- Which RCP This Cheat Sheet Covers
- The Two Assessments at a Glance
- The Numbers You Must Memorize
- Dictation Skills Test: Practical Facts
- Written Knowledge Test: Three Coverage Areas
- Fees, Membership and Registration Mechanics
- Remote Test-Day Rules
- Staying Certified: Membership and CE
- A Domain-Ordered Review Plan
- What NVRA Does Not Publish
- Frequently Asked Questions
- RCP here means Registered CART Provider - Master, issued by the National Verbatim Reporters Association (NVRA), abbreviated RCP-M.
- Two separate assessments are required: a 50-question Written Knowledge Test and a 22.5-minute remote dictation.
- Passing requires 70% on the WKT and at least 97.5% accuracy with a delay of 5 seconds or less on dictation.
- Handbook fees list USD 235 for the skills test and USD 125 for the WKT, before membership.
Which RCP This Cheat Sheet Covers
The letters "RCP" are shared by several unrelated credentials in healthcare and other fields. This page covers exactly one: Registered CART Provider - Master, which the National Verbatim Reporters Association abbreviates as RCP-M. CART stands for Communication Access Realtime Translation, the realtime text service delivered to people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and to others who benefit from live captioning of speech.
If you landed here looking for something else, the explainer pages What Is RCP? and What Does RCP Stand For? sort out the naming overlap. Everything below applies only to the NVRA credential. For a deeper look at the exam's structure, the companion guide RCP Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 4 Content Areas expands on each coverage area.
The Two Assessments at a Glance
The most common mistake candidates make is treating RCP-M as a single exam. It is two separate assessments with separate registrations, separate time limits and separate pass criteria. You must pass both.
| Feature | Written Knowledge Test (WKT) | Dictation Skills Test |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Multiple choice | Remote realtime CART performance |
| Size | 50 questions | One dictation |
| Time | Up to 1 hour | 22.5 minutes |
| Minimum to pass | 70% | 97.5% accuracy and delay of 5 seconds or less |
| Delivery | Remote or in person during scheduled NVRA testing | Remote web conferencing |
| Handbook fee | USD 125 | USD 235 |
The Numbers You Must Memorize
This is the compact fact sheet. Every figure comes from NVRA's published RCP-M materials.
- Governing body: National Verbatim Reporters Association (NVRA), which also administers the assessments. No separate third-party testing vendor is identified.
- WKT length: 50 multiple-choice items. NVRA does not publish a scored versus unscored breakdown.
- WKT time: up to 1 hour.
- WKT passing mark: 70% minimum.
- Dictation length: 22.5 minutes.
- Dictation speeds: variable, up to 225 words per minute.
- Dictation passing mark: 97.5% accuracy minimum, with a drop-down delay of 5 seconds or less.
- Handbook fees: USD 235 (skills test) and USD 125 (WKT), an arithmetic total of USD 360 before membership and equipment.
- Recertification load: 20 continuing-education credits per two-year cycle.
For a focused treatment of how those thresholds are applied, see RCP Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass. Note that these are minimum scores, not pass rates. NVRA's published figures do not tell you what share of candidates succeed, so be wary of any source that quotes one. The page RCP Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows discusses what can and cannot be said on that point.
Dictation Skills Test: Practical Facts
Domain 1: Dictation Skills Test
This is the hands-on realtime performance component, and for most candidates it is the harder of the two assessments.
- Delivered remotely through web conferencing, with you providing your own suitable hardware, software and internet connection.
- Speeds vary and reach up to 225 words per minute.
- Content features one main speaker, occasional participant comments and four environmental sounds that you are expected to handle appropriately.
- You receive advance subject and proper-name information, so building a job dictionary from that material before the test is part of the skill.
- Scoring needs both accuracy of at least 97.5% and a drop-down delay of 5 seconds or less.
