- The CGKE has two parts: Fundamentals of Interpreting (120 MC questions) and Ethical Decision Making and Cultural Responsiveness (8 case studies).
- You must pass Fundamentals before you're eligible for the performance exam; failing only one part means retaking only that part.
- Fees at CDI rate: $280/$225 for CGKE, $395/$310 for the performance exam, $140 for a single retake portion.
- Deaf-interpreter eligibility requires an audiogram showing 65db+ hearing loss in one or both ears, naming the applicant and audiologist.
Exam Structure at a Glance
If you only have five minutes before your exam window opens, this is the page to reread. Certification itself is awarded by the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID), which owns the eligibility requirements, while the Center for the Assessment of Sign Language Interpretation (CASLI) builds and administers the actual tests. That split matters because it explains why your paperwork goes through RID but your test day goes through CASLI and its testing vendor, Meazure Learning (formerly Scantron), at contracted sites. The performance exam is different - you schedule that one directly with a Local Test Administrator rather than through a national testing network.
The old CDI-Knowledge Exam retired on January 1, 2021. Everyone testing now sits the CASLI Generalist Knowledge Exam (CGKE), a computer-based test split into two distinct parts:
- Fundamentals of Interpreting: 120 multiple-choice questions - 60 presented in written English with English answer choices, and 60 presented in ASL with ASL answer choices. You cannot choose a language preference; both formats are mandatory.
- Ethical Decision Making and Cultural Responsiveness Exam: 8 multi-step case studies that ask you to work through realistic scenarios rather than pick a single fact.
You must pass Fundamentals of Interpreting before you become eligible to sit the performance exam. If you fail only one of the two knowledge components, you only retake that one - you don't have to redo a part you already passed. For a deeper breakdown of how these formats differ and why the ASL-presented items trip people up, see the CDI Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt.
The Four Domains, Fast
The performance exam and much of the knowledge content map to four domains. Memorize the names and the core idea behind each - not just for the exam, but because these are literally the phases of a real Deaf interpreting assignment.
Domain 1: Pre-Commitment Activities
Everything that happens before you agree to take an assignment.
- Assessing your own skill match, conflicts of interest, and role clarity before saying yes
Domain 2: Pre-Encounter Activities
Preparation once you've accepted the job but before you're in the room.
- Gathering context, coordinating with the hearing interpreter team, planning positioning
Domain 3: The Encounter
The actual interpreting work in real time.
- Monitoring the hearing interpreter's feed, adjusting register, managing turn-taking and repair
Domain 4: Post-Encounter Activities
Wrap-up and professional follow-through after the assignment ends.
- Debriefing with the team, documenting concerns, reflecting on ethical decisions made
Each domain shows up differently on the exam. Fundamentals questions test your recall of terminology and process across all four; the case studies lean heavily on Domains 1 and 4 because those are where ethical judgment calls concentrate. For a full walkthrough with sample scenario language, read the CDI Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 4 Content Areas. If you're still calibrating how tough this really is relative to other interpreting credentials, How Hard Is the CDI Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 breaks that down without inventing numbers that don't exist yet.
Fees, Timing & Registration Mechanics
Money and deadlines trip up more candidates than content does. Here's the CDI-rate fee schedule effective January 1, 2023, plus the clock rules that govern your testing cycle.
| Item | Regular Rate | RID Member Rate |
|---|---|---|
| CASLI Generalist Knowledge Exam (CGKE) | $280 | $225 |
| CASLI Generalist Performance Exam for CDI | $395 | $310 |
| Single Fundamentals or Case Studies retake ("Gap Test") | $140 | $140 |
- Exams must be taken within one year of purchase, or before the testing cycle expiration - whichever comes first.
- The full testing cycle runs five years from your first PASS notification.
- If you fail a knowledge exam, you must wait three months before retaking it.
For a line-by-line accounting of what these fees add up to across the full certification path - including travel, prep materials, and renewal costs - see CDI Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown. And if you're wondering exactly how many correct answers you need on test day, CDI Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass lays out the scoring mechanics without guessing at percentages RID hasn't published.
Key Takeaway
Purchase your exam only when you're within a year of testing - buying too early wastes money if your schedule shifts, since the one-year clock starts at purchase, not at your first attempt.
