ASWB exam retake policy: when you can test again

If you did not pass an ASWB Social Work Licensing Exam, you can take it again. The ASWB exam retake policy sets the waiting period; your state or provincial board decides whether you need fresh approval and whether there is a limit on attempts.

The rules, in four lines

• Wait 90 days unless ASWB grants a waiver. ASWB policy requires 90 days between exam attempts unless a waiting-period waiver is approved. (ASWB)
• Pay the full fee again. US$230 for the Associate, Bachelors, or Masters exam; US$260 for the Advanced Generalist or Clinical exam. ASWB fees are nonrefundable and nothing is prorated for a retake. (Fees; registration rules)
• Re-register through ASWB. Register and pay in ASWBCentral, wait for a new Authorization to Test (ATT) email, then schedule with Pearson VUE. (ASWB)
• Check what your board adds. Some licensing boards limit attempts. ASWB's general retake page does not give a nationwide attempt allowance or identify each board's limit. (ASWB)

Last verified 14 September 2026 against ASWB's current published exam policies, its current linked Examination Guidebook, and the jurisdiction sources cited below.

Your earliest retake date

For a standard retake, count 90 calendar days from the day you sat the exam — not from the day your results arrived, and not three months on the calendar.

The arithmetic is simple:

The second row is a request date, not an early test date or a promised waiver decision. (ASWB retake rule; waiver instructions)

Worked examples:

Count days, not months. An exam on 1 March 2026 gives you 30 May 2026, not 1 June. An exam on 1 February 2026 gives you 2 May 2026, not 1 May. In the leap year 2028, 1 February + 90 days is 1 May. Booking off a mental "about three months" is how people end up trying to schedule a date they are not yet eligible for.

Two limits worth knowing before you write the date in your calendar. First, this is arithmetic from ASWB's published rule — the eligibility and expiry dates printed on your new Authorization to Test are what actually control your booking window. Second, an eligible date is not a guaranteed seat; test centre availability is its own problem, and ASWB suggests booking four to six weeks ahead for your preferred date and location. (Guidebook — scheduling)

Which situation are you in?

These are ASWB's exam rules. If your state also requires its own law-and-ethics or jurisprudence exam, that exam has separate rules set by your board.

Can you skip the 90-day wait?

Sometimes. ASWB will consider a waiver of the waiting period if both of these are true:

1. Your most recent score was within 10 correct answers of the passing score.
2. The board where you are applying allows waivers. ASWB names two that do not: California and North Dakota.

You also cannot use more than two waivers in twelve months for any single exam category. ASWB states the limit in twelve months, not as a calendar-year allowance. (ASWB waiver conditions)

ASWB publishes the waiver exception list; California BBS's LCSW exam page does not expressly address waivers. California candidates should confirm with ASWB and BBS before planning an earlier retake.

Check the score condition against your own report

Your score report gives you two numbers: how many correct answers were needed to pass your form of the exam, and how many you got. Subtract:

correct answers needed to pass − correct answers you got = your gap

On an unsuccessful score report, a gap of 1 through 10 meets the score condition. A gap of 11 does not.

An illustration, not your numbers. Say your report shows you needed 74 correct answers and you got 66. The gap is 74 − 66 = 8, which meets the score condition. At 64 correct answers, the gap would be 10 and would still meet it. If you had answered 63 correctly, the gap would be 11, and it would not. Meeting the score condition alone does not approve a waiver.

Use the figure printed on your own report. There is no fixed passing number: ASWB publishes several versions of each exam, and psychometricians set the required number of correct answers separately for each version so that every version demands the same standard. ASWB says the passing score generally falls between 66 and 78 correct answers out of the 110 scored questions. Your report's number is the only one that applies to you.

One wording note, because you will run into it: ASWB's website describes the threshold as being within 10 correct answers of passing, while the Examination Guidebook words it as within 10 points. Your report shows raw question counts, so the subtraction above is the check you can actually perform. ASWB, not this page, decides the request. (Waiver policy; guidebook — scoring)

File it before you pay for anything

• Wait at least one day after your exam. ASWB needs your official results from Pearson VUE first, and those arrive within 24 hours. If you are eligible, ASWB says the waiver request form appears in your ASWBCentral account within 24 hours of your exam. (ASWBCentral FAQs)
• Do not register for your next attempt while a request is pending. Wait for a decision. Exam fees are nonrefundable, and the form becoming available in your account is not an approval.
• To file: log in to ASWBCentral, open the Waiver/Excused Absence tab, choose Waiver, click Begin New Request, complete it, and submit.

