SLP Praxis Pass Rate Analysis
SLP Praxis Pass Rate: The Complete Breakdown (2026)
The latest data on Praxis Speech-Language Pathology (5331) pass rates, taken directly from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s national summary reports: the per-attempt and per-candidate pass rates for the 2024-25 test year, the eleven-year trend, program-level variation, retake rules, fees, and what the numbers mean for your preparation. Every figure on this page is sourced from ASHA’s October 2025 National Summary Report and its highest-score companion report.
The Headline Numbers
What the ASHA Data Actually Says
| Test year | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pass rate, all scores | 90.2% | 87.2% | 83.1% | 82.2% | 81.1% | 83.0% |
| Pass rate, highest score per candidate | 96.5% | 94.8% | 93.7% | 94.1% | 92.1% | 94.1% |
| Scores reported | 9,398 | 8,394 | 9,274 | 9,828 | 9,776 | 10,410 |
| Mean scaled score | 175 | 174 | 172 | 172 | 172 | 172 |
Per Attempt vs Per Candidate
Two Pass Rates, and Why the Difference Matters
ASHA reports the Praxis SLP pass rate two ways. Both are correct. Which one you quote changes the story by eleven points.
“Highest score only (i.e., excludes multiple scores for a given individual).” The all-scores table “includes all scores from multiple test takers.”
ASHA National Summary Report, highest score edition, October 2025
The 11-point gap between 83.0 and 94.1 percent is the retake population. In 2024-25, 10,410 scores came from 9,177 people, so roughly 1,230 of those scores were second or later attempts, and the people behind them pulled the per-attempt rate down. The per-candidate number tells you that most people who fail do eventually pass, usually on the next try. The per-attempt number tells you that one sitting in six fails, and that each failed sitting costs 28 days of waiting, $146, and for a new graduate the start of the clinical fellowship.
Neither table is a first-time pass rate, and no first-time rate exists in ASHA’s published data. If you see one quoted, it is an estimate. The honest reading is that the first-attempt rate sits somewhere above 83 percent and below 94 percent, and that the margin is thinner than the pre-pandemic “about 90 percent” figure still repeated by most review courses. Our SLP Praxis study guide and study plan customizer are built around confirming readiness before you book a date, not around a date.
The Trend
Why the SLP Praxis Pass Rate Has Fallen Since 2020
ASHA has not published a cause for the decline, and this page does not pretend to know it. Three things are visible in the tables. The drop began with the 2020-21 test year and deepened in 2021-22, the first cohorts whose graduate clinical practicum ran through pandemic restrictions. Test volume grew by about a quarter over the same period, which usually means a broader range of preparation among candidates. And the gap between the all-scores and highest-score rates widened from 6 points in 2019-20 to 11 points in 2024-25, which means retakes are a larger share of the data than they were. Meanwhile the mean score has been flat at 172 since 2021-22: the typical candidate is doing fine, and the decline lives in the lower tail.
ASHA’s second table, limited to candidates with a master’s degree or higher who named ASHA as a score recipient, tells the same story with sharper edges: 92.1 percent in 2017-18, 77.9 percent in 2024-25. For a candidate, the lesson is practical. The exam you will sit has a lower pass rate than the one your clinical supervisors took, the 162 cutoff has not moved, and the candidates who fail are concentrated among those who walked in under-prepared in one or two of the Big 9 areas. Treat the 83 percent as a warning, not a forecast.
Program Variation
SLP Program Pass Rates Vary More Than You Think
The CAA requires every accredited program to publish three years of Praxis results. The spread between programs is wide, and the number a program publishes depends on how it counts.
Program pass rates vary more than the national average suggests. Because the Council on Academic Accreditation requires every accredited speech-language pathology program to publish student outcome data, you can look up any program’s Praxis results directly: the number of graduates who tested and the percentage who passed, for each of the last three years. Most programs report a pass rate that includes retakes within a window after graduation, which is closer to ASHA’s per-candidate figure than to the per-attempt figure. A program advertising 95 percent is roughly at the national per-candidate average; a program advertising 83 percent may be at the per-attempt average or may be well below it, depending on which number it chose.
