AAA Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows

What the Public Data Actually Shows

Searches for the "POCUS AAA pass rate" usually end in frustration, and it helps to understand why before you spend another evening hunting for a number. The Point-of-Care Ultrasound Certification Academy, part of Inteleos, administers the POCUS Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) Certification. In the public sources reviewed for this article (the program page, the handbook, the policies page, the FAQ and the content outline), a credential-specific pass rate was not published. A numeric passing mark was not published either, and neither was a fixed current total question count.

That is the honest starting point for any discussion of pass rates for this credential. Any site quoting a crisp percentage for this specific certification is either importing a figure from a different examination that happens to share the "AAA" acronym, or inventing one. We will not do either here. If you want the broader picture of how difficult candidates find the process, our difficulty guide for the AAA exam covers the qualitative side, and the passing score article explains what is and is not documented about scoring.

Why a Single Pass Rate Is Hard to Pin Down

Even if the Academy did publish an aggregate figure tomorrow, it would be a blunt instrument for this credential, for structural reasons specific to how the certification is built.

It is not a single timed sitting

The assessment is delivered online through myPOCUS and its learning management system. The FAQ permits you to stop and resume online assessments, and candidates have 90 days from purchase to complete both components. That 90-day figure is an access and completion window, not a timed examination sitting. A conventional pass rate presumes a fixed event with a fixed duration. Here, candidates work through simulated clinical cases at their own pace within a window, which changes who attempts it and how they prepare.

The candidate pool is self-selected and pre-screened

Eligibility requires that you are a healthcare professional in good standing and actively practicing in the relevant clinical area. You must attest to performing and participating in the interpretation of at least 15 AAA POCUS cases within the preceding 2 years, and you must line up at least 2 healthcare-provider peer evaluators with an ultrasound clinical background who know your scanning abilities. Unless waived, POCUS Fundamentals is also required. People who clear those hurdles are already hands-on scanners, so a hypothetical pass rate would describe a filtered population rather than the general clinician. Our requirements breakdown walks through each prerequisite in detail.

The two-component structure muddies any headline figure

A single "pass rate" would blur two different things: passing the Clinical Case Assessment and passing the Peer Evaluation. The retake rules (covered below) explicitly track these components separately, which tells you the Academy itself treats them as distinct hurdles.

Two Components, Two Ways to Fail

Certification requires passing both parts. This is the single most important structural fact for anyone estimating their own odds.

Note the phrase "5 simulated clinical cases." As the issuer-linked badge description frames it, that is a case count, not a question count. Each case contains multiple questions, and an older flier on the Academy site gives only an approximate historical description of question volume, not a fixed current total. So do not divide any assumed question count by five to estimate your workload.

The practical consequence: a candidate with excellent image interpretation can still be stopped by a weak peer evaluation, and a skilled scanner with thin pathology recognition can be stopped by the case assessment. Prepare for both, and read the AAA study guide for how to sequence the two tracks.

Where the Assessment Weight Sits

The current program-linked content outline lists five domains with weights that total 100% for the Clinical Case Assessment only, not for the whole two-component credential. The outline is a one-page PDF with no printed revision date or examination version, so treat it as the current program-linked scope rather than a dated edition. These are objectives of the case assessment, not preparation-curriculum headings. For a fuller tour, see the domains guide.

The takeaway for pass-likelihood thinking: the low-weight domains are not free points, because the pathology knowledge they name is exercised everywhere else in the case set.

Retake Rules and What a First Failure Costs

Since an overall pass rate is unavailable, the retake policy is the most concrete "data" available about how the Academy expects some candidates to need a second try. The policies page sets these terms:

• Two total attempts on the content-specific assessment are allowed before a 1-year waiting period applies.
• A 30-day wait follows an unsuccessful attempt.
• Apply within 90 days of the failure to request a retake.
• A retake application and fee are required. The fee amount was not verified in the sources reviewed, so confirm it on the Academy site before budgeting.
• Components carry over: any initially passed component is retained for the first retake application.

The Peer Evaluation: Seven Criteria

Because the peer component is practical rather than image-based, candidates often under-prepare for it. The 7 criteria are evenly weighted: Diagnostic Quality, Gain, Depth, Views, Measurement, Pathology and Color Doppler. These criteria do not add to the five-domain count of the case assessment; they belong to the separate Peer Evaluation.

1. Diagnostic Quality: can an image you acquired actually answer the clinical question?
2. Gain: are you setting it appropriately rather than washing out or darkening the vessel wall and lumen?
3. Depth: is the aorta centered and the field sized to the patient?
4. Views: do you obtain the standard views reliably?
5. Measurement: are your caliper placements consistent and defensible?
6. Pathology: do you recognize and document abnormal findings?
7. Color Doppler: do you use it purposefully rather than as decoration?

Since the first 2 completed peer questionnaires determine the peer result, choose your evaluators carefully. They should have an ultrasound clinical background and genuine familiarity with your scanning. Give them advance notice, and make sure they have watched you scan recently. Clinical video submissions that appear on the shared outline apply only to specialty certifications, not to this standalone clinical certification, so do not spend preparation time on them.

Readiness Signals That Beat Any Statistic

Without a published pass rate, you need your own evidence of readiness. These signals are more informative than a population percentage would be, because they describe you.

• You can look at a still or cine clip and name the sonographic finding and separately state the diagnostic conclusion it supports.
• You can distinguish fusiform from saccular morphology and place an aneurysm relative to the renal arteries when the image allows it.
• You recognize a normal aorta confidently, since "normal abdominal aortic findings" is a published example, not an afterthought.
• You can articulate the limits of an exam: when bowel gas, body habitus or an unclear view means POCUS cannot establish an initial diagnosis.
• Your caliper placement is consistent from scan to scan.

For quick factual review in the final days, the one-page cheat sheet condenses the must-know facts, and you can pressure-test your recognition with the practice questions on the main practice test site.

A Domain-Ordered Prep Sequence

Generic scheduling advice is not the point here; the point is ordering your preparation by what the assessment weights and what depends on what. Anatomy comes first because every later domain assumes it. Findings and diagnosis get the most time because they carry 64% together. Pathologies are woven through rather than saved for last.

Because the assessment is available within a 90-day window after purchase, avoid buying access until your peer evaluators are lined up and your eligibility attestation is accurate. For the broader plan, the study guide expands this sequence, and the exam dates article explains how the access window works compared with fixed testing sessions.

A note on the Fundamentals prerequisite

Candidates sometimes misread the Fundamentals rules. Fundamentals does not expire, but the policies separately require earning your first content-specific certificate within 3 years of Fundamentals, or reapplying for Fundamentals. That progression restriction is not a 3-year expiry of the Fundamentals credential itself, and it does not apply once a content-specific certificate has been earned and appropriately maintained. If you already hold a qualifying SPI pass within 5 years or a current qualifying ARDMS or APCA credential, Fundamentals may be waived.

Frequently Asked Questions