Candidates, who want to become certified as a Nurse Assistant in the state of Colorado, must apply for and pass the NNAAP (National Nurse Aide Assessment Program) Examination.
The State Board of Nursing of Colorado works with Pearson VUE to conduct the NNAAP examination, and score and report its result. Pearson VUE is a nationally recognised group that provides assessment services to exams regulating agencies of the state.
Components of the Examination
There are 2 sections in the NNAAP exam- Written/Oral Examination and Skills Evaluation. Both the sections are administered on the same day. Students must qualify both the sections to become certified nurse aide and get placed on the state’s Nurse Aide Registry.
Written Examination:
- This section carries 70 multiple choice questions.
- Students are given complete 2 hours to finish the examination.
Oral Examination:
- Candidates with difficulty in reading English can take oral testing in place of written examination. This section consists of 2 parts. One part carries 10 reading comprehension items and the other part consists of 60 multiple choice questions. Former part is to test aspirants’ ability to speak and understand a minimum amount of English used often in the nursing field.
- This examination can be taken in either English or Spanish.
- Request for Oral Examination is done while applying for the NNAAP examination.
- Oral Examination is conducted with the help of a cassette player and earphones.
- Students get full two hours to complete the Oral Examination.
Skills Evaluation:
- This testing takes place in a setting that resembles an actual care giving work setting. All the necessary equipments are provided to students at the test center.
- In this section, candidates are supposed to perform randomly chosen five skills. “Hand- Washing” is must do skill out of those five skills.
- A nurse Aide Evaluator rates performed skills.
Eligibility
Before applying for the NNAAP Examination, candidates must check whether they are eligible to write the exam. Candidates must get certified within 24 months after Pearson VUE receives their Examination Application. After 2 years, application expires and students need to re-apply and submit a new application and other needed documents.
Eligible Candidates:
- New Nurse Aide
- RN, LPN or LPT Students who has been licensed
- RN, LPN or LPT Student with an expired or active license from any U.S. Territory or State
- Nurse who was trained outside of U.S. Territories or the United States
- Nurse Aide trained in another state and does not own current Nurse Aide certificate.
- LPT, LPN or RN with active discipline
- Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) whose license was surrendered or revoked
Application and Scheduling
- Candidates need to fill out and submit a “Certification by Examination Application” to Pearson VUE.
- This application is obtainable:
- By calling Pearson VUE at 888-274-5050
- From their Nurse Aide training program
- By downloading the application from the website- www.pearsonvue.com (Pearson VUE website)
- Pearson VUE schedules the examination once it receives examination fees, required documents and completely filled application. “Authorization to Test Notice” is mailed to candidates at their address (address mentioned in the application) within the time period of 48 hours.
- Authorization to Test Notice contains all imperative information of the exam. Candidates must make a call to Pearson VUE at 888-274-5050 if they do not receive ticket within 10 business days.
- Both parts of the examination take place at Regional Test Site. Schedule of the test site is available at (888)274-5050 and www.pearsonvue.com .
Examination Fees
Test | Fee | |
Written Examination & Skills Evaluation | Both | $ 95 |
Oral English & Skills Evaluation | Both | $ 95 |
Written Examination ONLY | Re-test | $ 25 |
Oral English ONLY | Re-test | $ 25 |
Skills Evaluation ONLY | Re-test | $ 70 |
Oral Spanish ONLY | Re-test | $ 25 |
Oral Spanish and Skills Evaluation | Both | $ 95 |
Cancellation and Scheduling
- Candidates must inform Pearson VUE at least five business days before the scheduled exam date to reschedule the exam. If candidates do so, then no penalty is charged and paid fee is transferred to the new examination date.
- Paid examination fee is non-refundable.
- Candidates must notify Pearson VUE in writing with reason of skipping the exam within 10 business days following the scheduled exam date. Proof of the reason is must. Acceptable excuses for absence are:
-
- Military duty
- Death in the Family
- Illness of students or their immediate family member.
- Disabling traffic accident
- Weather Emergency
- Jury duty or court appearance
-
On the Exam Day
- Candidates must reach the test center 30 minutes early as late comers are not allowed to give the exam. Also, the fee is neither non-refundable nor transferrable in this case. So, it is always advised to reach the test site early.
- Candidates must bring non expired (current) two forms signature bearing identification. Out of the two, one must be a photo identification (such as driving license) issued by a Government. Candidates cannot sit for the exam without IDs.
Proper Identification includes:
- Clinic Card
- Driver’s License
- Credit Card
- Signed Social Security Card
- Library Card
- Passport
- State-issued Identification Card
NOTE: Name on the Identification must be same as the name on the examination application. If the name is dissimilar, students must carry evidence of the name change to the test site.
Exam Results
- Pearson VUE provides official examination result of students on the day of testing within 10 minutes after finishing the examination. Due to technical difficulties, result is sometime delayed by 5-7 business days.
- Result is neither declared over the telephone nor sent to their employer if candidates are employed.
- Score Report of Skills Evaluation carries Satisfactory for passed skills and Unsatisfactoryfor failed skills.
- Pearson VUE can be contacted at 888-274-5050 for any query related to the Score Report.
Failing Score Report
- If students fail to qualify the examination then their failing Score Report provides information on re-taking the failed part of the examination.
- A new examination fee is charged to re-take the examination.
- Students have to submit examination retake fee and official Score Report to Pearson VUE while applying for the exam.
- Candidates must receive “Satisfactory” score in all five skills to qualify the Skills Evaluation section. A failed skill result shows the cause of the failure.
When candidates successfully pass both the sections of the NNAAP examination, they are placed on the Colorado’s Nurse Aide Registry.