- What This Credential Actually Is
- The Education Requirement: Degree Plus Verified Program
- Clinical Competency Requirements in Detail
- Ethics Compliance and the Two Separate Clocks
- Applying and Testing: Fees, Format and Logistics
- What the Exam Covers: Four Domains
- Passing Score, Attempts and First-Time Results
- Staying Certified After You Pass
- A Qualification Plan Built Around the Requirements
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Primary eligibility needs an associate degree or higher, in any major, conferred before you sit for the exam.
- You must complete an ARRT-verified nuclear medicine technology program, including its didactic and clinical competencies.
- Clinical competencies total 8 patient-care activities, 5 quality-control activities and 25 diagnostic/therapeutic procedures, with at most five simulated.
- The application is due within three years of program completion, and the exam allows three attempts within three years.
What This Credential Actually Is
On this site, "RTN" is shorthand for the Registered Technologist credential in Nuclear Medicine Technology, issued by the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT). ARRT's own designation for the discipline is simply Nuclear Medicine Technology (N), and "RTN" is the abbreviation we use throughout RTN Exam Prep. It is earned through ARRT's primary eligibility pathway and is a separate credential from the NMTCB's CNMT. If you have seen those two names used interchangeably, treat them as distinct certifications with distinct requirements, fees and exams.
If you are still orienting yourself, our explainers on what RTN is and what RTN stands for cover the naming in more depth. This article focuses on the practical question: what must be true about your education, clinical experience and conduct before ARRT will let you sit for the exam?
The Education Requirement: Degree Plus Verified Program
The primary pathway has two educational pillars, and candidates sometimes confuse them. Both are mandatory.
Pillar one: an associate degree or higher
You need an associate degree or higher from an accredited institution recognized by ARRT. The degree can be in any major. It does not have to be in nuclear medicine, radiologic science or even a health field. What matters is that it is conferred, meaning officially awarded, before you take the examination. Finishing coursework is not enough; the degree must actually be on your transcript.
Pillar two: an ARRT-verified nuclear medicine technology program
Separately, you must complete an educational program in nuclear medicine technology that ARRT verifies, including the program's didactic coursework and its clinical competencies. This is the pillar that makes the credential about nuclear medicine specifically. A degree in another field satisfies the first pillar only; it does nothing for the second.
Many candidates satisfy both pillars at once because their nuclear medicine program awards an associate or bachelor's degree. If your program is certificate-based, you will need a qualifying degree from elsewhere, which can be earned before, during or after the program as long as it is conferred before the exam.
Clinical Competency Requirements in Detail
The clinical component is where programs and candidates spend most of their effort. ARRT's Nuclear Medicine Technology Didactic and Clinical Competency Requirements define what you must demonstrate. The totals are fixed:
| Competency Category | Requirement |
|---|---|
| General patient-care activities | 8 activities, including CPR certification |
| Quality-control activities | 5 activities |
| Diagnostic and therapeutic procedures | 25 different procedures |
| Simulation allowance | No more than 5 of the procedures may be simulated |
How verification works
Competency is not self-reported. Your program director or a designee must verify each competency through in-person direct observation. ARRT does not accept remote or virtual observation for this purpose. If you are choosing a program or arranging clinical rotations, confirm that sign-offs will happen with a qualified evaluator physically present.
The simulation cap in practice
Because only five of the 25 procedures can be simulated, at least 20 must be performed on real patients under observation. Procedures that are less common at your clinical site, such as certain therapeutic or specialized studies, are the ones most likely to tempt a program toward simulation. Track your count early so you do not exhaust the five-procedure allowance on routine items and then find a rare one unavailable late in your rotation.
Competency Checklist Habits
Treat your competency record like a living document rather than an end-of-program scramble.
- Keep a running tally of the 25 procedures, noting which were performed versus simulated.
- Confirm your CPR certification is current and documented as one of the eight patient-care activities.
- Ask evaluators to sign off promptly after each observed competency.
- Review your remaining gaps with your program director at least a few weeks before graduation.
Ethics Compliance and the Two Separate Clocks
Ethics requirements
Every ARRT candidate must comply with ARRT's ethics requirements. This is not a formality reserved for people with problems; it is a standing condition of eligibility, and it continues after you are certified. Review the standards in the handbook before you apply, and if anything in your history might raise a question, ARRT offers a pre-application review process worth investigating well before you pay a fee.
Clock one: the application deadline
You must earn your degree and submit your application no more than three years after completing your nuclear medicine program. Let that window lapse and you may face additional educational or other requirements to re-establish eligibility.
Clock two: the examination attempts
Once you are approved and your examination window opens, you get three attempts within three years of the opening of that initial window. This is a different clock. The application deadline governs how long you can wait after graduating to apply; the attempt period governs how long you have to pass once you have applied.
Applying and Testing: Fees, Format and Logistics
Fees
The initial application fee is $225. If you do not pass and need to retest, each examination reapplication costs $200. For a fuller picture of costs beyond these two line items, our RTN certification cost breakdown covers the broader budget.
Delivery
The exam is delivered at Pearson VUE test centers. You are not testing from home; plan your travel and arrival accordingly, and read the handbook's identification and check-in rules ahead of time.
Exam structure
- 230 total questions: 200 scored and 30 unscored pilot questions. You cannot tell which are which, so treat every item as real.
- 230 minutes of answering time within a 250-minute appointment that also includes the tutorial, nondisclosure agreement and survey.
- Primarily single-best-answer multiple choice, with possible alternative item formats and image-based questions. The ARRT handbook also describes multiple-response and ordered-response formats.