Two cautions when you read program numbers. Small cohorts swing wildly: a program graduating 25 students moves four points every time one more student passes or fails. And programs choose their denominator; ask whether the rate counts first attempts, attempts within one year, or ever.
For current graduate students, the program rate sets expectations, not outcomes. Students at programs with lower pass rates pass on the first attempt every month with the right preparation, and students at top programs fail when they assume the program carries them. The variable is whether your study plan matches your actual gaps across the three content categories and the Big 9, which is what a week-by-week SLP Praxis study plan built from a diagnostic does and a review book read front to back does not.
Retake Rules
What Happens When You Fail the SLP Praxis
The Praxis retake rules are simple compared with other licensure exams: a short wait, no cap, and the same fee every time.
Your score report shows your performance in each of the three content categories, which is the most useful document in retake preparation: it tells you whether the shortfall was in foundations and professional practice, in screening, assessment, evaluation, and diagnosis, or in planning, implementation, and evaluation of treatment, so a second attempt targets the gap instead of repeating the whole review. The clinical fellowship can begin before you pass, but the Certificate of Clinical Competence cannot be issued until ASHA receives a passing score. Read the current rules on the ETS Praxis site and the ASHA Praxis scores page before you reschedule.
Why Candidates Fail
The Three Most Common Reasons SLPs Fail the Praxis
Patterns from candidates who failed on the first attempt and passed on the retake.
Scores and Certification
Test Code, Score Recipients, and the Path to the CCC-SLP
How the Praxis score connects to ASHA certification, and how to read the score numbers you will see along the way.
The test code for the Praxis Speech-Language Pathology test is 5331; the 5342 and 0342 codes are state-specific versions with a 170 passing score, and the audiology (AuD) Praxis is a separate test with its own code and its own ASHA summary report. When you register, list ASHA as one of your score recipients (recipient code R5031, per the ASHA Praxis scores page) so your Praxis scores feed your certification application automatically. Every score sent to ASHA under test code 5331 is what the National Summary Report counts, which is why the report says “scores reported to ASHA” rather than “candidates who tested.” One change to plan around: ASHA has announced that the Praxis moves from ETS to PSI on January 11, 2027, with the content, format, and 162 passing score unchanged, so a candidate testing in 2027 registers through PSI rather than ETS.
Passing the Praxis is one of three requirements for the Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology (the CCC-SLP): a graduate degree from a CAA-accredited program with the required supervised clinical experience, a passing Praxis score, and a completed clinical fellowship of 36 weeks of full-time equivalent mentored clinical experience. Most candidates sit the Praxis in their final semester or in the first months of the clinical fellowship, and a Praxis score stays valid for ASHA certification for five years, so there is no reason to rush a sitting before you are ready. The CCC is also what most state boards accept in lieu of a separate state exam.
A CAA-accredited program must publish three years of Praxis pass rates, and small programs frequently show a 100% pass rate in one or more years. A 100% pass rate across a cohort of 12 is a different piece of evidence from a 100% pass rate across 60, and the CAA counts graduates who eventually passed, not first attempts, so program rates run higher than the 83 percent per-attempt national figure. Compare the number of graduates tested, look for the trend across the three years, and treat any program whose rate is below the mid 80s as a signal to build more practice tests into your plan, not as a verdict.
The ETS Praxis SLP interactive practice test is the only practice test built from retired items and scored on the real 100 to 200 scale, so it is the one practice score that maps directly to the 162 passing score. Take it once, late, when your other practice tests are consistently above the line. Third-party practice tests report raw percentages, not scaled Praxis scores; as a rough guide, candidates who score above 70 percent on well-built scenario practice tests tend to clear 162, but the ETS practice test is the only calibrated check.
