or 30 days after graduation. ABHES requires its surgical technology programs to administer a national credentialing exam after the curriculum content is complete and before graduation.

Are the program rates weighted by class size?

The 86.8% broad-set headline is an unweighted median because most disclosures do not publish both counts. For the 19 rows that do, the candidate-weighted pooled rate is 85.9%.

Why is my surgical technology program not listed?

Version 1.1 is not a census. A program may not have been reached, may have moved its outcomes page, or may not publish enough context for safe classification. Absence from the register says nothing about the program.

What does OAE mean?

OAE means Outcomes Assessment Examination. In the CAAHEP and ARC/STSA system for surgical technology, the CST result is the required OAE pass-rate measure.

Does this page include the NCCT TS-C exam?

No. This register covers only the Certified Surgical Technologist exam from NBSTSA. The TS-C credential from NCCT is different.

How to cite this page

Suggested page citation

Castleport Test Prep Editorial Team. “CST Pass Rates by Surgical Technology Program: 2026 Data.” Castleport Test Prep. Dataset version 1.1. Last verified August 7, 2026. https://castleporttestprep.com/research/cst-pass-rates-by-surgical-technology-program/

Dataset identification

Castleport Test Prep. “CST Pass Rate Program Disclosure Register, version 1.1.” 78 official disclosure rows; 66 rows in the broad dated set; 18 rows explicitly labeled first attempt or first time; 27 states. Snapshot date: August 7, 2026. CC0 1.0.

Headline finding text

Across 66 dated school disclosures, the median published CST pass rate was 86.8%. Among 18 disclosures that explicitly said first attempt or first time, the median was 82.0%. NBSTSA’s national first-time rate for 2025 was 68.6%.

These identification lines are here so the page and dataset can be named the same way each time. The method and snapshot date are part of every calculated figure.

How often is this updated?

The Last verified date changes only after the affected sources and calculations are checked. The next scheduled full review is February 2027.

Editorial record

Publisher: Castleport Test Prep, an independent publisher of exam preparation materials. The /research section is an independent research and reference resource.

Author: Castleport Test Prep Editorial Team. No named subject-matter reviewer is claimed for this page.

How we produced it: We read official school program pages and PDFs, recorded the newest usable CST outcome for each row, separated explicit first-attempt results from dated outcomes that did not print the attempt basis, left unclear and different measures out of the headline math while keeping them visible, recalculated every row that printed both counts, read the current ARC/STSA policy and the current ABHES manual, read NBSTSA’s national certification file and 2026 on-campus guide, and rebuilt every summary figure from the version 1.1 register.

Independence: Castleport Test Prep is not NBSTSA, ARC/STSA, CAAHEP, ABHES, a college, an accreditor, or a licensing board. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by any organization or school named here. This page is a data reference, not academic or career advice. For current accreditation status, use the CAAHEP directory or the ABHES directory, as applicable. For exam eligibility or score questions, contact NBSTSA or the school directly.

Dataset license: The compiled register is released under CC0 1.0. Third-party text, logos, pages, and documents remain the property of their owners.

Primary sources

• NBSTSA Certification Data — national CST examinee counts and first-time pass rates, 2021–2025.
• NBSTSA On-Campus Examination Guide, 2026 Edition — complete-group testing, timing, score release, proof of graduation, roster changes, and accommodations.
• ARC/STSA Outcomes Threshold, Reporting and Assessment Policy — the 70% pass floor, 100% participation rule, first-attempt reporting instruction, public posting rule, review process, and audit process.
• ABHES Accreditation Manual, 19th Edition, effective June 9, 2026 — current surgical technology participation and pass-rate requirements, formulas, reporting year, and pre-graduation exam rule.
• CAAHEP — Find an Accredited Program — current CAAHEP program status.
• CAAHEP — Maintaining Program Data and Outcomes — CAAHEP program-data guidance.
• ABHES — Directory of Institutions — current ABHES institution and program listings.
• Seventy-eight official school disclosures, each linked in the register and checked on August 7, 2026.

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