- Closed book. Basic and scientific on-screen calculators are available, and Pearson can supply a basic four-function calculator on request. Personal calculators are prohibited.
- You must answer each item before advancing, but you may flag questions and revisit them.
The no-skipping rule with flag-and-return is worth rehearsing. You cannot leave a question blank and move on, so build the habit of committing to a best answer, flagging it, and using leftover time to revisit.
What the Exam Covers: Four Domains
Through January 31, 2027, the controlling document is the Nuclear Medicine Technology Examination Content Specifications (board approved January 2021, effective January 1, 2022). It organizes the 200 scored questions into four official content categories. The numbers below are scored-question counts, not official percentages.
| Domain | Scored Questions (of 200) |
|---|---|
| Patient Care | 24 |
| Safety | 25 |
| Image Production | 33 |
| Procedures | 118 |
Procedures dominates, and it is subdivided: Radionuclides and Radiopharmaceuticals (28), Cardiac Procedures (25), Endocrine and Oncology Procedures (25), Gastrointestinal and Genitourinary Procedures (18), and Other Imaging Procedures (22). Two scope notes are worth knowing: CT content is limited to attenuation correction and anatomic localization rather than diagnostic CT, and both SI and conventional radiation units appear on the exam.
Procedures: Where Requirements Meet the Exam
Your 25 clinical procedures are the practical foundation for the largest exam domain.
- Use your clinical rotations to deepen understanding of radiopharmaceutical handling, not only patient positioning.
- Pay attention to cardiac, endocrine, oncology and GI/GU studies; together with radionuclides they form the bulk of the domain.
- Learn units in both SI and conventional forms, since either may appear.
A separate 2027 Content Specifications document takes effect February 1, 2027. If you are testing in 2026, study to the current specifications described here and do not blend in the later version. Our complete guide to the four RTN content areas walks through each domain in more detail.
Passing Score, Attempts and First-Time Results
The passing score is 75 on ARRT's 1-99 scaled-score range. That is not 75% correct; scaled scores convert raw performance onto a common scale so results are comparable across exam forms. A revised cut-score standard took effect February 1, 2025, and the reported passing score remains 75 scaled. Our article on the RTN passing score explains how to interpret your result.
For context on how candidates fare, ARRT's Annual Exam Report for 2025 lists a 64.7% first-time pass rate for 2025, based on 439 candidates. That figure is a useful reminder that eligibility is the entry ticket, not the finish line; see what the pass-rate data shows and how hard the exam is for deeper analysis.
Staying Certified After You Pass
Qualifying is only the start. To keep your certification and registration active, you must:
- Renew annually. The renewal fee is $65, regardless of how many ARRT credentials you hold.
- Keep complying with ethics requirements.
- Earn 24 approved continuing education credits per two-year biennium. This applies per biennium, not per credential.
- Complete Continuing Qualifications Requirements (CQR) every 10 years. This applies to credentials earned on or after January 1, 2011. CQR involves a professional profile, a structured self-assessment and any prescribed CE. ARRT also allows you to accept the maximum CQR CE prescription instead of taking the self-assessment.
If you are weighing whether the ongoing obligations are worthwhile, our ROI analysis of the RTN certification and salary guide put the long-term commitment in context.
A Qualification Plan Built Around the Requirements
Rather than a generic study calendar, think of your timeline as a set of requirement milestones, with exam preparation layered on top once your eligibility path is clear.
Lock Down Eligibility
- Confirm your degree will be conferred before you plan to test.
- Audit your competency record: 8 patient-care, 5 quality-control, 25 procedures (max 5 simulated).
- Verify your CPR certification is current.
Apply and Schedule
- Submit your application well inside the three-year-after-completion limit.
- Pay the $225 initial fee and note your window dates.
- Reserve your Pearson VUE appointment.
Weight Study by Domain
- Spend the largest share of time on Procedures, since 118 of 200 scored questions fall there.
- Cover Image Production, Safety and Patient Care in proportion to their question counts.
- Use a structured plan from our RTN study guide and keep the RTN cheat sheet handy for last-week review.
When you are ready to test your recall under realistic conditions, the RTN practice tests give you timed, exam-style items, and you can start from the main practice site to see where your domain gaps are.
Key Takeaway
Eligibility is built from four independent checks: a conferred degree, a verified program, observed clinical competencies and ethics compliance. Audit each one separately and early, because a gap in any single item can delay your exam window even when the other three are complete.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. The associate degree or higher can be in any major, as long as it is conferred before you take the exam. However, you must still complete an ARRT-verified nuclear medicine technology educational program, including its didactic and clinical competencies, to qualify under the primary pathway.
No. The program director or designee must verify clinical competency through in-person direct observation. ARRT does not accept remote or virtual observation. Up to five of the 25 diagnostic/therapeutic procedures may be simulated, but the rest must be performed and observed in person.
The degree must be earned and the application submitted no more than three years after you complete your nuclear medicine program. This is separate from the examination-attempt limit, which gives you three attempts within three years of the opening of your initial examination window.
The initial application fee is $225, and each examination reapplication costs $200. After certification, annual renewal is $65 regardless of how many ARRT credentials you hold. See our certification cost guide for the full picture.
No. RTN here refers to the ARRT's Nuclear Medicine Technology (N) credential earned through the primary pathway. The CNMT is issued by a different organization, the NMTCB, with its own requirements, fees and exam. Make sure you are following ARRT's requirements if ARRT is your target.