1.2 Format, Scoring, and Eligibility

Computer-based format and how the appointment actually runs

Part I is entirely computer-based testing (CBT). You do not receive a paper booklet, and you do not walk out with an unofficial printout of a pass/fail decision. The candidate-facing sequence is:

1. Create or open a MyNBCE account and submit a Part I application.
2. Obtain online approval from your college (registrar or designated college representative) for initial eligibility.
3. Pay the published fee and schedule a chiropractic-college CBT site or a Prometric center.
4. On test day, complete admission with one valid government-issued photo ID.
5. Sit the tutorial, then Session 1, then the optional 15-minute break, then Session 2, then the end-of-exam survey.

NBCE does not publish a public, click-by-click software manual for Part I item review on the Part I page. Do not invent rules such as “you can always return to any item in both sessions” or “unanswered items convert to correct.” What is published is the session structure, the clocks, and the appointment add-ons. Use that structure to plan stamina: Session 1 is anatomy plus physiology (the heavier blueprint share, as the next section shows), and Session 2 is chemistry, pathology, and microbiology after an optional break you should actually take if you need water, a restroom, or a reset.

The tutorial is part of the 4-hour appointment, not extra untimed homework you can skip in your head. Click through it. The survey comes after scored testing; do not spend your 3 hours 26 minutes writing mental comments for the survey. The optional 15-minute break after Session 1 is the only published between-session pause. It is optional, not a mandatory lunch. Leaving the secure area is controlled by site rules; the only item allowed into the secure testing area is your ID, with storage for one car key.

Identification: present one valid government-issued photo ID. Digital IDs are not accepted. An expired physical ID is a failed admission, not a paperwork warning you can fix in the lobby. Name on the ID should match the name on the MyNBCE application. If you recently changed a name, fix the account before the 17-day lock, not at the Prometric desk.

Reschedule and withdrawal (computer-based parts): before published deadlines you may withdraw or reschedule through the Prometric tool. After published deadlines, NBCE issues no refunds and you may not change the appointment. The Part I page lists Prometric’s timing fees as no charge 30 or more days before the appointment, a $50 Prometric fee from 29–16 days, and no reschedule or refund at 15 days or less. Independently, the CBT deadlines page states that scheduling closes 17 days before each test date at 4:00 p.m. Mountain Time. Treat 17 days / 4:00 p.m. Mountain as the operational lock, and treat the 30-day and 29–16-day rows as the fee schedule that applies before that lock.

Scoring: 125–800, CTT, IRT, equating—not a percent and not a curve

NBCE states that it follows the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (AERA, APA, NCME). For the number that appears on your report, three ideas matter.

Difficulty is not uniform. Using Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT), NBCE accounts for the fact that items are not equally hard. Two candidates with the same raw number correct can earn different scaled scores if one set of correct answers was harder than the other, or if they sat forms of different overall difficulty. That is why “I need 70% of 255” is the wrong study target.

Equating compares performance on the current form with previous forms so that a 375 in one window means the same standard as a 375 in another window. After equating, NBCE translates scores onto a scaled range of 125–800. There is no direct relationship between percent correct and the scaled score. You cannot reverse-engineer “how many of 255 I may miss.”

Not a curve. NBCE does not predetermine the number or percentage of examinees who will pass. In principle the pass rate could be 100% or 0%. College-to-college and year-to-year pass rates move because candidate preparation moves, not because a quota of failures is required. Do not wait for a “curve” to pull a 360 up to 375.

Pass rule for Part I: at least 375. Hand-checking of scores just below the failing point is part of NBCE’s published quality-control list, which is why you should not expect a same-day result. Scores for Parts I–IV and Physiotherapy are generally available online about four weeks after the examination. The 2026 CBT table converts that “about four weeks” into calendar dates:

If a state board application is due on a fixed date, count backward from the score-release date, not from the last day of the testing window. A November 7–22 sitting that releases December 7 does not help a December 1 board packet.

Eligibility, second-year timing, and the graduate path

Students: you must be enrolled in or graduated from an eligible chiropractic college to take Part I, and the typical first sitting is in the second year. Online approval from your college is required for initial Part I eligibility. NBCE strongly recommends that college representatives approve only students who have satisfactorily completed courses in the subjects being tested, and those courses must be completed by the application deadline. Individual colleges may add requirements if they inform NBCE. Your registrar—not a classmate’s rumor—is the eligibility switch.

Doctors of chiropractic / graduates: if you graduated from an eligible college, you may take Part I with online approval from the college you attended. The same “retake until you pass, then stop” logic applies.

Retakes while you have not yet passed: while enrolled, you may take the examinations as many times as needed to pass, and graduates have the same published retake-until-pass language. Individual states may impose different or additional restrictions. A state that caps attempts will overrule the “as many times as needed” college-path sentence. Check the board that will license you before you burn an attempt on a poorly prepared sitting.

Once you have passed: you may not retake Part I without special requirement of a state licensing authority. You cannot sit again “to raise a 400 to a 500” for personal satisfaction. NBCE’s scoring page states the same rule across exams: you are not eligible to retake an exam you have already passed unless a state board expressly requires it. Scores from those special-requirement retakes do not void the original passing scores.

Application timing should respect the 17-day Prometric lock. College approval that lands 10 days before your hoped-for date is too late to schedule that date. If you need a college-site weekend, those on-campus dates are a subset of each window (for example January 17–18 inside January 10–25); Prometric inventory is separate and often tighter in smaller cities. NBCE’s own scheduling tips: look two to three months ahead, consider metropolitan sites if local seats are gone, and avoid overlapping multiple CBT exams on the same day.

/practice/nbce-part1Practice questions with detailed explanations