RTVI Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows

The Headline Number: 61.2% in 2025

The most defensible pass-rate figure for the Registered Technologist - Vascular-Interventional Radiography exam comes straight from the issuer. In the ARRT Annual Exam Report - 2025, 61.2% of first-time candidates passed, drawn from a group of 454 first-time candidates. That is the number worth anchoring on, and it is the only pass-rate statistic this article treats as established.

A few things make this figure more useful than the pass-rate claims you will find in forum threads and social media posts. It comes from the credentialing body that scores the exam. It specifies the population (first-time candidates in 2025). And it discloses the sample size, which lets you judge how much weight a single year deserves.

For context on how this fits into your broader preparation, see our companion piece How Hard Is the RTVI Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026, which looks at the exam's demands beyond the single percentage. If you want the short version of the statistics, the same data is summarized in RTVI Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows.

What That Percentage Does and Does Not Tell You

A 61.2% first-time pass rate means roughly six of every ten first-time candidates cleared the exam in 2025, and roughly four did not. That is a meaningful failure rate, but it needs careful reading.

What the figure supports

• The exam is not a formality. A pass rate in this range signals that credentialed-in-radiography technologists with substantial clinical exposure still miss the mark on a first attempt at a noticeable rate.
• Preparation matters. Experience alone does not guarantee a pass, which is why structured review pays off.
• Retakes are a real part of the pathway. The existence of a defined reapplication process and fee reflects that some candidates need more than one try.

What the figure does not support

• It is not your personal pass probability. Individual outcomes depend on your case mix, your study approach, and your comfort with each content area.
• It is not a trend line. One year of data from 454 candidates cannot tell you whether the exam is getting easier or harder.
• It does not cover repeat test-takers. The reported figure is for first-time candidates only, so it says nothing about the success rate on second or third attempts.

Resist the urge to compare this number to other ARRT postprimary pass rates or to credentials with similar-sounding names. Each exam has its own content specifications, candidate pool, and scoring history. If you are still orienting yourself to what this credential actually is, start with What Is RTVI Certification? before digging into statistics.

Why a Scaled Score of 75 Is Not 75% Correct

The single most misunderstood fact about this exam is the passing standard. ARRT reports results as a scaled score on a 1-99 range, and the passing score is 75. A scaled score of 75 does not mean you answered 75% of the questions correctly.

Scaling exists so that results remain comparable across different versions of an exam. Two forms of the test may contain different questions of slightly different difficulty. Rather than demand an identical raw count on every form, the scoring process converts raw performance into a common scale, so the same scaled score represents the same level of competence regardless of which form you sat. The practical consequence for you is that you cannot reverse-engineer a "number of questions I can afford to miss." Anyone who tells you exactly how many questions you can get wrong is guessing.

This also explains why folk wisdom about "you only need 75%" circulates and misleads candidates into under-preparing. For a deeper walk through how the score is reported and interpreted, read RTVI Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.

Who Sits for This Exam and Why That Shapes the Data

Pass-rate statistics only make sense when you understand the candidate pool. This is a postprimary credential, so nobody walks in off the street. To sit for the exam, a candidate must already hold current ARRT certification and registration in Radiography, comply with ethics requirements, complete 16 hours of structured education within the 24 months before applying (with at least one credit in each major content category), hold current BLS certification from an ARRT-recognized provider, and document clinical experience.

That clinical experience requirement is substantial: at least 200 verified procedure repetitions within the 24-month eligibility window, broken down as at least 50 each in vascular diagnostic, vascular interventional, and nonvascular categories, plus 50 additional repetitions from any category. You record 5-10 repetitions per selected procedure, with no more than 10 logged procedures per day, and you must be physically present in an active primary scrub or circulating role throughout. Observation alone does not count. A qualified ARRT-certified and registered technologist, supervisor, or interpreting physician verifies the experience, and for postprimary verification that person need not directly observe your work and may verify remotely.

Note also that Nuclear Medicine Technology or Radiation Therapy alone is not an acceptable supporting credential for VI; the foundation is Radiography.

Put those requirements together and the 61.2% figure looks different. This is a population of working technologists who have already logged hundreds of hands-on procedures in the lab. A pass rate in the low sixties for that group suggests the exam rewards more than day-to-day familiarity with cases. It tests the breadth of the content specification, including areas some technologists rarely touch in their own department. A candidate who works mostly diagnostic angiography may be thin on nonvascular procedures, and the exam does not care what your department's case mix looks like.

