Free Practice Questions for RDCS Pediatric

RDCS Pediatric Echocardiography (PE) is an ARDMS specialty exam that validates expertise in pediatric cardiac sonography including congenital heart disease evaluation, postoperative assessment, and echocardiographic techniques for neonates through adolescents.

The exam has approximately 145 multiple-choice and hotspot questions delivered over 3 hours. Scoring uses a 300-700 point scale on which 555 or better passes; ARDMS states that the result is pass/fail and is not percentage-based or curve-based. The exam is administered at Pearson VUE test centers.

Meet an applicable pathway in the October 2026 ARDMS prerequisite chart. Clinical Verification (CV) requirements vary by pathway and application stage. For Pathway 2 graduates, CV is not required when the application is submitted and received within one year after successful program completion; after that year, new documentation and a current CV for each specialty are required. Eligible Pathway 2 students may apply through their Program Director's Paperless process up to 60 days before graduation and must successfully complete the program to retain passed exam results. Pathway 3B students applying within one year before program completion are CV-exempt only after completing at least 12 months of full-time clinical experience and at least 1,680 hours of clinical scanning within the program. After graduation, Pathway 3B requires a graduate letter and current CV; graduates whose program qualifies for Pathway 2 should apply under Pathway 2 instead. CAAHEP or CMA/HSO programmatic accreditation applies to Pathway 2. For an initial credential, pass SPI and PE in either order under the calendar-based five-year rule: a first pass on June 6, 2026 gives until December 31, 2031 for the second exam. An already Active ARDMS registrant adding a specialty has the published additional-specialty exception. The PE examination fee is USD 300 including USD 100 non-refundable processing; SPI, when required, is USD 275 separately.

The official congenital domain includes septal, conotruncal, single-ventricle, obstructive, arch, venous, coronary and other anomalies. Review the entire Version 24.1 task list; these study resources do not establish which particular lesions appear most often on live forms.

OpenExamPrep suggests an adjustable 150–200-hour plan over 12–16 weeks; this is an editorial estimate, not an ARDMS requirement or measured candidate average. The five phases shown here total 180 hours. Performing the Exam (29%) and Congenital Anomalies (25%) together account for 54% of the official domain weighting; review every domain and practise interpreting images.