United States
Hong KongFailing one subtest is the normal outcome
Add FLDOE's four published fail rates together and the average candidate fails a little over one subtest at the first attempt. That arithmetic is ours. You keep every subtest you passed, you cannot retake a passed one, and the failed one costs $32.50 after thirty days.
If you have just failed one subtest and passed the others, you have had the most common experience this examination produces. That is not a consolation line. It falls out of the published numbers.
The arithmetic behind that claim
FLDOE publishes a first-attempt pass rate per subtest. Turn each one into a fail rate and add them up, and you get the expected number of subtests a first-time candidate fails.
| Subtest | First-attempt pass | So the fail rate is |
|---|---|---|
| Essay (825) | 64% | 36% |
| English Language Skills (826) | 68% | 32% |
| Reading (827) | 78% | 22% |
| Mathematics (828) | 71% | 29% |
Those four fail rates sum to a little over one subtest per candidate. Ours, not the department's, and it is a mean rather than a prediction about any individual. It lines up with our other derived figure, that roughly a quarter of candidates clear all four first time, and with FLDOE's published 37.2% who came back to retake at least one thing.
One is the modal number of failures. Zero is common. Four is rare.
What actually happens next
- Subtests you keep
- Every one you passed
- Do passed scores expire
- No
- Can you retake a passed subtest
- No, the rule forbids it
- What you retake
- Only the failed subtest
- Cost
- $32.50
- Earliest retake
- 30 days after the previous administration
Rule 6A-4.0021(3)(e) is the one people find surprising: you may not retake an examination you have passed. There is no improving a score you already cleared, and no reason to want to, because a scaled 200 is a scaled 200.
The odds on your second attempt are good
Best-attempt pass rates are 79% for the essay, 83% for English Language Skills, 86% for Reading and 83% for Mathematics. Set those against the first-attempt rates and the essay and English Language Skills each gain 15 points, Mathematics gains 12 and Reading gains 8.
The gap between the two columns is made almost entirely of people who failed once and came back. It is a fairly emphatic answer to the question you are probably asking.
Which subtest you failed changes what you should do
| If you failed | The likely problem | The lever |
|---|---|---|
| Essay (825) | You had never written one to a 50-minute clock | Write timed responses. The format is most of the gain |
| English Language Skills (826) | Speed. 30 questions in 40 minutes, and 12 of its 19 skills are conventions | Drill conventions as a rule list, timed |
| Reading (827) | The strictest cut on the test, at most 70% correct | Accuracy, not speed. You have 1.83 minutes a question |
| Mathematics (828) | Coverage. 21 skills, the longest list of the four | Find the competency you skipped. There are only four |
The minutes-per-question figures and the question-count conversions in that table are ours, derived from FLDOE's published minutes, question counts and maximum percentages. The skill counts are the rule's own.
The failure that is worth worrying about
Not the fail itself. The stop. FLDOE's report counts 3,760 people who retook at least one subtest, and it does not count the people who failed and never registered again, because they leave no trace in a retake figure. That group exists and we cannot size it.
What we can say is that the distance between a failed subtest and a passed one here is $32.50, thirty days, and one competency you did not cover. That is a much smaller obstacle than it feels like on the afternoon you see the score.
One thing to check before you rebook
Rule 6A-4.0021(12) allows a qualifying GRE, SAT, ACT or CLT score to satisfy the general knowledge requirement subtest by subtest. If you hold one that covers the subtest you just failed, you may not need to sit it again at all. That is the first thing to check and it costs nothing to check it.
Common questions
What happens if you fail one FTCE General Knowledge subtest?
You keep every subtest you passed and retake only the one you failed. It costs $32.50 as a fresh single-subtest registration, and at least thirty days must have elapsed since the previous administration of that examination.
Do I have to retake the whole FTCE if I fail one part?
No. The four subtests are registered, sat and passed separately, and a passing subtest score does not expire. Rule 6A-4.0021 also forbids retaking an examination you have already passed, so the decision is made for you.
How common is it to fail an FTCE subtest?
Common. Turning FLDOE's four first-attempt pass rates into fail rates gives 36%, 32%, 22% and 29%, which sum to a little over one failed subtest per first-time candidate. That sum is our arithmetic rather than a published figure.
What are my chances on a retake?
Good, on the published data. Best-attempt pass rates are 79% essay, 83% English Language Skills, 86% Reading and 83% Mathematics, against first-attempt rates of 64%, 68%, 78% and 71%. Most people who come back get through.
Can I retake a subtest I passed to get a better score?
No. Rule 6A-4.0021(3)(e) states that an examinee may not retake an examination that has been passed. The pass is a scaled score of 200 and there is no higher standing to earn by sitting it again.