For the full eligibility picture, see RTVI Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.

Where the Points Live: Scored Questions by Domain

The exam contains 210 questions in total, but only 160 are scored; the other 50 are unscored pilot questions used to evaluate future items. You will not be told which are which. The official content specification (board approved July 2022, effective July 1, 2023) allocates the 160 scored questions across three major content categories. These are counts, not percentages, and they are the cleanest way to see where your effort should concentrate.

The imbalance is stark. Procedures accounts for 112 of the 160 scored questions, which is far more than Patient Care and Image Production combined. Within Procedures, the official breakdown is Vascular Diagnostic Procedures 41, Vascular Interventional Procedures 41, and Nonvascular Procedures 30.

Because these three lines are the official major content categories, treat them as the exam's own organization rather than as a study-curriculum invention. Our RTVI Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 3 Content Areas goes deeper into each category, and the RTVI Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts condenses the key points into a single reference.

Format and Pacing Factors Behind First-Attempt Misses

Some first-attempt failures have little to do with content knowledge and a lot to do with exam mechanics. Knowing the format in advance removes avoidable surprises.

• Delivery: Computer-based at a Pearson VUE test center.
• Length and timing: 210 questions in 210 minutes of answering time, which averages about one minute per question. The appointment runs 230 minutes once you include the tutorial, nondisclosure agreement, and survey.
• Item types: Primarily single-best-answer multiple choice, with possible alternative item formats and image-based questions. The ARRT handbook also describes multiple-response and ordered-response formats.
• Closed book: No reference materials. Basic and scientific on-screen calculators are available, and Pearson can supply a basic four-function calculator on request. Personal calculators are prohibited.
• Navigation: You must answer each item before advancing, but you can flag questions and revisit your answers.

The one-minute-per-question average matters because image-based and ordered-response items take longer than a straightforward recall question. If you linger on a fluoroscopic image or a multi-step sequence, you borrow time from later questions. The must-answer-before-advancing rule also means you cannot skip a hard item and return to a blank; you commit a best guess, flag it, and keep moving.

Scheduling and window details are covered in RTVI Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.

Retake Rules and the Cost of a Second Attempt

Because roughly four in ten first-time candidates did not pass in 2025, the retake rules are not a footnote. ARRT allows three examination attempts within three years of the opening of the initial examination window. Once you exhaust those attempts or that window, you generally have to re-qualify, which is a far heavier lift than simply studying more.

A failed first attempt therefore costs you the $200 reapplication fee plus the time and mental energy of another round of preparation. The three-attempt, three-year ceiling is the real constraint: each attempt is a finite resource, and burning one on an under-prepared sitting reduces your margin. For a complete view of what the credential costs from application through maintenance, see RTVI Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.

After you pass, maintenance is straightforward but ongoing: annual renewal, continuing ethics compliance, and 24 approved CE credits per two-year biennium (per biennium, not per credential). Credentials earned on or after January 1, 2011 also carry Continuing Qualifications Requirements every 10 years, consisting of a professional profile, a structured self-assessment, and any prescribed CE. ARRT also permits accepting the maximum CQR CE prescription instead of taking the self-assessment.

Turning the Pass-Rate Data Into a Study Plan

The pass-rate figure and the domain counts point to one actionable conclusion: weight your preparation toward Procedures, but do not abandon the two smaller domains, which together still account for 48 scored questions. Here is one way to translate the official allocations into a schedule. This is a template tied to the content specification, not a universal prescription; adjust it to your own logbook gaps.

For a fuller methodology, our RTVI Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt expands on resources and pacing, and RTVI Training covers the preparatory education side. When you are ready to measure your readiness, take a timed set on the RTVI practice test site and use the results to decide where to spend your remaining study time.

Is the credential worth the effort?

A 61.2% first-time pass rate is a reminder that this is a real hurdle, but the investment question is separate from the difficulty question. If you are weighing the payoff, Is the RTVI Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 and RTVI Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis address career value, while RTVI Jobs looks at the employers and settings where interventional technologists work. We do not quote salary figures here because the pass-rate data does not support them.

If you want to pressure-test your knowledge before committing to a test date, the practice questions on the main site are built around the same three content categories the exam uses.

Frequently Asked Questions