Failed a PRC board exam? Conditional credit, removal exams, refresher courses, and waiting periods for 10 exams, from each profession's law and PRC.
Mariano Luiz King
Published November 6, 2026 · Updated November 9, 2026
If you fail a PRC board exam, you can take it again. But what you retake depends on your profession's law. Some exams let you keep credit for the subjects you passed. Some give you one removal exam. Others make you wait a year or take a refresher course after a few tries. This post lays out the retake rules for 10 board exams, straight from each law and PRC's requirements page, as of November 2026.
After reading this, you can tell whether you'll retake the whole exam or just some subjects, and what you need before your next attempt.
Every rule below comes from the profession's own law (read on Lawphil) and PRC's current List of Requirements page, checked in November 2026. If your board issues a newer resolution, that wins over this post.
| Exam | To pass | Retake only some subjects? | After repeated failures |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPA | 75% average, no subject below 65% | Yes, if you got 75%+ in a majority of subjects. Retake the rest within 2 years | After 2 failed complete exams: 24 units of exam subjects (PRC calls it a refresher course) |
| Electrical (REE) | 70% weighted average, no subject below 50% | Yes, subjects below 50%, any number of times | None in the law |
| Electronics (ECE) | 70% in each subject | One removal exam, if you passed most subjects and the rest are 60% to 69% | Fail the removal and you fail the whole exam |
| Mechanical (ME) | 70% average, no subject below 50% | Not in the law | After 3 failures: wait 1 year |
| Chemical (ChE) | 70% average, no subject below 50% | Not in the law | None in the law |
| Architecture (ALE) | 70% weighted average, no subject below 50% | Not in the law | None in the law |
| Medical Technology (MTLE) | 75% average, no major subject below 50% | Not in the law | After 3 failures: 12-month refresher course or 12-month training in an accredited lab |
| Nutrition and Dietetics (NDLE) | 75% average, no subject below 50% | Yes, if you got 75%+ in at least half the subjects. Retake the ones below 75% within 2 years | Fail the retake and you take all subjects next time |
| Psychometrician (RPm) | 75% weighted average, no subject below 60% | Yes, if your average is 75%+ but a subject is below 60%. Retake within 2 years | None in the law |
| Psychologist (RPsy) | Same as RPm | Same as RPm | None in the law |
"Not in the law" means I couldn't find a partial-retake rule in the profession's law. In that case, plan to retake the full exam.
The CPA rule is the most common case people ask about. RA 9298 says you get conditional credit if you score 75% or higher in a majority of subjects.
Say you take the six CPA subjects and score 80% in four of them, 60% in Taxation, and 70% in RFBT. Four of six is a majority, so you're conditioned. You retake only Taxation and RFBT within two years.
But there's a catch. In the retake, you need a 75% average and at least 65% in each retaken subject. Miss that and the law says you failed the entire exam.
The Nutrition and Dietetics rule is similar but looser. RA 10862 only needs 75% in at least half the subjects, not a majority.
RA 9292 is stricter. You need 70% in every subject. The only safety net is one removal exam:
For example, 75% in Math, 78% in GEAS, 72% in Electronics, and 65% in EST qualifies. You retake EST only. If EST were 55%, you'd retake all four. PRC's page adds that the period for the removal exam isn't specified.
RA 7920 lets REE examinees retake only the subjects below 50%, any number of times. You pass once you average 70% in the retaken subjects. No other exam on this list has an "any number of times" clause.
Three exams get stricter after repeated failures:
There's one more MedTech detail worth knowing. In its August 2026 results, PRC said examinees who failed but had a general rating of at least 70% could register as Medical Laboratory Technicians. I covered that in the MedTech coverage post.
Some repeaters don't need to file in person anymore. For example, PRC's page says Nutrition and Dietetics repeaters who took the exam from April 2012 onward, with the exact same name, course, and exam, don't have to personally submit their TOR and birth certificate again.
If I were conditioned, I'd put most of my time into the failed subjects, but I wouldn't drop the others completely. The CPA rule shows why: the retake has its own pass mark, and a weak retake can cost you the whole exam.
If I failed outright, I'd start from the official coverage again and take a timed diagnostic before reviewing anything. The weakest subject is usually the one keeping you under the floor. The method is in how to review for the PRC board exam. I worked through the weighted-average math, with an example, in a retake review plan that's different.
Failing a board exam is a setback, not the end. Most of these laws let you try again right away. Six of the ten (CPA, REE, ECE, NDLE, and the two psychology boards) let you skip subjects you already passed, under certain conditions. Read your subject ratings first. They decide whether your next exam is one subject or all of them.
Yes. You apply again on LERIS as a repeater. Some exams add a refresher course or a waiting period after repeated failures.
It means you failed overall but kept credit for the subjects you passed, so you retake only the others. The CPA, Nutrition and Dietetics, and Psychology boards have this kind of rule.
₱450 for a conditioned or removal exam for most professions, according to PRC.
There's no general limit in these laws. But the CPA requires 24 units of subjects after two failures, MedTech requires a 12-month refresher after three, and ME makes you wait a year after three.
Not always. If you passed most subjects and scored 60% to 69% in the rest, you get one removal exam for those subjects.
If you're deciding whether to join a review center for your retake, see review center vs self-review. Practice your weak subjects with the free board exam reviewers.
