The VTNE: dates, cost, passing score and retakes

Testing windows and application cutoffs

The VTNE is given four times a year, in testing windows. Each window has a cutoff date by which your application must be complete.

• The handbook lists the windows by month and day only. Each cutoff falls one month into its window.
• The application is open all year: you can start it at any time.
• AAVSB staff must finish reviewing your eligibility before you can pick a window, and that review can take up to two weeks once all your documents are in. The AAVSB encourages applying as early as possible.
• You choose from the next two exam windows.
• You must take the exam in the window you applied for, or you forfeit the exam fee.

Source: AAVSB, VTNE Candidate Information Handbook, p. 12 (“How To Apply & Eligibility Review”) and p. 13 (cutoff dates per exam window); AAVSB, Applying to Take the VTNE, “Selecting an Exam Window”. Last checked: 1 November 2026.

What it costs

• Application fee: $375, paid when you complete your application, by card or with a prepaid VTNE voucher code. The AAVSB board reviews its fees every year, and they are subject to change.
• Each retake means a new application and the full fee again.
• Moving to a different window: $90, once per application, and only to the very next window. Request it at least 48 hours before your appointment, or before the window ends if you have not scheduled yet. After that one move you cannot move the exam again.
• Changing date, time or test center within the same window is done in your PSI portal, at least 48 hours before your appointment.
• Manual rescore: $50, requested within 48 hours of your exam.
• Refunds: the application fee and window-change fee are nonrefundable. You cannot change an appointment within 48 hours of it, and missing it without an excused absence forfeits the fee.
• The official practice test is $50 per attempt. See the official practice test below.

Source: AAVSB, VTNE Candidate Information Handbook, p. 9 (“Fees”), p. 25 (“Missed Appointments and Forfeitures”) and p. 29 (“Additional Score Review”); AAVSB, Applying to Take the VTNE, “Payments and Refunds”; AAVSB, Rescheduling Your Exam, “Reschedule in the Same Window” and “Reschedule in a Different Window”; AAVSB, Study for the VTNE, “Online VTNE Practice Tests”. Last checked: 1 November 2026.

The passing score

The passing score is 425, on a scaled score that runs from 200 to 800.

• A scaled score is not a percentage or a count of right answers. The AAVSB converts results to the 200–800 scale so that the standard stays the same from one exam administration to the next, and it does not report scores as number or percentage correct.
• All jurisdictions accept the reported scaled score.
• The exam has 170 multiple-choice questions in three hours. Your score comes from 150 of them; the other 20 are pilot questions being tried out for future exams. They are not marked, so you cannot tell which ones they are.
• Each question has four choices. There is no penalty for guessing, so the handbook advises answering every question if you can.
• You see pass or fail as soon as you finish. Your score report appears in your MyAAVSB portal within 3 business days, and the jurisdiction you chose receives your official score within 72 hours.

Source: AAVSB, VTNE Candidate Information Handbook, p. 7 (“Content”), p. 20 (“Taking the Exam by Computer”) and p. 29 (“Scoring”, “Candidate Score Reports”, “Jurisdiction Score Reports”); AAVSB, Scheduling and Taking the VTNE, “About the Exam”. Last checked: 1 November 2026.

Retakes

• Wait: the handbook says a retake can be taken a minimum of 31 days after your previous attempt. That can be in the same window, if you complete a new application before that window’s cutoff. (The AAVSB’s retake web page words it as “one time in a 30-day period”; the handbook’s 31 days is the figure to plan around.)
• Per year: no more than three attempts in a calendar year.
• In total: the AAVSB permits five attempts, counted from attempts on or after January 1, 2006. A sixth or later attempt needs a letter from your jurisdiction, a written statement of how you have prepared, and approval from the AAVSB Board of Directors, which can take up to 45 days.
• Your jurisdiction may be stricter. The handbook lists all Canadian provinces, Indiana, Tennessee and Missouri as needing their board’s approval after three attempts, and Missouri does not accept scores for attempts over four. Check your own state or provincial board.
• Every retake is a new application and the full exam fee.

Source: AAVSB, VTNE Candidate Information Handbook, p. 14 (“Retaking the VTNE”), p. 26 (“Retaking Your Exam”) and p. 27 (“Retaking the VTNE 6 or more times”); AAVSB, Retake the VTNE, “About Retakes” and “Request Approval for Over Five Attempts”. Last checked: 1 November 2026.

The ten domains and their weights

The 150 scored questions are split across 10 domains in fixed numbers, set by the AAVSB content outline approved in March 2023.

Every task the outline lists under each domain is on the exam blueprint page, or in the AAVSB’s own content outline.

Source: AAVSB, VTNE Candidate Information Handbook, p. 32 (“VTNE Content Outline”: domain, number of items, percentage). Last checked: 1 November 2026.

The official practice test

What the AAVSB says about it:

• There are three versions of the practice test.
• Each costs $50 (USD) per attempt.
• Each has 75 questions and runs 90 minutes.
• It assesses your strengths and weaknesses in each of the ten domain areas, and you get feedback on your results afterwards.
• It is sold through PSI, the AAVSB’s exam vendor.
• Its questions are copyrighted and must not be removed in any way, including by memorizing them.
• The AAVSB also posts free material on the same page: the content outline, 10 sample questions, a list of common abbreviations, and a list of textbook references.

Source: AAVSB, Study for the VTNE, “Content Outline & Study Materials” and “Online VTNE Practice Tests”; AAVSB, Scheduling and Taking the VTNE, “Scheduling the Exam” (PSI as exam vendor). Last checked: 1 November 2026.

Using it alongside other practice

This part is our suggestion, not an AAVSB rule.

• Use it to find your weak domains. Its feedback is by domain, so an early attempt tells you where to spend your study time. Read that next to the weights above: a weak spot in a 20% domain costs more than one in a 5% domain.
• Spread out the versions. With three versions, you can take one early, then one later to see whether the weak domains moved. In between, do your untimed, explain-every-answer practice in those domains.
• Practise the pace. 75 questions in 90 minutes is 72 seconds a question. The exam itself, 170 questions in 3 hours, is about 64 seconds a question.
• Don’t memorize it. That is against its terms, and a test you remember no longer tells you anything new about what you know.

For the practice in between, VTNE Rounds has questions in all ten domains, weighted like the outline above. Every answer shows the textbook it came from and where to find it. Try it free, no card. Make a free account, or read what to ask before you pay for any VTNE prep.