The EPPP does not have equal pass rates by ethnicity. That is not an opinion. It is what the numbers show. And once you see the numbers, it is hard to look away.

This post is about EPPP pass rates by ethnicity, what the data says, and why it matters for anyone studying for this exam right now. We are going to keep it simple and honest. This is not about blame. It is not about ability. It is about whether the test is fair, and whether it actually measures what it claims to measure.

What are the EPPP failure rates by ethnicity?

The largest published analysis looked at 4,892 applicants in New York State. It tracked who failed the EPPP on their first try, broken down by group (Sharpless, 2019):

Group	First-time failure rate (NY, n=4,892)
Black applicants	38.5%
Hispanic applicants	35.6%
Asian applicants	24.0%
White applicants	14.1%

Sit with that for a second. The highest failure rate was more than 2.5 times the lowest (Sharpless, 2019). Same exam. Same passing line. Very different odds depending on the group you are in.

And it is not one state or one year. A follow-up Connecticut sample (Sharpless, 2021) found fail rates of 23.3% for Black candidates and 18.6% for Hispanic candidates versus 5.75% for White candidates. Macura and Ameen (2021) reported an 89% first-time pass rate for White candidates versus 70% for BIPOC candidates. Under the four-fifths rule, the standard EEOC test for adverse impact, gaps this size fail the fairness threshold.

If you want the broader picture on how often people pass and fail overall, we cover that in our post on EPPP pass rates. But the gap above is the part most prep companies will not put on a slide.

Why is this a fairness question, not a blame question?

It would be easy to read those numbers wrong. So let me be very clear about what they do not mean.

They do not mean one group is smarter than another. They do not mean one group will be a better or worse psychologist. The data simply does not say that.

In fact, here is the part that should stop you cold. The EPPP is built on something called content validity (Sharpless, 2019). In plain words, that means experts looked at the questions and agreed the questions cover psychology topics. That sounds fine. But there is a catch.

There is still no evidence that your EPPP score predicts who becomes a good clinician (Sharpless, 2019). None. The test checks if you can answer the questions. It does not show that a higher score means better care for real patients.

The newest research goes further. Saldana, Callahan, and Cox (2024) argue the EPPP differentiates candidates more strongly by race, ethnicity, and general neurocognitive abilities than by profession-specific knowledge, skills, and abilities. In psychometric terms, that is the claim that the test is measuring something other than what it was designed to measure. APA's 2024 Racial Equity Action Plan progress report still lists EPPP racial bias as an open, unresolved issue.

So now you have two facts sitting next to each other:

1. The exam fails some groups at more than 2.5 times the rate of others (Sharpless, 2019; Sharpless, 2021; Macura & Ameen, 2021).
2. The exam has never been shown to predict who is actually good at the job (Sharpless, 2019; Saldana, Callahan, & Cox, 2024).

When a test has a big gap between groups and no proof it measures real skill, that is a validity problem. That is the whole point. We are not asking anyone to lower the bar. We are asking whether the bar is measuring the right thing in the first place.

Why the gap costs more than feelings

A failed attempt is not just a bad day. It is real money and real time.

Every failed attempt means another $691.88 in exam and test-site fees, because ASPPB does not discount retakes. It means more weeks or months of prep. It means a delayed license, which means delayed income and a delayed career. For someone already stretched thin, that snowball gets heavy fast.

Now layer the data back on. If your group fails at 38.5% on the first try versus 14.1% (Sharpless, 2019), you are far more likely to eat those extra costs. The price of an unfair test does not land evenly. It lands hardest on the people already facing the steepest odds.

If you are staring down a retake right now, you are not stuck and you are not alone. We wrote a practical guide on what to do after failing the EPPP so the next attempt is smarter, not just harder.

What happened to EPPP Part 2, and what about the 2027 exam?

For a while, the plan was a second exam: a skills test on top of the knowledge test, sometimes called the enhanced EPPP or EPPP Part 2. Researchers raised a serious warning about it. Rolling out a new gate before it is properly validated could further restrict a workforce that is already not very diverse (Callahan et al., 2020). If you add a new, harder gate before you have proof it is fair, you risk widening the exact gap we just talked about.

That rollout stopped. On October 22, 2024, ASPPB paused the Part 2 mandate before it ever became required, so no board requires Part 2 today. The field's attention has moved to the integrated EPPP launching in Fall 2027: one exam that merges knowledge and skills, with six domains and pass/fail scoring.

The same validation question now applies to that exam. The 2027 format is ASPPB's chance to narrow these gaps, and whether it actually does is the thing every training director and every candidate from an underrepresented group should be watching. Validation is not red tape. It is the difference between a gate that protects patients and a gate that just blocks people.

What this means for you, right now

You probably did not come here for a policy debate. You came here because you have an exam to pass. So here is the honest takeaway.

You cannot change the test today. Fixing test fairness and test validity is a long fight, and it should happen. But while that fight goes on, you still have to walk through the door in front of you.

That means the smart move is to control what you can control. You can prepare in a way that is efficient, that targets your weak spots, and that does not drain your savings before you even sit down. You should not have to pay for an expensive course on top of an expensive exam just to get a fair shot.

If you want the most recent look at how pass numbers are trending, check our complete EPPP pass rates breakdown. Knowing the landscape helps you plan, not panic.

Where we stand

I am Dr. Anders Chan, a licensed clinical psychologist, and here is my plain stance.

The goal is a fair shot. Not a lower bar. The data shows a real gap in EPPP pass rates by ethnicity (Sharpless, 2019), and it shows the score has never been proven to predict who becomes a good clinician (Sharpless, 2019). That is a problem worth naming out loud.

Until the test itself gets fixed, the best thing I can offer is prep that is affordable, focused, and built to give every candidate a real chance to pass without going broke or burning out. That is the whole reason this platform exists.

You deserve a clear, fair path to your license. The exam may not be fair yet. Your prep can be. Try thePsychology.ai free for 7 days.

Sources

• Sharpless (2019), New York EPPP analysis (n=4,892): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30346907/
• Saldana, Callahan and Cox (2024), via Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/spotlight-on-special-education/202408/how-the-test-to-license-psychologists-fails-aspirants
• APA Racial Equity Action Plan 2024 progress report: https://www.apa.org/about/apa/addressing-racism/racial-equity-action-plan-progress-2024
• ASPPB Part 2 pause (referenced via California Board): https://www.psychology.ca.gov/applicants/eppp_2.shtml
• ASPPB EPPP fees: https://asppb.net/exams/asppb-examination-for-professional-psychology-eppp/eppp-registration-fees/