CAST Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows

The Pass Rate Reality: What ETA International Actually Publishes

If you searched for a specific CAST pass percentage, you probably didn't find one - and that's not an oversight on your part. ETA International, the certifying body behind the Certified Alarm Security Technician credential, does not publish an official pass-rate figure for the base CAST exam. Unlike some certification programs that release annual scorecards, ETA keeps its reporting focused on the exam structure itself: 75 questions, a two-hour time limit, and a fixed 75% passing threshold.

That absence of a published number matters for how you should think about your own preparation. Instead of benchmarking yourself against an industry-wide statistic, the more useful exercise is understanding exactly what the passing threshold requires and where candidates typically lose points. We break down that scoring mechanic in detail in our CAST Passing Score guide, and if you want the full picture of exam difficulty beyond just the score cutoff, the How Hard Is the CAST Exam breakdown covers question style, time pressure, and content depth.

Passing Score Mechanics: Why 75% Matters More Than a Headline Number

A 75% passing score on a 75-question exam means you can afford to miss roughly 18 questions and still pass. That's a meaningful margin, but it's not generous enough to guess your way through entire domains. With no reference materials and no formula sheet permitted during the test (calculator use follows standard ETA rules), every question has to be answered from what you actually know or can reason through on the spot.

This is a proctored written exam - administered through an ETA Certification Administrator using Trapeza online testing or paper, with ExamRoom.AI remote testing as an alternative. There's no hands-on practical component for the base CAST, which changes how you should study: you're being tested on knowledge and application through multiple-choice or scenario-style questions, not on physically demonstrating a wiring task in front of a proctor.

Exam Format and What It Means for Your Score

Understanding the exam's mechanics is part of understanding what "passing" actually demands. Here's what candidates are working with:

• 75 questions delivered in a single proctored session
• Two-hour time limit - roughly 96 seconds per question on average
• 75% passing score, fixed and non-curved
• No hands-on component for the base CAST (hands-on skills are addressed separately under the CAST(C) commercial competencies, which are outside the base credential)
• $80 exam fee, plus a $16 add-on if you test remotely via the two-hour proctoring session

Because the clock is tight but not brutal, time pressure alone rarely explains a failed attempt. The more common culprit is uneven coverage across the 13 competency sections - strong in wiring and cabling, weak in data communications, for example. A full breakdown of registration mechanics and what your money buys is available in our CAST Certification Cost guide, and if you're still confirming eligibility before you register, the CAST Requirements article clarifies that stand-alone CAST does not require CETa, while Journeyman status layers in CETa plus at least two years of combined training and experience.

Which of the 13 Domains Trip Up Candidates

The current competency document underlying the CAST exam (carrying 2013/2016 copyright dates) organizes content into 13 base sections. Because ETA doesn't publish per-domain scoring breakdowns, there's no official data ranking which domains cause the most missed points. But based on the scope and technical density of each section, a few stand out as places where candidates without field experience tend to underprepare.

The remaining sections - Technology and Configuration, Alarms, Cameras and Intercoms, Components, Cabling and Connectors, Interfacing, Locks, Computers and Digital Concepts, Hand Tools - Soldering, and Data Communications and Software - round out the 13-section structure and each carry their own vocabulary and equipment-specific knowledge. For a section-by-section walkthrough of what each domain actually covers, see our CAST Exam Domains guide, and for a condensed review resource once you've studied each area, the CAST Cheat Sheet is built for fast, pre-exam recall.

The Retake Policy and What It Signals About Difficulty

ETA International offers one free exam retake within one year of your first session, though remote-proctoring charges are billed separately if you choose that format again. This policy is worth reading closely for two reasons.

First, it tells you ETA anticipates that a meaningful number of candidates won't pass on the first try - otherwise there'd be no reason to build a free retake into the program. Second, it removes a major financial disincentive to trying again: you're not paying the full $80 exam fee twice if you don't pass initially, though the remote proctoring fee is a separate line item to plan for.

If you're weighing whether to spend more time on preparation now versus relying on the retake safety net, it's worth reading our full CAST Study Guide before you register - front-loading preparation is almost always cheaper than losing weeks waiting for a retest slot.

Who Hires CAST Holders and Why That Shapes Outcomes

Pass-rate discussions rarely happen in a vacuum - who takes the exam affects how the exam performs. CAST candidates typically come from alarm and security installation backgrounds, low-voltage electrical trades, or entry-level positions at security integration firms looking to formalize their technicians' credentials. Employers in residential and light-commercial alarm installation, monitoring companies, and access-control integrators are among those who value the credential as a baseline verification of technical competency across the 13 domains.

Because stand-alone CAST doesn't require CETa or prior ETA credentials, it's accessible to technicians earlier in their careers - which also means the candidate pool includes people with less field exposure to certain domains, like data communications or advanced schematic reading, compared to someone who has already logged years toward Journeyman status. If you're trying to gauge whether the credential fits your career stage, our CAST Jobs overview and Is CAST Certification Worth It analysis both look at this from a return-on-investment angle rather than just an exam-difficulty one.

A Domain-Based Prep Timeline That Improves Your Odds

Generic study advice like spaced repetition or timed review sessions only helps if it's mapped to the actual 13-section structure of the CAST competency document. Here's a way to sequence your preparation so the domains most likely to expose gaps get more runway.

Running timed practice sessions that mirror the real 75-question, two-hour format is one of the most reliable ways to expose pacing issues before test day. You can build that habit using the practice resources on our practice test platform, which lets you simulate exam-length sessions rather than studying domains in isolation. Repeating that process a few times through CAST Exam Prep's practice tools gives you a realistic read on where your remaining 18-question margin for error is thinnest.

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