Guide · checked October 22, 2026
The vendors publish all of this — per state, in separate PDF bulletins, in bureaucratese. Aggregated, it looks like this:
Prometric's candidate bulletins (Florida's is explicit) charge the full exam fee if you are denied admission for invalid ID. Two forms of ID, and the name must match the application exactly. The classic trigger is a legal name change — marriage, divorce — between applying and testing, in a workforce where name changes are common. Apply under the name on the ID you will actually carry.
Rescheduling is cheap early and brutal late: Prometric states typically charge $25–$30 to reschedule 5 or more business days ahead — and the full fee is forfeited inside that window (Florida: $30 / full fee; Louisiana: $25 / full fee). Treat the 5-business-day line like a deadline with a dollar sign, because it is one.
You will draw 3–5 skills at random from a list of roughly 22–25. Two elements are graded in every evaluation regardless of the draw: handwashing and indirect-care behaviors (safety, privacy, communication, infection control). Failing those fails the whole evaluation even if the drawn skills go well. Candidates routinely don't know the draw structure before test day. Now you do.
Passing has a deadline too. North Carolina: pass both parts within 24 months of training completion or 3 attempts, whichever comes first. Connecticut: unlimited attempts inside 24 months. Texas: 3 attempts per part. Run out the clock and the penalty is not another fee — it's retraining. Note your clock the day you finish your program.
Rules summarized from vendor candidate bulletins (Prometric, Credentia, Headmaster) and state pages, checked October 22, 2026. Your state's bulletin is the authority for your test — your state page links the registry that names your vendor.
