# California RDA Exam Pass Rate: Official 2026 Data by Month and Pathway

> Every pass rate the Dental Board of California published for the RDA Combined Written exam, January–June 2026: 75% overall, 85% first-time, 42% on retakes, and the pathway gap the Board reports but does not explain.

URL: https://dentovio.com/rda/pass-rates

Markdown: https://dentovio.com/rda/pass-rates/index.html.md

Last verified: 2026-08-09

## Direct answer

- Across January–June 2026, 74.5% of California RDA Combined Written exam administrations were passed (854 of 1,146), per the Dental Board of California's monthly statistics.
- First-time testers: 85.2% passed (734 of 862). Repeat testers: 42.3% passed (120 of 284).
- Board-approved-program candidates passed at 78.8%; work-experience-pathway candidates at 66.9%. The gap appears in every published month.
- There is no fixed passing score: results are pass/fail against a criterion-referenced standard (modified Angoff, 16 CCR §1081).

## Monthly results, 2026

| Month | Exams taken | Passed | % passed | First-time % | Repeat % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2026 | 142 | 103 | 73% | 86% | 37% |
| February 2026 | 185 | 140 | 76% | 87% | 44% |
| March 2026 | 173 | 124 | 72% | 83% | 37% |
| April 2026 | 190 | 146 | 77% | 82% | 56% |
| May 2026 | 193 | 152 | 79% | 92% | 44% |
| June 2026 | 263 | 189 | 72% | 83% | 38% |
| **H1 2026 total** | **1,146** | **854** | **74.5%** | **85.2%** | **42.3%** |

"Exams taken" counts administrations, not unique candidates — the Board's own column heading. A candidate who tests twice appears twice.

## Pass rate by eligibility pathway (January–June 2026)

| Pathway | Exams taken | Passed | % passed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Board-approved program | 604 | 476 | 78.8% |
| Work experience | 471 | 315 | 66.9% |
| Mixed education and work experience | 58 | 50 | 86% |
| Preceptorship | 8 | 8 | 100% |
| DANB Certified Dental Assistant | 3 | 3 | 100% |
| Registered Dental Hygienist crossover | 1 | 1 | 100% |

Pathway rows reproduce the Board's published monthly figures as-is. One transparency note: the Board's March 2026 report is internally inconsistent by one administration — its pathway rows sum to 172 exams against a published grand total of 173 — so the pathway table's total is one lower than the monthly table's.

## What the Board does not publish

- A fixed passing score or cut score — scoring is criterion-referenced pass/fail (16 CCR §1081).
- Unique-candidate pass rates — reports count exam administrations.
- Content-area (subscore) performance — failing candidates get no per-area diagnostic in these reports.
- Any explanation of the pathway gap — the association between eligibility pathway and pass rate is reported without analysis.
- Pre-2026 statistics on the current stats index page.

## FAQ

### What is the pass rate on the California RDA exam?

Across January–June 2026, candidates passed 854 of 1,146 RDA Combined Written exam administrations — 74.5% overall, per the Dental Board of California's monthly statistics. Individual months ranged from 72% (March and June) to 79% (May).

### What percentage pass the RDA exam on the first try?

First-time testers passed at 85.2% across January–June 2026 (734 of 862 first-attempt administrations). Monthly first-time rates ranged from 82% to 92%.

### What is the RDA exam retake pass rate?

Repeat testers passed at 42.3% across January–June 2026 (120 of 284 retake administrations). The retake rate has not exceeded 56% in any 2026 month, and was 37–38% in three of the six months — failing once is strongly associated with failing again.

### What score do you need to pass the California RDA exam?

There is no fixed passing percentage. Since the Board's dental-assisting examination rulemaking took effect on November 20, 2024, the exam is scored pass/fail against a criterion-referenced standard set with the modified Angoff method under 16 CCR §1081. The Board reports results as pass or fail only and does not publish a cut score.

### Does the eligibility pathway affect the pass rate?

The Board's reports show a persistent association: board-approved-program candidates passed at 78.8% across January–June 2026, while work-experience-pathway candidates passed at 66.9%. The gap appeared in every month, reaching 17 percentage points in June (79% vs 62%). The Board publishes the numbers without an explanation; the association is not a prediction for any individual candidate.

### Where does this pass-rate data come from?

Every figure on this page is transcribed from the Dental Board of California's official monthly RDA examination statistics PDFs, linked in the sources below. The Board publishes per-program, per-pathway, and first-time/repeat breakdowns monthly; the half-year totals here are sums of those published monthly rows.

## Study resources

- [Free California RDA practice test](https://dentovio.com/rda/free-practice-test/index.html.md)
- [California RDA exam hub — format, fees, outline](https://dentovio.com/rda/index.html.md)
- [How to pass the California RDA exam](https://dentovio.com/guide/california-rda-exam/how-to-pass/index.html.md)

## Primary sources

- **DBC-RDA-STATS-HUB** — [Dental Board of California — RDA Combined Written and Law and Ethics Examination Statistics, 2026 monthly report index](https://www.dbc.ca.gov/applicants/rda_written_exam_stats_2026.shtml)
- **DBC-RDA-STATS-JAN26** — [Dental Board of California — RDA examination statistics, January 2026 (142 exams, 73% passed)](https://www.dbc.ca.gov/formspubs/rda_012026.pdf)
- **DBC-RDA-STATS-FEB26** — [Dental Board of California — RDA examination statistics, February 2026 (185 exams, 76% passed)](https://www.dbc.ca.gov/formspubs/rda_022026.pdf)
- **DBC-RDA-STATS-MAR26** — [Dental Board of California — RDA examination statistics, March 2026 (173 exams, 72% passed)](https://www.dbc.ca.gov/formspubs/rda_032026.pdf)
- **DBC-RDA-STATS-APR26** — [Dental Board of California — RDA examination statistics, April 2026 (190 exams, 77% passed)](https://www.dbc.ca.gov/formspubs/rda_042026.pdf)
- **DBC-RDA-STATS-MAY26** — [Dental Board of California — RDA examination statistics, May 2026 (193 exams, 79% passed)](https://www.dbc.ca.gov/formspubs/rda_052026.pdf)
- **DBC-RDA-STATS-JUN26** — [Dental Board of California — RDA examination statistics, June 2026 (263 exams, 72% passed)](https://www.dbc.ca.gov/formspubs/rda_062026.pdf)

## Disclosures

- 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.
- This page was drafted with AI assistance, and every rule on it was checked against the primary sources listed here. Review of the currently served study corpus is a separate state: Source-cited, and every in-scope file carries a current exact-digest sign-off by Mahtab Mansour, DDS on 2026-07-25. The recorded reviewer is a dentist, not an RDA or assisting educator.