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NAATI CCL Review and Resit: What to Do If You Fail

Updated 7 September 2026 · facts checked against NAATI and Home Affairs pages on that date

Quick answer: If you failed the NAATI CCL with a result of 58 or higher, you can apply for a review — a separate examiner re-marks your test and all examiners' marks are taken into consideration. It costs $187 and you apply from your myNAATI account within 30 days of receiving your results. Below 58, a review is not available and a resit is the path.

A fail result is a mark out of 90, not a verdict on your language. Before you decide anything, read the two dialogue scores. They tell you which of the two decisions in front of you — review or resit — is the sensible one. When you are ready to work, a free marked dialogue is at /practice.

First, read your result properly

Your CCL result gives a score out of 45 for each dialogue and a total out of 90. To pass you need 63 or more in total and at least 29 marks in each dialogue. A fail is a total below 63, or less than 29 marks in one or both dialogues.

NAATI publishes worked examples of both outcomes:

Dialogue 1 Dialogue 2 Total Outcome
29 35 64 Pass — total is 63 or more and each dialogue is 29 or more
45 30 70 Pass — total is 63 or more and each dialogue is 29 or more
29 29 58 Fail — each dialogue is 29 or more, but the total is below 63
27 36 63 Fail — total is 63 or more, but one dialogue is below 29

Those last two rows are the ones worth studying. The 27/36 example shows that a strong dialogue cannot rescue a weak one, because of the 29-mark floor. If your own scores look like that, your problem is not general ability — it is one topic, or one direction, or something that went wrong in a single conversation. If both scores are low and even, the issue is more likely to be delivery or accuracy habits across the board. The scoring and pass mark guide works through the arithmetic in more detail.

Are you eligible for a review?

If you fail the test and receive a result that is 58 or higher, you can apply for a review of your results. That is the whole eligibility test: the number 58, and a fail.

The 58 threshold sits five marks below the pass mark of 63. It is deliberately narrow, and it means a review is not a general appeal process — it is available where the result was close enough that a difference in examiner judgement could plausibly change the outcome. If your total was below 58, there is no review route, and the money is better spent on preparation and a new booking.

Note also that the eligibility is on the total. A result like 27 and 36 totals 63 and is a fail because of the dialogue floor, and it is 58 or higher — so the review option applies to it too.

What a review actually is

A test review means that a separate examiner will mark your test again, and the marks from all examiners will be taken into consideration to determine your final result.

Read that carefully, because it sets expectations correctly:

None of that makes a review pointless. Marking uses a deduction method where each error costs a different number of marks depending on how much it impacts the overall communication, and that impact judgement is where a second examiner can reasonably read a borderline test differently.

How to apply, and by when

If you are eligible for a review, you apply from your myNAATI account within 30 days of receiving your results. The option is available from the My Test Results section of your account.

The fee is $187 per application. NAATI's 2026-2027 fees are listed in Australian dollars, include GST where applicable, and are valid from 1 July 2026 until 30 June 2027. For comparison, the CCL test itself is $814, so a review costs a fraction of a resit.

Two practical points. First, the 30-day clock starts when you receive your results, and results are sent by email from noreply@naati.com.au — so whitelist NAATI's emails and check your junk folder, because a missed email eats the window. Second, NAATI's CCL page does not state how long a review takes to come back, so build your visa timeline around uncertainty rather than an assumed date. For general help you cannot resolve through your myNAATI account, NAATI's contact address is info@naati.com.au.

Choosing between a review and a resit

There is no single right answer, but the numbers point in useful directions.

A review makes sense when your total is 58 or higher, and particularly when one dialogue was clearly stronger than the other or you finished comfortably within time and felt in control. You are paying $187 for a second judgement on a performance that was already close.

A resit makes sense when your result is below 58, or when you know what went wrong — you used extra repeats, you ran long, you froze on one topic, you interpreted in indirect speech. In those cases a second examiner is likely to see the same thing the first one saw, and the money is better spent on the test itself.

