How to Get ARRT Certification 2026: Steps and Timeline

What are the ARRT certification requirements?

There are three, and you need all of them: education, ethics and the exam. For education on the primary pathway, you must:

Complete an ARRT-approved educational program in the same discipline as the credential, including ARRT’s didactic and clinical competency requirements
Earn an associate degree or higher, in any subject, from an institution accredited by an agency ARRT recognizes
Have the degree conferred before you sit the exam; you can earn it before, during or after your program

The primary pathway covers Radiography, Nuclear Medicine Technology, Radiation Therapy, Sonography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and Vascular Sonography. If you already hold an ARRT credential, other disciplines such as computed tomography (CT) and mammography use the postprimary pathway instead.

Finding an ARRT-approved program →ARRT disciplines and credentials →What the Radiography exam covers →ARRT CT certification →ARRT MRI certification →

How long does it take to get an ARRT certification?

ARRT doesn’t publish a program length. The Find a Program search of the Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology (JRCERT) shows the award each accredited program grants, from a certificate to an associate, bachelor’s or master’s degree. Once you’re near the end of the program, the ARRT steps run like this:

Create your ARRT online account during your program. Your program director approves it.
Apply up to 90 days before you finish your program and degree, whichever ends later, and pay the fee.
ARRT posts your Candidate Status Report within two business days. If you applied early, your 365-day exam window opens on the day you complete both your program and your degree.
Book with Pearson VUE from 24 hours after you get the report. ARRT says appointments fill up quickly.
Take the exam and get your official result about 10 business days later. ARRT’s Verify Credentials page shows your status within about four weeks of the exam.

ARRT’s handbook also tells you to allow at least 30 calendar days for it to process your application, and more if you ask for testing accommodations. An ethics review can add time too: ARRT says it sometimes takes three months or longer.

JRCERT: Find a Program ↗Results, scores and pass rates →Your ARRT login and account →

ARRT ethics review: what you must report

Every candidate must show good moral character and follow the ARRT Standards of Ethics. The application asks three ethics questions:

Have you ever been charged with or convicted of a misdemeanor or felony? This includes military courts-martial and traffic violations charged as misdemeanors or felonies or involving drugs or alcohol.
Has a regulatory authority or certification board other than ARRT ever denied, revoked, suspended or put conditions on a professional license, permit, registration or certification?
Have you ever withdrawn, or been suspended, dismissed or expelled, from an educational program you attended to meet ARRT’s requirements?

Offenses handled in juvenile court don’t need reporting. If you answer yes, you send a written explanation and copies of the court or board documents with your application. If you’re worried about something in your past, you can ask for an Ethics Review Preapplication at any time, for a nonrefundable fee. You can sit the exam while a review is open, but ARRT holds your scores until it ends. ARRT says it completed about 1,309 ethics reviews in 2024 and close to 98% ended with the person able to become or stay certified.

ARRT: Ethics review preapplication ↗The ethics preapplication fee →

Deadlines that can end your eligibility

You have three years after finishing your program to earn your degree and apply. If you graduated before January 1, 2013, the limit is five years. ARRT won’t process an application it receives fewer than 30 days before the end of that period.

Once you apply, a second clock starts on the day your first exam window opens, with a limit on attempts, explained on the pass rate page. Miss either limit and you have to requalify by completing an educational program again.

What happens if you fail an attempt →

Educated outside the United States?

The requirements are the same, with no exceptions. Degrees, courses and program transcripts from outside the United States must be evaluated by an academic credential evaluation service that’s a member of one of the evaluator groups ARRT names (AICE, CED or NACES), and you must also complete an ARRT-verified educational program. ARRT doesn’t accept work experience in place of one.

ARRT: International inquiries ↗

Sources: ARRT and 6 more. Checked October 2026.