How Many Attempts Do Certification Exams Usually Allow?

Nobody plans to take a certification exam five times — yet Microsoft wrote a rule for exactly that scenario, because enough candidates reach it. If you have just failed an attempt (or two), the question shifts from "how do I pass?" to a quieter worry: is there a point at which the vendor simply stops letting me try?

Which vendors cap attempts — and which don't

Vendor	Attempt limit	What happens at the limit	Count resets
Microsoft	5 per exam / 12 months	No further attempts on that exam	12 months after your first attempt
ISC2	4 per certification / 12 months	No further attempts that period	Rolling 12-month period
PMI	3 per eligibility year	Wait 1 year before reapplying for that certification	New application after the wait
CompTIA	No stated cap	—	—
AWS	No limit on attempts	—	—
Cisco	No stated cap	—	—

Two different philosophies sit behind that table. The capped vendors force a genuine pause for regrouping; the uncapped vendors let the economics do the limiting, since every attempt is typically full price — the money side of repeated attempts is broken down in how much it costs to retake a certification exam.

The capped vendors in detail

Microsoft: five attempts, then a twelve-month reset

Microsoft allows a maximum of 5 attempts at any one exam within a 12-month period, with the window measured from your first attempt — so the clock resets 12 months after attempt one, not after attempt five. Between attempts you wait 24 hours after a first fail and 14 days between all subsequent tries, which means even a determined candidate spreads five attempts across at least a couple of months. Microsoft can waive attempts lost to documented connectivity or equipment failures during online-proctored sessions, so a crashed exam need not burn one of your five.

ISC2: four attempts a year, with growing gaps

ISC2 (CISSP, CCSP, SSCP, CC) permits 4 attempts per certification in a 12-month period, and stretches them out with escalating test-free waits: 30 days after a first attempt, 60 after a second, 90 after a third and any later attempt. Add those up and four CISSP attempts consume most of a year on their own — the cap and the calendar arrive at roughly the same place.

PMI: three attempts inside your eligibility year

PMI ties attempts to your application rather than the calendar. Once your PMP application is approved you get a one-year eligibility window and up to 3 attempts within it. Fail all three and you must wait one year before reapplying for the same certification. This is the strictest consequence among major vendors — a genuine year on the bench — which is why PMI candidates in particular should treat attempt three as something to approach only with clear evidence of readiness, not as a coin-flip.

The uncapped vendors: unlimited in theory, paced in practice

CompTIA states waiting periods but no maximum: retake immediately after a first fail, then wait at least 14 calendar days before a third or any later attempt. AWS's FAQ is explicit that there is no limit on attempts, with a 14-day wait after each fail. Cisco publishes waiting periods that vary by exam family — 5 calendar days for written exams at Entry through Professional level, 48 hours for online 700-series exams, 30 days for expert-level labs — but no attempt ceiling.

"Unlimited" deserves one caveat in the other direction: passing also restricts you. CompTIA will not let you re-sit an exam code you have already passed without approval, AWS bars retaking a passed exam for 2 years (new versions excepted), and Cisco imposes a 180-day wait before re-sitting a passed exam number. Attempt rules exist to govern failure, not trophy hunting.

What actually limits uncapped candidates is money and morale: every attempt is another full fee, and the fee question — including what happened to the one you already paid — is covered in what happens to your exam fee if you fail.