Deaf Interpreter Rates & Audiogram Rules
To qualify for Deaf-interpreter rates and CDI eligibility specifically, you need an audiogram documenting hearing loss of 65db or more in one or both ears. A few practical notes candidates often get wrong:
- The audiogram does not need to be recent - an older one is acceptable.
- It must name the applicant and the audiologist or office that produced it. A generic or unattributed printout won't be accepted.
- This documentation is separate from the education and exam requirements - you need all pieces together to move through the eligibility pipeline.
Full eligibility mechanics, including how the audiogram interacts with the education requirement, are covered in CDI Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
Eligibility Snapshot
RID's education requirement, effective May 17, 2021, is a bachelor's degree in any field, or completion of RID's Alternative Pathway. This replaced the older structure - RID also removed the 40-hour training requirement in June 2021, specifically to create equity with hearing interpreter candidates who weren't held to that same hour count.
What this means practically: you don't need a degree in interpreting, ASL, or Deaf studies. Any bachelor's degree satisfies the requirement, or you can pursue the Alternative Pathway if a degree isn't in the picture. This is one of the most misunderstood facts in the whole certification process, and it's worth reading in full at CDI Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify before you assume you're not eligible.
Bridge Plan for Legacy CDI-K Passers
If you passed the old CDI-Knowledge Exam before it retired, you are not required to retake the full CGKE - but you're not exempt from updating either. You must complete a bridge plan: an unscored learning module plus the Case Studies gap test.
The reason is structural, not punitive. The legacy exam derived from RID's 2000 Role Delineation Study. The current CASLI Generalist Performance Exam for Deaf Interpreters, released November 16, 2020, derives instead from CASLI's 2018 Deaf Interpreter Job Task Analysis. Those two source documents describe the job differently enough that RID built a bridge rather than grandfathering old scores wholesale. If you're in this category, budget for the $140 gap test fee and treat the unscored module seriously - it's your only exposure to the updated framework before the scored portion.
Last-Week Review Plan
A cheat sheet is only useful if you actually schedule the review it summarizes. Here's a compressed final-week plan built around the CGKE's two-part structure and the four domains - not generic test-taking advice.
Fundamentals of Interpreting Drill
- Cycle through practice items in both English-presented and ASL-presented formats - don't neglect the ASL half since it's 60 of the 120 questions
- Log which of the four domains each missed item falls under
Case Study Reasoning
- Work through multi-step scenarios focused on Domain 1 (Pre-Commitment) and Domain 4 (Post-Encounter), where ethical judgment calls concentrate
- Practice articulating *why* an answer is correct, not just selecting it
Domain 2 & 3 Review
- Refresh pre-encounter coordination steps and in-encounter monitoring/repair strategies
- Review terminology you consistently missed on earlier practice runs
Logistics & Light Review
- Confirm testing site or Local Test Administrator appointment details
- Confirm your audiogram and education documents are already on file with RID, not left for exam-week
- Light review only - no new material this close to test day
Want the full domain-by-domain content list this schedule compresses? That's laid out completely in the CDI Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt and the CDI Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 4 Content Areas. You can also run realistic practice questions modeled on the CGKE format at our practice test platform before committing to a testing date.
Key Takeaway
Spend your final week weighted toward Domains 1 and 4 for case study prep - that's where the exam's ethical reasoning questions concentrate, based on the exam's own structure.
FAQ
The CASLI Generalist Knowledge Exam (CGKE) replaced it on January 1, 2021. It has two parts: Fundamentals of Interpreting (120 multiple-choice questions, half in written English and half in ASL) and the Ethical Decision Making and Cultural Responsiveness Exam (8 case studies).
No. You must pass Fundamentals of Interpreting before you're eligible for the performance exam, but if you fail only one part of the CGKE, you only retake that part.
It must show hearing loss of 65db or more in one or both ears and must name the applicant and the audiologist or office. It does not need to be recent.
A bachelor's degree in any field satisfies RID's education requirement, effective May 17, 2021, or you can complete RID's Alternative Pathway instead. The prior 40-hour training requirement was removed in June 2021.
You don't retake the full CGKE, but you must complete a bridge plan: an unscored learning module plus the Case Studies gap test, since the current performance exam derives from a different job task analysis than the legacy exam did.
For a broader look at whether this credential fits your career goals - including how it connects to pay and job access - read Is the CDI Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 and CDI Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis. And when you're ready to test your readiness against realistic scenario-based items, start practicing here.