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California RDA licensure · Dental Board of California
Prepare for the California RDA combined written exam with a study guide, free practice questions, and a course organized around the exam areas.
Course: $69 one time · 180 days of access
Last verified: July 24, 2026 · Primary sources below
The exam at a glance
Officially the Registered Dental Assistant Combined Written and Law and Ethics Examination, administered by PSI for the Dental Board of California (DBC).
Fees, windows, and outcomes
$120
DBC application fee, filed through BreEZe
$46.59
PSI fee per sitting — confirm in your current candidate bulletin
2 years
Eligibility window from the Board's receipt of your application
72%
Passed in the Board's June 2026 report (263 candidates)
Pass rates from the Dental Board of California's published monthly examination statistics. In the June 2026 report, board-approved-program candidates passed at 79%, work-experience-pathway candidates at 62%, and repeat testers at 38%. Every 2026 month, pathway by pathway: the full RDA pass-rate data.
Official 2023 content outline
The Board's 2023 outline, built from an OPES occupational analysis, splits the exam into four areas. Dental Procedures is half the test on its own, and the regulation-anchored Areas 3 and 4 together are another 35% — so rule-based content is more than a third of your score.
| Code | Area or subarea | Weight | Free guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Assessment and Diagnostic Records | 15% | |
| 1A | Patient Information and Assessment | 8% | Study 1A |
| 1B | Diagnostic Tests and Records | 7% | Study 1B |
| 2 | Dental Procedures | 50% | |
| 2A | Treatment Preparation | 15% | Study 2A |
| 2B | Direct and Indirect Restorations | 10% | Study 2B |
| 2C | Preventative and Aesthetic Procedures | 10% | Study 2C |
| 2D | Patient Education | 10% | Study 2D |
| 2E | Specialty Procedures | 5% | Study 2E |
| 3 | Infection Control and Health and Safety | 25% | |
| 3A | Patient Safety and Prevention of Disease Transmission | 15% | Study 3A |
| 3B | Equipment Disinfection and Cross-Contamination Prevention | 10% | Study 3B |
| 4 | Laws and Regulations | 10% | Study 4 |
Each free area guide explains what that subarea tests, the rules behind it, the common traps, and includes an original practice item.
The Board's own reference list for candidates is short: the California Dental Practice Act (BPC §1600 et seq.), the Board's regulations (16 CCR §1000 et seq.), the Minimum Standards for Infection Control (16 CCR §1005), and Cal/OSHA bloodborne pathogen standards (8 CCR §5193).
Application flow
1. Qualify under one pathway
A board-approved program, 15 months and 1,280 hours of certified work experience, DANB CDA certification, an alternative program, a preceptorship, or the RDH crossover route (BPC §1752.1).
2. Gather the course certificates
Dental Practice Act and infection control within 2 years; coronal polishing and sealants within 5 years; radiation safety within 10 years; current in-person BLS.
3. Apply to the Dental Board
File through BreEZe with the $120 application fee. Your 2-year eligibility window starts when the Board receives the application.
4. Schedule with PSI
Register and schedule at a PSI test center. PSI publishes a $46.59 examination fee; other figures ($27.23, $38.50) circulate and the Board's applicant page does not state one, so confirm the current amount in your candidate bulletin before you pay.
5. Sit the exam
125 items in 3 hours, computer-based and in English only. Results are provided at the test site.
The clock that matters: pass within two years of the Board receiving your application or it is abandoned — new application, new $120, and fresh certificates for anything whose recency clock has run out. Failed a sitting? Contact PSI to reschedule, typically within about 7 to 10 business days. There is no cap on attempts inside the window.
Stale-prep traps
There is no practical exam
The RDA practical exam was suspended in 2017 and later eliminated. BPC §1752.1 requires written evidence of eligibility plus this written exam — nothing else. Anything telling you to practice on a typodont is preparing you for a test that no longer exists.
It is one exam, not two
The separate general written and law and ethics exams merged into one combined exam in 2018. Resources that have you booking two written exams describe a retired system.
It is 125 items, not 140 or 150
The current structure is 125 multiple-choice items — 100 scored plus 25 unscored pretest — in 3 hours. Older item counts belong to a previous format.
The fixed 75% rule is gone
Scoring is criterion-referenced pass/fail under 16 CCR §1081, set by the modified Angoff method. The former fixed-percentage rule was replaced by the Board's dental-assisting examination rulemaking effective November 20, 2024, and the Board does not publish a fixed passing percentage.
Pre-2025 duty charts are unsafe
The Board's Table of Permitted Duties was restructured effective January 1, 2025. Any supervision-level or delegable-duty chart from before that date can now give you the wrong answer.
Dentist and RDH exam rules do not apply
The dentist Law and Ethics exam and the RDH Laws and Ethics exam (Dental Hygiene Board of California) are different exams with different outlines and different scoring rules. Do not carry their format facts across.
