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Healthcare & Nursing

Nursing licensure and healthcare certification exams.

16 exams · 2,139 free practice questions · Verified against official sources October 1, 2026

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Exams
16
Exam families
7
Free practice questions
2,139
Study guides
16
Cheat sheets
16

Which exam are you taking?

Exams are grouped with their close relatives — the other tiers of the same licence, the same exam in other states. Open a group to see each exam with its free practice questions, study guide and cheat sheet.

Which healthcare exam is the one your job requires?

Healthcare exams split into two kinds, and knowing which kind you face changes everything about how you approach it. Licensure exams are required by law before you may practise: the NCLEX for nurses, the nurse aide competency exam that puts a CNA on the state registry, the NREMT exam that most states require for EMT licensure. Certification exams are set by professional bodies and required by employers rather than by statute: medical assisting, phlebotomy, EKG, billing and coding, pharmacy technician, dental assisting, sterile processing. A licensure exam has one gatekeeper — your state board. A certification exam has a certifying body whose eligibility rules you must meet before it lets you register.

Eligibility is where candidates most often stall. The NCLEX needs an authorization from a state board of nursing, which comes only after you have graduated from an approved program. The CMA (AAMA) requires graduation from a medical-assisting program accredited by CAAHEP or ABHES, while NHA's CCMA and CBCS accept a high-school diploma plus training or work experience. The CRCST lets you sit the exam before finishing the required hands-on hours as long as you document them within a set period after passing. Read the eligibility rule on the exam page before you buy a study plan.

Delivery is mostly through two testing companies. Pearson VUE runs the NCLEX, the NREMT exam and the PTCB exam, the last at test centres only; PSI delivers the AAMA, NHA and several state exams at centres and by online proctoring; Prometric handles opticianry and sterile processing. Adaptive exams — the NCLEX and NREMT — change length with your answers and end when the algorithm is confident, so they have a range of items rather than a fixed count.

Find your role

Links go to the exam guide, where the item range, time limit, fee and passing standard are verified against the board or certifying body's own page.

I am finishing a registered nursing program
NCLEX-RN

The NCLEX-RN, written by NCSBN and required by every U.S. board of nursing. Computerized adaptive: the item count varies inside a maximum time. You register with Pearson VUE, but the board must authorise you to test first, and a candidate who fails waits out an NCSBN retake period before trying again.

I am finishing a practical or vocational nursing program
NCLEX-PN

The NCLEX-PN, the same adaptive format and the same board-authorisation route, testing the LPN/LVN scope. The current test plan took effect in April 2026; the exam guide follows it.

I want to work as a nurse aide in a nursing home
CNA

Federal rules require a competency evaluation with both a written (or oral) exam and a skills demonstration, and a pass on both puts you on the state nurse-aide registry. Credentia administers the NNAAP version used by many states; your state's registry decides which program it accepts.

I want to be an EMT
NREMT EMT

Complete a state-approved EMT course that meets the National EMS Education Standards, then sit the NREMT cognitive exam — adaptive, through Pearson VUE at a centre or by online proctoring — and the psychomotor exam your state requires. Most states license on the NREMT result.

I will work in a pharmacy
PTCB (CPhT)

The PTCB's CPhT, delivered by Pearson VUE at test centres only. Most states require or recognise it for pharmacy technician registration.

I want a medical assistant credential
CCMA (NHA)CMA (AAMA)CBCS (NHA)CPC

Four routes with different gates. CMA (AAMA) requires graduation from a CAAHEP- or ABHES-accredited program and is scheduled through PSI after AAMA approves your application. NHA's CCMA and CBCS accept a diploma plus training or experience. AAPC's CPC is the coding credential: open book with approved code books, and an AAPC membership keeps it active.

I do phlebotomy or EKG
NHA Phlebotomy (CPT)NHA EKG (CET)

NHA certifications taken at your school, a PSI centre or by live remote proctoring, with a scaled passing score. Eligibility rests on training or documented experience; the NHA candidate handbook is the rule book.

I am a dental assistant
DANB CDACalifornia RDA

DANB's CDA is the national certification most states recognise for expanded functions. California licenses its own Registered Dental Assistant through the Dental Board, with a combined written and law-and-ethics exam.

I am an optician or contact lens fitter
ABO NOCENCLE CLRE

ABO-NCLE's two basic exams, each requiring a high-school diploma or equivalent and delivered at Prometric centres or by remote proctoring. Some states license opticians on these; others do not license the occupation at all.

