2.1 Routine E1 Washington Program Route

What the E1 Route Means

The Washington State Board of Nursing (WABON) organizes nursing assistant candidates into nine eligibility routes, labeled E1 through E9. Route E1 is the most common and the most direct: a new nursing assistant who graduated an approved Washington traditional training program and has never been previously certified. If you enrolled in a Washington state-approved program with no prior nursing-assistant history, you are almost certainly an E1 candidate.

"Routine" does not mean automatic. E1 simply means your background fits the default path, so you do not have to file a separate Department of Health (DOH) Credentialing application to receive an Authorization to Test (ATT) the way E2-E5 and E7-E9 candidates do. Your training program is your gateway to testing. But you still must finish the program, apply for your Nursing Assistant Certified (NAC) credential during training, pass the skills test, and register for the knowledge test on time.

The Four-Part Traditional Program

A Washington traditional program is a full program that requires no prior training to enroll. The handbook describes four parts you complete in order:

Note what is not a single fixed number: total program length varies by school, because WABON approves programs that meet competency standards rather than a uniform statewide hour count for every track. (For comparison, the out-of-state equivalency standard is at least 50 hours of clinical training plus 35 hours of classroom training.) An E1 candidate should confirm their specific program's hours with the school, but should treat the 40-hour clinical minimum and the five-skill exam as fixed anchors.

The two alternative "bridge" programs - Home Care Aide (HCA) and Medical Assistant (MA) - are not E1; they map to route E6. E1 is the from-scratch traditional track only.

Two Separate Processes E1 Candidates Confuse

The single biggest E1 mistake is treating certification and the state exam as one application. They are two separate processes:

• Applying for NAC certification with DOH (done during training; produces your credential number).
• Applying for and registering for the state exam through your program (skills) and Credentia's CNA365 system (written/oral).

Your NAC credential number is required to register for the written portion, and it starts with NAC.NC. A frequent, costly error is entering the Nursing Assistant Registered (NAR) number instead - that mismatch can stall your credentialing for weeks. You can find your pending NAC number on the DOH Provider Credential Search. The NAC application fee is $85 for first-time applicants (plus a $2.50 service fee if you pay online by card).

The cleanest E1 strategy is one certification file holding: program completion, the NAC application, the skills-exam result, the Credentia written-exam registration, the $55 written/oral fee, and the credential number checked for accuracy. The path is direct, but completing training alone does not finish the job.

The E1 Exam Sequence and Timeline

Even though E1 is the routine route, the order of steps is fixed and skipping ahead causes delays. Washington's NAC exam has two parts, and the skills test always comes first. For E1 candidates, the skills test is built into the end of the training program: your program proctors it as the final part, using an RN evaluator who selects five skills from the 22 on the official list. You must complete all five within 30 minutes, and hand hygiene plus an indirect-care/measurement skill are essentially always included alongside three randomly drawn skills.

Only after you pass skills will your program authorize you to take the written (or oral) test through Credentia's CNA365 platform.

The written test has 70 multiple-choice questions with a two-hour time limit. An E1 candidate who reads English comfortably takes the standard written exam; the oral alternative exists but must be requested on the application and is meant for candidates who have difficulty reading English. A realistic E1 timeline looks like this:

1. Begin the traditional program and apply for the NAC credential early (the number takes time to issue).
2. Finish classroom, lab, and the 40-hour clinical.
3. Pass the program-proctored skills test.
4. Register and pay the $55 written fee on CNA365; schedule the written test (often available as soon as the next day online).
5. Pass the written test; results typically post within about 24 hours.
6. Apply to DOH so your name is forwarded to the OBRA registry and your NAC certification is finalized.

Missing the early credential-number step is the most common E1 stumble - it is the one task that cannot be rushed at the end. Treat every program notice, DOH email, and Credentia message as part of the same file, and the routine route stays genuinely routine.