The CASLI Generalist Performance Exam for Deaf Interpreters is a computer-based test of six video scenarios, five to twenty minutes each, set in general community contexts. You interpret using consecutive, simultaneous, or sight translation modes as each prompt requires. To sit it, you must first pass the Fundamentals of Interpreting portion of the knowledge exam and meet RID's education requirement through a bachelor's degree or approved Alternative Pathway. Scoring is pass or fail, decided by trained raters against confidential rubrics, with results estimated within ninety days and retakes available after six months. This guide covers the format, the assessed skills, the certification path, CASLI's own preparation checklist, and one original meaning-analysis exercise.
What the exam asks you to do
It is a computer-based, constructed response exam: six video scenarios of five to twenty minutes each, set in general community contexts, where you interpret using consecutive, simultaneous, or sight translation modes as each scenario requires.
Constructed response means you produce an interpretation from a video prompt on screen rather than choosing among options. CASLI administers and scores this performance exam separately from the knowledge exams.
You will work through six video scenarios, each running five to twenty minutes. Every scenario is a general community setting rather than a specialized one. CASLI's page for CDI candidates describes the scenarios as using common vocabulary and common community-based interpreting assignments.
Within a scenario, you interpret as appropriate using consecutive interpreting, simultaneous interpreting, sight translation, or a combination of modes. In the CDI version, scenarios may involve interpreting to or from ASL and a specialized sign language system or English.
CASLI publishes neither the scenarios nor the scoring criteria in advance, so preparation should target the skills the content outline names. The sections below map those skills.
Sources: CASLI Generalist Exam Content Outline and Preparation Guide (full document) — Exam philosophy, content outline, performance exam skills, recommended reading, study checklist; For CDI Candidates - Center for Assessment of Sign Language Interpreters — Exam process, bridge plan, eligibility, passing and failing results, testing cycle; Exam Results and Retakes - Center for Assessment of Sign Language Interpreters — Performance exam scoring, results timing, feedback, retake policy
Where the exam fits on the path to CDI certification
RID awards the CDI credential and CASLI administers its exams. Before performance testing you must pass the Fundamentals of Interpreting portion, meet RID's education requirement, and complete any transition steps that apply to you.
RID has offered the Certified Deaf Interpreter certification since 1998. In 2016, CASLI took over exam administration while RID kept responsibility for eligibility and credentialing, so you will contact both organizations at different stages.
The knowledge stage comes first. You must pass the Fundamentals of Interpreting multiple-choice portion before you are eligible for the performance exam. If you have not yet passed the Case Studies portion on ethical decision making and cultural responsiveness, you can take it together with the performance exam.
RID also requires a bachelor's degree in any major, or an approved Alternative Pathway plan recorded in your account, before you test for the CDI performance exam. For this exam, the bachelor's-level standard took effect May 17, 2021, replacing the earlier associate-level requirement.
If you passed the previous CDI Knowledge Exam and CASLI confirms that your testing cycle remains active, the legacy bridge plan may apply. It includes a self-paced, unscored learning module on mandated reporting, protective equipment that does not hinder communication, and working with interpreters of other languages, plus the Case Studies requirement normally taken with performance.
- Pass Fundamentals and submit education verification to RID; confirm whether Case Studies is still outstanding
- Create or confirm your CASLI Exam System account
- Complete the bridge plan learning module, if it applies to you
- Ask CASLI to add the correct remaining exams for your current or legacy route
- Pay for and schedule your exam appointment
Sources: For CDI Candidates - Center for Assessment of Sign Language Interpreters — Exam process, bridge plan, eligibility, passing and failing results, testing cycle; Available Certifications - Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc. — CDI certification process, education requirement, exam release date
The skills each scenario measures
Every scenario tests message equivalence between ASL and English, syntactic and register adaptation, fluent error correction, consumer-specific adjustment, and accuracy monitoring. The CDI exam adds contextual information and visual-description work.
Across all modes, the exam looks for interpretations that maintain message equivalency between ASL and English. CASLI's outline names the syntactic adaptations it probes: temporal sequencing, spatial representation, temporal referencing, pronominal referencing, constructed action, restructuring question forms to narrow possible responses, and adjusting register.
You are also assessed on interpreting fluently at various registers and on correcting your own errors as unobtrusively as possible while keeping the interpreting process transparent. The interpretation should adapt to the consumer, including age, gender, culture, health, and education level, and you should monitor your own accuracy by whatever method works.
Three abilities are listed specifically for Deaf interpreter candidates: providing contextual information, incorporating visual descriptions, and filtering out irrelevant environmental information while monitoring multiple sources of visual processes for accuracy. Note the scope of that filtering: it concerns the surroundings, not the message. A consumer's meaning still has to reach the other party in full.
Finally, the outline assumes Deaf interpreter candidates can perform alone or in a team with other Deaf or hearing interpreters, in settings that do not require technical subject expertise, and can work with little or no supervision. Teamwork is part of the expected capability; the outline does not fix who leads or who feeds in any given scenario.
How scoring and results work
The exam reports pass or fail only. Up to three trained raters may score each vignette against confidential rubrics, results are estimated within ninety days, and a retake becomes possible after a six-month wait from your original exam date.
The scoring process determines only whether you demonstrate at least the minimum competency expected of a nationally certified interpreter. It does not rank candidates, and CASLI states the results are not designed to be used diagnostically.
