PTCB / PTCE guideScores & results
PTCB Passing Score: What Does 1,400 Mean?
The PTCE passing scaled score is 1,400. Possible scores range from 1,000 to 1,600. PTCB has not published a universal raw number correct out of 80 that equals 1,400.
Short answer
The passing scaled score for the PTCE is 1,400. PTCB reports possible scores from 1,000 to 1,600. That cut is not the same thing as a published “you need X of 80 scored items correct.” Preliminary on-screen output is not the official score. Official results are typically posted in the PTCB Account within three weeks.
1,400 is a scaled cut, not a raw-item rumor
PTCB’s CPhT scoring section states that the passing scaled score for the PTCE is 1,400, and that possible scores based on the exam outline range from 1,000 to 1,600. Keep PTCE practice pointed at the current domains in Passy rather than chasing an unofficial “percent correct” that PTCB did not print.
Scaled scores exist so that different forms can be compared. A harder form and an easier form can still map to the same passing standard. That is why converting 1,400 into “56 out of 80” or “70%” is a guess unless PTCB publishes that conversion.
What the score is based on
The exam has 90 multiple-choice items. Eighty are scored. Ten unscored items do not contribute. How many questions are on the PTCB exam? is the count. This page is the cut.
You will not be told which ten are unscored. Preparing as if every item counts is the only safe stance.
Preliminary 1,400 is still not official
PTCB says unofficial exam results appear on screen after the post-exam survey, and that a printed unofficial copy may be available at the center. It also says those preliminary reports are typically an indication of performance but are not official or final. Official score reports are typically available in the PTCB Account within three weeks. PTCB says it cannot expedite processing.
PTCB exam results is the timing page. Do not celebrate or catastrophize from the screen until the account file is posted.
If the official score is below 1,400
An official fail is a retake problem, not a mystery percentage. Failed the PTCB exam? uses current waiting rules. Review the domains that actually missed in Passy instead of restudying an entire outdated compounding chapter.
Passy original items cannot predict a scaled 1,400. They can show whether a classification, a federal rule, or a calculation setup is breaking down.
Build the next PTCE study block in Passy around that evidence.
How hard is the PTCB exam? explains difficulty without turning 1,400 into a pass-rate.
Return to scaled-score PTCE practice in Passy after you accept the scale as a scale.
Trust the source
Official sources
Exam policies can change. Use these primary sources for the most current details.