- What the Public Record Actually Says About CTN-A Pass Rates
- Why No Aggregate Pass Rate Is Published
- The Hard Numbers We Can Verify
- How to Spot Unreliable Pass-Rate Claims
- Who Sits for This Exam and Why That Matters
- Where Points Are Won: The Seven Weighted Domains
- Practical Factors That Shape Your Own Odds
- Test Conditions That Affect Performance
- The Dated Blueprint and Reference List
- Building a Domain-Weighted Plan
- Frequently Asked Questions
- TCNCC does not publicly disclose an aggregate CTN-A pass rate, so any specific percentage you see online is unverified.
- The published passing score is 70% on a 100-question multiple-choice exam with up to two hours of testing time.
- Culturally-Based Nursing Care carries 40% of the exam; add Healing Practices at 20% and 60% of the blueprint is covered.
- The exam guide's content was last revised January 2022, with an outline dated 1/2011, so verify your study references.
What the Public Record Actually Says About CTN-A Pass Rates
If you searched for the Certified Transcultural Nursing - Advanced (CTN-A) pass rate, you probably hoped to find a clean percentage: "X% of candidates pass on the first try." Here is the straight answer: the Transcultural Nursing Certification Commission (TCNCC) does not publicly disclose an aggregate pass rate for the Advanced examination. It also does not publish the split between scored and unscored questions on the 100-item test.
That gap is the single most important fact in this article. It means that any website quoting a precise pass percentage for the CTN-A is either guessing, borrowing a figure from a different credential, or repeating something it cannot source. Since several unrelated certifications share similar abbreviations, recycled numbers circulate easily. Treat them with suspicion.
This guide does something more useful than inventing a statistic: it shows you what is verifiable, why the number is probably hidden, who tends to sit for this exam, and how to translate the published blueprint into a realistic preparation plan. If you want a broader sense of difficulty, our companion piece How Hard Is the CTN-A Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 pairs well with this one.
Why No Aggregate Pass Rate Is Published
There are sensible reasons a certifying body might not release a headline pass rate, and a few of them apply directly to this credential.
A small, self-selected candidate pool
The Advanced credential requires a graduate-level education, substantial documented practice, and evidence against professional criteria before you are ever approved to test. That eligibility screen means the people who sit for the exam are already a filtered group. A pass rate computed from a small, pre-screened cohort can swing widely from year to year and says little about your individual chances.
Delivery through multiple testing arrangements
The exam is delivered through TCNCC-coordinated computer testing at approved university or professional testing sites, including the National College Testing Association's Consortium of College Testing Centers (NCTA/CCTC), or through an approved online proctored arrangement. Candidates test across scattered sites and timeframes rather than on a single national date, which makes tidy, comparable cohort statistics harder to produce and publish.
No requirement to publish
Certifying bodies are not obligated to release pass statistics. Some do; many do not. The absence of a figure is not evidence that the exam is unusually easy or unusually brutal. It is simply an absence.
The Hard Numbers We Can Verify
While the pass rate is undisclosed, the exam's structure is documented. These are the facts you can build a plan around:
| Item | What is published |
|---|---|
| Governing body | Transcultural Nursing Certification Commission (TCNCC), administered through the Transcultural Nursing Society (TCNS) |
| Format | 100 multiple-choice questions |
| Time allowed | Up to two hours |
| Passing score | 70% |
| Scored vs. unscored split | Not publicly disclosed |
| Aggregate pass rate | Not publicly disclosed |
| Exam fee | $325 (TCNS members) or $450 (nonmembers), plus any separately charged testing-service fee |
| Certification validity | Five years |
| Renewal fee | $175 (members) or $300 (nonmembers) |
For a deeper look at how the cutoff works, see CTN-A Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass. For the full money picture, including testing-service charges, read CTN-A Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.
Note the fee wording carefully: the $325 and $450 figures are alternative rates based on membership status, not two charges stacked together. Some third-party career pages add them in error. Applicants are also responsible for any testing-site or service charges, and no fixed proctoring surcharge is published.
How to Spot Unreliable Pass-Rate Claims
Research into the search results for this credential turned up several recurring problems. Knowing them helps you filter noise quickly.
- Numbers with no citation. A percentage with no named source, year, or sample size is not data.
- Borrowed statistics. Because multiple credentials abbreviate to similar letters, figures from an unrelated certification sometimes get pasted onto this one. Confirm that any claim refers specifically to Certified Transcultural Nursing - Advanced and the TCNCC.
- Fee, eligibility, and format errors. Some career pages add the two alternative fees together, require both three credits and 42 contact hours (it is one or the other), treat five full years of work as a substitute for 2,400 hours within five years, or describe a current oral exam. A page that gets these basics wrong has not earned your trust on pass rates.
- Salary data that describes general RNs. Pay figures on career pages generally reflect registered nurses or transcultural nurses broadly, not CTN-A holders specifically. See CTN-A Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis for how to read those numbers responsibly.
- Paid practice documents presented as official. Study-guide listings and document marketplaces may be useful or not, but their contents are not TCNCC-endorsed, and a public preview rarely lets you judge quality.
