Attention Exam Candidates:
- Please consult with your state licensing board regarding which exams are required prior to applying. If you apply for the incorrect exam(s) and need to withdraw your application, a $75 processing fee per application will be withheld from any refund. Please see the Exam Candidate Handbook.
- Effective January 1, 2025 - the processing fee for withdrawn applications will be 40% of the application fee.
- If you have applied for a license with your state board, you must complete an exam application(s) on the NAB website. Once submitted, your state jurisdiction will be notified. The state will review and approve or deny your application. NAB does not approve exam applications under state jurisdiction. If approved, you will receive an email with scheduling information. You cannot schedule an exam until you have submitted an exam application on the NAB website and been approved.
For all other exam candidate questions, please contact PSI Candidate Support or refer to the Exam Candidate Handbook.
For login credentials to NAB's website, please contact NAB:
nab@nabweb.org
NAB Examinations
In July 2022 new exam forms were released for the CORE and all Lines of Service Exams. There has been an increase in the number of questions and pretest questions. Pretest questions are ones that are being tested or piloted to see if they are quality questions. They do not count towards a candidate's final score, and they are not identified as pretest questions. The number of exam questions and seat time are as follows:
CORE Exam – 100 scored /25 pretest questions/ 125 total questions. Seat time 150 minutes.
NHA, RCAL, & HCBS Exams – Each line of service exam has 60 scored/15 pretest questions/ 75 total questions. Seat time 90 minutes.
All examination content reflects what is current practice. As such, changes to practice in the long-term and post-acute healthcare profession/industry that have been necessitated by the coronavirus situation and other recent developments are not yet assessed by the NAB licensure examinations. Examinees are advised to respond to examination content accordingly.
Please Note: While NAB offers the federal licensing exam for potential Nursing Home Administrators (NHA), candidates must be approved to test through their respective state licensure board(s). NAB is unable to approve any NHA exam applications. Please contact your state board to determine if you are eligible to take the below exam(s) prior to submitting an exam application.
Exam candidates will need to pass the one hundred (100) item Core of Knowledge examination module and a minimum of one of the below fifty (50) item line of service (LOS) examination modules.
Currently, there are three line of service exams offered in the areas of:
- Nursing Home Administration (NHA)
- Resident Care/Assisted Living (RCAL)
- Home and Community Based Services (HCBS)
Once approved by a state licensure board, candidates can apply for examinations through the NAB website.
Those applying for the NAB Health Services Executive (HSE qualification) will need to complete both the RCAL and HCBS LOS exams and should choose "NAB-HSE" as their state jurisdiction.
Refunds: All refund requests must be made in writing to nab@nabweb.org within 60 days of an exam application's denial or withdrawal.