How the grading rubric treats variations
The practical is graded under a substantial-verbatim rubric. It allows specified meaning-preserving variations and realtime corrections made as you write. What it does not allow is editing after the dictation ends. Once the 22.5 minutes are over, your output is what gets graded, so cleanup habits that rely on a post-session polish pass do not transfer to this test.
Why delay matters as much as accuracy
The 5-second delay limit is easy to overlook because candidates focus on the 97.5% figure. In real CART work, a caption that arrives accurately but late fails the person relying on it. Practice should therefore measure latency, not only error counts. If your setup relies on voice recognition, remember that NVRA's public certification description highlights equipment, voice recognition and vocabulary preparation among the competencies it expects.
Written Knowledge Test: Three Coverage Areas
The handbook names three areas that the WKT covers. NVRA does not publish percentage weights for them, so treat all three as fair game and do not assume one dominates.
Domain 2: CART
Questions about the service itself: what realtime captioning is, how it is delivered, who uses it and what the provider's role looks like in practice.
- Setup considerations, including equipment, connectivity and software.
- Vocabulary preparation and the use of job dictionaries.
- Accessibility concepts that shape how a provider serves a consumer.
Domain 3: Punctuation and Grammar
Language mechanics for producing clean, readable realtime text.
- Comma, apostrophe and quotation rules that affect meaning.
- Subject-verb agreement and common usage pitfalls.
- Spotting errors that change what a speaker appears to have said.
Domain 4: Professional Responsibilities
The conduct side of the job.
- Ethical obligations when working with consumers and clients.
- Confidentiality and impartiality in assignments.
- How a provider behaves when conditions are difficult, such as poor audio or overlapping speakers.
One important scope caution: these three WKT areas do not describe the separate practical. They are the written test's coverage headings, while the dictation is its own assessment. Neither is an exhaustive granular outline, so use them as study anchors rather than a guaranteed topic list. The broader walkthrough lives in the full domains guide.
Fees, Membership and Registration Mechanics
Exam fees
The most recent RCP-M handbook (revised February 22, 2023) lists USD 235 for the remote skills test and USD 125 for the WKT. Combined, that is USD 360 before membership and equipment costs. These are the latest retrieved handbook figures rather than a freshly revised 2026 schedule, so confirm the live amount with NVRA at checkout before budgeting precisely.
Membership is mandatory
Membership in NVRA is a prerequisite and must be in good standing. NVRA publishes no separate nonmember exam price. The current Join page lists:
- General membership: USD 225 new, USD 200 renewal.
- Student membership: USD 75.
- Eligible active Military membership: USD 0.
Membership runs for one year from processing. Student, General, Military and Honorary categories all satisfy the membership prerequisite.
Eligibility
Candidates need a high-school diploma or equivalent, along with qualifying NVRA membership. The issuer's page accepts a higher degree as educational evidence. NVRA does not specify a prerequisite CVR credential, fixed work-experience hours, training hours or a reference count for RCP-M. See RCP Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify for the longer discussion.
Scheduling
Testing is arranged through NVRA's test schedule and registration page, which links the current RCP-M handbook. The WKT can be taken remotely or in person during scheduled NVRA testing, while the dictation is always remote. For windows and deadlines, check RCP Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling and then verify against NVRA's live schedule.
Remote Test-Day Rules
Because the dictation is proctored over web conferencing, logistics can sink a prepared candidate. Know these before you log in:
- Identity check. Remote proctoring includes identity verification.
- Observation. Webcam and screen are both observed during the session.
- Your own equipment. You supply suitable hardware, software and internet connection.
- Supervised files. Formatting, export, submission and deletion of test files happen under supervision.
- No post-dictation edits. Once the dictation finishes, you may not revise your output.
- Anonymous ID. Use the administrator-assigned anonymous ID and current instructions for file naming.
Key Takeaway
The handbook describes a six-digit identification number for file naming in one place and a four-digit header ID in another. Do not guess which applies. Follow the ID and file-naming instructions that NVRA gives you for your session.
Whether the WKT permits open-book materials or calculators was not explicitly verified in the sources reviewed, so do not assume either. Ask NVRA when you register.
