- What "Passing Score" Actually Means for CHPNA
- How the 500-Point Scaled Score Is Calculated
- Exam Format: 110 Questions, 150 Minutes
- The Four Domains You're Actually Scored On
- What the 2025 Results Tell Future Candidates
- Test-Day Rules That Affect Your Score
- If You Don't Pass: The reTEST Assured Path
- Where to Put Your Study Hours, Domain by Domain
- FAQ
- You need a scaled score of 500 on a 200-800 scale, not a raw percentage.
- The exam has 110 questions - 100 scored, 10 unscored - in 2 hours 30 minutes.
- 2025 first-time candidates passed at 79.5%; overall pass rate was 82.5%.
- No reference materials are allowed during the exam - everything is memorized recall and applied judgment.
What "Passing Score" Actually Means for CHPNA
When candidates ask "what score do I need to pass the CHPNA exam," they're usually picturing a percentage - something like "you need 70% correct." That's not how the Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center (HPCC) reports results. To earn your Certified Hospice and Palliative Nursing Assistant credential, you need a scaled score of 500 on a 200-800 scale. This is a psychometric conversion, not a simple count of correct answers, and understanding that difference matters more than it sounds like it should.
A scaled score adjusts for the specific mix of questions you happened to receive. Because the exam draws from a bank of items with varying difficulty, two candidates who each answer, say, 68 questions correctly out of 100 scored items might receive slightly different scaled scores if one candidate's set of questions was statistically harder. This is standard practice for high-stakes certification exams administered through PSI, and it's designed to keep the pass standard fair across every testing window, not just consistent from one candidate to the next.
How the 500-Point Scaled Score Is Calculated
Of the 110 total questions on the CHPNA exam, only 100 are scored. The remaining 10 are unscored pretest items - new questions HPCC is evaluating for future exam forms. You will not be told which 10 questions are unscored, so every item deserves your full attention. This is a deliberate design choice used across many certification programs: it lets the credentialing body refresh and validate new content without disrupting the scoring pool candidates rely on.
Because you can't identify the unscored questions, there's no strategic advantage to skimming any section of the test. Treat all 110 questions with equal seriousness, pace yourself evenly, and don't burn excessive time trying to guess which items "don't count."
Key Takeaway
Don't try to game the unscored questions. You have no way to identify them, and doing so wastes mental energy better spent on content mastery.
If you want a deeper look at how difficult candidates generally find the content and pacing, the breakdown in How Hard Is the CHPNA Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 walks through where most test-takers report the exam feeling toughest.
Exam Format: 110 Questions, 150 Minutes
Knowing the mechanics of the test helps you manage the clock and your mental energy on exam day. The CHPNA exam consists of:
- 110 multiple-choice questions (100 scored, 10 unscored, unidentified)
- 2 hours and 30 minutes total testing time
- Four answer choices per question, with exactly one best answer
- Delivery via PSI, either at an approved test center or through live remote proctoring
That works out to roughly 1.4 minutes per question if you spread time evenly, though in practice most candidates move faster through straightforward recall items and slow down on scenario-based questions that require applying clinical judgment. Since the exam's cognitive-level distribution skews heavily toward application (roughly 80% application-style items versus 20% pure recall), expect more "what would you do in this situation" questions than simple definition-matching.
The Four Domains You're Actually Scored On
Your 500-point scaled score is built from performance across four content domains defined in the 2026 candidate handbook, which reflects the 2024 job analysis. Each domain represents a distinct slice of hospice and palliative nursing assistant practice, and questions from all four appear throughout the exam rather than in separate sections.
Domain 1: Patient Care: Activities of Daily Living
Covers hands-on personal care tasks performed under RN supervision for patients at end of life or with serious illness.
- Bathing, grooming, mobility assistance, and positioning for comfort
- Nutrition and hydration support appropriate to disease progression
- Recognizing when a change in ADL tolerance signals a status change
Domain 2: Patient Status and Environment
Focuses on observation, reporting, and maintaining a safe, comfortable care setting.
- Recognizing and reporting changes in vital signs, skin condition, or symptoms
- Infection control and safety practices in home or facility settings
- Environmental modifications that support comfort and dignity
Domain 3: Psychosocial/Spiritual Care of the Patient and Family/Caregivers
Tests understanding of the emotional and relational dimensions of hospice and palliative care.
- Supporting patients and families through grief, anxiety, and anticipatory loss
- Respecting diverse cultural and spiritual practices around dying
- Appropriate communication boundaries and when to involve the RN or care team
Domain 4: Professional Skills
Covers the role, scope, documentation, and teamwork obligations of the CHPNA.
