CCRN Retake Policy 2026: Four Goes a Year, No Lifetime Cap
No lifetime cap, no mandatory wait, and a genuinely cheaper retest. Among professional exams that combination is rare - here is the fine print.
- 4Attempts / year
- NoneLifetime cap
- NoneWait between
- $185 memberRetake fee
- Raw cut scorePass mark
Table of Contents
The rules, exactly
CCRN is the most forgiving retake policy in this series and it is worth knowing why before you panic. AACN sets no lifetime cap, publishes no mandatory waiting period, and charges a genuinely discounted retest fee. The only real limit is four attempts at the same exam in a rolling twelve-month period. What gates you in practice is not time - it is paperwork and the eligibility window.
| Rule | What AACN says |
|---|---|
| Attempts per year | Up to four at the same exam in a rolling twelve-month period. After twelve months you sign a new honour statement. |
| Lifetime limit | None published. |
| Waiting period | None published. The gate is process rather than time: submit a retest application, pay, and receive a new eligibility window. |
| Retake fee | Discounted. $185 for AACN members and $290 for non-members, against $260 and $375 for a first attempt. |
| Eligibility window | Normally 90 days to schedule and sit, though the current handbook states a 180-day window. Extensions cost $100 and must be requested before it expires. |
| Missed appointments | Treated harshly: no refunds and no extensions, and reactivating an application costs a fee equivalent to the retest. |
| Renewal trap | If you sit the exam to renew and fail, you cannot fall back on renewing by CE points. You must meet initial eligibility and reapply. |
How many goes you actually get
No wall at the end of this one. What the track really shows for CCRN is the discount: the first box costs full price and every box after it costs substantially less, which is the opposite of most exams here.
- Attempt 1$260 / $375
- No wait
- Attempt 2$185 / $290
- No wait
- Attempt 3$185 / $290
- No wait
- Attempt 4$185 / $290
- No capon lifetime attempts
No lifetime cap and no mandatory wait - but only four attempts at the same exam in any rolling twelve months.
What your score report is telling you
AACN gives a preliminary result on screen and emails a detailed report within a day or two. It is more useful than most, but the thing to understand first is that the pass mark is not a percentage.
- CardiovascularWeak
- PulmonaryAdequate
- Neurology and multisystemMixed
- Endocrine, haematology, GI, renalWeak
- Professional caring and ethical practiceStrong
AACN warns explicitly that a strong showing in some areas does not rescue you: the exam measures the whole domain and the total governs. The cut score is set by a standard-setting panel and is a raw number that can shift between forms, which is why no percentage is published and why chasing a target percentage is a mistake.
What to change before the next attempt
With no lifetime cap and no wait, the temptation is to rebook immediately. Resist it for as long as it takes to read the content-area breakdown, because a fast retake with the same preparation is the most expensive way to use a discounted fee.
Change this
- Work the two weakest content areas from the report, not the whole blueprint again.
- Shift from reading to answering scenario questions under time. The exam is applied rather than recall-based.
- If your weak areas are spread evenly, the problem is more likely pace or stamina than content - practise full-length.
- Book the retest only once you have a plan for the eligibility window, because a missed appointment costs a full retest fee.
Do not change this
- Your AACN membership. At $78 it already pays for itself on a single retest, let alone the exam.
- Your clinical hours and eligibility - a retake does not re-open them.
- The content areas the report shows as strong. Re-covering them is the most common way candidates waste the gap.
- The same testing modality, centre or remote, that you were comfortable with.
What a retake really costs
This is the one exam in the series where a retake is meaningfully cheaper than the first attempt, and where membership arithmetic actually matters.
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| First attempt | $260 for AACN members, $375 for non-members |
| Retest | $185 for members, $290 for non-members |
| AACN membership | $78 a year - member exam plus membership still beats the non-member fee |
| Eligibility extension | $100, and only if requested before the window expires |
| Missed appointment | No refund, and reactivation costs a fee equivalent to the retest |
| Member first attempt plus one retest | $445, plus $78 if you are joining |
If you are not already a member, join before you book. Membership at $78 plus the member exam fee of $260 comes to $338 against a $375 non-member fee - you save money on the first attempt and far more on any retest.
The rules with no exceptions
Do not get caught by these
- Four attempts per rolling twelve months, counted from each attempt rather than by calendar year.
- The eligibility window does not forgive. No refunds and no extensions for a missed appointment, and an extension must be requested before the window closes.
- Applications over a year old cannot be reactivated. You start again with a new application.
- Renewing by exam is one-way. Fail it and you cannot switch back to renewing by CE points; you must meet initial eligibility and reapply.
The absence of a lifetime cap makes this the least frightening retake in the series, and that is genuinely worth knowing when you have just failed. But it also removes the forcing function that makes candidates change their approach. The discount is there to make a second, better-prepared attempt affordable - not to make a fast identical one cheap.
The gap between attempts is question volume
Candidates who pass on a retake are almost always the ones who answered a lot more unfamiliar questions, not the ones who reread the same book. Start free, then $5.99 unlocks the full CCRN bank.
App StoreGoogle PlayFree practice testCCRN exam pageFAQ
How many times can you take the CCRN exam?
Up to four attempts at the same exam in a rolling twelve-month period. AACN publishes no lifetime cap, so there is no permanent limit - after twelve months you simply sign a new honour statement and continue.
Is there a waiting period to retake CCRN?
None is published. The practical gate is process rather than time: you submit a retest application, pay the retest fee and receive a new eligibility window before you can schedule.
How much is a CCRN retest?
$185 for AACN members and $290 for non-members, against $260 and $375 for a first attempt - a genuine discount. Since membership is $78 a year, joining before you book saves money even on the first attempt.
What is the CCRN passing score?
AACN does not publish one as a percentage. The cut score is a raw number set by a standard-setting panel and it can change between exam forms. The score report gives the number of questions you answered correctly in each content area, but the total is what determines pass or fail.
Sources
Every rule on this page comes from AACN, not from a coaching site:
- https://www.aacn.org/-/media/aacn-website/certification/get-certified/handbooks/certpolicyhndbk.pdf
- https://www.aacn.org/-/media/aacn-website/certification/get-certified/handbooks/ccrnexamhandbook.pdf
- https://www.aacn.org/certification/get-certified/ccrn-adult
Checked September 6, 2026. Retake policies and fees change without much notice — confirm with AACN before you rebook.