- The Official ARRT Fee Schedule
- Costs That Come Before the Exam Fee
- Retake Math: Three Attempts in Three Years
- Renewal and Continuing Education Costs
- The RPA-to-R.R.A. Route and Its Cost Profile
- What the Fee Buys: Format, Domains, and Seat Time
- Budgeting Around the Exam Window
- Spending Smart on Preparation
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The ARRT application/examination fee for the Registered Radiologist Assistant (R.R.A.) exam is USD 225; reapplication is USD 200.
- Annual renewal is USD 65 and covers your ARRT credentials rather than billing each discipline separately.
- No member/nonmember exam price differential is listed, so there is no discount tier to chase.
- You get three exam attempts within three years, so a retake budget is worth planning up front.
The Official ARRT Fee Schedule
The Registered Radiologist Assistant credential is awarded by the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT), and its fee structure is refreshingly short. There are three numbers to know, all published on the ARRT fees page. If you are comparing this credential with others you have seen abbreviated "RRA," keep in mind that this article covers only the ARRT R.R.A. for radiologist assistants, and every figure below belongs to that credential alone.
| Fee | Amount (USD) | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Initial application/examination fee | 225 | First application for the R.R.A. exam |
| Reapplication fee | 200 | Each time you reapply after an unsuccessful attempt |
| Annual renewal fee | 65 | Every year, normally due by the end of your birth month |
Two details deserve emphasis. First, ARRT does not list a member/nonmember exam differential for this exam, so the price you see is the price you pay. Second, the ordinary annual renewal fee covers the registrant's ARRT credentials rather than charging separately for each discipline. Because every R.R.A. candidate already holds Radiography, you are not stacking one renewal invoice on top of another for the same year.
Costs That Come Before the Exam Fee
The USD 225 fee is the cheapest part of becoming a Registered Radiologist Assistant. The real spending happens earlier, because the application only opens once you meet the eligibility structure. Our RRA requirements guide covers the full list; here is how each requirement shows up as a cost line.
Prerequisites with a price tag
- Current ARRT Radiography certification and registration. This is a standing prerequisite, so your Radiography renewals must stay current while you pursue the R.R.A.
- A recognized radiologist assistant program. For program completion on or after January 1, 2023, a master's or doctoral degree is required. Tuition for that graduate education dwarfs every ARRT fee combined, and it is the dominant cost of entering this career.
- Two years of full-time patient-care-related medical-imaging experience. For completion on or after January 1, 2025, this experience must come after your Radiography credentials and cannot be earned concurrently with RA-program activities. That affects your finances in a practical way: the experience period is paid work time, but it also determines when you can sit for the exam. The published pre-2025 exception is one year with concurrent experience permitted.
- Clinical portfolio. Documentation is required, and the work behind it is completed during your program and clinical experience rather than purchased separately.
- Current ACLS certification. Advanced Cardiac Life Support is a stated requirement, and the course and any renewal are your expense, billed by the training provider rather than ARRT.
- Ethics compliance. There is no separate fee line in the published schedule, but you must satisfy it before approval.
Earlier degree exceptions exist for people who completed programs before the current graduate-degree rule, but they are a separate track from the route described above, so confirm which one applies to you before budgeting.
Retake Math: Three Attempts in Three Years
ARRT allows three examination attempts within three years. Each unsuccessful attempt means reapplication at USD 200. The arithmetic is straightforward, and it is worth running before you ever schedule your first sitting.
| Scenario | Fees paid to ARRT (USD) | How it adds up |
|---|---|---|
| Pass on attempt 1 | 225 | Initial application/examination fee |
| Pass on attempt 2 | 425 | 225 + 200 reapplication |
| Pass on attempt 3 | 625 | 225 + 200 + 200 |
Those totals exclude travel, time off work, and any prep materials. The cost of failing is rarely the fee itself; it is the delay. Waiting for the next administration window can push back the start date of a role that pays at the radiologist-assistant level, which is why a realistic read on difficulty matters. Our pieces on how hard the RRA exam is and the RRA pass rate data put the retake risk in context. The calendar-2025 first-time pass rate was 75.0% among 24 first-time candidates, a small cohort, so treat it as a rough signal rather than a precise forecast.
