ISC2 CC Requirements 2026: Who Can Sit the Exam and What It Costs
Before you can book a seat you have to clear ISC2’s eligibility gates. Here is exactly what they check, in the order they check it.
- 2hTime limit
- $50Exam fee from
Table of Contents
What the ISC2 CC credential is
ISC2 Certified in Cybersecurity (CC) is awarded by ISC2. It is not a course certificate you can buy your way into — ISC2 decides whether you are allowed to sit the exam at all, and that decision is made before you ever see a question. Candidates who treat the application as a formality are the ones who lose a testing window to a paperwork problem.
The eligibility gates, in order
ISC2 checks these in sequence, and failing any one of them stops the application. Work through them top to bottom before you pay a fee.
Gate 1
You must be at least 16 years old
Gate 2
No work experience is required - this is ISC2's entry credential and the experience gate that applies to the CISSP does not apply here
A variable-length computer adaptive test: you get two hours for 100 to 125 items, and the exam stops once it has measured you. ISC2's One Million Certified in Cybersecurity programme, which gave away the course and exam, has closed to new enrolments; codes already issued can still be used up to 31 December 2026.
What it costs
The published fee is A $50 annual maintenance fee is due once you pass and apply for membership. Budget past that number: most candidates also pay for a review course or a question bank, and a retake is charged separately in almost every programme. The cheapest way to sit this exam once is to over-prepare for the first attempt.
What the exam itself looks like
| Time limit | 120 minutes |
| Fee | A $50 annual maintenance fee is due once you pass and apply for membership |
How long the process takes
Three clocks run at once and candidates usually notice only two. The first is the experience clock: the hours or years in the gates above have to be accrued, and in most programmes accrued recently, so time spent in the wrong role does not count no matter how long you spent there. The second is the approval clock: transcripts, licence verification and reference checks are done by people rather than scripts, and they run in weeks rather than days. The third is the eligibility window: once approved you have a fixed period to sit the exam, and letting it lapse means reapplying and paying again.
Plan backwards from the date you want the credential in hand, not forwards from the day you decide to start. The paperwork is the part that is outside your control, so it should go first.
Why applications get sent back
The failure modes are boring and they repeat. Hours logged in a role that does not match the definition in the handbook. A transcript sent by the candidate instead of by the school. A licence that is current but carries a restriction. Experience that is genuine but falls outside the lookback window. None of these are judgement calls you can argue your way past — they are checkboxes. Read the eligibility page as though it were a contract, because for the purposes of your application it is one.
Once you are approved, the work is question volume. Practise ISC2 CC questions free and find out where you actually stand before you book a date.
FAQ
Who is eligible to sit the ISC2 CC exam?
You must be at least 16 years old No work experience is required - this is ISC2's entry credential and the experience gate that applies to the CISSP does not apply here
How much does the ISC2 CC exam cost?
A $50 annual maintenance fee is due once you pass and apply for membership
How many questions are on the ISC2 CC exam?
ISC2 publishes the current item count in the candidate handbook.
How long does ISC2 CC approval take?
Verification is manual, so allow weeks rather than days between submitting an application and being cleared to schedule. Once you are approved a fixed eligibility window starts running, and letting it expire means paying to apply again.
Sources
Every figure on this page comes from the certifying body, not from a third-party summary:
- https://www.isc2.org/certifications/cc
- https://www.isc2.org/certifications/cc/cc-certification-exam-outline
Checked September 2, 2026. Fees and eligibility rules change; confirm against ISC2 before you pay anything.