- The Pass Rate Reality: What AAAE Actually Publishes
- The One Hard Number: 70% to Pass
- How the Exam Is Built, Delivered, and Proctored
- What Actually Separates Candidates Who Pass From Those Who Don't
- The Content Areas Behind Every Question
- Retakes, Deadlines, and the Cost of Failing Once
- A Domain-by-Domain Study Timeline
- Who Actually Sits This Exam
- Frequently Asked Questions
- AAAE does not publish an official ACE-CCO pass rate - treat any number you see elsewhere with skepticism.
- The published passing score is fixed: 70 correct answers out of 100 questions in 120 minutes.
- The exam is closed-book, remotely proctored through TopClass, and requires a webcam, microphone, and government-issued ID.
- A failed attempt costs $75 to retake, and you have 26 months from enrollment to test.
The Pass Rate Reality: What AAAE Actually Publishes
If you're searching for a hard "X% of candidates pass the ACE-CCO exam" statistic, you should know upfront: the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) does not publish an official pass rate for the Airport Communications Center Operations track. There is no public percentage on the AAAE site, no annual report breaking down cohort performance, and no leaderboard of pass/fail outcomes by testing window. That's a meaningful gap, and it's worth understanding why before you go looking for a number that doesn't exist.
This matters because other credentials - including unrelated programs that happen to share the "ACE-CCO" acronym - do publish pass-rate figures, and those numbers occasionally get mixed into search results or third-party blog posts. If you see a specific pass rate quoted for "ACE-CCO," verify the source is actually describing the AAAE Airport Communications Center Operations credential and not a different program entirely. This site sticks to what AAAE has actually confirmed about its own exam.
The One Hard Number: 70% to Pass
Here's the number that actually matters, and it's published directly by AAAE: the ACE-CCO exam consists of 100 multiple-choice questions, administered in a 120-minute window, with a passing score of 70% - 70 correct answers. That threshold doesn't fluctuate by testing cycle or get curved against how other candidates performed. It's a fixed bar.
That fixed structure is actually good news for planning purposes. You know exactly how many questions you can miss (30) and exactly how much time you have per question (about 72 seconds on average, though pacing will vary by question complexity). For a full breakdown of how this scoring works in practice, see our ACE-CCO Passing Score guide, which walks through pacing strategy against the 70-question threshold.
Key Takeaway
Don't study to "get a good score" - study to comfortably clear 70 out of 100. That reframes prep around identifying and eliminating your weakest content areas rather than chasing a perfect run.
How the Exam Is Built, Delivered, and Proctored
Format has a direct effect on how "hard" an exam feels, independent of content difficulty. The ACE-CCO exam is administered through TopClass with recorded remote proctoring, which means you're taking it from your own location - but under exam-room rules. Specifically:
- The exam is closed-book - no notes, manuals, or reference materials during the test itself.
- You need a working computer, webcam, and microphone.
- You must present a government-issued photo ID before the session begins.
- The session is recorded for proctoring compliance, so environment matters - a quiet, private, well-lit space is non-negotiable.
Because it's multiple-choice rather than scenario-simulation or performance-based testing, the exam rewards precise recall and the ability to distinguish between close-sounding answer choices - a skill set closely tied to how well you know terminology across radios, CAD/telephony systems, and call-handling protocols. If you haven't yet mapped out exactly what's tested, our ACE-CCO Exam Domains guide breaks the content areas down in more depth.
What Actually Separates Candidates Who Pass From Those Who Don't
Without a published pass-rate statistic to analyze, the more useful question is: what factors, based on the exam's own published structure, put a candidate in a stronger or weaker position? A few stand out directly from AAAE's own guidance:
- Preparation time. AAAE recommends at least 90 days of preparation before sitting the exam. That's a strong signal the content isn't something you cram in a weekend, particularly if you're newer to communications-center operations.
- Enrollment window discipline. You must take the exam within 26 months of enrollment. Candidates who let that window slide without a study plan often end up rushing at the deadline.
- Breadth over depth in a few areas. Because the content spans everything from active listening technique to NIMS and cybersecurity awareness, candidates who over-focus on one familiar topic (say, radios, if they already work with them daily) and under-prepare on unfamiliar ones (say, legal liability or NIMS structure) tend to leave points on the table.
- Familiarity with the proctoring process. Simple as it sounds, being caught off guard by ID checks or webcam requirements wastes mental bandwidth better spent on the questions themselves.
For a broader look at how these factors combine into overall exam difficulty, our How Hard Is the ACE-CCO Exam guide goes deeper on what candidates report finding most challenging.
The Content Areas Behind Every Question
Every one of those 100 questions is drawn from content AAAE outlines in its official review-course coverage. This is where "pass rate" stops being an abstract number and becomes a checklist you can actually work through.
Center Operations & Professional Conduct
Covers how communications centers function day to day and the standards operators are held to.
- Center roles and stakeholder coordination
- Professionalism and confidentiality
- Stress management under high call volume
- Legal liability in dispatch and communications work
Call Handling & Communication Skills
Covers the human side of taking and managing calls, which shows up heavily in scenario-style questions.
- Active listening technique
- Call classification and prioritization
- Handling difficult callers
Systems & Technology
Covers the technical tools operators use inside a communications center.