A granted waiver shortens the wait. It does not reduce the fee. (Waiver instructions; retake registration)

What a retake costs

All ASWB fees are nonrefundable. There is no retake discount and no partial credit for a previous attempt. These are ASWB's exam fees only — any application or re-examination fee your board charges is separate, is paid to the board, and varies by jurisdiction. (ASWB fees; guidebook — registration)

Three ways to lose a fee without ever sitting the exam:

• Arriving late. Late arrivals are treated as no-shows. You forfeit the fee and must re-register and pay unless ASWB grants relief through its excused-absence process.
• Missing the appointment without cancelling inside the guidelines. Same outcome, though the excused-absence route below may help.
• Letting your Authorization to Test expire. It covers one exam and can be valid for up to a year, but your board can set an earlier expiry. You cannot test after that date; letting it expire without testing or an approved extension forfeits the fee. ASWB may grant one extension of up to six months per registration, depending on your board's approval. (Guidebook — authorization; extension policy)

An approved ATT extension automatically cancels any existing Pearson VUE appointment. ASWB issues a new authorization, and you must schedule again. (ASWB extension instructions)

Cancelling or rescheduling at least 24 hours before your appointment costs nothing extra. Candidates with nonstandard testing arrangements must follow the instructions on their Authorization to Test. (ASWB appointment rules) The linked guidebook's cancellation instructions also tell candidates with a Monday or Tuesday appointment to call before 7:00 p.m. Eastern on the preceding Friday.

Your retake checklist

Eight steps, in order.

1. Pull up your score report. It is in your ASWBCentral account, usually about 24 hours after the exam, and it stays there. Note your exam category, your test date, and — if you are thinking about a waiver — the number of correct answers your form required. (Guidebook — after the exam)
2. Ask your board what it needs. Whether you need a fresh approval to test, whether your jurisdiction limits attempts, and whether your licensing application has a deadline. ASWB needs the approval information required for your jurisdiction before registration; do not assume every jurisdiction routes approval through the board itself. If you do not know where your board stands, ask; do not assume last time's approval still counts. ASWB handles exam preapproval for Colorado, Maine, Texas, and Utah. (Guidebook — approval; Texas board FAQ)
3. Check your testing arrangements. If you tested with approved nonstandard testing arrangements, confirm they are still valid for this registration. Approval has to be in place before you register and pay, and arrangements cannot be added to an appointment once it is booked. When your new Authorization to Test arrives, check that the arrangements listed on it match your decision letter before you schedule anything. (ASWB testing arrangements; retake checks)
4. Settle any waiver request. If you are asking for one, file it and wait for the determination before you go any further. (ASWB waiver instructions)
5. Confirm you are clear to register. ASWB's own retake page gives two different instructions here: its step list says to wait seven to ten days after your last exam before registering again, while the registration box on the same page says you may register any time after ASWB receives your official results, provided you do not need further approval from your state or province. Neither is marked as replacing the other. Rather than guess, call ASWB Candidate Services on 888.579.3926 and ask whether your account is ready. This is a question about registering; it does not change the standard 90-day gap between test dates. (ASWB's two instructions; Candidate Services)
6. Register with ASWB and pay. Your board's approval is not the same thing as buying the new registration — you still pay ASWB for the attempt. (ASWB registration sequence)
7. Read your new Authorization to Test. ASWB emails it within two business days of registering. Check the exam category, the eligibility date, the expiry date, and any special instructions. Those dates, not your own arithmetic, define your booking window. (Guidebook — Authorization to Test)
8. Schedule with Pearson VUE and keep the confirmation. Book online through ASWBCentral or by phone. You should get a confirmation email within 24 hours; if it does not arrive, contact Pearson VUE immediately to confirm the appointment and have the confirmation sent again. Candidates with nonstandard arrangements schedule by phone using the instructions on their Authorization to Test. (ASWB appointment instructions)

How many times can you take the ASWB exam?

Your licensing board's rules determine the answer for your application. ASWB says that some licensing boards limit the number of times an applicant may take the exam. Its general retake page does not provide a nationwide attempt allowance. (ASWB retake policy)

Check both the ASWB waiting period and your board's attempt, approval, and application rules. A blanket "three tries" or "unlimited tries" answer can mislead; the examples below show why.

With the standard 90-day gap and no waivers, the arithmetic allows at most five test dates inside a 365-day window: days 0, 90, 180, 270, and 360. That is one initial attempt and four retakes, not an annual allowance. Board rules, approval, your ATT, and appointment availability still apply.

What board-level rules actually look like

These four examples use the board or ASWB source identified in each row. They show different requirements; they are not a complete state-by-state directory.

The California rules are worth seeing together: the waiting period and the one-year application deadline are separate constraints. Check both before choosing a retake date.

California's entry comes from two different places: ASWB publishes the waiver exclusion, and the Board of Behavioral Sciences publishes the one-year deadline on its own LCSW exam page.

How to check your own board

Two calls, and they go to different places. Questions about your application, attempt limits, remediation, and deadlines go to your licensing board. Questions about your ASWB account, registration, waivers, and your Authorization to Test go to ASWB Candidate Services, 888.579.3926.

Here is a message you can adapt for your board. Send identifying details only through whatever channel the board asks for — we do not need your candidate ID or your score report.

Subject: Retake requirements and application status
I took the ASWB [exam category] exam on [date] as part of my application for [licence type] in [state or province]. This was attempt number [number].
Could you confirm:
1. Whether I need a new approval from the board before I register with ASWB again;
2. Whether the board limits the number of attempts, and whether any additional requirement applies at my attempt number;
3. Whether there is a deadline for retaking the exam or for keeping my current application open.
Thank you.

