California Nurse Assistant Written (or Oral) Examination — knowledge portion of the competency evaluation — exam facts
California
Every source below was read on 2026-09-03
| Administering body | California Department of Public Health (CDPH), Healthcare Workforce Branch — exam delivered by three CDPH-approved testing vendors: D&SDT-Headmaster LLP, Credentia Nurse Aide LLC, and the Regional Testing Center California has no single CNA test vendor. Which examination a candidate sits depends on which vendor's event they schedule, and the vendors' examinations differ from one another. Source: CDPH — CNA Testing Vendors (2026-09-03) |
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| Questions | Not published by CDPH CDPH publishes no question count, and the two large approved vendors publish different ones: D&SDT-Headmaster's California handbook gives 75 multiple-choice questions with no scored/pretest split; Credentia's California handbook gives 70 multiple-choice questions, 60 of them scored. Neither is “the California CNA exam”. What we read and found nothing in: CDPH — CNA Testing Vendors (2026-09-03) · D&SDT-Headmaster — California Nurse Aide Candidate Handbook (March 2026, v9.0, PDF) (2026-09-03) · Credentia — Southern California Nurse Assistant Written (or Oral) Examination and Skills Evaluation Candidate Handbook (PDF) (2026-09-03) |
| Time limit | Not published by CDPH CDPH publishes no time limit, and the vendors differ by a factor of two: D&SDT-Headmaster allows 60 minutes for its knowledge exam; Credentia allows two hours for its written examination. What we read and found nothing in: CDPH — CNA Testing Vendors (2026-09-03) · D&SDT-Headmaster — California Nurse Aide Candidate Handbook (March 2026, v9.0, PDF) (2026-09-03) · Credentia — Southern California Nurse Assistant Written (or Oral) Examination and Skills Evaluation Candidate Handbook (PDF) (2026-09-03) |
| Passing score | Not published by CDPH CDPH publishes no cut score. D&SDT-Headmaster's handbook requires 75% or better on its knowledge portion. Credentia publishes no numeric cut score for its written or oral examination at all — four Credentia pages and handbooks were read and searched. What we read and found nothing in: CDPH — CNA Testing Vendors (2026-09-03) · D&SDT-Headmaster — California Nurse Aide Candidate Handbook (March 2026, v9.0, PDF) (2026-09-03) · Credentia — Southern California Nurse Assistant Written (or Oral) Examination and Skills Evaluation Candidate Handbook (PDF) (2026-09-03) |
| Fees | Not published by CDPH CDPH sets no fee. D&SDT-Headmaster charges $40 for the knowledge exam, $100 for the skills test and $140 for both, increased effective 1 March 2026. Credentia's published California fee tables are headed “for test dates starting on March 1st, 2022” and could not be confirmed as current, so no Credentia figure is stated. What we read and found nothing in: CDPH — CNA Testing Vendors (2026-09-03) · D&SDT-Headmaster — California Nurse Aide Candidate Handbook (March 2026, v9.0, PDF) (2026-09-03) · Credentia — Southern California Nurse Assistant Written (or Oral) Examination and Skills Evaluation Candidate Handbook (PDF) (2026-09-03) |
| Languages offered | Not published by CDPH CDPH publishes no language list. Neither large vendor offers a non-English form of the examination: D&SDT-Headmaster offers an audio version of the knowledge exam in English and permits word-for-word translation dictionaries; Credentia offers an English Oral Examination for candidates who have difficulty reading English. What we read and found nothing in: CDPH — CNA Testing Vendors (2026-09-03) · D&SDT-Headmaster — California Nurse Aide Candidate Handbook (March 2026, v9.0, PDF) (2026-09-03) · Credentia — Southern California Nurse Assistant Written (or Oral) Examination and Skills Evaluation Candidate Handbook (PDF) (2026-09-03) |
Change log
- 2026-09-03Fact sheet created. Five of the six rows are recorded as not published by CDPH, because California approves three testing vendors whose examinations differ; the vendors' own figures are named and attributed instead of being merged into one number.
- 2026-03-01D&SDT-Headmaster increased its California nurse aide testing fees; its March 2026 handbook (v9.0) carries the new figures.