CCEeXAM Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling

The Next Administration: January 26, 2027

If you are searching for 2026 testing windows for the Examination of Special Competence in Critical Care Echocardiography, the practical answer for candidates registering now is the National Board of Echocardiography (NBE) administration on January 26, 2027. Registration for that sitting closes on December 22, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. EST. Because the site reviewing this information was last checked on October 5, 2026, you have a defined runway of roughly twelve weeks to complete paperwork, pay the fee, and finish preparation.

Unlike exams that run continuously through the year, the CCEeXAM is offered as a scheduled administration, so the registration deadline is the real gate. Miss it, and your next opportunity depends on the next NBE announcement. For that reason, treat December 22 as your working deadline for everything: documentation, fee payment, and a realistic assessment of whether your preparation fits the remaining time. If you have not yet decided whether the exam suits your career trajectory, the ROI analysis of the CCEeXAM certification is a useful companion read.

Deadline Calendar and Fee Mechanics

The table below consolidates the dates and amounts that matter for the January 2027 sitting. Everything listed comes from NBE's published materials.

The USD 1,295 fee is the examination fee itself. For a broader look at what the credential costs over time, including maintenance participation after you pass, see the CCEeXAM certification cost breakdown.

The Refund Date Discrepancy

One detail deserves careful attention. NBE's live examination page and the summary in the handbook give January 12, 2027 as the deadline for a partial refund. However, a separate paragraph in the handbook states January 26, which is the exam date itself. These two statements cannot both be correct.

This is a good example of why reading the primary handbook matters. Secondary summaries, including this one, cannot resolve an inconsistency that sits in the issuer's own documents.

What Must Be Settled Before You Schedule

The scheduling timeline depends on one thing candidates frequently underestimate: documentation. NBE requires proof of medical practice before you can sit for the exam. You do not need your clinical case logs to sit for the written examination, but you do need the following, depending on your training background:

• North American-trained candidates: an unexpired medical license (including an eligible training or temporary license), or a signed, notarized good-standing letter from your ACGME program director.
• Non-North-American-trained candidates: medical licensure plus the specified permanent-license verification or recent good-standing documentation where applicable.
• All candidates: documents must be in English or accompanied by a certified translation.

A notarized letter from a program director can take days or weeks to obtain, and a certified translation adds further lead time. If you are in the second category, start the paperwork immediately rather than waiting until December. The full eligibility picture is covered in the CCEeXAM requirements guide.

Test Center vs. OnVUE Remote Proctoring

NBE delivers the CCEeXAM through Pearson Professional Assessments. You can test at a Pearson VUE test center or take the exam remotely through Pearson OnVUE with live proctoring. The choice affects your scheduling more than you might expect.

Why the choice matters for planning

• Test centers supply a laminated note board and an on-screen calculator is available. Seat availability near you is the main constraint, so check your local center's capacity early.
• OnVUE remote removes travel but places the burden of a compliant testing environment on you. Verify equipment and room requirements well before exam day rather than the night before.
• Both modes prohibit personal reference materials. You will not be able to bring notes, formula sheets, or devices.

Because the exam runs over several hours, many candidates prefer the controlled environment of a test center, particularly if their home or office cannot guarantee an uninterrupted window. Either way, schedule your appointment as soon as registration allows, since preferred time slots tend to fill first.

The Exam-Day Clock

Knowing the structure helps you plan the day, not just the date. The CCEeXAM is computer-based and contains 200 questions: 180 scored and 20 unidentified unscored items. You cannot tell which are which, so treat every question as if it counts.

The exam is arranged in five blocks of 40 questions, each with 54 minutes. That gives four hours and 30 minutes of active item-answering time. Separately, you receive a 25-minute pooled break allowance for the scheduled breaks between blocks.

A note on the appointment length

NBE's live page labels the maximum appointment as five hours 20 minutes, but its stated allowances for the nondisclosure agreement, tutorial, breaks, question blocks, and survey add up to five hours 25 minutes. Because of this mismatch, this article relies on the verified figure, four hours 30 minutes of active testing time, and recommends you arrive prepared for a long session of roughly five and a half hours door to door. Eat beforehand and plan for the pooled breaks.

Matching Study Time to the Four Domains

The CCEeXAM content outline (dated January 2025) organizes the exam into four domains. NBE does not publish percentage weights for them, so avoid any resource that claims a specific split. Instead, use the published headings as your syllabus and allocate time according to your own weaknesses. The complete guide to the four CCEeXAM content areas goes deeper on each.

A sequencing approach for the remaining runway

With the registration deadline and exam date fixed, you can sequence preparation backward from January 26. Generic scheduling matters less than the order in which you tackle the domains. This is the one place for a study-plan outline:

Foundational domains come first because later case work depends on them. For a fuller preparation framework, the CCEeXAM study guide expands on this approach. NBE does not endorse any third-party preparation product, so evaluate resources on their alignment with the published content outline.

After the Exam: Testamur Status and What Comes Next

Passing the CCEeXAM establishes Testamur status. It does not automatically make you a Diplomate. Becoming certified in Critical Care Echocardiography is a separate application with its own prerequisites, and understanding the difference early helps you plan your timeline.

The certification route includes training or practice pathways, such as at least one year of qualifying critical-care fellowship or 750 critical-care clinical hours in the preceding three years. Practice and hybrid routes require 20 echocardiography AMA Category 1 CME hours in that period. Fifty transesophageal studies are an optional add-on rather than a baseline prerequisite, though the handbook's wording on this point varies between sections, so confirm route-specific paperwork with NBE rather than assuming a universal rule.

Scoring and results

NBE uses a criterion-referenced minimum knowledge standard. You are measured against a fixed standard, not ranked against other candidates. The passing score is supplied on your score report. For the details, see the CCEeXAM passing score guide. NBE's FAQ reports an 86% pass rate for the 2026 CCEeXAM. That figure describes the share of candidates who passed, not a threshold you need to hit, and the CCEeXAM pass rate analysis explains the distinction.

Maintenance begins the following January

New passers enter annual maintenance the January after passing, so a January 2027 pass leads to maintenance participation starting in January 2028. Testamurs follow MOTE (Maintenance of Testamur in Echocardiography), while Diplomates follow MOCE (Maintenance of Certification in Echocardiography). The first participation year is free, with a currently published annual fee of USD 85 thereafter. Requirements include annual enrollment, 48 questions per year in 12-question quarterly sets, and an annual MDT value of at least 0.20 by December 31. MDT is not a raw percentage score. MOCE adds requirements for licensure, clinical echo interpretation, quality improvement participation, and 15 echocardiography CME credits in the preceding three years.

If you are weighing how the credential translates professionally, the overview of CCEeXAM-related jobs covers where this expertise is used, and you can compare your readiness against the CCEeXAM practice tests to see where your knowledge stands before committing to a date.

Frequently Asked Questions

Whatever your timeline, the dates above are fixed anchors: December 22, 2026 to register and January 26, 2027 to sit. Build your documentation and preparation schedule backward from them, and read NBE's current handbook before you pay.