Nurse aide (CNA)
How hard is the CNA exam?
Enter your practice score to see where you stand against our study target, then read what makes each part of the exam hard.
Is my practice score ready for exam day?
Chance to reach the study target on a full mock
26%
- Full mock
- 70 questions, 2 h
- Study target (ours)
- 56 right, 80%
- Expected right at your rate
- 53
The target is a study goal set by this site, not the official pass mark (Official pass mark: set by each state program (70% to 75% where a vendor publishes it)).
The CNA exam is not hard in the way a nursing board exam is: the content is the daily work of a nurse aide, taught in a training program of at least 75 hours. It is hard in other ways. The skills part is passed or failed on a checklist, and in most handbooks missing a single critical step, such as locking the wheelchair brakes, fails that skill however well the rest went; in the NNAAP format you perform 5 skills in 30 minutes with an evaluator watching. The written part, 70 questions in 2 hours in the NNAAP, asks for the best action among several reasonable ones and includes 10 unscored pretest items you cannot spot. Official pass mark: set by each state program (70% to 75% where a vendor publishes it). This site publishes no pass rate, because the national and state figures we could verify were not current enough to quote. What can be measured is your own readiness: practice scores by area, timed mocks and full skill runs without help.
CNA · practice
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| Study target: 4 of 5 (80%), not the official passing score |
Practice questions written by Radif Partners from the public outline; not questions from the real exam. Progress stays in this browser.
Questions, formats and fees by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method and sources
Where candidates lose points
Difficulty is not spread evenly across the exam. It sits in a few predictable places, and most of them have nothing to do with how much you know.
On the skills part
- A single forgotten step. The skill is scored on a checklist, and some steps decide it alone. Candidates who know the skill perfectly still fail it by forgetting to lock the bed, check the water temperature or leave the call light in reach.
- The clock. In the NNAAP you have 30 minutes for 5 skills, about 6 minutes each on average. A slow setup on the first skill steals time from the last one.
- The measurement. A pulse or urine reading outside the evaluator's tolerance fails the measurement skill, even if every step was right.
- Being watched. Performing for an evaluator feels nothing like performing in class with friends. Nerves make people skip steps they never skip at work.
On the written part
- Two good answers. Most questions offer more than one correct action and ask for the first or the best. Knowing the content is not enough; you must rank it.
- One small word. Not, except, first, most: missing one of them reverses the logic of the question.
- Reading load. 70 scenarios in a row tire readers who are not used to long tests in English. The oral version exists for this reason, and federal rules let you choose it (42 CFR 483.154).
- Neglected small areas. Spiritual and cultural needs, legal behavior and the care team carry few questions each, but together they can tip a close result.
Signals that you are ready
Instead of a pass rate, use evidence from your own practice. The readiness gauge above compares your practice score with our study target of 80%; that target is set by this site and is not the official standard, which is set by each state. The table lists the signals worth checking before you book.
| Signal | Ready | Not yet |
|---|---|---|
| Practice sets by area | Every area at 80% or more, twice | One area well below the others |
| Full timed mock | Two mocks at 80% or more | Running out of time, or one mock only |
| Hand hygiene | Ten clean runs, no step missed | Still checking the list |
| Random five-skill draw | Done in 30 minutes with a partner ticking | Skipped steps under the clock |
| Measurements | Your values match a partner's | Counts that differ by several beats |
If three of the five lines are in the ready column, book a date about two to three weeks out and use that time to move the other two. If fewer are, set a study plan first.
Questions a day to cover the bank
Questions a day
9
- Full mocks to plan
- 3, one a week
- Mock length
- 70 questions, 2 h
Volume worked out from a pool about 1.3 times the mock length; keep the last two days for review of mistakes only.
How the exam is made fair
Some of what makes the exam feel hard is what makes it fair. Skills are drawn at random, so nobody can prepare for only a few tasks. The written forms carry pretest items so that new questions are checked on real candidates before they count (Credentia). The content follows a published outline in force since October 1, 2024, so nothing on the test falls outside the listed areas. And federal rules require at least 3 chances to pass, which means a failed part is a delay, not the end.
Does the vendor change the difficulty?
The care content is the same everywhere, but forms are built differently. Headmaster states publish passing percentages, such as 74% in Michigan (Michigan handbook), while NNAAP states report pass or fail. Prometric forms are shorter, with fewer questions in less time. None of these makes one state easy and another hard. What changes your result is matching your practice to the format you will meet, which the state guide lays out.
Client rights: a quick test of judgment
The five questions loaded near the top of the page come from client rights, an area where the right answer often feels less helpful than a wrong one: letting a resident refuse, knocking and waiting, keeping information private. If you got them right, your judgment is tuned to how the exam thinks. If not, the practice sets by area and the full mock are the next step.