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Certified Ostomy Care Nurse (COCN) certification exam
Find the current format, timing, scoring, fees, eligibility, and testing options for COCN, with direct links to official sources.
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Questions120 multiple-choice questions: 110 scored plus 10 non-scored pretest questions
Testing time120 minutes
ScoringPass/fail by a criterion-referenced cut score set per exam form via standard-setting and converted to a scaled score; WOCNCB does not publicly publish the number of questions needed for a passing score
Exam feeUSD 395 for one specialty exam application (WOCNCB charges no annual certification maintenance fee); multi-specialty applications discounted — USD 510 for two, USD 610 for three, USD 670 for four specialties; USD 100 per specialty exam for applicants in World Bank low/lower-middle-income developing countries; first retake application receives a USD 100 discount
Prep options
Study resources for COCN
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Exam overview
What to know before choosing your prep
- Who runs it
- WOCNCB
- Category
- Specialty Nursing Certification
- Current version
- Current COCN exam forms written from the 2023 exam content outline/blueprint, launched March 2025 (no public version label; Examination Handbook revised January 2026)
- Where it applies
- United States — national
- Exam languages
- English
- Score scale
- Scaled score reporting (raw scores transformed to a scale so scores are comparable across exam forms); pass/fail decisions unaffected by scaling
- Testing provider
- PSI (testing agency contracted by WOCNCB for exam development, administration, scoring, and analysis; application processing and results reporting)
- Format
- Computer-based multiple-choice exam at a PSI test center or via live remote proctoring; closed-book (notes, books, dictionaries, and electronic devices prohibited; PSI provides a demo test and on-screen tools including highlighter and cross-out)
- Availability
- Year-round daily at designated test sites; live remote proctoring available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; exams may be scheduled up to 6 months from application submission
- Results
- Instant: printed score report handed to the candidate immediately after the exam (displayed on screen for remote-proctored exams); the score report is also emailed and retrievable from the PSI test-taker account
- Credential validity
- Credential valid for five years (certification must be re-established every five years by exam or the Professional Growth Program)
- Remote testing
- Available
Exam structure
One computer-based multiple-choice exam; the 110 scored items are distributed across five domains: Assessment (27 items), Intervention (24 items, 21.75%), Treatment (23 items, 21.25%), Care Planning (14 items, 12.49%), Education and Referral (22 items, 20.33%); questions are assigned recall, application, and analysis complexity levels, and 10 unscored pretest items are interspersed and unidentified
Where rules vary
U.S. nursing board certification: initial candidates must hold a current RN license and a bachelor's degree, and content is uniform across candidates; exams are additionally delivered outside the U.S. and Canada via PSI Internet-Based Testing and at PSI's global test-center network, and international graduates of WCET-accredited WOC education programs may qualify
Eligibility
Current RN license and a bachelor's (or higher) degree, plus one pathway: graduation from an accredited WOC (or WCET international) Nursing Education Program completed within the past 5 years, or the Experiential Pathway (1,500 specialty practice hours in the previous five years — 375 within the year prior to application — plus 50 CE/CME credits or equivalent college coursework post-bachelor's); documentation submitted with the application
Retake policy
30-day waiting period between attempts (retake scheduled from the initial application, applicable fees apply); after three unsuccessful attempts a new application with supporting documentation is required following a six-month waiting period