FREE Tennessee CNA Exam Guide 2026: Credentia Test, Fees & Skills

Tennessee CNA Exam 2026: What to Do After the Credentia Switch

Tennessee now uses Credentia for nurse aide testing and registry services. The Tennessee Health Facilities Commission (HFC) made the change effective June 1, 2026. If an older guide sends you to D&S/Headmaster or TMU, use the current Tennessee Credentia portal and its candidate handbook instead.

For the current Tennessee NNAAP exam, Credentia describes a 75-question knowledge or oral test in two hours, plus five hands-on skills in 30 minutes. Its fee page lists $35 for knowledge or oral and $87 for skills, totaling $122 when both are scheduled. A knowledge score of at least 75% and satisfactory performance on all five skills are required. The skills standard is not a blanket "80% per skill": every bold critical step must be correct, and enough other steps must meet that skill's cut score. See the exam overview, skills evaluation, and fee schedule.

These are exam specifications, not counts of OpenExamPrep practice items. Our free Tennessee CNA practice page offers 200 Tennessee-specific questions plus 298 inherited national CNA questions, for 498 practice items as of this update. Credentia's published knowledge-exam description says 75. Our independently written questions are not official exam items.

Choose the right eligibility route before scheduling

Credentia's Tennessee eligibility page separates candidates into three routes. E1, new nurse aide: complete an HFC-approved training program within the last 24 months and pass the knowledge/oral and skills portions. E2, challenge: submit a state-reviewed application and documentation before testing; a challenge is not automatic permission to skip training. HFC says an LPN or RN student may request this route with transcripts showing basic nursing fundamentals and skills. A military-trained medic may submit a DD-214 plus classroom and clinical documentation. E3, reciprocity: an eligible aide active and in good standing on another state's registry applies without the Tennessee test. Tennessee does not accept Florida-issued nurse aide certification for reciprocity. Use the HFC nurse aide page for the state rules and the Credentia portal for the application.

For E1, verify that the program is HFC-approved before enrolling. The federal training rule, 42 CFR 483.152, sets a minimum of 75 total training hours, including at least 16 hours of supervised practical training. It also requires 16 hours of specified topics before direct resident contact. The 16 practical hours are part of the 75 total, not an extra 16 hours added to it. Programs may exceed these floors; compare your program's actual schedule and HFC approval rather than assuming every school has the same length or price. HFC provides an approved-program lookup.

If a nursing facility employs you or has offered you a job when you begin a qualifying program, federal rules prohibit charging you for that program. If you are hired or offered employment by a facility within 12 months after completion, the rule provides for eligible training-cost reimbursement on a pro-rata basis. Credentia's Tennessee fee page explains the facility testing-payment rules and its reimbursement procedure. Ask the employer or training program how payment will be handled before paying out of pocket.

Register and pay through today's portal

Your approved training program enters a new graduate's information into the Credentia platform; you receive an email to verify the account and application. Challenge and reciprocity applicants create their own applications and upload the requested documents. After the route is approved, use the Tennessee Credentia portal to schedule the applicable exams. Credentia's registration guidance says test-center reservations must be made at least ten calendar days in advance; online knowledge/oral appointments may be available sooner, depending on availability. The skills evaluation is in person. Check the selected test event before making travel plans.

Credentia says candidates pay for both components when scheduling, and fees are nonrefundable. A candidate who already passed one part generally retakes the failed part, subject to eligibility and attempt limits; check the current account balance and authorization. Avoid old articles showing D&S/TMU's $30/$60/$90 schedule. Credentia's published fees control for current appointments.

Knowledge exam: the nine current content areas

The Credentia overview and knowledge page describe 75 multiple-choice questions and two hours for written and oral versions. Credentia lists 75% as the knowledge passing standard. The April 2024 NNAAP content outline gives these percentages:

These nine weights total 100%; Basic Nursing Skills and Activities of Daily Living together account for 57%. Use them to prioritize study, but do not calculate a promised number of scored questions for each row.

A source conflict affects the pretest count. The current Credentia overview says the 75-question test has ten unscored experimental items intermingled; its content-outline page describes 75 items with ten added pretest items. Both pages remain live. This guide uses the two official format pages' published 75-question, two-hour description and does not infer either 65 scored or 85 total items, or convert 75% into a raw number correct. If you need the scored-item denominator for an accommodation or planning decision, ask Credentia to clarify your administration.

For practice, work through short mixed sets and explain why an option is safer or within the aide's role. Example: a resident wants to decline a bath. The useful decision is to respect the choice, ensure immediate safety, and report/document through facility procedure; "complete the bath anyway" conflicts with resident rights. For a change in breathing, document what you observed and promptly report it to the licensed nurse rather than diagnose or change treatment on your own. These are study examples, not recalled live test questions.

Skills evaluation: rehearse the exact process

Credentia's skills evaluation rules say hand hygiene is always one of the five skills. Four others are randomly selected, and one of those four includes a measurement such as blood pressure, radial pulse, respirations, or urinary output. You receive an instruction card with the order to perform them. The RN nurse aide evaluator allows 30 minutes total, with a five-minute warning after 25 minutes.

