Part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog: PassProfessor’s National SLP Exam program is part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog — a practice program being built for the Praxis Speech-Language Pathology examination (ETS test 5331), the national examination used for ASHA certification and state licensure, organized around the test’s three content categories. Enrollment is not open yet. Join the notify list and we will email you when enrollment opens.
This program is part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog — join the notify list and we’ll email you when enrollment opens.
The national examination for speech-language pathology is the Praxis Speech-Language Pathology test (test code 5331) from ETS: 132 selected-response questions in 150 minutes, divided evenly across three content categories of 44 questions each — Foundations and Professional Practice; Screening, Assessment, Evaluation, and Diagnosis; and Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation of Treatment. Scores are reported on a 100–200 scale; ASHA requires 162 to qualify for the Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology (CCC-SLP), as ASHA publishes it. PassProfessor’s National SLP Exam Prep is being built for that examination, organized category by category against ETS’s published framework.
One examination, two gates: ASHA certification and state licensure
The Praxis 5331 sits at the junction of the two credentials a practicing speech-language pathologist holds. The first is national certification: the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC-SLP), for which ASHA requires a passing Praxis score — 162 on the 100–200 scale, as ASHA states the requirement — alongside its graduate education, supervised clinical experience, and Clinical Fellowship requirements. The second is state licensure: state boards use the same examination for licensure, and state boards set their own qualifying scores. Most states work from the ASHA standard, but a board’s published score is the one that governs your license, and this page does not pretend otherwise: check your state’s requirement with your board, and treat 162 as ASHA’s published figure — the one this program is built around — rather than as a universal line.
ASHA also records the clock on scores: Praxis scores are valid for five years for ASHA certification purposes. The examination is one component among several in both credentials — passing it does not by itself certify or license anyone — but it is the component that is purely an examination, and therefore the component preparation can most directly move.
What the test samples: the big nine, three categories
The 132 questions assess foundational knowledge, professional-practice knowledge, and specialized knowledge applied across the scope of practice — screening and assessment through treatment and its evaluation — and across what the profession calls the “big nine” areas of practice: speech sound production; fluency; voice, resonance, and motor speech; receptive and expressive language; social aspects of communication, including pragmatics; cognitive aspects of communication; augmentative and alternative communication; hearing; and feeding and swallowing. Every question lives in one of the three content categories and draws on one or more of the big nine, which gives preparation a two-axis map: categories for structure, the big nine for coverage. A study plan that tracks only one axis develops blind spots the test is designed to find.
What is this program being built to cover?
The three content categories, at ETS’s published counts. Each category carries 44 of the 132 questions — a third of the test apiece. The program in development is organized on that same map, so practice results can be read category by category and a thin category shows while there is still time to repair it. The even split is itself a study instruction: there is no minor category to slight.
Application, not just recall. ETS writes the test to assess knowledge as applied across practice — the question behind most items is not “what is this called” but “given this client, this finding, this setting, what follows.” Preparation is being built to that standard: case-framed reasoning across the big nine, in assessment and treatment alike, so the knowledge is practiced in the shape the test demands.
The honest format note. The real test is selected-response, computer-delivered. PassProfessor’s practice is multiple-choice preparation built to the test’s framework; it does not claim to replicate the test center’s delivery, and no practice product can. What transfers is the reasoning and the coverage — category by category, territory by territory — practiced at the test’s own pace until both are available under the sitting’s clock rather than merely familiar from study.
The program at a glance
| National SLP Exam program | Detail |
|---|---|
| Examination served | Praxis Speech-Language Pathology (ETS test 5331), the national exam used for ASHA certification and state licensure |
| Built to | ETS’s published framework for test 5331 — three content categories of 44 questions each, across the “big nine” practice areas |
| Categories | Foundations and Professional Practice · Screening, Assessment, Evaluation, and Diagnosis · Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation of Treatment |
| Price | No price is stated for this program |
| Status | In the works — program in development; enrollment opens through the notify list |
The real exam at a glance
| Fact of record | Praxis Speech-Language Pathology (5331) |
|---|---|
| Questions | 132 selected-response questions |
| Time | 150 minutes |
| Content categories | Foundations and Professional Practice (44) · Screening, Assessment, Evaluation, and Diagnosis (44) · Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation of Treatment (44) |
| Score scale | 100–200 |
| ASHA qualifying score | 162, as ASHA publishes it, for the Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC-SLP) |
| State licensure | State boards set their own qualifying scores; confirm yours with your board |
| Score validity (ASHA) | Praxis scores are valid for five years for ASHA certification |
| Administrator | ETS |
Read the score rows exactly as their owners publish them. The 162 is ASHA’s qualifying score for certification on ETS’s 100–200 scaled reporting — a scaled score, not a percentage and not a count of questions; ETS does not publish a fixed number of correct answers that produces it, because scaled scores adjust across test forms. And the state row is a genuine second fact, not boilerplate: licensure is a state act, boards publish their own scores, and your board’s figure governs your license even where it matches ASHA’s.
