TExES 235 Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows

The Numbers: What TEA Actually Reports

The Texas Education Agency publishes program-year pass rate data for every TExES exam, and the TExES Mathematics 7-12 (235) figures for 2024-2025 are straightforward: 61% of candidates passed on their first attempt, and 67% passed by their best attempt, out of 1,024 total candidates. That gap between first-attempt and best-attempt numbers tells you something important before you even open a practice question: a meaningful share of test-takers who fail once do eventually pass, but only after using up time, money, and a retake slot they would rather have avoided.

There is no separate "beginner" or "advanced" version of this exam and no tiered fee structure - every candidate pays the same $116 fee and sits for the same 100-question, computer-administered test at a Pearson VUE center. The pass rate reflects a single, uniform bar: a scaled score of 240 on a 100-300 range, applied identically whether you are a first-year alternative certification candidate or a veteran switching subjects.

Why the Pass Rate Looks the Way It Does

Pass rates on any certification exam are a function of three things: how the content is weighted, how the questions are written, and how well candidates match their preparation to both. On the TExES 235, all three point in the same direction. The exam is built from the 2021 Mathematics 7-12 exam framework, which organizes 21 competencies into six domains aligned to Mathematics 7-12 Standards I-VIII and the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). That framework is not evenly distributed - one domain carries roughly a third of the entire test, and candidates who underestimate it are the ones most likely to land just under 240.

The 100 selected-response questions also include unscored field-test items mixed in with scored ones, so you cannot tell by feel which questions "count." That format detail matters for pacing: you have 4 hours and 45 minutes of testing time (plus a 15-minute tutorial and compliance agreement, for a 5-hour total appointment), and treating every item as if it counts is the only strategy that makes sense.

For a full breakdown of how the six domains interact and where competencies overlap, the TExES 235 Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 6 Content Areas is the more detailed companion to this discussion.

The Domain II Factor

If you want to understand why some candidates clear 240 comfortably and others fall just short, look at Domain II, Patterns and Algebra, first. At 33% of the exam, it is nearly double the weight of the next-largest domain and more than twice the weight of the smallest ones. No other single content area has this much leverage over your scaled score.

Because this single domain touches seven distinct mathematical strands, it is realistic for a candidate to be strong in five of them and still lose enough points across the other two to miss 240. That is the mechanical explanation behind a chunk of the sub-61% first-attempt failures: not a lack of overall math ability, but uneven coverage inside the exam's largest domain.

The remaining domains still matter and are not safe to ignore: Geometry and Measurement (19%), Number Concepts (14%), Probability and Statistics (14%), and the two pedagogy-adjacent domains, Mathematical Processes and Perspectives (10%) and Mathematical Learning, Instruction and Assessment (10%), together make up more than half the exam. A candidate who only drills algebra and skips these will trade one weak spot for another.

First-Attempt vs. Best-Attempt: What the Gap Means

The six-point gap between the 61% first-attempt rate and the 67% best-attempt rate is a small but meaningful signal. It shows that most candidates who fail the TExES 235 are not failing by a wide margin - they are close enough to 240 that a second, better-prepared attempt closes the distance. It also shows that the exam does not reward guessing patterns or luck; the people who improve on a retake are the ones who go back and specifically target the domain or question type that cost them points the first time.

What the gap does not show is how many attempts it typically takes, or how long candidates wait between attempts. TEA does not publish attempt-by-attempt breakdowns publicly at that level of granularity, so resist the temptation to assume "most people pass by attempt two" - the honest reading is simply that the ceiling (67%) is higher than the floor (61%), and preparation quality is what determines which side of that gap you land on.

Who Is Actually Sitting for This Exam

Every TExES 235 candidate is required to be approved to test, either through a Texas educator preparation program (EPP) or directly by TEA. That approval gate means the population taking this exam is not a random sample of math-adjacent adults - it is people already moving through certification pipelines, whether traditional university programs, alternative certification programs, or out-of-state/out-of-field transfers into Texas math classrooms. If a first Texas classroom certificate is the goal, the PPR EC-12 (160) pedagogy exam is also required alongside the 235, which is a separate content and registration track worth planning for early - see TExES 235 Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify for the full eligibility picture.

This context matters for how you interpret the pass rate. A 61% first-attempt figure among EPP-approved, exam-ready candidates is a different signal than it would be among an open, unscreened population - it reflects difficulty within an already-qualified group, not a general difficulty score for "anyone who tries." For a broader discussion of how hard the exam is relative to other certification tests, see How Hard Is the TExES 235 Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026.

Retake Mechanics and the 30-Day Rule

If your first attempt does not clear 240, the retake process has fixed rules that directly shape how the best-attempt pass rate accumulates over time:

• Five attempts total before a TEA test-limit waiver is required to continue.
• A mandatory 30-day wait between attempts - you cannot simply rebook for the next available slot.
• Registration validity of 170 days, so scheduling too far out can lapse before you test.
• Withdrawal refunds equal the $116 fee minus a $25 processing charge, which is worth knowing if your preparation timeline shifts.
• Scores post at 10:00 p.m. Central on the published score report date, not immediately after testing.

The 30-day gap is the detail candidates most often overlook when they treat a first attempt as a "practice run." Failing by even a few points still costs a full month before you can retest, plus another $116. That math alone is a strong argument for going into attempt one with a study plan built around the exam's actual domain weights rather than a generic review. The TExES 235 Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt lays out a fuller preparation framework if you want to avoid the retake cycle altogether.

How to Raise Your Personal Odds

None of the statewide numbers above predict your individual outcome - they describe a population, not a person. What you can control is how closely your preparation mirrors the exam's actual structure:

• Weight your study time to match Domain II's 33%. If you spend roughly a third of your prep hours on Patterns and Algebra, you are aligning effort with the exam's real point distribution, not with which topics feel most comfortable.
• Practice with the actual approved calculator. This is one of only three TExES exams where you must bring your own graphing calculator, limited to the TI-73, TI-83, TI-84, or an Nspire fitted with the TI-84 keypad (the keypad may not be removed during the exam). Rehearsing with an unfamiliar model on test day wastes minutes you don't have.
• Use the on-screen Definitions and Formulas page as a tool, not a crutch. Know what's on it in advance so you're not reading it cold under time pressure.
• Simulate the full 4 hours 45 minutes of testing time at least once before test day, since fatigue late in a 100-question CAT is a real factor in careless errors.
• Practice with realistic item formats using resources like our TExES 235 practice tests, which mirror the selected-response style you'll actually see.

For a plain look at exactly what 240 requires and how scaled scoring works, see TExES 235 Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.

A Domain-Weighted Study Timeline

A study plan should reflect the exam's own weighting, not an equal split across six domains. Below is one way to allocate roughly six weeks of preparation, front-loading the highest-value content.

This sequencing is deliberate: the domains with the most points come first, while your energy and time are freshest, and the review weeks at the end reinforce weak spots identified through practice testing rather than guessing at them in advance.

Frequently Asked Questions