Key Takeaway
Plan your budget as though a retake is possible but not expected: carry the USD 225 as a firm cost and hold a USD 200 reserve for reapplication. If you never need it, you have a cushion; if you do, a second attempt does not become a financial emergency.
Renewal and Continuing Education Costs
Earning the credential is not the end of the spending. The annual renewal fee is USD 65 and is normally due by the end of your birth month. Because it covers your ARRT credentials in general, it does not multiply with each discipline you hold. One important dependency: supporting Radiography credentials must be maintained, so a lapse in the base credential can jeopardize the R.R.A.
The CE requirement, and why the numbers overlap
Continuing education runs on a biennial cycle and totals 50 credits. Within those 50, at least 25 must be Category A+ and at least 35 must be RRA-relevant. These are overlapping requirements, not additive totals. A single well-chosen course can count toward more than one requirement at the same time, so you do not need 25 + 35 + 50 credits. The cost implication is that smart course selection, favoring Category A+ offerings directly relevant to radiologist assistant practice, can satisfy the requirements without duplicate spending.
CE costs themselves are set by the providers, not by ARRT's fee schedule, and vary widely. We do not quote a figure here because the published ARRT sources do not set one. Many employers subsidize CE for radiologist assistants, so ask about that benefit during negotiations; our overview of RRA jobs and earnings analysis are good places to start thinking about total compensation rather than salary alone.
The RPA-to-R.R.A. Route and Its Cost Profile
There is a separate admission pathway for Radiology Practitioner Assistants who want the same ARRT credential. To be clear, this pathway leads to the R.R.A. examination itself, not to a replacement credential. You sit for the same exam, so the fee schedule above applies. What changes is the eligibility package, detailed on the ARRT RPA-to-R.R.A. pathway page.
- Current CBRPA and ARRT Radiography credentials, plus current clinical practice, are required.
- Education can be a master's/doctorate, or a bachelor's plus two years of imaging experience, or an associate degree plus four.
- The ordinary three-year post-program deadline is waived for this route.
From a cost standpoint, this route can change what you spend on education versus experience, since the associate-plus-four-years option trades tuition for time in the field. It does not change the ARRT exam fee. If you are weighing routes, compare the total cost of each against the career goals in our guide to RRA training.
What the Fee Buys: Format, Domains, and Seat Time
Understanding the exam you are paying for makes the fee feel more concrete. The exam is delivered at Pearson test centers and is a long one: testing time is six hours, and the handbook's full appointment is 410 minutes including the break and non-testing activities.
Two sessions, two formats
- Session 1 contains 200 scored selected-response questions plus 30 pilot questions and allows four hours.
- Session 2 allows two hours and contains at least 30 scored case-study questions plus a variable pilot allocation. The 2026 handbook table displays 30+ scored and 20+ pilot items and labels the overall total approximately 280.
Case-study responses are objectively scored, not the essay format used before January 2023. Session 1 cannot be reopened after Session 2 begins, so you cannot circle back to a skipped item once you cross that line. No personal reference materials or personal calculator are allowed, although an approved supplied/on-screen calculator is available. For the scoring rules, our passing score explainer clarifies that passing is a scaled score of 75 on a 1-99 scale, not 75% correct.
The eight reporting categories
The weights below are the directly published whole-exam reporting categories from the ARRT Annual Exam Report. Selected response contributes 75% of points and case study 25%.
| Domain | Weight |
|---|---|
| Patient Management | 14% |
| Pharmacology | 7% |
| Patient Safety, Radiation Protection, and Equipment Operation | 11% |
| Abdominal Section | 16% |
| Thoracic Section | 9% |
| Musculoskeletal and Endocrine Sections | 9% |
| Neurological, Vascular, and Lymphatic Sections | 9% |
| Case Study | 25% |
Where the points concentrate
Case Study is the largest separately reported weighted category at 25%, and Abdominal Section is the largest separately reported procedural category at 16%. Because a retake costs money and time, these two areas deserve disproportionate attention.
