- Why There Is No Official ITS-NS Pass Rate
- What the 700 Passing Score Actually Measures
- Pass-Rate Claims You Will See Online
- Exam Mechanics That Shape Your Odds
- Domain Readiness: Where Candidates Lose Points
- Voucher, Retake and the Cost of a First-Try Miss
- A Domain-Sequenced Readiness Plan
- Pass Rates, Salary and Job Claims
- Frequently Asked Questions
- No public, exam-wide ITS-NS pass rate exists; treat any single percentage you see online as unverified.
- The passing score is 700 on a 1-1000 scaled score, not a raw 70% requirement.
- The exam has 35-45 questions in 50 minutes, so pacing and objective coverage drive results.
- The USD 133 US retail voucher includes a retake, but the retake code must be used within 60 days.
Why There Is No Official ITS-NS Pass Rate
If you searched for the "IT Specialist Network Security pass rate," you probably hoped for a clean number: a percentage of candidates who pass on the first try. Here is the direct answer: that number is not published for the Information Technology Specialist - Network Security exam. Pearson governs the program, and Certiport, a Pearson VUE business, administers the exam and issues the credential. Neither publishes an exam-wide candidate pass rate that we can point to.
That absence matters more than it seems. Many pages on the web fill the gap with confident-sounding figures, vendor "success rates," or guarantees. None of those are a substitute for a provider-published statistic. This article takes a different approach: instead of inventing a percentage, it shows you what the available data and exam design actually tell you, and how to turn that into a realistic readiness plan. For the broader difficulty picture, see our companion piece, How Hard Is the ITS-NS Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026.
What the 700 Passing Score Actually Measures
The single most misunderstood number in this conversation is the passing score. The ITS-NS exam is scored on a 1-1000 scaled score, with 700 required to pass. That is not the same as getting 70% of questions right, and it is not a pass rate. Scaled scoring is a method of reporting results on a consistent scale; it does not tell you what fraction of candidates clear the bar.
Three practical consequences follow:
- You cannot convert 700 into a question count. With a 35-45 question form range, any "you need exactly N correct answers" claim is speculation.
- A score is a pass/fail signal, not a ranking. A 710 and a 950 both earn the credential.
- Practice-test percentages are not scaled scores. Scoring 75% on a practice bank does not guarantee a 700 scaled result on the live exam.
For the full explanation of how scoring policy works, read ITS-NS Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.
Pass-Rate Claims You Will See Online
Because the real figure is unpublished, candidates run into several kinds of substitutes. Knowing how to classify them protects you from over- or under-estimating the exam.
| Claim Type | Where It Appears | What It Can Tell You | What It Cannot Tell You |
|---|---|---|---|
| Institutional cohort pass rate | School or training-provider marketing | How one prepared group performed | The exam-wide rate across all candidates |
| Vendor "success rate" or guarantee | Practice-test and course sellers | The seller's own customer outcomes or refund terms | Independent, verified pass statistics |
| Forum or flashcard anecdotes | Community threads and study-card sites | Individual candidate experience and topic recall | A representative sample of test takers |
| Scaled passing score (700/1000) | Official scoring policy | The threshold you must reach | How many candidates reach it |
Cohort figures deserve special caution. A class that completed structured labs and mock exams before testing is a self-selected, prepared group. Their results may be encouraging, but they are not a measure of everyone who sits the exam, including people who register with little preparation.
Exam Mechanics That Shape Your Odds
Without a published pass rate, the best predictor of your outcome is how well your preparation matches the exam's actual design. The facts that matter:
- Length: a published range of 35-45 questions. No fixed total or scored/unscored split is stated, so do not rely on forum claims about either.
- Time: 50 minutes of standard exam time, excluding administrative appointment activities such as identity checks.
- Format: computer-based and proctored. The official tutorial illustrates multiple-choice questions, plus review and navigation features that let you revisit and change answers before submitting.
- Delivery: Certiport Authorized Testing Centers (CATCs), with Pearson VUE test-center and OnVUE options also offered. Match your voucher to the channel you select, since CATC proctoring may cost extra.
- Rules: identity verification, a proctor, and exam-security/NDA rules apply.
Roughly one minute per question is the working pace, so scenario-style items that ask you to choose the best control, permission, or device need quick recognition rather than long derivation. That favors candidates who have actually configured file permissions, reviewed firewall rules, and traced authentication behavior, not those who only memorized definitions. The candidate profile in the official guidance points to hands-on familiarity with client operating systems, security applications, firewalls, devices and network ports, with at least 150 hours of instruction or practical experience. That 150 hours is preparation guidance, not an exam requirement; for details on eligibility, see ITS-NS Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
Domain Readiness: Where Candidates Lose Points
The official objectives document is a two-page Pearson PDF (copyright 2025) organized under four headings. Since no percentage weights are published for them, the notes below are editorial study priorities, not exam weights. Our full breakdown lives in ITS-NS Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 4 Content Areas.
Domain 1: Defense in Depth
Layered protection is the organizing idea of the whole exam. Expect to reason about which control belongs at which layer, rather than recite definitions.
- Match a described threat to the layer that best addresses it
- Distinguish detection from prevention (IDS versus IPS) and recognize what a SIEM adds
- Understand network isolation and why separating segments limits damage
Domain 2: Operating System Security
This is where hands-on practice pays off most visibly. The objectives cover both Windows and Linux.
