Free Practice Questions for IC&RC Peer Recovery

Eligibility is set by each IC&RC member board but IC&RC's published PR standards require a high school diploma or GED, 46 hours of peer-recovery-specific training (10 hours each in Advocacy, Mentoring/Education, and Recovery/Wellness Support; 16 hours in Ethical Responsibility), 500 hours of supervised peer-recovery work or volunteer experience, 25 hours of supervision specific to the PR domains, and a signed peer Code of Ethics statement. Personal lived experience of recovery is required, and any minimum length of continuous recovery is set locally by the board. Candidates apply through their state IC&RC member board.

The exam is computer-based and contains 75 multiple-choice questions - 65 scored and 10 unscored pretest items - delivered in 2 hours at Prometric/SMT testing centers, with remote proctoring available where the member board permits it. Questions have three or four answer choices with one correct or best answer, and there is no penalty for guessing. Scores are scaled 200-800 with a passing score of 500, and candidates who do not pass receive the percentage correct in each content domain.

Exam fees are set by the IC&RC member board that administers your application rather than by IC&RC centrally; for example, the New York Certification Board charges $80 per attempt. Total certification cost also includes the board's application and certification fees, so confirm exact pricing with your own board. A failed attempt requires paying the exam fee again after the mandatory 90-day waiting period, and Prometric charges a separate fee to reschedule or cancel.

Ethical Responsibility carries 30% of the exam weight, the highest of the five domains under the blueprint effective July 2025. This reflects the importance of boundaries, dual relationships, scope of practice (peer support is NOT clinical treatment, counseling, or sponsorship), confidentiality, and cultural awareness in peer recovery work. Advocacy and Mentoring and Education each carry 20%, while Recovery/Wellness Support and Harm Reduction each carry 15%.

Peer support is grounded in lived experience and is non-clinical: peers share their recovery story, role-model recovery, advocate, mentor, and connect peers to resources. Peers do NOT diagnose, provide therapy, conduct clinical assessments, write treatment plans, or function as sponsors for the same individuals they peer-support. Maintaining this distinction is heavily tested on the ethics domain.

Most candidates report 40-80 hours of study over 4-8 weeks. Prioritize Ethical Responsibility (the 30% domain), then the Advocacy and Mentoring/Education domains at 20% each, and give dedicated time to Harm Reduction, which became a standalone domain only in July 2025 and is underrepresented in older study materials. Useful anchors include SAMHSA's guiding principles of recovery, the 8 dimensions of wellness, multiple pathways of recovery, scope-of-practice scenarios, and full-length practice exams matched to the five-domain blueprint.

No. Peer codes of ethics treat serving as both a paid peer specialist and a 12-step sponsor to the same individual as a dual relationship that compromises objectivity and professional boundaries. IC&RC requires PR applicants to sign a peer-specific Code of Ethics statement, and the enforceable code itself is issued by the certifying member board. Peers should disclose any pre-existing relationship to a supervisor and follow agency policy to avoid role confusion.

Yes - Recovery/Wellness Support (15%) and Advocacy (20%) both require familiarity with multiple pathways of recovery including 12-step (AA/NA), SMART Recovery, Refuge and Dharma Recovery, medication-assisted recovery, faith-based recovery, and self-directed recovery. The exam expects peers to support whichever pathway the person chooses without imposing personal preferences.