CCRN Pass Rate 2025: What the Numbers Actually Tell You

The CCRN (Adult) first-time pass rate is 72.02% for 2025, based on 17,151 candidates tested (AACN). It has slid three years running — 81.20% in 2023, a drop of about 8 points to 72.74% in 2024, and 72.02% in 2025. What matters for your attempt is less the trend line and more how the exam is scored and what the November 12, 2025 test-plan revision changed. Start with the CCRN exam prep page for the full blueprint.

This post breaks down every publicly available CCRN pass-rate data point, explains the raw scoring system and the Modified Angoff cut score, and answers the scoring questions candidates actually search — what score you need, whether there is an “average” CCRN score, and what “83 of 125” really means. For where the credential sits among its peers, see how the CCRN compares to other nursing certifications; for a structured plan, start with the CCRN study guide for ICU nurses.

What is the CCRN first-time pass rate in 2025?

AACN publishes annual exam statistics on its Exam Statistics and Cut Scores page. The 2025 first-time pass rate for CCRN (Adult) is 72.02%, from 17,151 candidates tested. One caveat before you read the table: AACN reports only a first-time rate — there is no published overall or all-attempts figure, so anyone quoting a CCRN “overall pass rate” is inventing it. Here is the recent verified record:

The notable shift is the drop from 2023 to 2024: 81.20% falling to 72.74%, about 8 points (8.46 to be exact). That is the largest recent year-over-year move, and 2025 then held essentially flat at 72.02%. Most study guides still quote the old 80%-plus numbers — they have not caught up to the lower plateau the last two cohorts actually faced.

How is the CCRN exam scored?

The CCRN is a 3-hour, 150-item multiple-choice exam: 125 scored items plus 25 unscored pretest items that AACN uses to trial future questions. Your result is built from the 125 scored items only, and there is no penalty for a wrong answer — so never leave one blank. The 25 pretest items are scattered through the exam and indistinguishable from scored ones, so treat every question as if it counts.

• Total items: 150 — 125 scored plus 25 unscored pretest items
• Time limit: 3 hours
• Cut score: 83 of 125 scored items, effective November 12, 2025
• Cut-score type: a raw number of items correct — not a percentage, not a scaled score
• How it is set: the Modified Angoff method (expert judgment of minimum competence), not a curve
• Wrong answers: no penalty — answer every item

What score do you need to pass the CCRN?

The bar is 83 of the 125 scored items. Answer at least 83 correctly and you pass, which means you can miss up to 42 scored items. AACN is explicit that this is a raw number, not a percentage: even though 83/125 works out to roughly 66%, the standard is defined as a count of items, and AACN can reset it when the test plan changes — which it did on November 12, 2025. Do not anchor on “66%” as if it were a fixed passing percentage. Anchor on 83 correct items.

Is there an average CCRN score or a passing percentage?

Candidates search for a “passing percentage” and an “average CCRN score,” and neither exists the way people expect. Your score report does not show a raw percentage — AACN reports a pass-or-fail result alongside a domain-by-domain breakdown of how you performed, not a single overall number. And AACN does not publish an “average CCRN score”: there is no national mean to measure yourself against. The only published aggregate is the first-time pass rate (72.02% for 2025). The single number that decides your result is whether you cleared 83 of 125 scored items.

What changed with the November 2025 cut score?

The cut score is tied to the exam blueprint. AACN launched a revised CCRN test plan on November 12, 2025, built from its 2024 study of critical-care practice, and it applies to every exam taken on or after that date. The 83-of-125 cut score was set for this revised exam using the Modified Angoff method, in which a panel of subject-matter experts estimates the probability that a minimally qualified nurse answers each item correctly; those probabilities sum to the passing standard. When the test plan is revised, the cut score is recalibrated with it. If your test date falls on or after November 12, 2025, study the revised CCRN blueprint domains, not the old weights.

What does the CCRN score report show?

Your score report gives a pass-or-fail result plus a breakdown of how you performed across the exam’s content areas — the Clinical Judgment domains (cardiovascular, respiratory, and the rest) and Professional Caring and Ethical Practice. That domain breakdown is what makes it useful for retake planning: it points to the clinical areas that cost you the most items. What it does not give you is a single raw percentage or a class rank — so plan your next attempt around the weakest domains, not a headline number.

How does the CCRN compare to other nursing exams?

The CCRN (Adult) first-time pass rate of 72.02% sits below the NCLEX-RN’s roughly 91% first-time rate and above the CEN’s 47.2% all-exams-delivered figure, close to the PCCN’s 70.10% first-time rate. The certifying bodies measure differently, so these percentages are context, not a head-to-head difficulty ranking.

A 72% first-time rate needs context, because certifying bodies count differently. Here is how the CCRN lines up with a few neighbors — with the caveat that only some of these are first-time rates:

The NCLEX-RN comparison is the one candidates ask about most, and it is not apples-to-apples. NCLEX-RN is the entry-level licensure exam — a minimum-competency gate every new RN must clear, with a 2024 first-time pass rate of about 91% for US-educated candidates (NCSBN). The CCRN is a voluntary specialty certification you can only attempt after you already hold an RN license and have logged ICU hours. Different populations, different purposes, different standards — a lower CCRN pass rate does not make it “harder than the NCLEX” in any meaningful head-to-head. For the full breakdown, see whether the CCRN is harder than the NCLEX.

With 102,129 CCRN (Adult) certificants counted in 2025, its first-time pass rate is one of the more closely watched numbers in nursing certification.

What does it cost to take and retake the CCRN?

The CCRN exam costs $260 for AACN members and $375 for non-members, and a retest costs $185 for members and $290 for non-members. AACN allows up to four attempts at the same exam in a rolling 12-month period, with no fixed waiting period between attempts.

AACN lets you apply for and take the same exam up to four times in a rolling 12-month period. It does not impose a fixed waiting period between attempts — after you reapply you schedule within your eligibility window. Membership changes the math: there is a $115 gap between the member and nonmember exam fee ($260 vs $375), so if you expect to need a second sitting, weigh membership before you register. If a first attempt does not go your way, build the CCRN retake plan around your score report.

What the 72% pass rate means for your preparation

A 72% first-time rate means roughly one in four first-time candidates does not pass on the first try. The eight-point slide from 2023 to 2024 suggests the exam is tougher than it was in the 80%-plus era — whether from the updated practice patterns behind the new test plan or shifts in candidate readiness. The counter is preparation aimed squarely at the blueprint: full-length, 125-item scored-format sets under real 3-hour time pressure, weighted toward the domains that carry the most items.

PrepSolution’s CCRN question bank is built around the November 2025 test plan, with domain-weighted practice sets and full-length mocks designed for exactly that. For the study framework, see the CCRN study guide for ICU nurses, and for why the approach targets your weakest domains rather than drowning you in content, read why nurses choose PrepSolution.