Timing matters either way. Tests in each language are run at least 4 times per year, and monthly for high demand languages. Bookings close 1 week prior to the test date, and rescheduling is allowed up to 8 days before at no cost. If your language is only tested four times a year, waiting on a decision can push you into a session months away.

Booking a resit

There are no training prerequisites to sit this test, so nothing stands between you and another attempt except the application and the fee. The steps are the same as the first time: log in to myNAATI and submit an application, wait for NAATI to process it, then select a test date and pay the test fee. Test dates are shown live, which means they may already have been booked by other candidates by the time you go to book. All sessions are listed in Sydney/Melbourne time (AET).

The cancellation rules are worth knowing before you commit to a date: you are eligible for a refund of 75% of your test fee if you cancel at least 1 hour prior to the scheduled start time, processed within 14 days in most cases, and there is no refund for non-attendance or for cancellations after the start time. The test dates and booking guide covers the sequence, and the fees and cost guide covers the money.

Preparing so the second attempt is different

The most common reason a resit produces the same score is that nothing changed in between. Use your two dialogue marks to target the work: if one dialogue sank, the likely cause is topic vocabulary; if both were flat, the likely cause is delivery — pauses, repeats, self-correction, running past 20 minutes.

Work through the common mistakes guide honestly, then rehearse under the actual constraints: one penalty-free repeat per dialogue, pen and loose paper only, and a performance under 20 minutes. Build topic vocabulary at /terms/, and confirm the test frequency for your language at /languages.

Our practice dialogues follow the same specification as the test — two speakers, segments of 35 words or fewer, around 300 words each — and the marking shows you segment by segment what was retained, omitted or distorted, so you can see whether your losses are omissions or distortions. The score is our model's estimate, not a NAATI result.

Start with one free marked dialogue a day at /practice, no account needed.

What NAATI's FAQ adds about reviews

NAATI's own FAQ page fills in three details the CCL page leaves out. A paid review result can take up to three weeks, and the result is sent to you by email. If the review results in a pass, the review fee will be refunded. And you cannot submit a new test application and an application for a paid review at the same time — if you have already lodged a new application but have not yet picked a test date, you write to info@naati.com.au and give consent to withdraw it; once it is withdrawn you can submit the review request. A CCL result or credential letter is valid for five years from the date of issue, and NAATI says it is unable to extend that expiry date.

Frequently asked questions

Who can apply for a NAATI CCL review?

If you fail the test and receive a result that is 58 or higher, you can apply for a review of your results. If your result is below 58, a review is not available and your next step is to sit the test again.

How much does a NAATI CCL review cost?

The CCL test review fee is $187 per application. Fees are listed in Australian dollars, include GST where applicable, and the 2026-2027 fees are valid from 1 July 2026 until 30 June 2027.

How long do I have to apply for a review?

You can apply from your myNAATI account within 30 days of receiving your results, from the My Test Results section. If you are eligible, the option appears there.

What happens during a NAATI CCL review?

A separate examiner marks your test again, and the marks from all examiners are taken into consideration to determine your final result. It is a re-mark of the recording you already produced, not a new test.

Can I sit the NAATI CCL test again if I fail?

Yes. There are no training prerequisites to sit this test, so you can submit a new application and select another test date. Tests in each language are run at least 4 times per year, and monthly for high demand languages.

Do I have to pay the full fee to resit?

A resit is a new test, so the test fee of $814 applies. That is why it is worth checking whether your result is 58 or higher and a $187 review is available first.

How do I know why I failed?

Your result shows a mark out of 45 for each dialogue and a total out of 90. A fail is a total below 63, or less than 29 marks in one or both dialogues, so the two dialogue scores tell you whether the problem was general or concentrated in one conversation.

Sources

Facts checked against NAATI and Home Affairs pages on 7 September 2026.

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