A retake plan for the PRC board exam: read your subject ratings, find which rule failed you, and spend your hours where they add the most points.
Mariano Luiz King
Published November 9, 2026
If you failed a PRC board exam, reviewing the same way for a second time usually gets you a similar result. A retake review should start from your own subject ratings, not from page one of the reviewer. This post shows a retake plan built on three things: what your ratings say, which passing rule you missed, and where an extra hour adds the most points to your average.
After reading this, you can turn your failed rating into a retake plan that spends your time on the subjects that actually decide the result.
The passing rules come from each profession's law and PRC's pages, which I collected in what happens if you fail the board exam. The math is mine, and you can check it yourself. The study methods are the same ones in how to review for the PRC board exam.
Your average alone doesn't tell you what to fix. You need each subject's rating.
PRC lets you check your rating online through its Verification of Rating service. Write down every subject's score next to its weight. Your exam's weights are in its coverage guide, like the ME or MTLE one.
Board exams have more than one way to fail. Which one caught you changes the whole plan.
| Rule you missed | Which exams have it | What it means for your retake |
|---|---|---|
| The average (70% or 75%) | All 10 exams below | You need points across your heavy subjects |
| A subject floor (no subject below 50%, 60%, or 65%) | CPA 65%, RPm and RPsy 60%, ME, REE, ChE, ALE, NDLE, and MTLE 50% | One weak subject sank you, even with a good average. Fix that subject first |
| Every subject at 70% | ECE | There's no averaging. Your weakest subject is your whole exam |
Floors and averages are from each exam's law, as listed in what happens if you fail.
Also check whether you're conditioned. The CPA, NDLE, RPm, RPsy, and REE rules can let you retake only some subjects, and ECE has a one-time removal exam. If you qualify, your plan is much smaller.
In a weighted average, a point in a heavy subject is worth more than a point in a light one.
Take the MTLE. Its subjects carry 20% or 10% each. If you raise Hematology (20%) by 10 points, your average goes up by 2 points (10 × 0.20). If you raise Clinical Microscopy (10%) by 10 points, your average goes up by 1 point (10 × 0.10).
Here's a full example. Say your MTLE ratings were:
| Subject | Weight | Your rating | Points toward average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clinical Chemistry | 20% | 70 | 14.0 |
| Microbiology and Parasitology | 20% | 72 | 14.4 |
| Clinical Microscopy | 10% | 80 | 8.0 |
| Hematology | 20% | 66 | 13.2 |
| Blood Banking and Serology | 20% | 70 | 14.0 |
| Histopathologic Techniques, Laws and Ethics | 10% | 78 | 7.8 |
| Average | 71.4 |
You need 75%, so you're 3.6 points short. Raising Hematology and Clinical Chemistry by 9 points each adds 3.6 points (9 × 0.20 × 2) and gets you to exactly 75. Raising your two 10% subjects by the same 9 points each would add only half that, 1.8 points.
So most of your hours go to the two heavy subjects with the lowest scores. You keep the light subjects warm with practice questions, but you don't rebuild them.
If a floor failed you, do this math only after that subject is safely above the floor. For example, an ME examinee with 48% in Mathematics fails even with a 70% average, because RA 8495 bars any subject below 50%.
If you reviewed mostly by reading notes and watching lectures, more of the same won't fix it. For the retake:
Some laws add requirements after repeated failures:
Check this before you pick a date, since a refresher course takes months. If you're weighing a review center for the retake, see review center vs self-review.
Most boards run twice a year, so your next chance is usually 4 to 7 months away. The psychology and nutrition boards run once a year. Usual months and filing windows are in the PRC board exam schedule.
If you're conditioned, watch the deadline. The CPA, NDLE, and psychology rules give you 2 years to pass the remaining subjects.
To file again as a repeater or conditioned examinee, follow how to apply for the PRC board exam online. The removal or conditioned exam fee is ₱450 for most professions, instead of ₱900.
If I were retaking, I'd resist the urge to restart the whole reviewer from the beginning. It feels safe, but it spends weeks on subjects you already passed. I'd start from the ratings, do the weighted math, and only then build a schedule.
I built prepPH, so I'm biased. It's a practice tool with exam-style questions per subject, explanations, and spaced repetition, which covers Step 4. It won't give you a refresher course certificate if your law requires one.
A retake isn't a repeat of the same review. Read your ratings, find the rule you missed, and put most of your hours into the heavy subjects where you scored lowest. That's usually a few subjects, not all of them.
Start from your subject ratings. Find which passing rule you missed, then spend most of your time on the heavy subjects where you scored lowest.
Not equally. Keep every subject warm with practice questions, but put most of your hours where the weighted math says the points are.
Usually at the next sitting, 4 to 7 months later for boards held twice a year. Some laws add a refresher course or a waiting period after repeated failures.
Use PRC's online Verification of Rating service.
Practice your weak subjects with the free board exam reviewers.