Staying Certified: Membership and CE
Certification does not end at passing. Two obligations keep it alive:
- Continuous NVRA membership. A membership lapse revokes certification and requires retesting.
- 20 continuing-education credits earned during each two-year cycle.
NVRA's CE page identifies Cycle 12 as January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2026. The full continuing-education handbook could not be retrieved during research, so detailed credit categories, proration rules and any separate CE-processing charge remain unverified. Also avoid converting NVRA credits into hours or into another organization's CEU units unless NVRA states a conversion rule.
Many candidates weigh these ongoing obligations when deciding whether the credential pays off. Two related reads: Is the RCP Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 and RCP Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis. Neither should be read as promising a specific income, since NVRA itself publishes no earnings data.
A Domain-Ordered Review Plan
The only study-method advice worth repeating here is sequencing, because the two assessments reward different kinds of practice. Dictation is a motor skill that builds slowly, so it gets started first and never stops. The written areas are knowledge that can be layered in around it.
Dictation foundations (Domain 1)
- Confirm your hardware, software and connection work end to end.
- Run timed sessions and track both accuracy and delay.
- Practice building a job dictionary from advance subject and name lists.
CART knowledge and language (Domains 2 and 3)
- Review CART concepts, equipment, vocabulary preparation and accessibility.
- Drill punctuation and grammar rules that change meaning.
- Keep dictation sessions going so speed does not decay.
Professional responsibilities and full rehearsals (Domain 4)
- Work through ethics and conduct scenarios.
- Simulate the real 22.5-minute dictation with no post-session edits.
- Take a full-length 50-question practice set under a one-hour limit.
Dictation comes first because you cannot cram speed. For a fuller preparation framework, see RCP Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt, and for an honest read on effort required, How Hard Is the RCP Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026. When you want exam-style questions for the WKT side, the RCP practice test is built for exactly that kind of repetition.
What NVRA Does Not Publish
Part of being exam-ready is knowing which facts are simply not available, so you do not waste effort chasing them or trust a source that claims otherwise.
- No percentage weights. NVRA has not declared weights for the four coverage headings, so no area can be called "highest-weighted."
- No official four-domain blueprint. The four headings on this page are source-supported coverage areas, not an NVRA-declared blueprint.
- No scored/unscored split for the 50 WKT items.
- No candidate pass rate. The 70% and 97.5% figures are thresholds, not success statistics.
- No verified total appointment length for the practical once setup and submission are included.
- No newer outline. The current schedule still links the February 22, 2023 handbook, and no later RCP-M revision was verified. A separately listed 2026 handbook on NVRA's site concerns a different credential and is not an RCP-M update.
If you are still deciding whether this path fits your goals, RCP Jobs and RCP Certification offer broader context, and RCP Training covers preparation routes. When you are ready to test your recall of the written areas, return to the main practice site.
Frequently Asked Questions
It stands for Registered CART Provider - Master, abbreviated RCP-M by its issuer, the National Verbatim Reporters Association (NVRA). It is unrelated to other credentials that share the same letters.
Yes. The Written Knowledge Test and the Dictation Skills Test are separate, and both must be passed. The WKT needs a minimum of 70%, while the dictation needs at least 97.5% accuracy and a delay of 5 seconds or less.
The dictation runs 22.5 minutes with variable speeds up to 225 words per minute. It features one main speaker, occasional participant comments and four environmental sounds. Setup and submission time are additional.
The latest retrieved handbook lists USD 235 for the skills test and USD 125 for the WKT, totaling USD 360 before membership and equipment. NVRA membership is required, and live checkout pricing should be confirmed directly with NVRA.
Maintain continuous NVRA membership and earn 20 continuing-education credits in each two-year cycle. If membership lapses, certification is revoked and retesting is required.
Use this sheet as a checklist, not a substitute for NVRA's own handbook. Confirm current fees, schedules and procedures with the issuer before you register, then rehearse the dictation until accuracy and delay both hold up under timed conditions.