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CBP Exam Deadlines and the 90-Day Retest Rule

Seventy-two hours to start, fourteen days to finish, and a ninety-day wait if you do not pass. The clock is the reason to prepare before you apply.

Experience Record
Within 72 hours of the vendor's email
Logical Reasoning Test
Within 14 days of the Experience Record
After a failing score
90-day wait before retesting
If you do not complete it
Application treated as abandoned

The deadlines

CBP Careers sets out the sequence for Border Patrol Agent: complete the Candidate Experience Record within 72 hours of receiving the email from the test vendor, then complete the Logical Reasoning Test within 14 days of completing the Experience Record. CBP suggests allowing about four hours for the sitting.

Check your spam folder. The invitation comes from the testing vendor rather than from CBP, and the 72 hours run from when it is sent.

What happens if you miss them

If you do not complete the entrance examination, or you cancel a test center appointment inside 24 hours, or you do not check in for it, your current application is considered abandoned. You may reapply during the next open period.

You can switch between taking it at a test center and taking it at home up to 24 hours before an appointment. Once you click the at-home link, though, you must complete it — you cannot exit and come back.

The retest wait

If you do not obtain a passing score there is a waiting period of 90 days before you are allowed to retest. CBP's careers page states this for both the Border Patrol Agent and CBP Officer examinations.

This is the practical case for preparing before the invitation arrives rather than after. Three days is not a study plan.

Sources

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