ILTS Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts

Quick Facts: The Numbers That Matter

This is the one-page version of everything you need to know about the Illinois Licensure Testing System (ILTS) before you schedule an exam. It's built for candidates who already know the basics and just need the concrete numbers - fees, question counts, timing, and passing thresholds - in one place. If you need the deeper explanations behind these numbers, the ILTS Study Guide 2026 and the ILTS Exam Domains Guide cover the "why" in more detail. This page is strictly the "what."

ILTS is governed by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and administered by Pearson Evaluation Systems. Every fact below applies specifically to the elementary licensure pathway this site focuses on: Field 305 (Elementary Education, Grades 1-6) and its incoming replacement, Field 702 (Elementary Education, Grades K-6).

Field 305 at a Glance (Grades 1-6)

Field 305 is the exam most candidates are currently preparing for, and its structure is fixed and predictable - helpful for planning your prep timeline.

• Cost: $110 per attempt
• Format: 150 multiple-choice questions total - 120 scorable, 30 non-scorable (you won't know which is which, so treat every item as scored)
• Testing time: 4 hours of actual test time inside a 4 hour 15 minute total appointment
• Passing score: A scaled score of 240
• Reference materials: None provided - no calculator, no periodic table, no formula sheet
• Results: Preliminary results are issued at the test center before you leave

Because no reference materials are allowed, memorization matters more on ILTS than it might on exams that supply formula sheets. For a candid look at how this affects difficulty, see How Hard Is the ILTS Exam?

Field 702: The K-6 Replacement

Field 702 is a structurally different test, not just a renamed version of Field 305. Instead of one long exam, it is split into six separately administered testlets, each covering a distinct content area:

1. Foundations of Literacy
2. English Language Arts and Biliteracy Skills
3. Mathematics
4. Science
5. Social Studies
6. Arts, Health, and Physical Development

Each testlet costs $25. Taken together, all six cost $150, contain 210 questions total, and provide 5 hours 45 minutes of combined testing time. That's meaningfully more content coverage and testing time than Field 305, split into smaller, more manageable sittings.

The biggest scoring difference: passing Field 702 requires at least 240 cumulative points across all testlets plus meeting the minimum requirement on every individual testlet. You can't compensate for a weak testlet with a strong one elsewhere - every section has its own floor.

Domain Weights You Must Memorize

Whether you're preparing for Field 305 or mapping your Field 702 testlets, the underlying content weighting is the backbone of your study plan. These are the six domains and their approximate share of the score:

Notice that Language and Literacy and Mathematics together account for 52% of the score - more than the other four domains combined. This is the single most important allocation fact on this whole page. For a full domain-by-domain breakdown with more detail, see the ILTS Exam Domains Guide.

Registration, Fees, and Retakes

Fee structure differs meaningfully between the two fields, so confirm which one applies to your registration before paying.

• Field 305: $110 flat fee for the full 150-question exam
• Field 702: $25 per testlet, or $150 if you register for all six
• Retakes: You must submit a new registration after your official score report posts - there is no automatic rebooking. Always check the current test-specific retake table before scheduling again.

A detailed cost breakdown, including how fees stack up against the rest of the Illinois licensure process, is available in ILTS Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown. If you're still confirming basic eligibility before you pay any fees at all, review ILTS Requirements 2026 first.

What "Passing" Actually Means

The scoring mechanics differ slightly by field, and misunderstanding them is a common source of confusion:

• Field 305: A single scaled score of 240 or higher passes the entire exam.
• Field 702: You need 240 cumulative points across all six testlets AND you must clear the minimum requirement on each individual testlet. Hitting 240 overall while failing one testlet's minimum still means you have not passed.

Preliminary results for Field 305 are issued at the test center immediately after your session ends, so you'll have a strong sense of your outcome before you leave the building. For the full mechanics of how scaled scores are calculated and reported, see ILTS Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.

How This Fits Into the PEL Process

Passing your ILTS content test is one required piece of the Illinois Professional Educator License (PEL) - not the entire process. A few surrounding facts worth keeping on your radar:

• edTPA is currently waived through August 31, 2029, which removes one major requirement many candidates in other states still face.
• A PEL endorsed in teaching generally renews on a five-year cycle.
• Renewal carries $50 in registration fees.
• Covered active teachers complete 120 professional-development hours as part of maintaining the license.

Understanding this full timeline matters if you're weighing whether the investment in ILTS prep pays off long-term - a question explored more fully in Is the ILTS Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 and ILTS Salary Guide 2026.

One-Week-Per-Domain Sprint

If you're working from a compressed timeline, the domain weights above give you a natural structure for a six-week sprint - one week per domain, sequenced by score impact rather than by test order.

This sequencing intentionally front-loads the two 26% domains - Language and Literacy and Mathematics - since they carry more than half the score. For a more granular week-by-week plan with practice resources, see ILTS Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt, and pair your review with timed practice questions on the main practice test site to simulate the no-reference-material testing environment.

Field 305 vs. Field 702 Side by Side

If you're unsure which field applies to your certification pathway, check ILTS Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling to confirm registration availability for each field before you commit to a prep plan. You can also cross-reference broader outcome trends in ILTS Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows while planning how much runway to give yourself.

Frequently Asked Questions