The CASLI Generalist Performance Exam: NIC is a computer-based exam of six recorded video scenarios, each five to twenty minutes long, in general community settings. You interpret from ASL to English and English to ASL, using consecutive, simultaneous, or sight translation modes as each prompt calls for. To sit it, you must pass its Fundamentals of Interpreting portion and have RID's education requirement on record. Raters score each scenario against confidential rubrics and report only pass or fail. Results are estimated within ninety days, and a retake becomes available six months after your exam date while your five-year testing cycle is current.
Where the exam fits in the NIC credential
CASLI administers this performance exam and RID awards the National Interpreter Certification once you pass all required exams and meet its requirements.
The Center for Assessment of Sign Language Interpreters (CASLI) runs the Generalist Knowledge and Performance Exams. RID, the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, uses these exams to determine eligibility for its two national certifications: the National Interpreter Certification (NIC) and the Certified Deaf Interpreter (CDI). The NIC is for hearing interpreters who have demonstrated general knowledge of the field, ethical decision making, and interpreting skill.
You must pass Fundamentals of Interpreting before the performance exam. If Case Studies is still outstanding, you can take it with performance; all required components must ultimately be passed. The current performance exam replaced the retired NIC Interview and Performance exam.
Sources checked: CASLI Generalist Exam Content Outline and Preparation Guide — Full eight-page document, including exam philosophy, content outline, performance exam skills, and study checklist; For NIC Candidates — Center for Assessment of Sign Language Interpreters — Generalist exams overview and eligibility for the performance exam; Available Certifications — Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc. — NIC certification process and educational requirement
What you do on exam day
You interpret six recorded video scenarios on a computer, choosing the interpreting mode each prompt calls for.
The exam is computer-based and runs on the CASLI Exam System. Video scenarios play on screen while the system records you, and each scenario runs between five and twenty minutes. Every scenario presents a general community assignment using everyday vocabulary, and you will interpret both from ASL to English and from English to ASL.
Within a scenario you may use consecutive interpreting, simultaneous interpreting, sight translation, or a combination, as the task requires. Do not assume one mode always belongs to one language direction; follow each scenario's prompt. Six scenarios also does not mean a fixed total exam time, because scenario lengths vary.
Sources checked: CASLI Generalist Exam Content Outline and Preparation Guide — Full eight-page document, including exam philosophy, content outline, performance exam skills, and study checklist; For NIC Candidates — Center for Assessment of Sign Language Interpreters — Generalist exams overview and eligibility for the performance exam
Eligibility and how to book
Pass Fundamentals, meet RID's education requirement, then request, purchase and schedule the exam. Outstanding Case Studies can be taken with performance.
Eligibility starts with the CASLI Generalist Knowledge Exam, which has two parts: the Fundamentals of Interpreting multiple-choice portion and the Ethical Decision Making and Cultural Responsiveness case studies. You must pass the Fundamentals portion to become eligible for the performance exam. If you have not yet passed the Case Studies portion, you can take it together with the performance exam.
Before testing, RID's educational requirement must be recorded in your RID/CASLI account: a bachelor's degree in any major, or an approved Alternative Pathway plan. You submit verification to RID, then submit an exam request form so CASLI can add the exam to your account for purchase.
After purchasing, schedule your appointment within one year. Keep the five-year testing window in mind as well: it starts on the date of your first pass notification, and all required exams must be completed inside that window.
Sources checked: For NIC Candidates — Center for Assessment of Sign Language Interpreters — Generalist exams overview and eligibility for the performance exam; Available Certifications — Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc. — NIC certification process and educational requirement
What the scenarios assess
Raters look for message equivalence, flexible language structure, fluent register control, consumer-appropriate adaptation, and accurate self-monitoring.
CASLI's content outline describes the skills each scenario targets. You need to produce a target-language message equivalent in meaning while receiving the source language, whether you work simultaneously, consecutively, through sight translation, or in a blend.
Named skills include adapting syntactic form: temporal sequencing, spatial representation, temporal and pronominal referencing, constructed action, reshaping question forms to narrow possible responses, and adjusting register. You should also interpret fluently at various registers, correct errors as unobtrusively as possible while keeping the process transparent, monitor your own accuracy, and adapt the interpretation to the consumer's age, gender, culture, health, and education level.
Because this is the hearing-interpreter exam for the NIC, the outline adds prosody: in English, rhythm, volume, pitch, and pausing; in ASL, rhythm, velocity, size, and pausing. Matching intent and incorporating non-verbal cues are named as well. Treat these as skill descriptions, not point weights; no topic carries a published percentage.
Scoring, results, and retakes
Trained raters score each scenario pass or fail against confidential rubrics; results take about ninety days, though recent delays have occurred.
Each vignette is scored against problem-specific rubrics that remain confidential, because releasing them would reveal the exam content. Up to three different raters may score a single vignette to protect accuracy and guard against bias. Your result is pass or fail only; the exam is not designed to rank candidates or work as a detailed diagnostic.
If you pass, your report simply says Pass. If you fail, you receive Areas of Improvement feedback selected from a fixed list, not your scores on individual scenarios. Results are estimated to arrive within ninety days of your exam date; CASLI's July 2026 update reported delays from high spring volume, with May 2026 results expected sometime in August.
If you fail, you can apply and pay for a retake after a six-month waiting period that begins on your original exam date, regardless of when your results arrived. Retakes are available only while your five-year testing cycle is still current.