- Windows and Linux permissions: who can read, write, or execute, and how inheritance or ownership changes the answer
- Authentication methods and how they differ in strength and use case
- Auditing: what gets logged and why it matters for investigation
- Encryption choices for data at rest and in transit, and backup selection
Domain 3: Network Device Security
Questions here test whether you can reason about devices, ports, and protocols in a realistic setup.
- Firewall behavior and rule logic, including what a rule allows or blocks
- Wireless protection and how configuration choices change exposure
- Protocol security: knowing which protocols send data in the clear and which secure alternatives exist
Domain 4: Secure Computing
This domain covers safer end-user computing. It looks easier than it is because the concepts feel familiar, which tempts candidates to skim it.
- Recognize risky user behavior and the control that reduces it
- Apply sensible defaults for everyday client configuration
- Choose the most appropriate protective measure for a described scenario
A realistic reading of the objectives suggests where the typical shortfalls occur: candidates who are comfortable with one operating system but not the other, candidates who blur IDS, IPS and SIEM roles, and candidates who treat Secure Computing as common sense and skip structured review. Those are editorial observations, not measured failure statistics.
Voucher, Retake and the Cost of a First-Try Miss
Even without a pass rate, you can plan around the cost of a miss. The US individual retail fee is USD 133 for the IT Specialist Exam Voucher + Retake. That price is specific to that product; it is not an exam-only price or a figure that applies to every channel. The mechanics worth knowing:
- The original voucher expires 1 year after purchase.
- If you do not pass, an issued retake code must be used within 60 days of failure.
- CATC proctoring may carry an additional charge beyond the voucher.
- Match the voucher to your chosen delivery channel before you buy.
The retake bundle lowers the financial sting of a first-attempt miss, but the 60-day window creates a deadline you should plan around. If you fail, use your score feedback to target the weakest domain immediately rather than waiting. Full pricing logic is covered in ITS-NS Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown, and scheduling considerations are in ITS-NS Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.
Key Takeaway
Treat the retake as a safety net, not a plan. Prepare as though you only get one attempt, then use the 60-day retake window deliberately if you need it.
A Domain-Sequenced Readiness Plan
Rather than a generic schedule, sequence your preparation around how the four domains build on each other. Start with the conceptual frame, then the operating-system skills that need repetition, then devices, then a consolidation pass. Adjust the pace to your background and to the 150-hour baseline in the official guidance.
Defense in Depth first
- Build the layered-security mental model that frames later domains
- Compare IDS, IPS and SIEM roles side by side
- Sketch a segmented network and explain what isolation protects
Operating System Security, both platforms
- Practice Windows and Linux permission scenarios until outcomes are predictable
- Walk through authentication, auditing and encryption decisions
- Work backup-selection and encryption-choice exercises
Network Device Security
- Read and write simple firewall rule logic
- Review wireless protection options and secure versus insecure protocols
Secure Computing and full review
- Cover safer end-user computing deliberately, not by assumption
- Take timed practice runs against a 50-minute window
- Return to your weakest domain for a final pass
For a fuller approach to building your plan, see ITS-NS Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt, and for a compact last-day refresher, use the ITS-NS Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts. When you want exam-style repetition mapped to the objectives, our ITS-NS practice tests are built around the four domains. The official CertPREP option from GMetrix offers training and testing modes, but its practice-bank sizes and timers are not live-exam specifications, so do not read them as predictions of the real test.
Pass Rates, Salary and Job Claims
Pass-rate pages often drift into earnings promises, so it is worth separating the two. The most reliable salary reference available is the US Bureau of Labor Statistics figure: a May 2025 median of USD 129,180 for information security analysts. That is an occupation-wide statistic. It is not a certification-specific salary, not an entry-level offer, and not evidence that holding ITS-NS produces a pay premium. A candidate earning this credential should not expect that median as a starting wage.
Likewise, senior security-role salaries do not establish what a first-time candidate earns, and they say nothing about how many people pass the exam. If you are weighing whether the credential fits your goals, read ITS-NS Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis, Is the ITS-NS Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026, and ITS-NS Jobs for a grounded view.
One more fact belongs in any long-term plan: awards earned on or after June 18, 2025 expire after 5 years, while earlier awards remain non-expiring. Renewal means buying a voucher and passing the current exam. That dated policy takes precedence over older one-time-issuance wording you may still see on the program page.
Frequently Asked Questions
No exam-wide candidate pass rate is published by Pearson or Certiport that we can cite, so any single percentage you see should be treated as unverified. The 700 on a 1-1000 scale is the passing score, which is a threshold, not a pass rate.
No. The exam uses a 1-1000 scaled score, and 700 is the passing mark. It is not a raw 70% requirement, and with a 35-45 question form range you cannot reliably convert it into a fixed number of correct answers.
Those figures usually come from a single training cohort or from a vendor's own customers. They describe a prepared, self-selected group, not all candidates, so they do not establish the exam-wide success rate.
The USD 133 US retail voucher includes a retake. The issued retake code must be used within 60 days of failure, and the original voucher expires 1 year after purchase. Match the voucher to your delivery channel, since CATC proctoring may cost extra.
No. The USD 129,180 BLS median is for information security analysts as an occupation, not for ITS-NS holders or entry-level roles, and it does not demonstrate a certification pay premium.