California CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) pass rate & how retakes work

Is there a published California CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) pass rate?

The CNA credential is issued state by state under the federal nurse-aide requirements, and each state contracts its own testing vendor — Credentia (NNAAP), Prometric, D&SDT-HEADMASTER and others. A number computed across all of them would be an average of different exams, different vendors and different skills lists, which is why you should distrust any single national "CNA pass rate" figure.

For California, we read CDPH's Certified Nurse Assistant page in September 2026. It publishes the certification requirements, the application and renewal forms, the approved training programs and the statute (Health and Safety Code §1337–1338.5) — and no exam statistics of any kind. We found no CDPH-published statewide pass rate. That is what we could verify; it is not a claim that CDPH holds no such data internally.

Some states do publish, and publish well. The Minnesota Department of Health posts quarterly and end-of-year nurse-aide test results for every approved training program, giving the number of candidates and the pass rate for both the knowledge test and the skills test. If you are testing outside California, your own state registry is the first place to look — it is far more likely to have a real number than any prep site.

What we read, and when we read it — checked by hand, not inferred from prep-industry write-ups: CDPH — Certified Nurse Assistant (California Department of Public Health) →Minnesota Department of Health — Nurse Aide Registry: Training Program Test Data (an example of a state that does publish) →

California CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) facts

How many times can you retake the California CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) exam?

There is generally no fixed lifetime cap. Here is how retakes work:

• •If you don't pass, you can retake the exam. Each attempt generally requires registering (and paying any exam fee) again.
• •The exam authority sets the retake policy, including any required waiting period between attempts. Confirm the exact wait on the official site before you rebook.
• •You can prepare between attempts with free practice — PrepPass has 200+ free California CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) practice questions with explanations.