- Scope-of-practice boundaries and RN supervision requirements
- Accurate, timely documentation and reporting protocols
- Ethical conduct, confidentiality, and interdisciplinary team communication
For a full walkthrough of each domain with more detail and sample question styles, see CHPNA Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 4 Content Areas. If you haven't yet mapped out a study plan around these four areas, the CHPNA Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt is a useful companion piece to this one.
What the 2025 Results Tell Future Candidates
Official 2025 data gives a realistic picture of where candidates stand. Among first-time candidates, 232 of 292 passed - a 79.5% first-attempt pass rate. Counting all candidates, including retakes, 316 of 383 passed, for an 82.5% overall pass rate.
| Metric | 2025 Result |
|---|---|
| First-time candidates passing | 232 of 292 (79.5%) |
| Overall candidates passing | 316 of 383 (82.5%) |
| Passing scaled score | 500 (on 200-800 scale) |
| Scored questions | 100 of 110 total |
These numbers suggest most well-prepared candidates do pass, but roughly one in five first-timers does not - which is a meaningful minority, not a rounding error. For more context on how these figures compare across years and what they imply about difficulty, read CHPNA Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows.
Test-Day Rules That Affect Your Score
A few procedural details directly influence your ability to hit 500:
- No reference materials of any kind are allowed - you can't bring notes, a phone, or printed guides into the test session, whether at a physical center or via live remote proctoring through PSI.
- Testing windows occur in March, June, September, and December, with online application deadlines of February 15, May 15, August 15, and November 15 respectively. Missing a deadline means waiting for the next quarterly window.
- Eligibility requires 500 hours of hospice and palliative nursing-assistant practice in the preceding 12 months, or 1,000 hours in the preceding 24 months, all under RN supervision in the United States.
Scheduling matters more than many candidates realize - if you apply late or misjudge your eligibility hours, you could lose an entire testing cycle. The full timeline is broken down in CHPNA Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling, and eligibility specifics are covered in CHPNA Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
If You Don't Pass: The reTEST Assured Path
Falling short of 500 isn't the end of the road, and it doesn't require starting the entire application process from scratch. HPCC's reTEST Assured program offers a discounted retake at $135, available within one of the next three testing windows following an unsuccessful attempt.
Practically, this means if you test in June and don't pass, you have through the following March window (September, December, or March) to retake at the reduced rate before that benefit expires. It's a meaningful discount compared to paying the full nonmember or member fee again, so if you don't pass on your first try, plan your retake within that window rather than letting it lapse.
Key Takeaway
If you fail, don't wait indefinitely. The reTEST Assured discount only applies within three testing windows - treat that as your retake deadline, not a suggestion.
Where to Put Your Study Hours, Domain by Domain
Rather than studying everything with equal intensity, allocate your remaining weeks before your testing window according to where the four domains demand the most application-level thinking - remember, roughly 80% of questions test application, not simple recall.
Domain 1 & 2: Hands-On Care and Status Monitoring
- Drill ADL support scenarios and mobility/positioning judgment calls
- Practice recognizing status changes that require RN notification
Domain 3: Psychosocial/Spiritual Care
- Review culturally varied approaches to grief and end-of-life ritual
- Practice scenario questions on family communication boundaries
Domain 4: Professional Skills
- Memorize scope-of-practice limits and documentation protocols
- Review ethical/confidentiality scenarios likely framed as "best action" items
Full-Length Practice Under Timed Conditions
- Take full 110-question timed practice sets to build pacing stamina
- Review missed items across all four domains, not just weak spots
Since the exam mixes domains throughout rather than grouping them into separate sections, your final week of prep should simulate that mixed format rather than drilling one domain at a time. Running full-length timed sets on our practice test platform is one of the more reliable ways to get comfortable with that blended structure before test day.
If you're still deciding whether the credential is worth the investment of hours and fees, Is the CHPNA Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 and CHPNA Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis cover the career side of that question. And once you're closer to test day, a fast-reference resource like the CHPNA Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts can help consolidate everything into a single review pass - you can also run practice questions anytime through the main practice test hub.
FAQ
HPCC does not publish a fixed raw-score-to-scaled-score conversion because the scaled score adjusts based on the difficulty of the specific 100 scored questions each candidate receives. There's no universal "answer X questions correctly" formula.
No. The 10 unscored pretest items are excluded from your scaled score calculation entirely. However, since you can't identify which questions are unscored during the exam, you should answer every question carefully.
There's no fixed number, since the passing standard is expressed as a 500 scaled score rather than a percentage of correct answers. Focus on broad mastery across all four domains instead of calculating an allowable miss count.
The reTEST Assured discount ($135) applies to one retake within the next three testing windows after a failed attempt. If you need additional attempts beyond that window, you would pay the standard member or nonmember fee again.
No. Reference materials of any kind are prohibited during the exam, whether you test at a physical PSI center or through live remote proctoring. All content must be memorized in advance.