Washington CNA exam-day guide
Washington CNA · Prepare for the day ahead.
Your checklist
Government-issued photo ID with your signature
Driver's license, state ID, passport, or military ID. The name must match your registration exactly; a name mismatch or expired card can keep you from testing. Confirm with the provider which forms of ID it accepts and whether a second ID is required.
Your test appointment confirmation / authorization to test
Bring the printed or emailed confirmation showing date, time, and site. Verify the address the day before, since testing sites are sometimes on a campus or in a building with more than one entrance.
Plain watch with a second hand or digital seconds
Used for counting respirations, pulse, and timed skills. No smartwatch or phone. Confirm with the provider whether a timing device is supplied at the station or whether you must bring your own.
Candidate handbook / skills checklist from your program
Your training program's skills sheets are the best final review. Do not bring loose notes into the testing area; review them in the waiting room or your car.
Short-sleeved, comfortable clothing and closed-toe non-slip shoes
You need to expose a wrist and forearm for hand hygiene and move freely for positioning, transfer, and ambulation skills. Avoid dangling jewelry, long sleeves, and anything that interferes with gloves.
Short, clean natural nails; no polish, acrylics, or wraps
Hand hygiene is scored on nail and jewelry criteria. Trim nails before test day and remove rings, bracelets, and dangling earrings.
Hair tie and light personal care items only
Tie long hair back. Skip perfume, cologne, and strong lotion, since the client in the scenario may have sensitivity and scent can be a deduction in some scoring tools.
Water and a light snack for after the test
Testing can run long. Confirm with the provider whether food and drink are allowed in the waiting area, and whether you can leave the room mid-test.
Directions, parking plan, and backup transportation
Do a dry run or map the route in advance. Know where to park, which entrance to use, and how long check-in takes.
Phone silenced and stored before you enter the building
Turn the phone off, not just to vibrate, and leave it in your bag or car per the site's instructions. Confirm with the provider where devices must be stored.
A rehearsed verbal routine for each skill
Practice saying your steps out loud: introducing yourself, identifying the client, explaining the procedure, and stating safety checks before you act. Many candidates lose points for skipping the verbal and hand-hygiene steps under pressure.
Plan the day
Re-read the official candidate handbook from your program or the approved testing vendor and confirm which skills are on your test, how many you must perform, and which errors are automatic failures. Confirm the vendor, date, time, and site address.
Run through every skill out loud with a partner or a practice dummy, in the order you will perform it. Say the hand hygiene, privacy, and safety steps out loud every single time, because those are the steps people drop when they are nervous.
Check that your ID is unexpired and that the name matches your registration. If the names differ, contact the provider now rather than on test day.
Pack your bag: ID, confirmation, watch, hair tie, clothes, shoes, water. Lay out the outfit. Charge nothing you cannot bring in, since phones stay outside the testing room.
Confirm transportation and parking, and set two alarms. Get a normal night's sleep rather than cramming new material; last-minute memorizing tends to scramble hand-hygiene order.
Eat a real meal, dress in the outfit you laid out, trim and check your nails, and leave jewelry at home. Leave earlier than you think you need to.
Arrive early, as directed by your provider. Check in, show your ID, and use the waiting time for a quiet mental run-through of the opening steps of each skill, not for chatting about what went wrong in practice.
Listen to the entire instruction before you move. If a step is genuinely unclear, ask the evaluator to repeat the instruction, but do not ask for clinical coaching or confirmation that you are doing it right.
Narrate as you go: knock and introduce yourself, identify the client, explain the procedure, provide privacy, and perform hand hygiene at the required points. Work at a steady pace and finish the step before announcing completion.
If you make a mistake, correct it out loud and keep going rather than freezing or restarting the whole skill. Ask the test administrator about breaks and timing if you need them; do not leave the area on your own.
Rules to check
Bring valid, unexpired government photo ID with a signature. The name must match your registration. Without acceptable ID you may be refused admission and lose your fee, so confirm the provider's ID policy in advance.
Arrive early, as instructed. Candidates who arrive after check-in closes may be turned away or rescheduled. Confirm the provider's late-arrival rule before test day.
Phones, smartwatches, and other devices stay off and stored outside the testing area. Do not photograph, record, or copy any test materials.
Do not discuss or share exam content, skill scenarios, or scoring details with other candidates, online, or on social media. Test content is confidential.
Hand hygiene, client identification, privacy, and safety are scored throughout, not just in the handwashing skill. Errors in these areas can fail a skill or the entire test, so treat them as non-negotiable every time.
Follow the evaluator's instructions exactly and stay within the assigned station. You may ask for an instruction to be repeated, but you may not ask whether an action was correct, and evaluators generally cannot answer clinical questions.
Scoring is based on pass/fail critical elements within each skill, and you must pass the required skills to pass the practical. Confirm the required number of skills and the retake policy with your program or the approved vendor.
If you need a break, medication, or an accommodation, arrange it with the test administrator rather than leaving on your own. Confirm accommodation request deadlines with the provider well before test day.