EC-Council CCISO Pass Rate, Format & Study Guide

The certifying body does not publicly publish an official pass rate for this exam. Be wary of third-party sites citing a specific number here — treat any pass-rate claim you see elsewhere for this exam as unverified.

EC-Council's retake policy is tiered: your first retake (2nd attempt) has no waiting period at all, but every retake after that requires a 14-day wait. You're capped at 5 attempts within any 12-month period — hit that cap and you must wait a full 12 months before a 6th attempt. Each retake requires purchasing a separate (discounted) CCISO Retake Exam Voucher rather than reusing your original $999 voucher; you don't need to resubmit the eligibility application itself, just pay for the new attempt. EC-Council also strongly recommends official training after a third failed attempt.

CCISO doesn't use one fixed passing percentage. EC-Council calibrates a separate 'cut score' for every exam form based on the difficulty of that form's specific question set, and depending on which form you're administered, the passing threshold can range anywhere from 60% to 85%. This is EC-Council's stated methodology, not a pass rate — it just means two candidates can face different numeric bars to pass depending on which version of the exam they draw.

CCISO is 150 questions in 2.5 hours across 5 domains that EC-Council weights almost evenly — Governance, Risk & Compliance and Security Program Management & Operations at 21% each, Information Security Controls & Audit Management at 20%, and Information Security Core Competencies plus Strategic Planning, Finance, Procurement & Third-Party Management at 19% each. Because the blueprint is nearly flat rather than top-heavy, resist the instinct to over-study the technical security domains — the Strategic Planning/Finance/Procurement domain is the one experienced security managers most often underprepare for since it's the least like day-to-day security work, so give it deliberate, dedicated review time rather than letting it ride on general experience.