A meaningful share of Level II candidates need more than one attempt. Here is exactly what a retake costs, how soon you can sit again, and what should actually change in your preparation the second time around.
Not passing on the first attempt is common enough that it should not derail your plans — Level II pass rates have generally sat in the 60s, meaning a substantial share of prepared candidates need a second sitting. For the fuller context on how those odds break down, see CAIA Level II Pass Rate and Difficulty.
If you do not pass, you automatically become eligible to retake the same level during any future exam session for a flat retake fee of US$795. This applies regardless of whether you failed the exam, failed to schedule an appointment, or scheduled one but did not show up — the fee is the same in all three cases. Early-registration discounts do not apply to retakes, and the one-time program enrollment fee is not charged again, since it was already paid at first registration.
There is no mandatory waiting period before you can register for a retake — you can register for the next available exam window as soon as it opens. What does constrain your timing is CAIA's own exam calendar: Level II is offered in March and September each year, so practically speaking, a retake means waiting for the next of those two windows, not a shorter arbitrary cooldown.
One detail candidates sometimes get wrong: you cannot transfer a registration from one exam window to another. If you registered for March and do not sit — or sit and do not pass — you need to re-register and pay the retake fee for a future window rather than simply carrying your existing registration forward.
CAIA does not publish a hard cap on the number of times you can retake a given level — the retake pathway is designed to be used as many times as needed, at the flat fee, until you pass. That said, treating repeat attempts as a low-cost strategy is a mistake: each attempt costs both money and months of runway to the next window, so the better goal is always passing on the current attempt rather than planning around a second one.
Retaking with the same study approach that produced a fail is the most common — and most avoidable — mistake. Your Candidate Performance Report exists specifically to prevent this: it breaks your prior attempt down by topic, using five relative performance levels from Weakest to Strongest. For how to read that report and where to focus, see CAIA Level II Results and Scoring.
Diagnose before you re-study everything
A near-even restudy of all ten topics wastes time on areas where you already scored well. Use your performance report to weight your second attempt toward genuinely weak topics, particularly ones carrying 8–12% weight on the MCQ side.
Treat constructed response as the more likely gap
Retakers frequently know the content but lost points on execution — structuring an answer to match what a rubric rewards is a distinct skill from recognizing the right concept on a multiple choice question. If your CR practice the first time around was limited to reading sample answers rather than writing and scoring your own, that is worth fixing before anything else.
Don't assume the curriculum is unchanged
CAIA revises the curriculum annually, and a retake sitting in a later exam window may fall under an updated syllabus with different readings or weightings than the one you originally studied. Confirm you are working from the current curriculum rather than reusing last cycle's notes wholesale.
Build in real practice volume, not just review
A second attempt built on more reading but the same amount of scored practice tends to produce the same result. Increasing MCQ and constructed response practice volume — with actual feedback — is usually the higher-leverage change.
For what the constructed response section specifically rewards, see the CR guide.
If you register for a retake and then decide not to sit, CAIA will refund the retake fee only if the request is submitted within 14 days of purchase, or by the business day before the exam window begins, whichever comes first. Once you have taken the exam, retake fees are non-refundable regardless of outcome.
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Get Full Access — $249 →How much does a CAIA Level II retake cost?
The retake fee is a flat US$795, whether you failed the exam, missed your appointment, or did not sit at all. Early-registration discounts do not apply to retakes.
Can I switch from a March registration to September without paying again?
No — exam registrations cannot be transferred between windows. If you do not sit for the window you registered for, you need to re-register and pay the applicable fee for a future window.
Is there a limit on how many times I can retake Level II?
CAIA does not publish a hard cap on retake attempts, though each attempt carries its own fee and requires waiting for the next available exam window.
Do I need to redo the program enrollment fee on a retake?
No — the one-time program enrollment fee is charged only at initial registration. A retake requires only the exam retake fee.
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Get Full Access — $249 →Back to the CAIA Level II prep hub. For a full study plan built around a single successful attempt, see How to Pass CAIA Level II: A Study Plan That Works.