Pass rate
Registered Penetration Tester Pass Rate
The score you need to pass the Registered Penetration Tester certification exam, what the cut score actually means, and how to read your mock results against it.
- 60% to pass
- 120 questions
- 2/10 difficulty
The number you need to hit
Published cut score for this certification.
Pass score vs pass rate
Two different numbers that get mixed up constantly.
Pass score (cut score)
The scaled score the vendor publishes. For the Registered Penetration Tester it is 60%. This is the number you can actually prepare against, and it is the one that decides your result on exam day.
Pass rate (percentage of candidates)
The share of candidates who pass. CREST generally does not publish this for individual exams, and the numbers you find online usually come from candidate self-reported surveys. We would rather tell you nothing than tell you a figure we cannot source.
Where you lose points
The exam is not scored flat. Each domain carries its own weight, so a domain where you lose everything can sink a score that looks fine on paper.
Losing this domain entirely costs you 20% of the exam, and it has 24 practice questions here.
Losing this domain entirely costs you 35% of the exam, and it has 42 practice questions here.
Losing this domain entirely costs you 20% of the exam, and it has 24 practice questions here.
Losing this domain entirely costs you 25% of the exam, and it has 30 practice questions here.
The practical version: the Registered Penetration Tester is not passed by knowing most of the content. It is passed by being strong in the domains that carry weight, and by not leaving one of them empty.
More about the Registered Penetration Tester exam
Explore the rest of this page series: format, cost, difficulty, requirements and how to prepare.
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Explore other certifications in the same category and see how they stack up.
Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know about the Registered Penetration Tester exam.