How the three categories divide the test
| Content category (ETS test 5331) | Questions | Share |
|---|---|---|
| I. Foundations and Professional Practice | 44 | 33% |
| II. Screening, Assessment, Evaluation, and Diagnosis | 44 | 33% |
| III. Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation of Treatment | 44 | 33% |
Foundations and Professional Practice (44). The knowledge base and the professional frame: the science beneath practice — speech, language, hearing, and swallowing science — together with professional practice itself: ethics, evidence-based practice, service delivery, documentation, and the legal and regulatory structures of the profession. This category rewards candidates whose graduate foundations stayed organized; it is the most reviewable third of the test.
Screening, Assessment, Evaluation, and Diagnosis (44). The identification half of practice: screening across populations; selecting, administering, and interpreting assessments; differential diagnosis across the big nine; and the reasoning that turns findings into a defensible diagnostic picture. Questions here are judgment questions wearing knowledge clothing — the instrument choice, the interpretation, the next step.
Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation of Treatment (44). The intervention half: setting goals, selecting and implementing treatment approaches across the big nine, monitoring progress, and evaluating outcomes. If Category II tests how you see the client, Category III tests what you do about it — and the test as a whole tests whether the doing follows from the seeing.
How to use it
- Join the notify list today. The program is in development and enrollment is not open yet; the notify list is how you hear the moment it is. While you wait, read the National SLP exam guide — it walks both credential gates, all three categories, and the 162 standard in depth.
- Confirm your governing score early. ASHA’s published qualifying score is 162; your state board may publish its own. Know both numbers before you study, so your target is the right one.
- Survey all three categories first, then audit against the big nine. Category scores show structural gaps; a big-nine audit shows topical ones. You need both pictures before you allocate serious hours.
- Respect the even split. 44/44/44 means no category can be carried by the others’ strength beyond a point — a neglected third is a third neglected, and the whole-test scaled standard will find it.
- Finish with a full, timed 132-question rehearsal. 150 minutes is a brisk pace — about 68 seconds a question. Test when every category is consistently strong, with margin against the scaled standard you must meet; where this program reports practice percentages, they are study instruments only — the real standard is the scaled 162, not any percentage.
Frequently asked questions
Which examination is the national SLP exam? The Praxis Speech-Language Pathology test, ETS test code 5331 — the examination ASHA uses for its Certificate of Clinical Competence and state boards use for licensure. This program prepares for that test.
How many questions are on the Praxis 5331, and how long is it? 132 selected-response questions in 150 minutes, divided evenly: 44 questions in each of the three content categories.
What score do I need? For ASHA certification, a score of 162 on the 100–200 scale, as ASHA publishes the requirement for the CCC-SLP. For state licensure, your state board sets its own qualifying score — most work from the ASHA standard, but your board’s published figure governs your license; confirm it with the board. A scaled score is not a percentage, and ETS publishes no fixed count of correct answers that produces a 162.
What are the three content categories? Foundations and Professional Practice; Screening, Assessment, Evaluation, and Diagnosis; and Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation of Treatment — 44 questions each. Across them, the test samples the “big nine” areas of practice, from speech sound production and language to hearing, augmentative and alternative communication, and feeding and swallowing.
Does passing the Praxis make me certified or licensed? No. The examination is one requirement among several. ASHA certification also requires its graduate education, clinical experience, and Clinical Fellowship components; state licensure is granted by state boards on their own requirements. Passing the test satisfies the examination component for both gates.
How long is my score valid for ASHA certification? Five years, as ASHA records it. Timing your sitting against your Clinical Fellowship and application plans is worth a calendar, not a guess.
What does the program cost? No price is stated for this program. The program is in development, and this page publishes no price for it. Any price, when decided, will be the PassProfessor program price only — not the ETS examination fee.
How many practice questions will the program include? This page states no count, because the program and its bank are in development and are not presented as finished. The program’s stated ground is ETS’s published framework for test 5331 across all three categories and the big nine.
When will enrollment open? The program is in development as part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog. Join the notify list on this page and we will email you when enrollment opens. We are not publishing a date we cannot keep.
Disclaimer
PassProfessor is an independent exam-preparation provider; ETS and ASHA do not endorse this program, and PassProfessor is not affiliated with or sponsored by ETS or the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Praxis is used on this page as a factual reference to ETS’s test. This program is examination preparation only: it provides no certification or license and no clinical instruction or patient-care advice. ASHA certification is awarded solely by ASHA and state licensure solely by state boards, to candidates who meet their requirements. Examination details on this page are limited to the verified record described in the guide and are current as of November 2026; ETS’s and ASHA’s official publications govern if anything here differs from them.