Each skill has bold Critical Element Steps and a skill-specific cut score for the remaining steps. You must meet both conditions for each skill and earn Satisfactory on all five. It is wrong to treat one universal 80% as the skills rule. Practice from the exact steps in the current Tennessee candidate handbook; an old Headmaster checklist can differ. The evaluator may permit you to identify and correct a step before you move to the next skill, with important exceptions for glove use and order-dependent steps. Once you begin a new skill, you cannot go back to correct the prior one.

A useful rehearsal uses a partner and a 30-minute timer. Draw four tasks from the current handbook plus hand hygiene, put one measurement in the set, and follow an instruction-card order. Have the partner mark critical elements and other scored steps separately. Perform actions rather than merely narrating them. Credentia allows the first required handwash at running water; after that, the evaluator tells you when to verbalize handwashing during later skills. Other actions still must be demonstrated. Record the measurement with its correct unit/value on a mock tablet or paper and check it against the handbook's tolerance before you stop. This rehearsal tests sequence and safe care, not just memorization.

For example, after a transfer practice, ask: Was the wheelchair secured before the movement? Did the client have appropriate support and a reachable call signal when you left? If a step was missed, restart that exact sequence under timed conditions. The answer depends on the specific assigned skill's wording, so use the current handbook as the scoring checklist rather than treating any universal list as an automatic-fail rule.

Test day, results, and attempts

Credentia's identification policy requires two original, unexpired forms of identification at the test site: one qualifying photo ID and the Social Security card, with names matching the application. Digital copies and photocopies are not accepted; the Social Security card must not be laminated. Its skills instructions require full clinical attire and clinical shoes, short clean nails, and long hair pulled back; connected watches and similar devices are prohibited. Check your appointment confirmation for location and arrival details.

Credentia posts score reports to the online account, typically within 24 hours after the testing event. A failed skills report marks each skill Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory and identifies missed steps, giving you a specific practice list. Once both components pass, Credentia says it emails confirmation of Tennessee Nurse Aide Registry placement. Read the results rules before interpreting a screen message as final certification.

For E1 new graduates, Credentia allows three knowledge and three skills attempts within two years of training completion. If either component is failed for the third time, the handbook says to complete another training program and retake both parts. A candidate who reaches the two-year deadline without passing both must also retrain. Scheduled absences can affect the permitted sequence, so review the account and handbook before assuming a missed appointment is harmless. Approved E2 challengers have their own state-reviewed eligibility and the same three-attempt/two-year limits described by Credentia.

Registry renewal and reciprocity are separate decisions

After certification, Tennessee requires renewal every 24 months, with documentation of at least eight hours of qualifying paid nurse aide work in a licensed or certified health care facility during the preceding 24 months. HFC excludes private-duty, sitter, companion, and private physician-office work for renewal. Submit a renewal application and the required pay stub, payroll record, or notarized employment attestation through the current Credentia Tennessee portal; renewal is not automatic. HFC's instructions list the record details. A lapsed record may require a separate reinstatement review and additional proof; do not assume every lapse requires immediate full retraining.

The sources disagree on one detail: Credentia's registry handbook says the eight hours need not be consecutive, while its Tennessee portal says one eight-hour consecutive day. HFC states the eight-hour/24-month requirement without resolving that difference. If your hours are split across shifts, ask Credentia which documentation it will accept before relying on them for renewal.

For an aide active on another state's registry, E3 reciprocity is an application and verification route, not the normal two-part exam. Credentia checks status and abuse-registry records; Tennessee excludes Florida-issued nurse aide certifications from reciprocity. Apply and follow the current instructions on Credentia's Tennessee portal and HFC's nurse aide page. Do not use an old TMU application, fixed $20 processing fee, or guaranteed two-to-four-week timeline from pre-transition posts.

A short practice plan after training

This is an editorial review sequence, not an additional state training requirement. Start by checking your route and scheduling deadline. Take a mixed free Tennessee CNA practice set, then mark misses against the nine Credentia content areas. Spend a second pass on the two largest areas - Basic Nursing Skills and Activities of Daily Living - while continuing smaller rights, communication, and ethics cases. Finally, perform timed skill sets from the current handbook with a partner; work specifically on critical steps and the measurement skill. A knowledge practice score alone cannot prove hands-on readiness.

The practice page combines 200 Tennessee-specific questions and 298 national CNA questions, with explanations for review. These 498 practice items are separate from the official 75-question exam description and are not live Credentia items. For structured reading, use our general CNA study guide, then check Tennessee-specific testing and registry rules in current HFC and Credentia materials.

Your next step: open the current Tennessee Credentia page, confirm whether you are E1, E2, or E3, and download the live skill steps. That decision determines whether you need training documentation, state challenge approval, or a reciprocity application - and prevents an obsolete vendor guide from sending you to the wrong portal.