Sources checked: Exam Results and Retakes — Center for Assessment of Sign Language Interpreters — Performance exam scoring, rubrics, results reporting, and retake policy; July 2026: CASLI Updates — Center for Assessment of Sign Language Interpreters — Performance exam result deployment and delay notice; For NIC Candidates — Center for Assessment of Sign Language Interpreters — Generalist exams overview and eligibility for the performance exam
What CASLI itself recommends for preparation
CASLI's preparation guide points to its content outline, the job task analyses, mentor feedback, deliberate practice, and the sample exam in the CASLI Exam System.
CASLI publishes a study checklist alongside its content outline. It suggests reviewing the content outline, reading the NIC and Deaf Interpreter Job Task Analyses for a fuller list of required knowledge, skills, and abilities, and honestly assessing your own strengths and weaknesses to focus development where it is needed.
The checklist also recommends working with an accomplished language or interpreting mentor, reviewing the recommended reading list, and building competence through deliberate practice. Treat the reading list as background, not a question bank: CASLI states the list is not comprehensive and that test items are not necessarily taken directly from those sources.
Inside the CASLI Exam System, use the Take a Sample Exam feature to learn the interface, instructions, navigation, and item layout before test day. One scope note: ethical decision making and cultural responsiveness are assessed in the case-studies portion of the knowledge exam. Cultural adaptation still appears among the performance skills, but the performance scenarios themselves test interpreting work.
Practice exercise: analyzing an English message first
This exercise builds the message-analysis habit that supports both interpretation directions; it cannot assess your ASL production.
Before interpreting any English source, skilled candidates identify what the message says and how it is packaged. Work through the short text below on paper: find the main point, list the facts that must survive intact, and describe the speaker's stance. This step trains comprehension only; recorded ASL practice and mentor feedback are still needed for production skills.
Practice exercise
Read this statement from a community center director: "Look, I'll be straight with you: the center can't run the Friday meals program past March unless we find two more volunteers. If we can't, we'll have to combine it with the Tuesday group at the library starting in April. I know some of you count on this every week, and I didn't want you hearing it secondhand." Identify the main point, every fact an accurate rendition must preserve, and what the speaker's tone contributes.
Show answer
Main point: the Friday meals program will end after March unless two more volunteers come forward, with a fallback of merging into the Tuesday group at the library in April. Facts to preserve: the Friday meals program, the need for two more volunteers, the March cutoff, the conditional move to the Tuesday group beginning in April, and the new location, the library. Tone: the director speaks candidly and personally. The direct address, the acknowledgment that people rely on the program, and the wish to prevent secondhand news all signal respect and accountability toward the audience. That stance is part of the message, not filler.
An accurate rendition carries both the content and the stance. Dropping the conditions, two volunteers, March, April, or the library, changes what listeners can act on, and flattening the candid tone replaces the director's message with a blander one. Practicing this analysis in English strengthens source-text processing for both exam directions, but it does not measure your ASL fluency; that requires signed production and feedback from a mentor or skilled colleague.
Pitfalls to check in your own preparation
Watch for read-only study, assumed mode rules, over-read feedback, and materials written for the retired exam.
Each of these traps comes from a real feature of this exam, so check your plan against all four before test day.
- Studying only by reading. This exam scores recorded interpreting, so every study week needs actual interpreted takes, not just review.
- Assuming a fixed mode per language direction. Each scenario may call for consecutive, simultaneous, sight translation, or a mix; follow the prompt.
- Treating Areas of Improvement feedback as a diagnosis. CASLI states it is a general indicator of where to improve, not a custom critique of your performance.
- Using retired-exam materials. The NIC Interview and Performance exam is retired; rely on current CASLI documents instead.
Sources checked: CASLI Generalist Exam Content Outline and Preparation Guide — Full eight-page document, including exam philosophy, content outline, performance exam skills, and study checklist; Exam Results and Retakes — Center for Assessment of Sign Language Interpreters — Performance exam scoring, rubrics, results reporting, and retake policy; For NIC Candidates — Center for Assessment of Sign Language Interpreters — Generalist exams overview and eligibility for the performance exam
Your next steps
Confirm your accounts, eligibility documents, and accommodations timeline, then build recorded interpreting practice into every study week.
Confirm these requirements before booking; accommodation requests and education verification need advance attention.
- Confirm you have a RID ID number and a CASLI Exam System account.
- Check your knowledge exam status: the Fundamentals pass is required, and your Case Studies result must be passed or scheduled with the performance exam.
- Submit your bachelor's transcript or approved Alternative Pathway verification to RID before requesting the exam.
- Submit any ADA accommodation requests at least 30 days before you schedule.
- Request the exam, purchase it, and book your appointment within one year of purchase.
- Run the sample exam in the CASLI Exam System before your appointment to learn the interface and item layout.
Sources checked: CASLI Generalist Exam Content Outline and Preparation Guide — Full eight-page document, including exam philosophy, content outline, performance exam skills, and study checklist; For NIC Candidates — Center for Assessment of Sign Language Interpreters — Generalist exams overview and eligibility for the performance exam; Available Certifications — Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc. — NIC certification process and educational requirement
Sources checked
Facts checked:
- CASLI Generalist Exam Content Outline and Preparation Guide
- For NIC 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