- CAD (computer-aided dispatch) and telephony systems
- Radio systems and procedures
- CCTV and alarm monitoring
- Cybersecurity awareness
Emergency & Irregular Operations
Covers how communications centers function during disruptions and coordinated response events.
- NIMS (National Incident Management System)
- Irregular operations procedures
- Emergency coordination across airport stakeholders
Notice how much of this list has nothing to do with radios or phones directly - legal liability, professionalism, and NIMS are policy and procedure topics, not technical ones. That mix is exactly why generic "airport" study material or unrelated communications certifications won't cover you here. For a structured walk-through of all of these areas together, see the complete ACE-CCO exam domains guide, and for a condensed reference once you've studied each one, our ACE-CCO cheat sheet is built for final-week review.
Retakes, Deadlines, and the Cost of Failing Once
Because there's no published pass rate to benchmark against, it's worth understanding the actual cost structure if you don't clear 70% on your first attempt. AAAE charges a $75 retake fee for a failed exam attempt - separate from your original enrollment cost. Enrollment itself includes electronic study modules and one exam attempt, with printed materials and formal review courses priced separately.
| Item | Cost | What's Included |
|---|---|---|
| Standard enrollment (member or non-member) | $555 | Electronic study modules + 1 exam attempt |
| Student rate | $395 | Same as above; requires current course schedule at registration |
| Failed-exam retake | $75 | One additional exam attempt |
| Blank Slate ACE Communications flashcard app (optional) | $150 | 90 days of app access |
A full cost breakdown, including how these figures compare against optional add-ons, is covered in our ACE-CCO Certification Cost guide. The practical takeaway: a first-attempt pass is meaningfully cheaper than a retake, which is another reason the 90-day preparation window AAAE recommends shouldn't be treated as optional.
Key Takeaway
Budget your prep time as if the $75 retake fee is real money you'd rather not spend - because it is. Treat your first attempt as the only attempt you're planning for.
A Domain-by-Domain Study Timeline
Generic study techniques like spaced repetition or timed review sessions only help if they're mapped to actual ACE-CCO content. Here's one way to allocate a 90-day runway - matching AAAE's own recommended minimum - against the domains above, front-loading the areas most candidates find least intuitive.
Center Operations & Professional Conduct
- Study stakeholder coordination and center roles first - this frames everything else
- Review legal liability concepts, since these are often the least familiar to operators coming from a purely technical background
- Build a personal glossary of confidentiality and professionalism standards
Call Handling & Communication Skills
- Practice call classification and prioritization scenarios repeatedly - these translate well to multiple-choice format
- Study active listening frameworks and difficult-caller de-escalation patterns
- Use spaced repetition specifically on terminology tied to call prioritization tiers
Systems & Technology + Emergency Operations
- Drill CAD, telephony, radio, and CCTV/alarm terminology in short daily sessions
- Study NIMS structure and irregular-operations procedures together, since they overlap conceptually
- Add cybersecurity awareness basics - a smaller but still testable area
Full Review & Simulated Testing
- Take full-length practice runs under 120-minute timed conditions
- Re-test your weakest domain from the first pass-through
- Confirm your remote-proctoring setup (webcam, mic, ID) well before exam day
For a more detailed prep methodology, including how to sequence review materials against this same timeline, see the full ACE-CCO Study Guide. And if you haven't confirmed eligibility and registration steps yet, check the ACE-CCO Requirements guide before locking in a study calendar.
Who Actually Sits This Exam
The ACE-CCO credential is built specifically for people working in or entering airport communications hubs and dispatch centers - the teams responsible for call intake, radio coordination, CCTV/alarm monitoring, and emergency coordination at an airport. That's a narrower audience than general aviation credentials, which is part of why the content skews so heavily toward call handling, dispatch technology, and incident coordination rather than broader airport operations topics.
If you're mapping out whether this certification fits your career path - or what roles typically value it - our ACE-CCO Jobs guide and ROI analysis both go into more detail on where this credential tends to matter most. For a plain-language explanation of what the designation actually represents, start with What Is ACE-CCO?
Frequently Asked Questions
No. AAAE does not release a public pass-rate percentage for the Airport Communications Center Operations track. The only officially published performance benchmark is the passing score itself: 70 correct answers out of 100 questions.
You need 70 correct answers out of 100 multiple-choice questions, which means you can miss up to 30 questions and still pass, within the 120-minute time limit.
You can retake it for a $75 fee. Your original enrollment covers one exam attempt, so a failed attempt requires this additional payment for a second sitting, as long as you're still within your 26-month enrollment window.
AAAE requires the exam to be taken within 26 months of enrollment. AAAE also recommends at least 90 days of preparation before sitting the exam, so plan your enrollment date accordingly.
No. The ACE-CCO exam is closed-book and remotely proctored through TopClass, requiring a computer, webcam, microphone, and government-issued photo ID. No reference materials are allowed during the test.
Chasing a pass-rate percentage that AAAE hasn't published won't move you closer to certification. What will: knowing the 70% threshold cold, mastering each content area from stakeholder coordination to cybersecurity awareness, and rehearsing under real timed conditions before your official session. You can start that timed practice right now on our ACE-CCO practice platform.