Retake Candidates

Continue to Pursue Your Certification Goals

When candidates do not achieve National Board Certification on their first attempt, they often find success as retake candidates. We encourage candidates who don’t achieve to take advantage of the option to retake certain entries and/or exercises. This section provides instructions and tools to help you as a retake candidate for National Board Certification.

Retake Application

Ready to make the commitment to continuing the National Board Certification process? Get started by completing the retake application by signing in to View My Scores and following the instructions for retake candidates.

Note: The deadline to apply and submit payment for retakes is January 31.

Portfolio Retake Instructions
The work you submit for your retake portfolio must be new. All candidates should read the retake portfolio instructions for more information about requirements, guidelines and deadlines. Read the Retake Portfolio Instructions (PDF - 321kb).

Assessment Center Retake Instructions
Please see the Assessment Center Orientation Policies (PDF - 304kb) for instructions.

Retake Score Calculator
The score calculator is a great tool for helping retake candidates decide which entries to retake.  The calculator can be used to compute the scores needed on entries to achieve National Board Certification.  The calculator is located in the retake application and will be available with the score report when scores are released. 

Score Banking Process
NBPTS automatically banks the individual portfolio entry and assessment center exercise scores for candidates who did not achieve National Board Certification during their initial attempt. This allows candidates to retake any combination of entries and/or exercises on which they did not meet the individual performance standard of 2.75. Read more about this process in the Guide to National Board Certification (PDF - 1mb).