What your score report tells you, and what it does not

Your unofficial score report is in your ASWBCentral account about 24 hours after the exam. For a result that did not pass, it shows the number of correct answers needed, the number you got, and a breakdown by content area — how many you answered correctly out of the total in each. (Guidebook — scoring)

It can show your correct-answer counts by content area. The current exams have 122 questions, of which 110 are scored and 12 are unscored pretest items, spread across three content areas, so each area carries a real share of your score. (ASWB exam format)

You can calculate a percentage for a reported content area: correct answers ÷ scored questions reported for that area × 100. That describes this attempt; it does not produce an official scaled score or a validated estimate of readiness for the next one. Compare each area with its own question total rather than comparing raw counts alone.

Use the report to choose topics to review, then check your understanding against the current content outline and fresh practice. Do not treat a two- or three-question difference as a precise diagnosis of what you will score next time.

Three things that follow from how the exam is built:

• There are no partial retakes. You cannot retake only the content area that went badly, and you cannot combine good content-area results from different attempts into a pass. You need a passing score on one complete exam.
• You will typically get a different version. ASWB publishes multiple forms and says retakers typically receive a different one, so a question you remember is unlikely to reappear.
• Scores cannot be adjusted. Not by ASWB, not by Pearson VUE, not by your board.

These rules are explained in ASWB's scoring guidance and the guidebook's scoring and unsuccessful-attempt sections.

Your retake follows the blueprint in force on the day you test, not the one that applied to your last attempt. ASWB's current guidebook covers exams administered from 3 August 2026 — 122 questions, three content areas, a mixture of three- and four-option questions. If you last tested before that date, read the current content outline for your category in the ASWB Examination Guidebook before you build a study plan around your old score report.

Missed the appointment, or had a problem at the test centre?

A missed appointment and a test-centre incident have separate review processes. Use the appropriate process before paying for another attempt; an incident does not automatically erase a failing result or authorize an early retake. (Excused absences; incident reporting)

You missed your appointment

ASWB may excuse the absence. Wait at least 24 hours after the missed appointment before submitting a request. Submit the Excused Absence Request Form within 14 days of the missed appointment with the required documentation, and the request may be approved with no fee. Submit it after 14 days but within 30 days and it may be processed at a reduced registration fee of US$150. Requests without the required documentation may be processed at that reduced fee or denied, at ASWB's discretion.

There are three possible outcomes: the fee is waived and you test again at no cost, a US$150 rescheduling fee applies, or the request is denied for insufficient documentation. ASWB permits no more than two excused absences per single exam administration.

Requests take about two weeks to process. Do not register and pay for another exam until your determination comes back — registration fees are nonrefundable. The request lives in the same Waiver/Excused Absence tab of ASWBCentral. Full conditions are on ASWB's excused absences page.

Something went wrong during your exam

Report it to Pearson VUE test centre staff at the time it happens — that part matters, because if staff cannot confirm the problem, ASWB has limited ability to verify it later and your recourse is limited. Staff get at least 30 minutes to fix a delivery, administration, or environmental problem; past that, you can stay while they work on it or have the appointment rescheduled.

Then report it to ASWB within two business days, through the Report Incident option next to your exam registration in ASWBCentral. Wait until the incident is resolved before you register for another exam. This is an incident report, not a score appeal — it does not automatically change a result. ASWB's incident instructions.

If you are applying in a different state

Your result travels with you. ASWB's guidebook says a passing or failing score is valid in every state and province for the same exam category. That does not transfer a licence or replace the receiving board's eligibility and application requirements. (Guidebook — scores across jurisdictions; ASWB transfer instructions) Official results go to ASWB and to the board where you applied, and that board can take anywhere from two weeks to two months to process them. If you have passed and need that result sent to a different jurisdiction, ASWB handles score transfers.

Sources

• ASWB — If you fail the exam
• ASWB — Request a 90-day waiting period waiver
• ASWB — Exam scoring and the exams themselves
• ASWB — Examination Guidebook and its currently linked PDF for exams beginning 3 August 2026
• ASWB — Exam appointments, excused absences, and test centre incident reports
• ASWB — Nonstandard testing arrangements and ASWBCentral FAQs
• Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council — Social Workers: Applying for a License FAQs, especially approval to retest
• California Board of Behavioral Sciences — LCSW Clinical Examination
• New Mexico Administrative Code — 16.63.4.12: Repeated Examinations
• ASWB — ATT extensions, Candidate Services, and sending passing results to another jurisdiction

Rules, fees, and deadlines on this page were checked against these sources on 14 September 2026. We read the published pages and documents; we did not test a candidate account, submit a request, or contact a board. Fees and board rules change — confirm anything time-sensitive with ASWB and with your own board before you act on it.

AI-assisted drafting and source checking were used for this page; they are not credentialed professional review. Our editorial standards explain that distinction.

Castleport Test Prep is an independent exam prep publisher. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by the Association of Social Work Boards. Exam and credential names identify their subjects, and trademarks belong to their respective owners. This page explains published rules; it is not legal or licensing advice, and your board decides your eligibility and your application.

Castleport Test Prep Editorial Team