Completely free
No account walls, no upsell
Free exam prep for every test — 20,000+ exam pages and 2.4M+ practice questions.
Open free NJ Nurse Aide Exam prep resources ↗Exam facts & prep options
New Jersey Nurse Aide in Long Term Care Facilities Competency Evaluation
The New Jersey nurse aide competency evaluation is the two-part examination required for certification as a nurse aide in New Jersey by the Department of Health under the Nurse Aide in Long Term Care Facilities Training and Competency Evaluation Program (NATCEP): a hands-on practical/clinical skills evaluation (scheduled through the state's skills-testing arrangements, currently D&S Diversified Technologies/Headmaster per the vendor's New Jersey CNA/PCA testing page) followed by a written or oral knowledge examination (60 items, 90 minutes, 75% to pass) delivered by PSI Services LLC at New Jersey test sites, with the oral form available in English and Spanish; passing both parts plus a criminal background check places the aide on the New Jersey Nurse Aide Registry, which PSI maintains.
Official exam siteJump to prep options ↓
QuestionsWritten/oral knowledge examination: 60 items (same count for Written-English, Oral-English, and Oral-Spanish forms; PSI marks pretest items N/A); the separate clinical skills evaluation is a performance test with no items
Testing time90 minutes for the written or oral knowledge examination; the clinical skills evaluation is timed separately at the test site and no official total testing time is published for it
Scoring75% required to pass the written or oral examination; the skills evaluation must be passed before the written/oral can be taken ('The CNAs must pass a SKILLS exam GIVEN BY THE STATE, BEFORE they can sit for the CNA Theory exam that is administered by PSI'); no numeric cut score for the skills evaluation is published on the official pages opened
Exam feeUSD 53 for the Written - English examination and USD 67 for the Oral - English examination, payable to PSI per attempt (the oral form carries an additional USD 14.00 headphone fee); retest fees are the same amounts; the clinical skills evaluation is scheduled and paid separately through the state's skills-testing vendor, whose fee amount is not published on the official pages opened
Prep options
Study resources for NJ Nurse Aide Exam
Independent prep
Courses and study resources
Exam overview
What to know before choosing your prep
- Who runs it
- NJ DOH
- Category
- Nurse Aide & Nursing Assistant
- Current version
- Current specification; no public version label — the Department publishes the two-part competency evaluation through vendor materials (the nj.gov apply page links PSI's New Jersey Nurse Aide Examination Candidate Information Bulletin, and PSI's current exam-title list names 'NJ Certified Nurse Aide (CNA) Written - English/90 minutes/60 items/passing score 75%')
- Where it applies
- US-NJ, United States
- Exam languages
- English, Spanish
- Score scale
- Percent correct on the written/oral examination (75% to pass); no scaled score is published
- Testing provider
- PSI Services LLC administers the written/oral examination and maintains the New Jersey Nurse Aide Registry; D&S Diversified Technologies LLP (dba Headmaster LLP) currently handles skill-test scheduling, payments, and results per its New Jersey CNA/PCA testing page (skills only — PSI's own sheet states 'PSI does not administer the SKILLS portions (aka practical), we only administer the WRITTEN')
- Format
- Written/oral: proctored examination at PSI's New Jersey test sites (PSI's program sheet lists Paper/Pencil 'Yes' and out-of-state testing 'Not allowed'); Skills: hands-on performance evaluation at approved facilities, scheduled through the state's skills-testing arrangements
- Availability
- Written/oral exams by reservation at 10 New Jersey PSI test sites (no walk-ins; recertification testing offered on specific weekdays); skills evaluation by appointment through approved facilities/the skills vendor
- Results
- Written/oral result given immediately upon completion of the examination; if the candidate passes and has met all other NJDOH requirements including the criminal background check, the nurse aide certificate is issued at the test site the same day
- Score validity
- Two years from training-program completion to pass both parts, and once the examination process starts (skills), one year from the first attempt; the certificate itself is valid twenty-four months from the date the written/oral is passed
- Remote testing
- Not available
Exam structure
Two separately administered parts: (1) a practical/clinical skills evaluation — hands-on performance testing the state requires before the knowledge exam; and (2) a written or oral knowledge examination of 60 items in 90 minutes delivered by PSI at New Jersey test sites, with the oral form available in English and Spanish; certification additionally requires the training course and a fingerprint-supported criminal background investigation
Where rules vary
New Jersey state certification examination required under the federal OBRA-87 nurse aide provisions as implemented by the NJ Department of Health (N.J.A.C. 8:39-43); written/oral testing is delivered only at New Jersey test sites and out-of-state testing is not allowed
Eligibility
Completion of a 90-hour state-approved NATCEP course (50 classroom + 40 clinical hours) or a qualifying alternative route (e.g., nursing students/graduates, out-of-state aides); the skills evaluation must be passed before the written/oral; a criminal background investigation application and fingerprint appointment are required for certification
Retake policy
Retest fee equals the test fee (USD 53 written / USD 67 oral); candidates unable to pass all required examinations within the eligibility windows (2 years from training completion; 1 year from first attempt) must restart the entire process