OB-1T Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows

What the Public Data Actually Shows

Candidates searching for an "OB-1T pass rate" usually want one number: the percentage of people who pass on the first try. For the POCUS Obstetrics/First Trimester Certification, administered by the Point-of-Care Ultrasound Certification Academy (part of Inteleos), that number was not verified in the public sources we reviewed. Neither the issuer program page, the Academy handbook, the FAQ, nor the Inteleos-issued badge listing publishes a first-attempt pass percentage, a cumulative pass percentage, or a numeric passing mark.

That absence matters, and we are not going to paper over it. Any site quoting a crisp "OB-1T pass rate" figure without citing the issuer is either guessing, borrowing a statistic from a different credential that shares the acronym, or marketing. This article takes the opposite approach: it lays out what the issuer does publish, explains how those published rules shape your real odds, and shows how to prepare against the structure that is actually documented.

For a broader sense of how demanding the assessment feels, see our companion piece, How Hard Is the OB-1T Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026. If you are chasing the cut score itself, our page on the OB-1T passing score explains what is and is not publicly confirmed.

Why a Credential-Specific Pass Rate Is Not Published

Several structural features of this certification make a single headline pass rate less meaningful than it would be for a classic proctored, timed, fixed-form exam.

• It is a two-component credential. Candidates must pass both the Clinical Case Assessment and the Peer Evaluation. A single blended pass percentage would hide which gate candidates actually struggle with.
• Delivery is flexible. The assessment is delivered online through myPOCUS and its learning management system, and the FAQ permits stopping and resuming. There is no single timed sitting whose results could be tallied the way a seated exam's are.
• The candidate pool is self-selected. Eligibility requires a healthcare professional in good standing who is actively practicing and attests to at least 25 first-trimester POCUS cases in the preceding 2 years. People who are already scanning regularly are the ones who apply.
• Partial results carry forward. Because an initially passed component is retained for the first retake application, "pass" and "fail" are not always clean binary outcomes across a candidate's journey.

Because the pool is pre-screened for hands-on experience, even if a rate were published it would reflect experienced scanners, not a general population. Treat that as a reason to focus on preparation quality rather than chasing a statistic.

How the Assessment Structure Shapes Your Odds

Since there is no verified pass rate, the best predictor of your outcome is understanding exactly what you are being asked to do. The documented structure is below.

Two details are worth underlining. First, "7 simulated clinical cases" tells you how the content is packaged, not how many items you will see. Do not assume a question total from it. Second, the image-hotspot format means you will be clicking on a structure or finding within a clip or still, not just choosing a lettered answer. Recognition under realistic imaging conditions is the skill being tested.

The prerequisites also filter the pool. Besides the 25-case attestation (which must include a combination of transvaginal and transabdominal scanning, not 25 of each), POCUS Fundamentals is required unless waived by a passed SPI examination within 5 years or a current qualifying ARDMS/APCA credential. For the full eligibility picture, see OB-1T Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.

Domain Weights: Where Points Are Won or Lost

The issuer's content outline lists five weighted objectives for the Clinical Case Assessment. Those weights total 100% for that assessment only, not for the entire two-component credential. They are the closest thing to a published difficulty map, so they are where your preparation should be anchored.

Diagnostic Findings (36%) and Sonographic Findings (30%) together make up 66% of the Clinical Case Assessment. That is the single most important data point you can act on. A candidate who can obtain a clean image but cannot interpret it into a defensible diagnosis will bleed points exactly where the weight is heaviest. Our full breakdown lives in OB-1T Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 5 Content Areas.

Domain 5 is only 4%, yet it names the pathologies you must be able to recognize: complete abortion, definitive pregnancy failure, early pregnancy, ectopic pregnancy, heterotopic pregnancy, incomplete abortion, single and multiple intrauterine gestation, molar pregnancy, ovarian torsion and possible pregnancy failure. The issuer notes these examples are non-exhaustive, so treat the list as a floor, not a ceiling. Because many of these entities also appear inside the high-weight diagnostic and sonographic domains, the small domain weight understates how often they matter.

