How Many APMLE Attempts a State Will Accept

The national exam does not count your attempts against you. The APMLE's "After the Exam" page says so directly: "NBPME does not limit the number of examination attempts; however, individual state licensing boards may impose their own restrictions." That second clause matters, because a few states do restrict attempts, and almost every application asks about failed exams.

Which states cap the number of attempts?

The clearest cap is in Florida's podiatry statute. "If an applicant fails to pass the examination in three attempts, she or he shall not be eligible for reexamination unless she or he completes additional educational requirements or training requirements prescribed by the board." After that remediation, the applicant "may take the examination on two more occasions," and an applicant who "has failed to pass the examination after five attempts" is "no longer eligible to take the examination" (Fla. Stat. 461.006(2)(b)). Florida licenses by examination through APMLE Part III, so this is the cap a Florida candidate plans around.

Other boards limit reexaminations within a single application rather than for life:

• Minnesota: an applicant who fails an examination and is refused a license is entitled to reexamination within one year, and "no more than two reexaminations are allowed without a new application for a license" (Minn. Stat. 153.16, subd. 1(h)).
• Wisconsin: an applicant who fails "may be reexamined not more than twice at not less than 4-month intervals," and after a second failed reexamination cannot be admitted again until reapplying and showing additional education or training (Wis. Stat. 448.64(5)). Wisconsin's rule names the APMLE as the board's examination (Pod 1.06(2)).
• North Carolina: an applicant who fails is entitled to reexamination within one year, "but not more than two reexaminations shall be allowed any one applicant prior to filing a new application" (G.S. 90-202.6). That applies to North Carolina's own written and oral state exam.
• North Dakota: an applicant who fails may be reexamined within one year for an added fee, and "only one re-examination exhausts the applicant's privilege under the original application" (N.D.C.C. 43-05-13).

How do state-run exams handle a retake?

Some boards give their own exams in place of, or on top of, the APMLE, and set separate retake rules:

• Tennessee: an applicant who fails Part III may retake the next regularly scheduled exam after a written request to the board at least 60 days before it. The open-book jurisprudence exam must be retaken until passed, and a file closes if the applicant does not pass within 12 months of being deemed eligible (Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1155-02-.08).
• Alabama: the board examination is offered in June and December, and "an unsuccessful examinee may take a second examination at the next scheduled examination date" (Ala. Admin. Code r. 730-X-3-.01).

For the Texas jurisprudence exam, see passing the Texas podiatric jurisprudence exam.

Do passing scores expire?

A few states care less about how many times you tried than about how long ago you passed:

• California's standard route requires Parts I to III passed within 10 years, though licensure by credentialing needs only Part III.
• Kentucky accepts NBPME proof that you passed all APMLE parts "within the past ten (10) years" as an alternative to its board exam (KRS 311.420).
• West Virginia requires that you passed all component parts of the APMLE "within 10 consecutive years" (W. Va. Code 30-3-10).
• Louisiana's rules expect the licensing exam to have been passed within the prior 10 years. A podiatrist licensed in another state can qualify instead by having passed a CPME-recognized specialty board's certification or recertification exam within the 10 years before applying (La. Admin. Code tit. 46, pt. XLV, 1305 and 1321).
• Tennessee requires Part III again for applicants whose last passing NBPME score is more than five years old, unless they practiced on an unencumbered license elsewhere for the three years before applying.

For a podiatrist who passed Part III decades ago, these rules usually point to the experience-based exceptions rather than a retake. See trained before 2003? for the related residency rules.

Does a failed attempt follow you to another state?

Your score history lives with NBPME and Meazure Learning, and it is your account that sends results to a board. A board sees what you send and what its application asks you to disclose. Montana's podiatrist application, for example, asks whether you have ever failed a specialty certification examination and how many times. The safe course is to answer every exam question on every application exactly as your record reads, because an inconsistency between states is a bigger problem than an old failed attempt.

The physician compact offers a useful contrast. Physicians using the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact must have passed each component of their licensing exam "in no more than three attempts," according to the IMLC's eligibility page. The model law for the podiatry compact, which is not active, lists no attempt limit in its eligibility rule. More in what the podiatry compact borrowed from the physician compact.

What should you do before a retake?

1. Read the target state's rule first. If you are applying in Florida, count your attempts before the third, because the fourth requires board-prescribed remediation.
2. Keep the application alive. In Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Carolina and North Dakota, the reexamination limits run with the application. Missing a window can mean starting a new file and paying again.
3. Watch the calendar. Part III runs only on a few dates a year, and registration closes weeks ahead. See Part III dates and state authorization.

You sit every exam yourself. What can be done for you is the bookkeeping around it: counting attempts against each target state's rule, tracking application deadlines, and preparing disclosures so they read the same everywhere. A Podiatry Licensure Readiness Review ($149, credited toward your first application) checks your exam history against the states you are considering.