1.1 Current Exam Facts

Why these facts matter

Colorado will not list you on the Colorado Nurse Aide Registry because you almost passed a practice test or because a classmate said the state still uses Prometric. You must pass the official Colorado National Nurse Aide Assessment Program (NNAAP) knowledge exam and the NNAAP Skills Evaluation. This section is the path document: who tests you, what the two parts look like, what they cost, and what "pass" actually means on the current Credentia Colorado handbook pages.

Third-party blogs still recycle Prometric, 60 questions, 90 minutes, 70 percent, $135, and 22 skills. Every one of those claims is either false for Colorado or unpublished in the current handbook. A wrong vendor wastes a week. A stale fee surprises you at checkout. A memorized 70 percent cut score is not something you can check, because Colorado posts pass or fail. If you study a 22-skill list and expect a remote skills test, you are studying the wrong handbook.

Later chapters teach infection control, ADLs, Colorado scope, and the 23 skills. This chapter answers the questions that keep you from paying twice: Who seats the exam? Written or oral? How many items? Online or in person? What does it cost? Where do results appear?

Definitions you will see on every form

• NNAAP: The National Nurse Aide Assessment Program — the competency exam Colorado uses for nurse aides.
• Credentia: The current testing company. Create the account at credentia.com/test-takers/co. Credentia is not Prometric.
• Colorado Board of Nursing / DPO: The Board, inside the Department of Regulatory Agencies, Division of Professions and Occupations, approves training programs and issues the certificate after you pass. It does not administer the test.
• Colorado Nurse Aide Registry: The official list of certified nurse aides. You must pass both exam parts before the Board can list you (the narrow federal 4-month SNF work rule is Chapter 2).
• Written exam: English multiple-choice knowledge test.
• Oral exam: Knowledge test with items read to you, plus reading-comprehension and word-recognition items. English or Spanish.
• Skills Evaluation: In-person performance test of five assigned skills.
• Pretest items: Unscored written questions mixed in so Credentia can try future items. You will not be told which ten they are.
• Credentia Platform: The online account where you apply, schedule, pay, and read pass/fail results.

Who administers the Colorado CNA exam

Credentia administers Colorado nurse aide testing. Bookmark the Colorado test-taker page and ignore search results that send you to Prometric, Pearson VUE, or a generic national CNA hotline. Those vendors may test other states or other credentials. They do not schedule a Colorado NNAAP seat.

The knowledge exam follows the 2024 NNAAP written outline (effective October 2024). Of the 60 scored items, Physical Care Skills is 64 percent (38 items), Psychosocial Care Skills is 10 percent (6 items), and Role of the Nurse Aide is 26 percent (16 items). You will study those domains in later chapters. You do not need the percentages to schedule, but you do need to know that the official scored exam is 60 items — not the size of any practice bank, and not the 70 items you will see on the screen.

/practice/co-cnaPractice questions with detailed explanations

Two parts — you must pass both

Colorado requires two exam parts:

1. A knowledge exam — either Written or Oral, not both at the same sitting.
2. A Skills Evaluation.

You must pass both parts to be eligible for listing on the Colorado Nurse Aide Registry. A written pass with a skills fail is not a CNA. A skills pass with a written fail is not a CNA. Chapter 2 covers attempts, retakes, and the 24-month clock.

Written examination (English)

The English Written exam presents 70 multiple-choice questions. Ten of those 70 are pretest (unscored) items. Sixty items are scored. Because the pretest items are unmarked, treat every question as if it counts.

Current Colorado handbook pages do not publish a written-exam minute limit. This guide will not invent 90 minutes. Older Credentia Colorado materials listed two hours. Your appointment confirmation and the current handbook are the documents that govern the clock on your test day. If a mobile app or another state's NNAAP page says 90 minutes, ignore it for Colorado.

Written may be taken at a test center or online with a live proctor (desktop, laptop, or Chromebook; single monitor; ExamRoom AI room scan).

Oral examination (English or Spanish)

Request the Oral exam at registration. You cannot convert a written seat to oral at the door.

The oral form includes:

• 60 multiple-choice knowledge items
• 10 reading-comprehension / word-recognition items

Those 10 reading items check whether you can read the kinds of words a nurse aide must read at work — short labels, simple instructions, common care words — not whether you can write an essay. Oral is offered in English or Spanish. Skills is also offered in English or Spanish; choose the language when you apply.

Oral may also be taken at a test center or online with a live proctor.

Skills Evaluation (in person only)

The Skills Evaluation assigns five skills at random from the 23 skills printed in the Colorado handbook. You have 30 minutes. The evaluator gives a 5-minute warning at 25 minutes.

Two rules make the "random" set less random than students expect:

• Hand Hygiene (Hand Washing) is always assigned.
• One of the other four skills is always a measurement skill. Measurement skills in the Colorado list are electronic blood pressure, weight of an ambulatory client, urinary output, radial pulse, and respirations.

You must perform all five assigned skills satisfactorily. Bold critical element steps must be correct, and you must complete enough of the remaining steps to meet Credentia's cut. Chapter 17 walks through critical elements and how to correct a step before you start the next skill.

Skills are in person. There is no live-proctor skills test. An "online CNA skills" video product does not replace Credentia.

Comparison: written, oral, and skills

Current Credentia Colorado fees

Fees are not refundable. A missed ID, a late arrival, or a no-show still spends the money. Sites that still quote $135 are out of date. First-time candidates who need both parts should budget $145, plus any single-part retest fee if they fail one part.

Results: pass/fail in the Platform

The current Colorado Credentia handbook does not publish a numeric passing percentage for the written or oral exam. Do not memorize 70 percent or 80 percent as the Colorado cut score. Results post as pass or fail in the Credentia Platform.

Credentia does not give scores by telephone and does not send your result to employers. You log into the Platform. After both parts are passed and Board application requirements are met, employers confirm you on the Board's license lookup — not by calling Credentia.

If a certificate is not issued within 15 days after you pass both parts, the handbook tells you to contact the Board at dora_nursingboard@state.co.us. Scoring rules, the three-attempt limit, and the 24-month clock are Chapter 2.

Colorado scenario

Maya finished an approved program in Lakewood and printed a 2023 blog: "Prometric, 60 questions, 90 minutes, pass at 70%, $135." Her instructor stopped her before she created the wrong vendor account. She went to credentia.com/test-takers/co, applied, and paid $145 for Written + Skills. She sat a 70-item English written exam (10 pretest unmarked) with online live proctoring, then an in-person skills test: hand hygiene plus four other skills, one of them a measurement, in 30 minutes. Two days later the Credentia Platform showed Pass on written and Pass on skills — no percentage, no phone call, and no letter to her future employer. The employer checked the Colorado registry after the Board issued the certificate.

Traps to leave at the door

• Prometric is not the Colorado vendor.
• 60 is the scored written count, not the number of items on the screen.
• 90 minutes is not a current Colorado handbook fact.
• 70% is not a published Colorado written cut score.
• $135 is a stale fee.
• 22 skills is stale; the handbook lists 23.
• Remote skills do not exist. Remote written/oral do.