decision faq
What happens if I fail a certification exam?
Direct answer
What to do
You can retake it — under the vendor's retake policy.
Use this answer when
- Your goal matches the question the page answers.
- The dated conditions and official sources still apply to your situation.
- You will use the linked decision page for the full next step.
Recheck before acting when
- Your target work or starting point is different.
- An exam, policy, or retirement date has changed since review.
- The answer depends on an employer, provider, or personal circumstance not established here.
Reviewed 2026-08-26
Certification details change. Always confirm final pricing, availability, and credential terms on the official provider page linked in the sources below before you pay for anything.
Detailed evidence, examples, and source notes
An honest, cited answer. We make no ROI, salary, placement, or 'worth it' claim, and we don't track live job demand — where we don't know, we say so.
You can retake it — under the vendor's retake policy. CompTIA's official policy: there's no mandatory waiting period between your first and second attempt, but before a third or any later attempt "you shall be required to wait for a period of at least fourteen (14) calendar days from the date of your last attempt." Once you pass, you can't retake the same exam version. What a retake costs is a separate question from whether you may sit one, and we have not surveyed retake pricing across vendors — check the specific exam's policy and your own purchase terms, since some bundles include a retake, before you budget for a second attempt. Practically: treat a failed attempt as a diagnostic — review the objective areas you were weak on, do more hands-on practice, and re-sit. Other vendors (AWS, Cisco, Microsoft, ISC2) have their own retake/wait rules, so check the specific exam's policy.
What we don't know
We make no pass-rate or 'X% pass on retake' claim. CompTIA's published retake policy does not address whether retakes are disclosed to employers, so we won't imply it either way; we have not reviewed other vendors' policies on that point.
Related
Core source records
This table lists the page’s core content records and when they were checked. Claim-specific citations appear beside the relevant text and may not be repeated here.
| ID | Supports | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| CIT-01 | Answer to: What happens if I fail a certification exam? | CompTIA — Certification Retake Policy | 2026-06-14 |