CIT Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows

Why There Is No Published CIT Pass Rate

Anyone searching for a headline percentage for the Certified Intrusion Technician Level II credential will come away empty-handed, and that is the most important thing the data shows. The Electronic Security Association (ESA) and National Training School do not publish pass or fail statistics for the CIT pathway. The scored/unscored split on the one proctored exam is also not disclosed. Any number you see attached to "the CIT pass rate" without a citation to ESA should be treated as invention.

There is a second, structural reason a single pass rate cannot exist. CIT Level II is not one exam. It is a certification earned by combining a prerequisite credential, verified industry time, two required courses, and a documented certification request. Only one of those pieces, the Advanced Intrusion Systems (AIS) course, carries a proctored certification examination. The other required course, Fundamentals of Networking, ends with a short terminal quiz. A rate calculated across "the CIT exam" would blend two very different assessments, which is why responsible analysis keeps them apart.

If you want the cutoff details in isolation, the companion piece on the CIT passing score walks through exactly what you need to clear. For a candid read on difficulty without fabricated statistics, see how hard the CIT exam is.

What Actually Gets Scored on the Path

To interpret any pass-rate discussion, you need to know which gates in the CIT pathway involve a graded assessment and which are administrative checks. The distinction matters, because many candidates who "fail" to earn the credential actually stall on paperwork or timing, not on exam content.

Notice how few of these are knowledge tests. The gating items that trip people are often the prerequisite credential or the documentation of work history. The full eligibility picture is covered in CIT requirements: eligibility, prerequisites and how to qualify, and it is worth reading before you spend money on either course.

The One Proctored Exam: Advanced Intrusion Systems

The AIS examination is the closest thing the CIT path has to a conventional certification exam, so it is where most pass-rate curiosity belongs. The verified specifications, drawn from the current ESA listings, are narrow and precise:

• Format: 50 multiple-choice questions.
• Time: 2 hours.
• Resources: open book, with use of the course manual.
• Passing score: 70%.
• Proctoring: a verified proctor is required for certification purposes, delivered through Honorlock/Absorb online proctoring or approved in-person arrangements.
• Window: six months to complete the exam process.

A 70% threshold on 50 questions means you can miss a limited number of items and still pass, but because the scored/unscored split is not disclosed, you cannot assume all 50 count toward your result. Plan to answer every question as if it matters.

Open book is the detail that shapes strategy most. It does not make the exam trivial; it changes what is being tested. Pure recall matters less than your ability to locate the right passage in the manual quickly and apply it to a scenario. Candidates who arrive without a tabbed, annotated manual spend their two hours searching instead of reasoning. The approach is laid out in the CIT study guide.

The Networking Terminal Quiz

Fundamentals of Networking is a 4-hour course that finishes with a short quiz requiring 70% or higher. That four hours is instruction time, not a testing clock. The public listing does not verify how many questions the quiz contains, what format they take, or whether there is a numerical timer. It would be a mistake to assume the quiz mirrors the AIS exam: it should not be treated as 50 questions, as open book, or as proctored in the same way.

Practically, this means the networking component is best prepared for by mastering the seven published subject areas rather than by trying to guess a format. Those subjects are:

• What a network is and what its components are
• Common network topologies
• How networks communicate and share data
• Storage types used in networked systems
• Composition of a network cable
• How a LAN and WAN function and the differences between them
• The steps of troubleshooting network problems

Because the official materials publish no item counts or weights, you cannot say which of these seven is "largest." Treat them as roughly equal in importance until you have evidence otherwise.

Where Candidates Realistically Stall

With no failure statistics available, the useful question becomes: where do the structural risks sit? Reading the pathway closely, a few friction points stand out, none of which depends on a pass-rate figure.

Prerequisite and documentation gaps

The pathway requires an active qualifying credential and verified experience, plus a documented certification request. A candidate can pass both course assessments and still be unable to receive the credential if the work-history verification or the prerequisite certificate is not in order. Gather these first.

The five-year course recency rule

Both required courses must have been completed within the previous five years. Someone who took AIS long ago and returns to finish networking may find the earlier course no longer counts. Check dates before you assume prior coursework carries over.

Treating open book as easy

An open manual rewards preparation but punishes complacency. Candidates who skim the manual once and trust they can look things up often run short on time across 50 questions in two hours. That works out to a little over two minutes per item, which is generous only if you already know where answers live.

Mixing up the two components

Because AIS and networking use the same 70% mark, it is tempting to study them as one block. Keep the boundaries clean. The AIS exam is proctored and open book; the networking quiz has unverified specifications. Preparing for each on its own terms avoids false assumptions.

Reading the 16 Topic Areas for Risk

The sixteen headings used across this site organize the nine published AIS topics and the seven published networking subjects. They are preparation scope, not an official weighted blueprint. ESA publishes no percentages, so no domain can be called the largest or the most heavily tested. What you can do is assess which areas are likely to demand the most of you given your background. The full breakdown lives in CIT exam domains: all 16 content areas.

Retakes, Windows, and the Cost of a Miss

Even without a pass rate, you can price the downside of failing, and that is arguably more useful than a statistic. According to the ESA FAQ, the retake fee is $135, and you have a six-month testing window to complete the exam process. A first-attempt failure therefore costs money and eats into a clock that is already running.

The existing-prerequisite route applies when you already hold the qualifying prerequisites and only need the two required courses; the combined figures there are calculated from the two course prices. The renewal fee is not verified, so confirm it directly with ESA when the time comes. A full breakdown is in CIT certification cost: complete pricing breakdown, and a candid look at payoff is in whether the CIT certification is worth it.

Timing and availability of sessions are covered in CIT exam dates: testing windows, deadlines and scheduling.

A Prep Sequence Built Around the Two Components

This is the one place where generic methodology earns a seat, and only as it maps to CIT's structure. Because the two components have different formats and different risk profiles, sequence them deliberately rather than studying everything at once.

For timed drills that mimic the AIS pacing, use the CIT practice tests to build speed before you sit the proctored exam. A condensed refresher of must-know facts is available in the CIT cheat sheet.

How to Evaluate Any Pass-Rate Claim You See

You will encounter forum posts, training-vendor pages, and social threads that assert a percentage. Use a short checklist before trusting any of them:

1. Is it about this credential? Several unrelated certifications share the "CIT" acronym. A figure attached to a different credential says nothing about Certified Intrusion Technician Level II.
2. Does it cite ESA or National Training School? Only the issuer holds the real data. A number with no source is speculation.
3. Does it separate AIS from networking? A claim that lumps both into "the exam" misunderstands the pathway.
4. Does it confuse course length with exam length? Statements that treat the 14-hour or 4-hour course figures as exam timers show the author has the format wrong.

If you are still orienting yourself to the credential, the explainers on what CIT certification is and what CIT stands for clarify exactly which credential this site covers. The practical payoff in the job market is discussed in CIT jobs and, for earnings context, the CIT salary guide.

Frequently Asked Questions