1.2 TCTCN Eligibility, Test-Day Logistics, Scoring & Renewal

Official Candidate Eligibility Requirements

ONCC enforces rigorous, verifiable clinical practice requirements to ensure that candidates possess the requisite baseline of bedside and ambulatory judgment. Before applying, every candidate must confirm they meet all four mandatory criteria:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     OFFICIAL TCTCN ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA                     │
├──────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 1. RN Licensure          │ Current, active, unencumbered license as an RN   │
│                          │ in the United States, its territories, or Canada.│
├──────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 2. RN Experience         │ Minimum of 24 months (2 years) of practice as an │
│                          │ RN within the 4 years prior to application.      │
├──────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 3. Specialized Practice  │ Minimum of 2,000 hours of hematopoietic stem     │
│    Hours                 │ cell transplantation or cellular therapy nursing │
│                          │ practice within the 4 years (48 months) prior.   │
├──────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 4. Specialty Continuing  │ Minimum of 10 contact hours of accredited        │
│    Education             │ nursing CE in HSCT or cellular therapy nursing,  │
│                          │ or an academic elective in that specialty,       │
│                          │ within the 3 years (36 months) prior. Up to 5 of │
│                          │ the 10 hours (50%) may be accredited CME or CPE. │
└──────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

> **The lookback-date trap:** three of the four criteria use a **4-year (48-month)** lookback, but the **continuing-education requirement uses a 3-year (36-month)** lookback. Exam items and real applications both exploit this mismatch. Joint Accreditation/Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) hours are accepted only when the certificate specifies hours awarded by **ANCC, ACCME, or ACPE**.

What Counts Toward the 2,000 Practice Hours?

Practice hours must represent specialized nursing judgment applied to hematopoietic cell transplant or cellular therapy populations. Qualifying roles and practice settings include:

• Inpatient adult or pediatric blood/marrow transplant and cellular therapy units.
• Outpatient cellular therapy, apheresis, and infusion clinics.
• Transplant coordination, search coordination, and cellular therapy navigation.
• Stem cell processing laboratories (nurse coordinator/quality roles).
• Clinical research nursing dedicated to HCT or immune effector cell trials.
• Inpatient oncology step-down/ICU units managing acute post-transplant/CAR-T emergencies.

Note on Audits: ONCC may audit applications and request supporting licensure, employment, job-description, or continuing-education documentation. Follow the deadline and document list in the individual audit request; the 2026 manual does not publish a universal 30-day submission rule.

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Examination Logistics, Delivery & Scoring Mechanics

Test-Center Administration (PSI Services)

Candidates receive an Authorization to Test (ATT) upon application approval, granting a 90-day testing window. The 2026 ONCC manual describes computer-based administration at PSI test centers and does not list live remote proctoring. Follow the ATT for approved-site and scheduling instructions.

Test Timing & Pacing

• Total session: 3 hours - but read ONCC's wording carefully. The three-hour session includes roughly 15 minutes for the computer-based testing tutorial before the exam and a post-test survey.
• Total questions: 165 multiple-choice items, each a question or incomplete statement followed by four options, only one of which is correct.
• Realistic pace: with about 165 minutes of actual testing time for 165 items, your working budget is almost exactly one minute per question. Candidates who plan around the headline "180 minutes for 165 questions" (about 65 seconds each) quietly overspend roughly five seconds per item and arrive at the last block behind schedule.
• There are no scheduled breaks. If you step out, the session timer keeps counting down, all security checks are repeated before you are readmitted, and a break longer than five minutes may trigger additional security procedures.

Scoring Methodology: Scaled Scores, Not Raw Percentages

ONCC expresses performance as a scaled score with a minimum of 25 and a maximum of 75, and the scaled score required to pass is 55. This standard applies to all ONCC examinations, not just TCTCN™.

• Your raw score (scored items answered correctly out of 125) is statistically converted onto the 25–75 scale. Because multiple forms exist with small differences in item difficulty, equating ensures that 55 represents the same standard of competence on every form.
• A scaled 55 is not "55% correct." Candidates routinely mis-translate the passing standard into a raw percentage and either panic or under-prepare. ONCC does not publish a raw-percentage cut-off.
• The 40 pretest items neither help nor hurt you, and cannot be identified during the test.
• Score reporting is asymmetric. Candidates who fail receive a numeric scaled score plus the score required to pass, along with a Performance Summary by subject area. Candidates who pass receive a "PASS" result and a Performance Summary but no numeric score - ONCC deliberately withholds it to prevent inappropriate comparison of scores. Results are available before you leave the test center.
• Passing candidates are mailed a personalized certificate 4–6 weeks after testing, and a digital badge invitation arrives a few weeks after passing.

Fees, Retakes & Testing Windows

Retake policy (read this precisely - it is not a simple "wait 90 days" rule). After a first or second failure, you may apply to retest immediately following the expiration of the current ATT, but you may not take the same examination more than once during a 90-day test eligibility period. After a third failure, you must wait one year before testing again if all three failures occurred within a three-year period; if the three failures were spread over more than three years, you may apply again immediately after the current ATT expires, still bounded by the once-per-90-day rule. Repeat candidates are not identified as such at the test center and are unlikely to receive the same form.

A Free Official Practice Test

ONCC publishes a free 50-question TCTCN™ practice test, with one additional practice test available for purchase. ONCC is careful to say these illustrate item style and are not study guides or substitutes for preparation - but they are the only items written by the organization that writes your exam, so treat them as a calibration tool rather than a content source.

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Certification Renewal & the ILNA Framework

TCTCN™ certification is valid for four years, and most nurses renew by professional development points rather than by re-examination. The mechanism is the Individual Learning Needs Assessment (ILNA), and it is widely misunderstood.

1. The ILNA is derived from a results report - it is not a course you sit. When you pass the certification test, your Results Report contains a Performance Summary by subject area that states the number of points you need for renewal and the specific subject areas in which those points must be earned. Renewing certificants may instead take the optional ONCC Assessment, whose on-screen results report performs the same function.
2. Points are subject-area specific. You must earn professional development points in each subject area flagged as requiring them, and the number required in a given area matches that area's weighting in the test content outline. Strong performance in an area reduces or eliminates its point requirement - which is the whole point of an individualized learning needs assessment.
3. The point range is 25 to 100. The maximum number of points required is 100; the minimum is 25. A certificant who is eligible to take the assessment but chooses not to may renew by submitting 100 points that exactly match the subject areas and weighting of the current test content outline.
4. Renewal also has a practice requirement. TCTCN™ renewal requires a minimum of 1,000 hours of HSCT or cellular therapy nursing practice within the 30 months prior to application - a different threshold from the 2,000-hour/48-month initial eligibility rule.
5. Re-examination remains an option. A certificant may renew by registering for and passing the TCTCN™ test before the credential expires, instead of (or combined with) submitting points.

Exam and career pearl: the initial certification requirement (2,000 hours in 48 months) and the renewal requirement (1,000 hours in 30 months) are different numbers on different clocks. Candidates who memorize only "2,000 hours" answer renewal questions incorrectly.