The Peer Evaluation: A Second Gate

Most pass-rate conversations ignore the second component entirely, and that is a mistake. The Peer Evaluation is a distinct assessment of your practical scanning abilities, and passing the case assessment does not substitute for it. Your peer evaluators, at least 2 healthcare providers with an ultrasound clinical background who know your scanning, rate seven evenly weighted criteria:

• Diagnostic Quality
• Gain
• Depth
• Views
• Measurement
• Pathology
• M-Mode

These criteria do not add domains to the five-domain case assessment; they are a separate evaluation lens. Because the first 2 completed peer questionnaires determine the peer result, your choice of evaluators and the timing of their responses are practical levers. Choose colleagues who have actually watched you scan, brief them on the seven criteria so the questionnaire is not a surprise, and give them time to respond well inside your 90-day window.

Concrete skills the criteria point toward include optimizing gain and depth for a small early gestation, obtaining clean standard views, taking correct measurements, using M-mode to document cardiac activity, and demonstrating pathology recognition during live or recorded scanning.

Retake Rules and the Cost of a Miss

Because no pass rate is published, the retake policy is the most concrete "failure data" available, and it tells you what a miss really costs.

• You are allowed 2 total content-specific assessment attempts before a 1-year waiting period applies.
• A 30-day wait follows an unsuccessful attempt.
• A retake application and fee are required. The retake fee amount was not verified, so confirm it with the issuer.
• You must apply for the retake within 90 days of failure.
• Any initially passed component is retained for the first retake application.

The last point is quietly reassuring. If you clear the Peer Evaluation but miss the Clinical Case Assessment, you do not start from zero on the first retake. Still, two attempts then a year's wait is a real constraint, which is why a measured first attempt beats a rushed one. The base purchase is a USD 150 clinical certification fee (eligible-country reductions are offered), plus a USD 125 Fundamentals fee when required, for USD 275 combined only when both must be purchased. Our OB-1T Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown covers the full fee picture, and the 90-day window and scheduling mechanics are in OB-1T Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.

Where Candidates Likely Stumble

Without issuer failure statistics, we can reason from the structure and from the way the content is weighted. The following are original teaching observations, not reported exam data.

Collapsing the failure categories

A common conceptual trap is treating every non-viable pregnancy as one idea. The issuer deliberately keeps possible pregnancy failure and definitive pregnancy failure separate, and complete and incomplete abortion separate. A scenario where findings are suspicious but not diagnostic calls for a "possible" framing, not a definitive one. Overcalling is as costly as undercalling, because the clinical consequence of a wrong definitive diagnosis is serious.

Missing the pregnancy of unknown location logic

When no intrauterine gestation is seen, the reasoning shifts to adnexal findings, free fluid and the possibility of ectopic or heterotopic pregnancy. Candidates who anchor on "empty uterus equals early pregnancy" without weighing the alternatives lose points in the heavily weighted diagnostic domain.

Weak image-hotspot discipline

Interactive hotspot questions reward fast, accurate localization of a structure on the image. Candidates who know anatomy from textbook diagrams but rarely practice on real scans tend to hesitate here. Domain 2 (Anatomical Features) at 23% punishes that hesitation.

Neglecting the second component

Spending all preparation time on case content and none on arranging evaluators or rehearsing gain, depth and M-mode technique leaves the Peer Evaluation exposed.

A Readiness Plan Built Around the Weights

Generic study advice is plentiful; here is a plan keyed to the actual domain weights and the two-component structure. It assumes you have already met eligibility and are working inside your 90-day window. For a fuller method, see OB-1T Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt.

The heaviest study hours go to weeks 3 through 5 because that is where 66% of the case assessment lives. If you want a compressed review for the final days, the OB-1T Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts is built for that. To test yourself under case-style conditions, try the practice questions on our main practice test site, where scenario-based items mirror the interpretation-heavy emphasis of the real weights.

What Passing Leads To

Passing earns a certification valid for 5 years. Clinical renewal every 5 years requires an active-practice and good-standing attestation, the relevant knowledge check, and USD 50. Specialty-only professional-development points do not apply to this individual clinical certification. Note also that POCUS Fundamentals does not expire, but the policies require earning your first content-specific certificate within 3 years of Fundamentals or reapplying for Fundamentals; that is a progression rule, not a 3-year expiry.

On career value, we avoid promising a credential-specific pay bump, because none is verified. Value is better judged by role: clinicians in emergency, obstetric and primary-care settings who already perform early pregnancy scans benefit from a documented, peer-validated competency. Our Is the OB-1T Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 and OB-1T Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis discuss that role-based framing in more depth. For anyone unsure what the acronym even refers to, What Is OB-1T Certification? clarifies that OB-1T is this site's retained identifier for the POCUS first-trimester clinical certification, not an awarded post-nominal.

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