- Case Study questions reward integrated reasoning across patient management, pharmacology, and imaging findings.
- Abdominal Section content is the single biggest procedural block, so gaps there are expensive.
- Pharmacology is the smallest category at 7%, but it threads into case scenarios, so do not skip it.
One caution: the 2023 content specification organizes selected-response objectives differently, under Patient Care (56 scored items), Safety (28), and Procedures (116). Those are item counts within that specification, not whole-exam percentage weights, so do not mix the two views. For a deeper walk through each area, see our guide to all eight RRA exam domains.
Budgeting Around the Exam Window
ARRT announced an additional October 2026 administration, and the next published window after October 14, 2026 is January 13-16, 2027, with an application postmark deadline of November 11, 2026. Windows and deadlines are published on the ARRT R.R.A. exam dates page, and our exam dates guide tracks them as they change. Treat the deadline as a cost-control tool: filing early leaves room to fix documentation problems without paying for a delay.
A sample cost timeline
Confirm eligibility and documents
- Verify Radiography certification and registration are current.
- Check your ACLS expiration and renew early if needed.
- Reconcile your clinical portfolio and experience dates against the requirements for your completion year.
File and fund
- Submit the application with the USD 225 fee before the postmark deadline.
- Set aside a USD 200 reapplication reserve.
- Arrange time off for a long testing day.
Protect your investment
- Weight remaining study toward Case Study and Abdominal Section.
- Rehearse the two-session structure so you are not surprised by the lack of backtracking.
Spending Smart on Preparation
Because the exam fee is fixed and no discount tier exists, your real lever on total cost is how efficiently you prepare. The most effective approach ties study time to the weights above: front-load Abdominal Section and Case Study practice, then sweep Patient Management and Patient Safety, Radiation Protection, and Equipment Operation, and finish with the three section-based domains at 9% each plus Pharmacology. Our RRA study guide lays out a full plan, and the one-page cheat sheet is useful for last-week review.
Practice under realistic conditions is where preparation money is best spent. Timed question sets that mimic the selected-response and case-study styles help you find weak domains before a USD 200 reapplication does it for you. You can start with the free question bank on our RRA practice test site, then return to the main practice tests as your timeline tightens. If you want to be sure you are budgeting for the right credential in the first place, the explainers on what RRA certification is are a quick read.
Frequently Asked Questions
The ARRT initial application/examination fee for the Registered Radiologist Assistant exam is USD 225. If you need to retake it, reapplication is USD 200 each time. These are the published ARRT figures, and no member/nonmember differential is listed.
Yes. The annual renewal fee is USD 65, normally due by the end of your birth month. It covers your ARRT credentials rather than charging separately for each discipline, but your supporting Radiography credentials must be maintained.
You have three attempts within three years. Passing on the first attempt costs USD 225 in ARRT fees; a second attempt adds USD 200, and a third adds another USD 200, for a maximum of USD 625 across all three. Travel, time off, and preparation costs are additional.
No. That pathway leads to the same R.R.A. examination, so the same fee schedule applies. What differs is eligibility: it requires current CBRPA and ARRT Radiography credentials and current clinical practice, with education combinations such as a master's/doctorate, a bachelor's plus two years of imaging experience, or an associate degree plus four.
The exam fee is small compared with the prerequisites. For program completion on or after January 1, 2023, a master's or doctoral degree is required, and for completion on or after January 1, 2025, two years of full-time imaging experience after Radiography credentials is also required. Graduate tuition and the time spent gaining experience far outweigh the USD 225 ARRT fee.