RCIS Pass Rate, Format & Study Guide
A real reference for anyone preparing for the Registered Cardiovascular Invasive Specialist (RCIS) exam — pass rate, retake policy, how it's scored, and a practical study timeline. This is independent reference content, not a sales page: everything below is sourced from RCIS's own certifying body.
Pass rate
CCI's own published pass-rate table lists a 75% national pass rate for RCIS in 2025.
If you don't pass — retake policy
You can resubmit a new application to retest as soon as one day after a failed attempt, but CCI requires a 45-day waiting period before you actually sit for the exam again. Each retest needs a fresh application and the required fees — there's no free retake.
How it's scored
RCIS uses a scaled score from 0 to 900, with 650 required to pass. CCI is explicit that the scaled score does not equal your raw percentage of questions answered correctly — the passing threshold is set through a periodic standard-setting study with panels of subject-matter experts, not a fixed percentage cutoff.
Format at a glance
- Diagnostic Procedures40%
- Interventional Procedures34%
- Emergency Procedures13%
- Pre-Procedural Activities8%
- Post-Procedural Activities5%
Full eligibility requirements and everything the RCIS study portal includes is on the RCIS product page.
How to actually prepare
With 170 questions (150 scored) over 3 hours, pacing is as much a factor as knowledge — that's roughly one minute per question including the unscored pretest items you can't identify in advance. Spend the bulk of your prep on Diagnostic and Interventional Procedures (74% of the exam combined), then run at least 2-3 full-length timed mock exams in your final two weeks so exam-day pacing feels automatic rather than something you're calculating question-by-question.
Want a full practice question bank built around this exact format?
See the RCIS study portal