What the Data Means for You
Translating Pass Rate Data Into SLP Praxis Preparation Strategy
Pass rate data is most useful when it changes how you prepare. The strongest predictor of passing the Praxis SLP on the first attempt is whether your study plan is matched to your actual gaps across the three content categories and the Big 9, not how many hours you log or which review book you buy. First-time candidates who diagnose their weak areas early and target them with scenario-based practice consistently outperform candidates who run a generic question bank front to back.
For students at programs with average or below-average pass rates, the message is direct: program-level data does not determine your score. Your preparation quality, an honest assessment of your weak areas, and sitting for the exam when an objective measure says you are ready, rather than when the fellowship start date says you must, are the variables you control. Graduates from any CAA-accredited program pass on the first attempt with the right approach.
The numbers also argue against the “everyone passes” reputation the SLP Praxis still carries. One sitting in six fails, the per-attempt pass rate has been in the low 80s for four straight years, and the per-candidate rate means about 540 people in the 2024-25 test year never cleared 162. Build your preparation around your specific weaknesses, validate it with full-length timed practice, and confirm readiness before you spend $146 and 28 days on a sitting. Our SLP Praxis study guide and study plan customizer are built for exactly that.
Improve Your Odds
Stop Guessing. Know Exactly Where You Stand.
Pass rate data tells you what happened to other SLP graduates. A PraxScore tells you what will happen to you.
FAQ
SLP Praxis Pass Rate: Common Questions
ASHA’s most recent report shows that 83.0% of the 10,410 Praxis Speech-Language Pathology scores reported in the 2024-25 test year (September 2024 through August 2025) met the passing score of 162. Counting each candidate only once at their highest score, 94.1% of the 9,177 people who tested passed. Both figures come from ASHA’s National Summary Report for Praxis Data in Speech-Language Pathology, published October 2025.
No. ASHA publishes two tables: all scores, which counts every attempt including retakes, and highest score only, which counts each person once. Neither isolates first attempts. The all-scores rate (83.0%) is a per-attempt figure that is pulled down by retakes, so the true first-time rate is probably a few points higher than 83% and well below the 94% per-candidate rate.
The all-scores pass rate ran 89.5% to 91.5% from 2014-15 through 2019-20, fell to 87.2% in 2020-21, and has sat between 81.1% and 83.1% every year since 2021-22. ASHA does not state a cause. The drop coincides with the first cohorts whose graduate clinical practicum was disrupted by the pandemic, growth in test volume from 8,394 to 10,410 scores, and a rising share of retakes in the data. The mean score has held at 172 since 2021-22, which suggests the middle of the distribution is unchanged and the decline is concentrated in the lower tail.
ETS sets no limit on attempts. You must wait 28 days after a test date before retaking the same Praxis test, and each attempt costs the full $146 registration fee. ASHA accepts your highest passing score, so a failed first attempt does not count against certification. See the ETS Praxis site for the current retake policy.
ASHA requires a scaled score of 162 on the 100 to 200 scale for the Certificate of Clinical Competence, per the ASHA Praxis scores page. Most state licensing boards use the same 162 threshold; the 5342 and 0342 state-specific versions use 170. The mean score in 2024-25 was 172 with a standard deviation of 12, so a typical passing candidate clears the line by about 10 points.
The exam is changing administrators, not content. Per ASHA, candidates take the Praxis Speech-Language Pathology test (5331) through ETS through December 2026; beginning January 11, 2027, the national examination moves to PSI as the National Speech-Language Pathology Examination, with registration opening November 3, 2026. ASHA states that the examination content, format, and passing standards remain unchanged, so the 162 passing score, the three content categories, and the pass rate history on this page still apply. Scores from either administrator must reach ASHA directly and must be no more than five years old when you apply for certification.
The Council on Academic Accreditation requires every accredited SLP graduate program to publish student outcome data, including the Praxis pass rate for its graduates over the most recent three academic years, on its own website. Programs can also request an Institutional Summary Report from ASHA each November if at least five candidates named the program on their score reports. Look for all three years and the number of graduates tested, not a single headline percentage.
Continue Reading