ARRT Radiography exam changes in 2027

Which outline applies to your exam date?

Before March 1, 2027: prepare with the 2022 Radiography specifications. March 1, 2027 or later: use the 2027 specifications. If your appointment changes across that boundary, check your materials again.

The written-exam outline is different from the didactic and clinical competency requirements. They are separate documents on ARRT’s site. An item added to a clinical competency list should not automatically be described as a new written-exam topic.

How the scored questions change

The two official specifications each list 200 scored questions, with an additional 30 unscored pilot questions. The table compares scored questions only; the change is a redistribution rather than an increase in that total.

Sources: page 1 of the 2022 specifications and 2027 specifications.

Procedures accounts for 72 of 200 scored questions in the new outline: 36%. That makes it the largest main category. Use this as context for planning, rather than an instruction to spend exactly 36% of your study time there. Your own mistakes can point to a different immediate priority.

What to update in your study materials

ARRT’s May 2026 announcement identifies changes across the subjects. These examples help you inspect existing notes; they do not replace the complete official outline:

• Patient Care: scheduling and contaminated IV supplies are added.
• Safety: patient-exposure topics now name pregnancy and dose-awareness resources; detector terminology is updated.
• Image Production: virtual grids and informatics security are added. Computed radiography content and compensating filters are removed.
• Procedures: additions include selected line, tube and injection procedures; intravenous urography is removed from GU studies.

Mark each relevant item in your own study checklist. Check the official section before deleting notes: a topic’s absence from this short summary does not mean it is absent from the exam.

What changes about the passing score?

The reported passing score remains a scaled 75, which is not the same as 75% correct. ARRT also announced an updated underlying passing standard for Radiography effective March 1, 2027. Keeping the same reported score does not mean that standard is unchanged.

Do not convert a practice percentage into a guaranteed exam result. ARRT explains that exam forms can differ and scores are scaled. See the Radiography standard-setting notice and ARRT’s scoring explanation.

Are image questions new in 2027?

Images are not a new 2027 invention: ARRT described their use on exams in April 2024. Our practice examples are original educational material, not secured ARRT exam images. Image-based practice can be part of your preparation without claiming to reproduce the real exam.

Turn the outline into your next study session

The steps below are Prepemi study suggestions, not ARRT requirements. They are a way to make a long topic list manageable without treating every page of notes as equally urgent.

1. Put the applicable date on your checklist.

   Save the official specification that matches your planned appointment. Keep it beside the notes or question sets you use, so a resource’s publication year does not become your only guide.

2. Choose one topic you can name.

   A focused task such as explaining an anatomical relationship is easier to review than “study Procedures.” Start with a topic from an actual miss, or one you cannot yet explain clearly.

3. Write down why you missed it.

   Separate a forgotten fact from confusion about the image, the wording or a calculation. Write a one-sentence correction. Copying the correct letter alone will not show you what to practise next.

4. Connect the explanation to the evidence.

   In the image-based example on our homepage, compare the choices and read the anatomical reasoning. Ask yourself what relationship made the answer fit. On another attempt, try explaining that relationship before looking at the choices.

5. Choose a small follow-up action.

   Review that topic, work another available practice set, or bring a precise question to your instructor. Check your reasoning again later. A corrected practice answer is useful feedback, not proof that an entire category is mastered.

Before you begin