First attempt I scored a 68% and needed a 74% to pass. Honestly I underestimated the microbiology section and the chemical disinfection compatibility questions. I'd been working as an endoscopy tech for three years and figured hands-on experience would carry me, but the exam has a lot of regulatory and standards-based content that you don't pick up just from doing the job.
Second time around I gave myself eight weeks and did about 90 minutes a day. I leaned hard on IAHCSMM materials and drilled practice questions every single day. The CER Test prep questions online were actually close to real exam difficulty and helped me figure out where I was losing points.
The biggest gaps for me were high-level disinfection vs. sterilization distinctions and the specific MRC and AER cleaning cycle steps. If you know those cold you're probably looking at a passing score. I ended up with an 81% on my second attempt.
Anyone else find the reprocessing documentation questions harder than expected? There were probably 15–20 questions around traceability and record-keeping that I wasn't prepared for the first time around.
I failed twice before passing. The third attempt I basically rewrote the SGNA guidelines from memory every morning which sounds extreme but it worked. Final score was 79%. The exam is way more standards-heavy than clinical experience alone prepares you for.
That traceability section caught me off guard too. I've been a sterile processing tech for six years and still found those questions weirdly specific. Ended up scoring a 76% which was good enough but I definitely left points on the table there.
The documentation and traceability questions make up a bigger chunk than the official content outline suggests. Focus on ANSI/AAMI standards for those — that's where most of the answer justifications come from.
Eight weeks at 90 min a day sounds about right for a second attempt. I passed first time in six weeks but I'd just come out of a formal reprocessing training course so the fundamentals were fresh. The chemical compatibility charts are worth memorizing — at least five questions on my exam were straight from those tables.
I felt this so hard. Three years on the floor and I still bombed the first attempt because I'd basically ignored anything that wasn't hands-on technique. What changed for me was getting brutally specific about the written stuff. I work nights so I'd do 20-30 questions on my lunch break, mostly focused on cer decontamination and manual cleaning because that section wrecked me the first time. Didn't try to cram everything, just kept hitting the weak spots until they stopped feeling weak.
The regulatory and compatibility stuff is honestly just memorization. It's not intuitive the way the hands-on work is, so you can't fake it with experience. I gave myself six weeks the second time and studied maybe 45 minutes a day, nothing heroic. You don't need a huge block of time, you just need consistency. Passed with an 81% and I think the difference was actually finishing every practice set instead of stopping when I felt like I "got it."
I feel this so much. My first attempt I walked in way too confident and got absolutely humbled by the regulatory stuff -- AAMI guidelines, the whole sterilization monitoring piece. Second time around I spent three solid weeks doing nothing but practice questions, specifically targeting the sections I'd bombed. The flashcard grind for chemical compatibility wasn't fun but it clicked eventually.
What actually made the difference was timing myself on practice tests. I'd been rushing through questions and second-guessing everything, so I forced myself to slow down and actually read what they were asking. It's not always the first answer that looks right. You've got this -- the gap between 68% and passing isn't as huge as it feels, it's usually just a couple of focused areas you need to lock down.
I almost didn't come back after failing the first time. I sat in my car after getting the score and genuinely considered just staying a tech forever and calling it a day. What changed for me was actually going back and being brutally honest about where I fell apart, and for me it was the infection control guidelines and the documentation stuff, not the hands-on clinical knowledge I thought would save me.
Second time around I stopped relying on experience and actually studied the regulatory side like I'd never seen a scope in my life. Flashcards for the chemical concentrations, reading through the standards slowly instead of skimming. It's tedious but there's really no shortcut there. If you failed once, don't assume you just got unlucky, look hard at the categories where you lost points and attack those specifically. Passing felt way better the second time honestly.