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Allied health certification

Certification exams for allied health roles.

5 published exams, administered by 4 separate bodies. Official exam lengths run from 70 to 120 questions. Time limits run from 1h 30m to 2h. 521 free practice questions are live across the family.

5
Exams
521
Free practice questions
5
Study guides
5
Cheat sheets

5 exams

Exams in Allied health certification

Most searched first.

Nurse aide, phlebotomy, EKG, opticianry: five exams, three kinds of gatekeeper

The five exams in this family are grouped because they lead to hands-on clinical support roles, but they answer to different authorities and that decides what you must do before you may sit them. The nurse aide exam is federal-state: federal regulations require a competency evaluation with a written or oral part and a skills demonstration, a pass on both places you on the state's nurse aide registry, and Credentia administers the NNAAP version many states use. The phlebotomy and EKG certifications are NHA credentials required by employers and some states, with eligibility resting on training or documented experience. The two opticianry exams belong to ABO-NCLE, require a high-school diploma or equivalent, and matter mostly in the states that license opticians on them.

Delivery follows the owner. NHA exams can be taken at your training school, at a PSI centre or by live remote proctoring, and are scored on a scale. ABO-NCLE exams are at Prometric centres or by remote proctoring. The nurse aide exam is scheduled through the state's contractor and has a physical skills component that cannot be taken remotely.

Renewal also follows the owner: NHA certifications renew on continuing-education credits, ABO-NCLE certifications on their own cycle, and nurse aide registry listings lapse if you do not work the qualifying hours the state sets.

Which page to open

Each page shows the eligibility rule, item count, time limit, fee and passing standard from the certifying body or federal rule.

I want to work as a nurse aide
CNA

Complete a state-approved training program, pass both the knowledge exam and the skills evaluation, and the state lists you on its registry. The knowledge part may be taken orally where the state allows it.

I draw blood
NHA Phlebotomy (CPT)

NHA's Certified Phlebotomy Technician. Eligibility through training or documented experience; exam at your school, a PSI centre or by remote proctoring; scaled passing score.

I run EKGs
NHA EKG (CET)

NHA's Certified EKG Technician, same delivery and scoring model as the CPT. NHA sets eligibility the same way it does for the CPT: a high-school diploma or equivalent plus either a training program or documented work experience.

I am an optician
ABO NOCE

ABO's National Opticianry Competency Examination: a diploma or equivalent to sit, criterion-referenced with the pass standard set by an expert panel, delivered at Prometric or remotely.

I fit contact lenses
NCLE CLRE

NCLE's Contact Lens Registry Examination, the companion credential, with the same eligibility and delivery.

The common shape

  1. 01Meet the eligibility rule of the owning body — training program completion for nurse aides, training or experience for NHA, a diploma for ABO-NCLE.
  2. 02Schedule with the body's testing partner and, for the nurse aide exam, book both the knowledge and skills components.
  3. 03Pass, then complete the registry listing or certification paperwork that makes the result usable, and keep it current on the body's renewal cycle.

Fee, format and passing standard

All 5 exams 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
CNA$0701h 30mPass/Fail (varies by state)NCSBN / Credentia
NHA Phlebotomy (CPT)—1202h390 (scaled, 200-500)NHA
NHA EKG (CET)$1171202h390 (scaled, 200-500)NHA
ABO NOCE$2251002hPass/Fail (criterion-referenced; passing score set via the Modified Angoff Method — no published scaled cut score)American Board of Opticianry (ABO-NCLE)
NCLE CLRE$2251002hCriterion-referenced exam; minimum passing score set via the Modified Angoff Method by a Subject Matter Expert panel (no published scaled cut score)American Board of Opticianry & National Contact Lens Examiners, Inc. (ABO-NCLE)

Who writes these exams

State nurse aide registries
Required by federal regulation; each state maintains its registry and chooses the competency evaluation program it accepts.
NHA and ABO-NCLE
Own the phlebotomy, EKG and opticianry exams, set eligibility and renewal, and choose delivery partners.

Official pages this section is drawn from

Allied health certification articles

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Pass-rate breakdowns and independent prep-course comparisons for allied health certification exams. Every figure links back to the body that publishes it.

Grounding

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 Allied health certification.

Last verified against these documents: