What Does PASC Mean?

What the Letters Actually Stand For

In the context of this site, PASC stands for Pediatric Audiology Specialty Certification. It is a specialty credential for audiologists who work with infants, children, and adolescents who have hearing and balance concerns. Successful candidates are awarded the designation Board Certified in Pediatric Audiology (BC-PA).

The acronym is shared by other, unrelated credentials in other fields. Everything on this page concerns only the audiology specialty program. If you want a shorter orientation, our companion pages What Is PASC?, What Does PASC Stand For?, and PASC Meaning cover the basics, while this article goes further into what the credential demands and how it works in practice.

The Credential Behind the Acronym

PASC recognizes advanced, focused competence in pediatric audiology. Rather than testing general audiology knowledge, it examines the specific skills involved in caring for children, from early identification and diagnostic testing through intervention, family counseling, and coordination with medical and educational teams.

Two features define the program's character:

• It is voluntary. No employer, licensing board, or payer is universally required to ask for it. Audiologists pursue it to document specialized expertise.
• It is independent of other certification. Under the current handbook and program page, general ABA certification, the CCC-A, and professional membership are not prerequisites. Older materials that described other-certification prerequisites, including the January 2024 handbook introduction, have been superseded.

For a broader description of the program, see What Is PASC Certification? and the hub page on PASC Certification.

Who Issues It and What Makes It Different

The American Board of Audiology administers the program. The ABA is a credentialing body affiliated with the American Academy of Audiology, which matters mostly in terms of fees: the ABA publishes separate pricing for Academy members and non-members. Membership itself is not required to apply or test.

What distinguishes PASC from a generic audiology credential is its narrow clinical focus and its experience-based gatekeeping. You cannot qualify on coursework alone. The application requires documented pediatric direct-patient hours and pediatric case-management hours, supported by references and records. That structure signals that the credential is meant to validate what you already do in practice, not what you studied in a program.

What the Exam Looks Like

Understanding the format removes a large source of test-day anxiety. The exam is built as follows:

Two details deserve emphasis. First, the multiple-response items require you to select two or three correct options, so partial familiarity with a topic can be risky. Practice reading each question stem carefully for how many answers it expects. Second, because there is no guessing penalty, you should never leave an item blank; an unanswered question offers no scoring advantage.

How Passing Is Determined

Passing is criterion-referenced. The ABA uses modified Angoff standard setting and applies it to the overall raw score on the 100 scored items, with adjustment for item difficulty. That means there is no single fixed percentage that applies to every exam form. Our page on the PASC passing score explains the method in more detail, and How Hard Is the PASC Exam? discusses what the difficulty looks like from a candidate's perspective.

Remote Testing Requirements

Because the exam is delivered by live remote proctoring, your testing environment is part of the assessment experience. You need:

• A desktop or laptop computer. Tablets, phones, and Chromebooks do not meet the testing-device requirements.
• A working webcam and microphone.
• A private room that will pass the proctor's room check.
• Current government-issued photo and signature ID that matches the name on your registration.

Older documents referencing Examity delivery should not override the current Prolydian and Proctor360 instructions. Approved accommodations are handled through a separate process.

The Six Content Domains

The exam content is organized into six formal domains. The current handbook publishes scored-item allocations of 24, 21, 22, 16, 9, and 8 out of 100, and the ABA's November 13, 2023 revised-blueprint announcement publishes the matching percentage weights. The handbook's printed test blueprint (Edition 23, November 2025) is the controlling source for domain headings. For a deeper walk through each area, see our complete guide to the six PASC content areas.

Note that these six lines are exam content domains, not a recommended curriculum. Domains 1 and 3 together account for 46% of scored content, which is why most candidates weight their time toward those two areas first. A page like our PASC cheat sheet can help you keep the structure in view as you review.

Who Qualifies to Sit for It

Eligibility is built around real pediatric practice. Under the current handbook, candidates need:

• A graduate audiology degree from a regionally accredited institution.
• An appropriate audiology license or work authorization. The handbook calls for a permanent U.S. audiology license, or a valid license or work authorization for international and U.S.-territory applicants.
• Paid post-degree professional experience.
• 550 pediatric direct-patient hours and 50 pediatric case-management hours, accrued over two consecutive years within the preceding five years.
• Two professional references, including a supervisor.
• An official transcript.
• Documented experience and an ethics agreement.

Externship hours do not qualify toward the pediatric hour requirements.

Our dedicated page on PASC requirements walks through the eligibility checklist step by step.

Fees, Dates, and Timelines

What It Costs

The ABA charges a separate application fee and exam registration fee, with lower prices for Academy members. Membership dues themselves are not included in these figures.

Applicants pursuing a second ABA certification receive a USD 50 reduction on the application fee. For the full picture, including renewal, see PASC certification cost.

The Next Window

Keep the order straight: your application must be approved before you register for the exam, and the application deadline (March 9) falls well before the registration period ends (April 13). Check PASC exam dates for scheduling details.

How Long Your Eligibility Lasts

The current handbook permits testing and retakes for five years, beginning on the first day of the next testing window after your application is approved. An older FAQ counts the five years from the first test date instead. Because these sources conflict, follow the current handbook and confirm with the ABA if your situation depends on the difference. Once eligibility expires, you must submit a new application, documentation, and fees.

What the Results Data Say

The ABA's August 6, 2026 issuer report gives a Spring 2026 first-time pass rate of 82.6%, while 20 of 25 candidates passed overall. Those are two different denominators, so do not treat them as the same statistic. The reported 2025 first-time rate of 86.9% describes a different cohort and should not be mixed with the 2026 figures. Our PASC pass rate page lays out the numbers and their caveats.

Sequencing Your Preparation by Domain

Because the exam is experience-validated, most candidates are already working in pediatric audiology. That changes how preparation should look: you are usually closing gaps rather than learning from scratch. A practical approach is to order your review by domain weight and by where your daily practice leaves you least exposed. The broader approach is covered in our PASC study guide.

Since practice questions are the best way to rehearse the question style, work through items on our PASC practice test site as you move through each domain. If you are weighing how much preparation you need, PASC training options are worth reviewing alongside your own clinical exposure.

Where the Designation Fits in Practice

The BC-PA designation is most relevant in settings where pediatric audiology is a core service. Employers and referral partners that tend to value it include children's hospitals, academic medical centers, pediatric specialty clinics, cochlear implant and hearing technology programs, early hearing detection and intervention programs, and school-based or educational audiology programs.

Because the credential is voluntary, its value is largely in documented distinction: it tells colleagues, families, and employers that your pediatric experience and knowledge were independently reviewed. We avoid quoting salary figures here because no verified earnings data is tied to this specific credential; our pages on PASC salary, PASC jobs, and whether PASC is worth it discuss how to weigh the benefit qualitatively for your own situation.

Keeping the Designation Active

Certification is not permanent. Renewal occurs every three years and requires:

• 60 continuing education hours total across the cycle.
• Within those 60 hours: 30 pediatric hours, 15 Tier 1 hours, and 3 professional-ethics hours.
• Continued ethics and licensure compliance.
• A USD 360 fee, the same for either membership group.

Frequently Asked Questions

To see how the question style feels before committing to a testing window, try the full set of questions on the PASC Exam Prep practice test site, and revisit What Does PASC Mean? or What Is A PASC? if you need a quick refresher on the terminology.