CCRN Pass Rate: 2025 Data, the Cut Score, and What Changed

If someone told you most nurses pass the CCRN, they were more right a few years ago than they are now. Plan around the old number and you'll quietly under-prepare. Testavia helps nurses prep for certification exams, so we went to AACN's published statistics, pulled the current pass rate, and worked out what the raw cut score behind it actually means before you book a test date.

The Current CCRN Pass Rate (2025)

The most recent CCRN pass rate comes from AACN's own certification statistics, and for the Adult exam it was 72.02% for first-time candidates in 2025, across 17,151 people tested. That's the number to plan around. The higher figures still floating around older guides are out of date. It sat at 72.74% in 2024 and 81.20% in 2023, so the exam is meaningfully tougher on paper than it was three years ago, and it's held near 72% for two years now. The other tracks each tell their own story. Pediatric CCRN came in at 68.72% in 2025, Neonatal at 60.29%, and the progressive-care PCCN at 70.10%. AACN reports all of these as first-time rates by calendar year, for every track. The table below lays out the three-year trend, so you can read the shift instead of trusting one year.

All figures from AACN's Certification Exam Statistics page (first-time pass rates by calendar year).

One caveat on that table. The Neonatal rate rests on just 305 candidates, so it swings far more year to year than the Adult figure, and a single cohort can shove it several points either way. Treat the small-track numbers as directional. The Adult rate, built on more than 17,000 candidates, is the one you can lean on.

How the CCRN Cut Score Works

The CCRN passing standard is a raw cut score, not a percentage, and that one fact changes how you read every pass-rate headline. The Adult exam runs 150 items, but only 125 are scored. The other 25 are unscored pretest questions AACN is trialing for future exams, and you can't tell which is which while you test. To certify, you need 83 of those 125 scored items right, a standard effective November 12, 2025. Do the division and 83 of 125 is about 66.4%, but that percentage is our arithmetic, not AACN's published standard, which is the flat number 83. The way I'd actually hold it is as a margin. 125 minus 83 leaves 42 scored items you can miss and still pass. You don't have to be perfect. But since you can't pick out the 25 unscored questions, you've got to treat all 150 like they count.

The cut score shifts a little by track, each a raw number out of 125 scored items: 83 for Adult and Pediatric, 84 for Neonatal, 82 for PCCN. A couple of things are worth knowing about how it's set. It's criterion-referenced, which means you're measured against a fixed bar; how everyone else did that day doesn't touch your result. And it carries an effective date, so AACN can reset it when the exam is updated. The number that matters is the one in force on your test day, so confirm it.

Why the CCRN Pass Rate Dropped in 2024

The CCRN (Adult) pass rate fell from 81.20% in 2023 to 72.74% in 2024, a drop of 8.46 percentage points, and 2025's 72.02% shows it didn't bounce back. That's the largest recent year-over-year swing in the exam's published stats, and most study guides haven't caught up to it. Why it happened is a separate question, and the honest answer is that AACN doesn't publish one on its statistics page. A few things could feed into it, and they're worth floating only as possibilities: a re-established cut score, a refreshed item pool, or a shift in the critical-care workforce's experience mix since 2020. Since the passing standard is a raw count of correct items, resetting that number moves the pass rate on its own, without the content getting any harder to sit. One timing point keeps this honest. The current cut score took effect in November 2025, after the 2024 drop, so it can't be what caused it.

You don't actually need the cause to act on the trend. Plan for the roughly 72% field you're testing into, not the friendlier 81% you might've heard quoted, and confirm the cut score in force on your own test date. If you were told most people pass the CCRN, that was closer to true in 2023 than it is today.

What the Numbers Mean for Your Attempt

For a nurse deciding how to prepare, the exact pass-rate figure matters less than what it tells you to do. Right now, about one in four experienced critical-care nurses doesn't pass on the first try, which makes structured prep a fair investment, not an overreaction. So the move is method over worry. Practice against AACN's published blueprint in proportion to its weightings. Build your own diagnostic data instead of trusting secondhand claims about which topics trip people up.

Read the rationale on every practice question, including the ones you got right. If you want the study mechanics underneath that, Testavia's take on how to prepare the right way walks through the techniques that actually move retention, and to turn it into a schedule, build a study plan around the blueprint. That's the part that's actually in your hands.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the current CCRN pass rate?

For the Adult exam, AACN reports a first-time pass rate of 72.02% for 2025, based on 17,151 candidates. Pediatric was 68.72%, Neonatal 60.29%, and PCCN 70.10% the same year. These are first-time rates by calendar year, published on AACN's certification statistics page.

How many questions do you need to pass the CCRN?

You need 83 of the 125 scored items right, a standard effective November 2025. The exam has 150 items total, but 25 are unscored pretest questions you can't identify while testing. That leaves 42 scored items of margin. The 83 is a raw item count, and AACN doesn't state it as a percentage.

What percentage do you need to pass the CCRN?

There's no official passing percentage. AACN sets the standard as a raw number, 83 correct of 125 scored items, which works out to roughly 66.4%. That percentage is a derived approximation, though. The raw cut score is what actually decides your result, and it can change between exam forms.

Is the CCRN getting harder?

The pass rate fell from 81.20% in 2023 to about 72% in 2024 and 2025, so it's harder to pass on paper. Whether the content itself got harder is a different question, and AACN doesn't publish a cause. A raw cut-score change on its own can move the rate without the material changing.

Why did the CCRN pass rate drop?

AACN doesn't publish a reason, so any confident cause is guesswork. What's documented is that first-time rates fell 8.46 points between 2023 and 2024 and stayed near 72% in 2025. Possible contributors include cut-score or item-pool changes and workforce shifts, but AACN confirms none of them.

The Bottom Line

Peer to peer, the numbers ask something pretty simple of you. The CCRN (Adult) first-time pass rate is 72.02% as of 2025, down from 81.20% in 2023 and stuck near 72% for two years. You need 83 correct of 125 scored items, which leaves you 42 to spare, and it's that raw count that decides it, not any percentage.

AACN won't say why the rate dropped, so plan for the field as it is now; the kinder numbers from a few years back are gone. That's not a reason to panic. It's a reason to prep against the blueprint, build your own diagnostic, and read every rationale. For eligibility and the wider path, start with the full CCRN certification guide.