CNA Skills Test: Practice the Skills and the Written Exam

The CNA skills test is one of two required parts. Credentia’s North Carolina exam overview says you must pass a written or oral examination and a skills evaluation to be listed on the North Carolina Nurse Aide I Registry. The written exam has 70 multiple-choice questions, 60 of them scored and 10 pretest items that do not affect your score, and you have two hours. The skills evaluation is five randomly selected skills, and Hand Hygiene, also called Hand Washing, is always one of the five. Practice both halves with CNA skills test practice if you want daily questions and skill drills in the same place.

I am Chris Groves, a licensed nursing home administrator. I wrote the practice questions and the skill drills. They are original. They are not exam items. The counts and the clock in this note come from Credentia’s North Carolina exam overview. I am not stating a passing score or a fee, because that overview does not state them.

Independent study aid. Not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by NCSBN or Credentia. NNAAP® is a registered trademark of NCSBN; Credentia® is a trademark of Credentia Nurse Aide, LLC. Content is original practice material, not actual exam content. No guarantee of passing.

The written exam

Seventy multiple-choice questions in two hours is a steady pace, not a sprint. Sixty of those questions are scored. Ten are pretest items used to gather statistics, and the overview says they do not affect your score. You will not be shown which ten those are. Answer all seventy.

The overview says the questions cover a broad range of knowledge required for an entry-level nurse aide in a long-term care facility. The content basis it names is the 2019–2020 Job Analysis and Knowledge, Skill, and Ability Study of Nurse Aides, published by NCSBN in 2023. That is a job analysis, not a list of secret questions. Study the work: infection control, safety, communication, personal care, and the resident’s rights your class already taught.

An oral examination can replace the written exam if you request it when you apply. The overview gives it the same two hours. If you take the oral exam online, a wired headset is required. The oral exam has two parts. The first is 60 multiple-choice questions, each read twice, and you mark an answer sheet. The second is 10 multiple-choice questions on common long-term care words. Each word is read three times, and you match the spoken word to the written word. Both oral parts have to be passed. Choosing the oral exam is not a way to skip a part.

The skills evaluation

You perform five skills. They are randomly selected. Hand washing is one of them every time, so it is the skill to practice until you can do it without narrating it to yourself. The other four can change from one candidate to the next. A practice plan that drills only the skills you hope to draw is a plan that skips the random draw.

A Nurse Aide Evaluator scores the skills. The overview says the evaluator has limited interaction with you and is not permitted to answer questions while you perform a skill. This is a standardized assessment. Ask your questions before the skill starts, not in the middle of a step. The evaluation is meant to reflect situations in a long-term care facility. Perform the skill the way you were taught, in order, including the steps that feel small.

CNA Ready includes 23 skill drills and skill videos you can watch without paying. Twenty-three is the size of that practice list. It is not a number I am attributing to the North Carolina overview. The overview’s number for test day is five skills, with hand washing included. Use the longer drill list so the random four are skills you have already done with your hands, not skills you have only read.

How to practice the skills and the written exam together

• Wash your hands on a real sink, on a timer, and correct the step you skip. Do this even on days you only had time for written questions.
• Speak each skill out loud once, then do it silently. On test day the evaluator is not your prompter.
• Answer written questions in sets of 60 so the scored length feels familiar, then add ten more so the full 70 is familiar too.
• If you requested the oral exam, practice hearing a question twice and answering from the audio, not from rereading a screen.
• After a miss, write the step or the fact you lost. The next five free questions should touch that miss.

The overview says candidates get an exit survey after written and skills testing. The survey is anonymous, it does not affect the result, and you have 30 days to complete it. Filling it out is optional feedback. It is not a way to change a score.

Nothing in a practice app lists you on the registry. You are listed after you pass both parts. Schedule through the process Credentia gives you when you apply. Bring what that process tells you to bring. I am not going to add an identification rule or a fee that the overview does not print.

A daily practice set

CNA Ready has 263 original practice questions, a 60-question practice exam, 23 skill drills, and free skill videos. Pro is $9.99 once. Five questions a day are free. The shop page for the CNA skills test and the written exam is where the buttons live. Use the drills for your hands and the questions for the two-hour written half. Then go take the real exam through Credentia.

Independent study aid. Not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by NCSBN or Credentia. NNAAP® is a registered trademark of NCSBN; Credentia® is a trademark of Credentia Nurse Aide, LLC. Content is original practice material, not actual exam content. No guarantee of passing.

Sources

• Credentia North Carolina exam overview: written exam, oral exam, and five skills

Questions

CNA Ready is my practice set for the written questions and the skills. Five questions are free each day. Try 5 free questions a day

CNA Ready practice

Talk with Chris or call (828) 490-9271.