National Counselor Examination (NCE) — exam facts
United States (used for state counselor licensure and NBCC certification)
Every source below was read on 2026-09-25
| Administering body | National Board for Certified Counselors, Inc. (NBCC) — exam delivered by Pearson VUE NBCC administers the exam through the Center for Credentialing & Education (CCE). Candidates test in person at a Pearson VUE test center or online through Pearson VUE's OnVUE. Current content outline (Table 1, share of the 160 scored items): Professional Practice and Ethics 12%, Intake, Assessment, and Diagnosis 12%, Areas of Clinical Focus 29%, Treatment Planning 9%, Counseling Skills and Interventions 30%, Core Counseling Attributes 8%. NBCC has published new NCE specifications effective July 1, 2027: 170 questions with three answer choices, a 100–500 score scale with a passing point of 360, new domains, and a Spanish translation. Source: NBCC — Candidate Handbook for State Licensure, National Counselor Examination (NCE) (Revised September 24, 2024, PDF) (2026-09-25) |
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| Questions | 200 questions (160 scored, 40 unscored pretest) All questions are multiple choice. The 40 unscored field-test items gather statistics for future forms and cannot be told apart from scored ones. Source: NBCC — Candidate Handbook for State Licensure, National Counselor Examination (NCE) (Revised September 24, 2024, PDF) (2026-09-25) |
| Time limit | 225 minutes 225 minutes to answer the questions, within a 255-minute session that also includes a 5-minute agreement, a 10-minute tutorial and one scheduled 15-minute break after question 100. Source: NBCC — Candidate Handbook for State Licensure, National Counselor Examination (NCE) (Revised September 24, 2024, PDF) (2026-09-25) |
| Passing score | Not published by NBCC NBCC sets the passing point with a modified Angoff method and uses statistical equating, so the passing score may vary slightly between versions of the exam. Each candidate's score report shows the passing score for the version taken; NBCC publishes no fixed number. The maximum possible score is 160. What we read and found nothing in: NBCC — Candidate Handbook for State Licensure, National Counselor Examination (NCE) (Revised September 24, 2024, PDF) (2026-09-25) · NBCC — Content Outline, The National Counselor Examination (NCE) (© 2023, PDF) (2026-09-25) · NBCC — About the National Counselor Examination (NCE) (2026-09-25) |
| Fees |
This is NBCC's price for taking the NCE as part of the National Certified Counselor application. The fee for registering for the NCE for state licensure is not printed in NBCC's state licensure handbook; the handbook says the examination fee is due at every reregistration and charges $50 to reschedule an appointment. Source: NBCC — National Certified Counselor (Application Fees for Certification) (2026-09-25) |
| Languages offered | Not published by NBCC Neither the state licensure handbook, the current content outline nor NBCC's NCE page states which languages the current NCE is offered in. NBCC's specifications for the version effective July 1, 2027 say that version has been translated into Spanish. What we read and found nothing in: NBCC — Candidate Handbook for State Licensure, National Counselor Examination (NCE) (Revised September 24, 2024, PDF) (2026-09-25) · NBCC — Content Outline, The National Counselor Examination (NCE) (© 2023, PDF) (2026-09-25) · NBCC — About the National Counselor Examination (NCE) (2026-09-25) · NBCC — State Licensure (2026-09-25) · NBCC — National Counselor Examination (NCE) Examination Specifications, Effective July 1, 2027 (PDF) (2026-09-25) |
Change log
- 2026-09-25Fact sheet created from NBCC's NCE state licensure handbook (revised September 24, 2024), the NCE content outline (© 2023), NBCC's National Certified Counselor fee table and NBCC's NCE specifications effective July 1, 2027.