Eligibility pathways · BPC §1752.1
BPC §1752.1, as re-enacted by SB 1453 and operative July 1, 2025, sets the routes to eligibility. DANB CDA certification qualifies you to sit for the exam; it does not exempt you from it.
Board-approved program
Graduate from a Dental Board–approved educational program in registered dental assisting.
Work experience
At least 15 months AND a minimum of 1,280 hours of satisfactory work experience performing dental assistant duties, certified by your supervising dentist.
DANB CDA
Current, valid Certified Dental Assistant certification from the Dental Assisting National Board. It qualifies you to take this exam — it does not exempt you from it.
Alternative program
At least 500 hours of didactic and laboratory coursework plus at least 300 hours of clinical chairside experience under a licensed dentist.
Preceptorship
At least 500 hours of clinical chairside work experience supervised by a preceptor dentist plus at least 300 hours of dental-assisting coursework.
RDH crossover
A California Registered Dental Hygienist may apply for RDA licensure by passing this combined exam.
Course certificates
Recency limits count back from your application date. Let one age out and you retake the course before you can apply.
| Certificate | Recency limit |
|---|---|
| California Dental Practice Act (2-hour course) | Within 2 years |
| Infection control (8-hour course) | Within 2 years |
| Coronal polishing | Within 5 years |
| Pit and fissure sealants | Within 5 years |
| Radiation safety | Within 10 years |
| Basic Life Support (BLS) | Current, with a live in-person skills session |
Studying without a program?
A large share of RDA candidates qualify through work experience or a preceptorship rather than a school program — which means no instructor, no syllabus, and no mock exams. The Board's June 2026 report puts that group at 62% passing against 79% for board-approved-program candidates, and repeat testers at 38%. Structure is the variable you can actually change.
Free first, paid if it helps
The free test samples all four content areas in their tested proportions and shows you a weak-area map against the official 2023 outline. The paid prep adds source-cited modules, a question bank with rationales, a full-length practice exam, and review sheets. Access to the study materials is provided for 180 days from the date of purchase. There is no pass guarantee.
Free practice questions by topic
Exam FAQ
No. The separate RDA General Written Examination and RDA Law and Ethics Examination merged in 2018 into a single Registered Dental Assistant Combined Written and Law and Ethics Examination. Law-and-ethics material is now one weighted area — Area 4, 10% — of that combined test. If a prep resource tells you to book two written exams, it is describing a system that no longer exists.
No. The RDA practical exam was suspended in 2017 and later eliminated. BPC §1752.1 requires written evidence of an eligibility pathway plus this written exam — nothing else. Any study material telling you to practice on a typodont is preparing you for an exam that does not exist.
125 multiple-choice items — 100 scored and 25 unscored pretest items you cannot identify while testing — in 3 hours, computer-based at a PSI test center, in English only. Older materials citing 140 or 150 items describe a retired structure.
No. The exam is criterion-referenced: the passing standard is set psychometrically with the modified Angoff method under 16 CCR §1081, and results are reported pass/fail only. The former fixed cut score was replaced by the Board's dental-assisting examination rulemaking effective November 20, 2024, and the Board does not publish a fixed passing percentage.
A $120 application fee to the Dental Board of California, filed through BreEZe, plus the PSI examination fee each time you schedule — retakes included. PSI publishes a $46.59 examination fee; other figures ($27.23, $38.50) circulate and the Board's applicant page does not state one, so confirm the current amount in your candidate bulletin before you pay.
Through one of the pathways in BPC §1752.1 as re-enacted by SB 1453 (operative July 1, 2025): a board-approved program; 15 months and at least 1,280 hours of certified work experience; current DANB CDA certification; an alternative program of at least 500 didactic and laboratory hours plus 300 clinical chairside hours; a preceptorship of at least 500 clinical chairside hours plus 300 didactic hours; or the California RDH crossover route. Every pathway still requires this exam.
The Dental Board's June 2026 statistics report covers 263 candidates and shows 72% passing overall. Board-approved-program candidates passed at 79%, work-experience-pathway candidates at 62%, and repeat testers at 38%. How you qualified correlates strongly with how you do.
Contact PSI to reschedule — a retake can typically be scheduled within about 7 to 10 business days — and pay the PSI fee again. There is no cap on attempts inside your eligibility window, which runs 2 years from when the Dental Board receives your application. Miss that window and the application is abandoned: you reapply, pay the $120 again, and refresh any course certificate whose recency clock has run out.
Last verified July 24, 2026. The material rules on this page trace to these primary sources:
Dentovio is an independent publisher. It is not the Dental Board of California, PSI, or an official government service, and this page is not legal advice.
This page summarizes publicly available California dental assisting law and official examination information as of the last verified date shown. Laws, fees, and exam logistics change. Confirm current requirements with the Dental Board of California and your current PSI candidate bulletin before acting.