I work in sterile processing
CRCST

HSPA's CRCST, computer-based at Prometric centres. You may test before completing the required hands-on hours and submit them within a set period after passing to convert the provisional result.

The order, whichever exam it is

  1. 01Confirm eligibility with the body that owns the exam: a state board for licensure exams, the certifying organisation for certification exams. Program accreditation is the usual sticking point — check it before enrolling, not after.
  2. 02Finish the education or experience the rule requires, and where the state must authorise you to test, wait for that authorisation before booking.
  3. 03Register with the testing company the body uses — Pearson VUE, PSI or Prometric — and note whether online proctoring is allowed; several of these exams are test-centre only.
  4. 04After passing, complete the step that makes it count: registry listing for nurse aides, state licensure for nurses and EMTs, and for certifications the membership or renewal cycle the body requires to keep the credential active.

Fee, format and passing standard

The 12 exams asked about most, of 16 on this page. Each figure is that exam's verified fact, cited to the regulator's page on the exam guide it links to. A blank cell means the regulator publishes no fixed figure.

ExamFeeQuestionsTimePassingWritten by
NCLEX-RN$200—5hPass/FailNCSBN
NCLEX-PN$2001505hPass/Fail (CAT, 85-150 items)NCSBN
CNA$0701h 30mPass/Fail (varies by state)NCSBN / Credentia
NREMT EMT$1041202hPass/Fail (CAT, scaled 950/100-1500)NREMT
PTCB (CPhT)$129901h 50m1400 (scaled, 1000-1600)PTCB
CCMA (NHA)$1651503h390 (scaled, 200-500)NHA
CMA (AAMA)$2502002h 40m405 (scaled)AAMA
CPC$4251004h70%AAPC
CBCS (NHA)$1291253h390 (scaled, 200-500)NHA
NHA Phlebotomy (CPT)—1202h390 (scaled, 200-500)NHA
DANB CDA$4502453h 15m—Dental Assisting National Board (DANB)
CRCST$1401503h—Healthcare Sterile Processing Association (HSPA)

Who writes these exams

State boards of nursing and state EMS offices
License the practitioner. Boards authorise NCLEX candidates and hold the nurse-aide registry; EMS offices license EMTs, most on the NREMT result.
NCSBN
The National Council of State Boards of Nursing writes the NCLEX-RN and NCLEX-PN and the NNAAP nurse-aide exam, sets the test plans and the retake rules.
Certifying bodies
AAMA, NHA, AAPC, PTCB, NREMT, DANB, ABO-NCLE and HSPA each own one or more exams, set eligibility and recertification rules, and choose the testing company that delivers them.

Official pages this section is drawn from

Healthcare & Nursing articles

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Pass-rate breakdowns and independent prep-course comparisons for healthcare & nursing exams. Every figure links back to the body that publishes it.

Frequently asked questions

Which healthcare exams can I practice here?

Nursing (NCLEX-RN and NCLEX-PN), CNA, emergency medical (EMT), medical assisting, pharmacy tech, sterile processing, dental assisting, and allied health certifications — each with a free practice test, study guide, and cheat sheet.

Are these real exam questions?

No — every question is original, written to the official exam blueprint of each credential. That is what keeps them legal to publish and safe to study from, and each explanation cites the rule or guideline behind the answer.

How much does the NCLEX cost?

NCLEX registration is $200 in the U.S. through Pearson VUE. Other healthcare certifications set their own fees, and each exam page here lists its current fee with the official source linked.

Where should I start studying?

Take a short practice set for your exam first — the score report shows your weakest categories, and the study guide and cheat sheet are organized around the same blueprint sections, so you can go straight to what you missed.

Official sources

Every exam number on this page traces to a document published by the body that sets or administers the exam. These are the primary publishers cited across Healthcare & Nursing.

Last verified against these documents:

What you'll find on every Healthcare & Nursing exam

Each exam has up to four pages, one per job to be done: practice the questions, understand the exam, study the outline, or revise the morning of. Flashcards and glossary terms sit inside the study guide rather than on pages of their own.

Practice tests16
Free question banks with a worked explanation on every answer.
Exam guides16
Cost, format, eligibility and difficulty, straight from the official outline.
Study guides16
Full outline coverage, plus the exam's flashcards and glossary terms.
Cheat sheets16
One-page summaries built for the last review, with a PDF download.