Each of the six vignettes may be scored by as many as three different raters to prevent bias. The rubrics are specific to each vignette's content and stay confidential; CASLI treats releasing them as equivalent to publishing the answers.
Passing candidates receive a score of pass and nothing more. Failing candidates receive a fail result plus areas-of-improvement feedback that raters select from a pre-established list. That feedback signals where you most need work; it is not a vignette-by-vignette score report or a custom critique.
Results are estimated to be available within ninety days after the exam. CASLI's July 2026 update warned that high spring volume and rater availability could delay releases, with May 2026 results anticipated during August 2026, so build some slack into your certification timeline.
If you do not pass, you may apply and pay for a retake after a six-month waiting period that starts on the date you originally took the exam, regardless of when your results arrived.
Sources: Exam Results and Retakes - Center for Assessment of Sign Language Interpreters — Performance exam scoring, results timing, feedback, retake policy; July 2026: CASLI Updates - Center for Assessment of Sign Language Interpreters — Performance exam results release status and delays
Preparation priorities from CASLI's own guide
CASLI's checklist centers on the content outline, the two Job Task Analyses, honest self-assessment, mentor feedback, deliberate practice, and the sample exam inside the CASLI Exam System.
CASLI's study checklist assumes you already have interpreter education or training and can perform the tasks the outline describes. From that baseline, it directs you to review the content outline and the two Job Task Analyses behind the exams: the 2015 RID NIC study and the 2018 Deaf Interpreter study, both available on the CASLI website.
The recommended reading list is broad and explicitly not exhaustive. CASLI notes that it does not endorse the specific references and that test items are not necessarily taken from them, so treat the list as background for professional judgment rather than as a question bank.
- Use the 'Take a Sample Exam' feature in the CASLI Exam System to learn the interface, instructions, navigation, and item layout
- Self-assess against the knowledge, skills, and abilities in the Job Task Analyses to find your weakest areas
- Work with an accomplished language or interpreting mentor to improve fluency and competency
- Review the recommended reading, which includes the RID-NAD Code of Professional Conduct and the national Deaf interpreter curriculum
- Develop ASL interpreting competence through deliberate practice
A meaning analysis you can do before you interpret
Analyze a short English text for its fixed message units, ambiguous references, register markers, and clarification needs before practicing any interpretation. This trains meaning-based decisions; it cannot assess ASL fluency or production.
The exam's foundation is transferring messages accurately between languages, so a useful paper exercise is deciding what must survive any interpretation and what can change form. Work through the exercise below on any text you have the right to reproduce, then repeat it with texts from different registers. One limit to keep in mind: a written analysis builds decision habits but cannot assess ASL fluency or interpreting production, which need live practice and mentor feedback.
Practice exercise
Before practicing an interpretation of the following text into any target language, complete a written analysis. Assume the consumer needs this message to keep or reschedule a clinic appointment. Text: 'Your follow-up appointment with Dr. Reyes is on Thursday, March 12 at 9:30 a.m., at Riverside Clinic, second floor. Please bring your insurance card and any questions you have for him. If you cannot attend, call the scheduling office at least 24 hours ahead so the time can go to another patient.' Identify: (a) the message units the consumer must act on, (b) who 'him' refers to and why resolving it early matters, (c) which phrases carry the polite, formal register, and (d) why replacing "at least 24 hours ahead" with "before the end of the prior business day" would change the message.
Show answer
(a) The follow-up is with Dr. Reyes on Thursday, March 12 at 9:30 a.m., at Riverside Clinic, second floor. Bring the insurance card and any questions for the doctor. If unable to attend, call the scheduling office at least 24 hours ahead so another patient can use the time. (b) "Him" refers to Dr. Reyes; establish that reference consistently in the rendition. (c) "Please" marks a polite request; the explanation about another patient also conveys the reason for advance notice. (d) A business-day deadline is not the same as a deadline measured 24 hours before the appointment. Do not substitute one for the other.
An accurate rendition preserves the people, date, time, place, requested items, condition, deadline and reason, as well as the speaker's polite tone. Language structure can change while those meanings remain. This written exercise develops source-message analysis; signed production and mentor feedback are needed to assess interpreting fluency.
Exam-day checklist
CASLI's checklist closes with logistics: accommodation requests thirty days or more before scheduling, confirmed appointments, correct identification, suitable attire for a recorded performance, and early arrival.
Send any ADA or exam accommodation requests thirty days or more before you schedule the exam. On the day itself, the small logistics matter because you are being recorded, so arrive settled, documented, and dressed for video capture.
- Confirm your appointment day, time, and location, and review the test site's rules and policies
- Bring a government-issued photo ID and your test or proctor token
- Plan attire for fluctuating temperatures and, for on-screen video recording, clothing that works with your skin tone
- Plan your route and parking, and arrive fifteen minutes early to check in and settle
- Use basic self-care such as sleep and healthful eating, plus whatever anxiety-reduction techniques work for you
Sources
Facts checked:
- CASLI Generalist Exam Content Outline and Preparation Guide (full document)
- For CDI Candidates - Center for Assessment of Sign Language Interpreters
- Available Certifications - Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc.
- Exam Results and Retakes - Center for Assessment of Sign Language Interpreters
- July 2026: CASLI Updates - Center for Assessment of Sign Language Interpreters