EPPP Pass Rate Trends 2026: What the Data Says About First-Attempt Success

The Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP) is the gate between a doctoral degree and licensure as a psychologist in the U.S. and Canada. It is developed and owned by the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB), and 58 of the 60 jurisdictions in ASPPB’s 2025 InFocus survey require it.

Because it sits at that gate, pass-rate data gets used well beyond the candidate’s own planning. Doctoral programs cite it in accreditation self-studies, prospective students compare programs with it, and training directors use it to judge whether their students are ready. This piece covers what the public data shows, where it varies, and the preparation habits that go with stronger first-attempt results.

What ASPPB publishes, and what it doesn’t

Each year ASPPB publishes Psychology Licensing Exam Scores by Doctoral Program, which reports first-time results on the EPPP (Part 1-Knowledge) for graduates of APA- and CPA-accredited programs over a rolling five-year window. The 2024 edition covers candidates who first tested between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2023. It is the closest thing the field has to a benchmark dataset.

The pass rate in that report is the share of candidates who reached a scaled score of 500, the passing point ASPPB recommends for independent practice. A scaled score is not a percentage of items correct, and the raw score behind a 500 can differ from one exam form to the next. Boards make the actual pass or fail decision: in InFocus, 25 jurisdictions say they use ASPPB’s recommended passing point and 21 specify a scaled score of 500.

What the report does not show is performance by prep program, study duration, or candidate demographics. Those relationships live in prep providers’ own data and in what programs share with their accreditors.

What the numbers show

The accredited-program pass rate has slipped. Across 18,037 first-time takers from accredited programs, 76.87% passed. ASPPB notes that the rate exceeded 80% in most earlier sample years and that the most recent five years show a drop of roughly three points, which it suggests may reflect the pandemic’s effect on doctoral training.

Accreditation matters. The 2,828 first-time takers from nonaccredited or other doctoral programs passed at 48.80%, 28 points below their accredited peers.

Program-level variation is large. ASPPB does not total results by degree type, so we did it from the report’s program table. PhD graduates passed at 85.8% (about 9,700 candidates) and PsyD graduates at 66.2% (about 8,200). Among programs with at least 20 first-time takers, 104 passed more than 95% of them and 43 passed fewer than 60%. The top of the PsyD range overlaps the PhD average, though: 14 of the 84 PsyD programs of that size matched or beat 85.8%.

ASPPB’s own caution applies here. The report is built from what candidates list on their applications, and ASPPB says pass rates should be treated as one outcome measure among several, not a ranking.

Where the variation comes from

The EPPP is one exam with one score scale. Most of the variation candidates experience comes from what surrounds it.

State law exams. InFocus reports that 41 of 60 jurisdictions require a jurisprudence exam on their own statutes and rules, and 16 require an oral exam. Candidates tend to underestimate this layer. California’s law and ethics exam, for example, is a separate proctored exam that has to be passed on its own.

EPPP Part 2 (Skills). ASPPB launched a separate skills exam and originally planned to make it mandatory everywhere by January 1, 2026. In October 2024 it dropped that mandate. Part 2 remains required only in the few jurisdictions that adopted it, so check with your board. ASPPB is instead replacing both parts with a single integrated EPPP that combines knowledge and skills, with beta testing in spring 2027 and live administration from fall 2027. Current Part 1 administrations in 2026 and 2027 keep their published blueprint.

When you can sit. Boards differ on when a candidate may take the exam. In InFocus, 24 jurisdictions allow it after the degree is granted, 11 during the postdoctoral year, and 4 before the degree, while 9 require all supervised experience to be finished first. Where the exam comes last, a failed attempt delays the license directly. Retake limits vary even more; we cover them board by board in our analysis of ASPPB’s 2025 data.

The preparation habits that make a difference

Given that the exam is fixed, the practical question is what raises your odds on the first attempt. None of what follows is exotic. Candidates who struggle usually skipped one of these steps rather than lacking effort.

1. Enough time, spread out

AATBS’s guidance is 200 to 400 hours of study over roughly three months. The total matters more than the calendar, and regular shorter sessions beat occasional marathons, which is consistent with research on spaced practice. Starting two months before an exam date usually means either cramming or postponing.

2. Study weighted to your weak domains

The EPPP (Part 1-Knowledge) covers eight content domains: biological bases of behavior; cognitive-affective bases of behavior; social and cultural bases of behavior; growth and lifespan development; assessment and diagnosis; treatment, intervention, prevention, and supervision; research methods and statistics; and ethical, legal, and professional issues. Each is weighted, and ASPPB publishes the weights. Take a full-length diagnostic first, find your two or three weakest domains, and give them more time while keeping the stronger ones warm. Equal time on every domain is a common way to under-prepare.

3. Active practice over passive review

Rereading summaries and listening to lectures feels productive but builds weaker retention than retrieval: answering practice questions, explaining a concept without notes, working through why a wrong answer is wrong. Build most of your study hours around questions, not reading.

4. Full-length, timed practice exams

The EPPP (Part 1-Knowledge) has 225 items, 175 of them scored, and you get 4 hours and 15 minutes. Candidates who have never sat a full-length timed practice exam often lose points to pacing and fatigue rather than content. Plan at least two full-length exams in the final month, reviewed item by item.

5. Test-day logistics

Confirm your Pearson VUE appointment, ID requirements, route, and break plan in advance, and protect your sleep the week before. It is the cheapest part of preparation and the easiest to neglect.

What program-level pass rates do and don’t predict

Prospective doctoral students often use program pass rates as a quality signal. They are useful but incomplete. A program with a 95% first-time rate may be selective at admission, may align its curriculum with EPPP content, may fund extensive practica, or all three. A program with a lower rate may admit a broader pool and still get most graduates licensed over more than one attempt. Read pass rates alongside cohort size, time to degree, attrition, and accreditation status, all of which ASPPB and APA publish.

What universities and employers are doing

Universities are assessing EPPP readiness earlier. Rather than let students discover content gaps after graduation, some doctoral programs now give secure, EPPP-aligned assessments during training. Triad supports this through its Secure Exams platform, which maps assessments to the same eight domains ASPPB tests.

Employers are sponsoring prep. For postdoctoral fellows and early-career staff, a failed attempt means months more before they can practice independently and bill under their own license. Paying for structured prep before the first attempt costs less than that delay. Our guide to funding sources for licensure prep covers how organizations pay for it.

The bottom line for 2026 candidates

1. Give yourself about three months and 200 to 400 hours.
2. Take a full-length diagnostic early, weight your study toward your weakest domains, and practice with questions rather than rereading.
3. Sit at least two full-length timed practice exams in the final month.

If you are eligible now, also consider the 2027 transition. Testing in late 2026 or early 2027 leaves room for a retake on the current exam if you need one.