RAS II Training

What "RAS II Training" Actually Means

Anyone searching for RAS II training should start with one clarifying fact: RAS II - the Advanced Registered Addiction Specialist, Level II credential issued through Breining Institute's RAS career track - is an advanced designation, not a standalone examination. If you already hold RAS status, upgrading to RAS II does not require retaking a new exam. The qualifying exam on the entire RAS career track is the Addiction Counselor Exam (ACE), and that is the exam that "RAS II training" ultimately prepares you for, whether you are entering the track for the first time or documenting the additional experience and education needed to move up.

This distinction matters because it changes how you should spend your preparation time. If you're new to the RAS track, your training plan needs to cover ACE content thoroughly. If you're an existing RAS holder pursuing the II upgrade, your "training" is really about assembling documentation of clinical hours and education, not cramming for a second test. For a full breakdown of what the credential itself represents, see our companion piece on What Is RAS II?, and for a plain-language explainer of the acronym, read RAS II Meaning.

Eligibility Routes and Required Training Hours

Before you build a study plan, confirm which eligibility route you're actually training toward. RAS II has three documented pathways, and each implies a different training emphasis:

• AA degree route: An associate degree in the healing arts/sciences plus three years of clinical experience.
• Education-hour route: 450 formal alcohol-and-other-drug education hours plus five years of clinical experience.
• Experience-heavy route: Seven years of clinical experience plus at least 155 formal education hours.

Compare this to entry-level RAS, which only requires 155 formal education hours and one year (2,000 hours) of clinical experience. The jump to RAS II is built almost entirely on additional documented clinical time and, in two of the three routes, substantially more formal coursework. Clinical experience must be documented - so part of your "training" at this stage is really recordkeeping: gathering supervisor letters, hour logs, and licensure verification well before you submit anything. For the full eligibility breakdown with source citations, see RAS II Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.

The ACE Exam: Your Actual Training Target

If you are entering the RAS career track and need to sit for the qualifying exam, your training target is the Addiction Counselor Exam (ACE). ACE is delivered online from your own device, which changes how you should rehearse: practice reading and answering questions on the same type of screen and setup you'll use on exam day, not just from a printed workbook.

Scheduling mechanics matter for your training calendar too. Requesting the exam requires a current candidate photo, and once you request it, you must take ACE within one month. If you need to reschedule, you must give at least 24 hours' notice. That one-month window means your training plan should be largely finished before you request the exam - don't request it and then try to cram a month of content review around a fixed deadline.

For a realistic sense of what the testing experience feels like and how challenging candidates find it, read How Hard Is the RAS II Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026. If you want to understand what score you're training toward, check RAS II Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass. And if timing your request against your calendar is a concern, review RAS II Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling before you finalize your study schedule.

Training on the 32 ACE Domains

ACE content is organized into 32 Breining content-area headings, and your training plan should be built around them directly rather than around generic "addiction counseling" review. Some domains are heavily clinical, some are administrative/ethical, and some address specific populations or disorders. A few examples of how to think about training for individual domains:

Other domains - Family Roles and Systems, Cultural and Lifestyle Differences / Special Populations, Gambling Disorders, Sexual Addiction, Codependency, Group Counseling, Adolescent Counseling, Relapse and Counselor Burn Out, and Prevention of Sexual Harassment among them - each represent a self-contained content area you should be able to summarize in your own words before test day. Treating all 32 as equally weighted in your study time (since Breining does not publish domain weighting) is the safest training assumption. For a full walkthrough of every domain with study emphasis notes, see RAS II Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 32 Content Areas.

Official Training Materials

Breining Institute points candidates toward a specific, fairly narrow set of preparation resources rather than a broad open market of study guides. Official ACE preparation uses:

• The Addiction Professional, fourth edition (2022) - the core reference text
• TAP 21 - the counselor competencies framework
• The MAT Counselor - medication-assisted treatment content
• Breining's tutorial videos - check the accompanying edition-update notes before relying on older video content

Because the tutorial videos come with edition-update notes, don't assume any older recording or PDF you find independently reflects current material - always cross-check against the notes tied to your edition of The Addiction Professional. Build your training folder around these four sources first, and only supplement with outside notes after you've worked through the official material at least once.

Building a Domain-by-Domain Training Timeline

A structured timeline works better than open-ended review, especially with 32 domains to cover. Rather than a generic weekly template, sequence your training around domain clusters so related material reinforces itself.

Notice that this timeline deliberately delays requesting the exam until after Weeks 7-8, respecting ACE's one-month testing window. If you want a more detailed week-by-week first-attempt strategy, see RAS II Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt.

Registration, Fees, and Scheduling Mechanics

Training plans should account for cost and logistics, not just content. Here is the current fee structure to budget around:

Because there are no ongoing membership dues, the USD 250 total is the full cost of getting qualified - a figure worth comparing against the renewal cost discussed later. For a complete pricing breakdown including renewal math, see RAS II Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown. If you're still deciding whether the credential justifies the investment relative to career outcomes, read Is the RAS II Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026.

Who Hires RAS II Credential Holders

RAS II sits above entry-level RAS specifically because it verifies deeper clinical experience - three to seven years depending on the route, plus formal education hours. That combination tends to matter to employers running outpatient treatment programs, residential facilities, EAP-affiliated services, and community prevention programs, where supervisors want documented evidence of both classroom-level training and sustained clinical hours, not just a passed exam.

Because RAS II requires an underlying recognized healthcare-professional license or certification as a prerequisite, it functions as a credential layered onto an existing clinical role rather than a first credential for someone with no healthcare background. That makes it most relevant to counselors, case managers, and clinicians who already hold a base license and want a documented specialization in addiction treatment. For more on how the credential is used and referenced professionally, see RAS II Certification and What Is RAS II Certification?. If you're mapping out career paths and job titles connected to this credential, browse RAS II Jobs.

Maintaining Your Credential: Renewal Training

Training doesn't stop once you pass ACE and qualify. RAS II renewal happens every two years and requires 30 continuing-education hours. On-time renewal costs USD 275, or USD 225 if you qualify for the continuing-education discount - meaning ongoing training that satisfies the CE requirement can directly reduce your renewal cost.

If you're already an RAS holder and become eligible for the RAS II upgrade during a renewal cycle, there is no additional upgrade fee for a qualifying upgrade - another reason to track your clinical hours and education continuously rather than scrambling near a renewal deadline.

Build your continuing-education selections around domains you found weakest during initial ACE preparation - Domain 27 (Relapse and Counselor Burn Out) and Domain 26 (Professional Growth for the Counselor) are natural fits for CE credit that also keeps your practice current.

Once you've built your training plan around the 32 ACE domains, official Breining materials, and the eligibility route that matches your background, the last step is practicing under realistic conditions. You can run through scenario-style questions modeled on ACE's structure using our practice test platform to check your readiness domain by domain before you request your exam date.

Frequently Asked Questions

Whatever eligibility route you're pursuing, treat RAS II training as two parallel tracks: mastering the 32 ACE content domains if you haven't yet passed the qualifying exam, and meticulously documenting your clinical hours and education if you're upgrading an existing RAS credential. For a condensed, exam-week reference covering the numbers and mechanics above, bookmark RAS II Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts, and use our practice exams to confirm your readiness before you request your official test date.