Who Sits for This Exam and Why That Matters
You cannot attempt the Advanced exam as a casual first step. The eligibility profile means candidates arrive with real depth, which shapes how you should think about "difficulty."
Advanced Eligibility Snapshot
Per the Advanced Certification page, candidates need all of the following:
- An active, unrestricted RN license (or a legally recognized international equivalent)
- A qualifying master's, post-master's, or doctoral degree in nursing, education, philosophy, or a related field, with issuer-specified accreditation (CCNE/NLNAC in the U.S., or a legally recognized equivalent)
- Current full-time or part-time nursing employment or self-employment
- At least a three-credit cultural-diversity or cultural-competence course or 42 continuing-education contact hours
- 2,400 hours of relevant clinical practice, teaching, research, or administration during the preceding five years
- Evidence satisfying three of five professional criteria: professional growth, creative and innovative practice, research, substantive or unique contributions, and leadership in teaching, research, or consultation
One wrinkle worth knowing: the current application form contains some conflicting wording. Its introduction refers to "all five" additional criteria while its questionnaire says three of five, and it includes diploma, associate, and BSN language along with CTN-B references. The Advanced Certification page and the exam guide support graduate education and three of five criteria, and that is the standard to plan around. For the full qualification walk-through, see CTN-A Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
Practically, this means your competition is not the general nursing population. Candidates are experienced, graduate-prepared clinicians, educators, researchers, and administrators. A strong pass rate among such a group would not make the exam trivial, because the questions are written for an advanced audience and expect you to apply, not just recall.
Where Points Are Won: The Seven Weighted Domains
With no pass-rate figure to anchor on, the blueprint becomes your best predictor. The seven official domains below are weighted examination areas (not editorial topics), and they total 100%.
| Domain | Weight |
|---|---|
| 1. Foundations for Transcultural Care Nursing Practice | 15% |
| 2. Culturally-Based Health, Caring, and Healing Practices | 20% |
| 3. Assessment of Cultural Information Relevant to Health Care | 10% |
| 4. Culturally-Based Nursing Care | 40% |
| 5. Evaluation of Care Outcomes | 5% |
| 6. Research | 5% |
| 7. Professionalism | 5% |
Domain 4: Culturally-Based Nursing Care (40%)
This is the heart of the exam. Expect scenario-driven questions asking what an advanced practitioner should do in a culturally complex situation.
- Working effectively with interpreters and translators, and recognizing the difference between the two roles
- Cultural brokering and negotiating between patient values and institutional systems
- Choosing among preservation, accommodation, and re-patterning of care in context
- Adapting plans of care without stereotyping individuals within a cultural group
Domain 2: Culturally-Based Health, Caring, and Healing Practices (20%)
The second-largest block rewards breadth and nuance about how different communities understand illness, wellness, and healing.
- Folk, traditional, and complementary healing systems and how they interact with biomedical care
- Culturally defined expressions of caring and family roles in decision-making
- Health beliefs that affect adherence, diet, pain expression, and end-of-life preferences
Domains 1 and 3: Foundations (15%) and Assessment (10%)
Together these cover theory and the tools used to gather cultural information.
- Transcultural nursing models and frameworks, and when each is useful
- Cultural assessment instruments and how to interpret findings responsibly
- Distinguishing culture, ethnicity, race, and individual variation
The three smallest domains, Evaluation of Care Outcomes, Research, and Professionalism, are only 5% each, or 15% combined. Do not ignore them, but do not over-invest either. A handful of questions in each can still be the margin between 69% and 70%. For a domain-by-domain breakdown, see CTN-A Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 7 Content Areas.
Key Takeaway
Two domains, Culturally-Based Nursing Care (40%) and Culturally-Based Health, Caring, and Healing Practices (20%), account for 60% of the blueprint. Because you need 70% to pass, strong performance here gives you a large cushion against weakness elsewhere.
Practical Factors That Shape Your Own Odds
Since the aggregate rate is unknown, your better question is: "What in my own situation raises or lowers my likelihood of clearing 70%?" Several factors are worth honest self-assessment.
Application-to-exam readiness
You must apply at least five weeks before your intended test date, and documented accommodation requests require six weeks. Rushing this timeline adds stress that has nothing to do with content. Scheduling details are covered in CTN-A Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.
Familiarity with the question style
The exam is multiple choice, but at the advanced level expect application and judgment questions rather than definitions. Practicing with scenario items that force you to choose the best action among several defensible ones is more valuable than memorizing terminology lists.
Match between your background and the blueprint
A nurse educator may be comfortable with theory and research but rusty on bedside brokering scenarios; a clinical specialist may have the reverse problem. Diagnose which domains your day job does not exercise, and weight your preparation accordingly.
Awareness that the source material is dated
This one catches people off guard, and it gets its own section below.
Test Conditions That Affect Performance
Logistics do not appear in any pass-rate table, but they influence results. Verified conditions include:
- Closed book. No personal notes, books, or electronic devices.
- No scheduled breaks. Any unscheduled break consumes examination time from your two-hour allowance.
- Two delivery paths. Approved testing sites (including NCTA/CCTC member centers) or an approved online proctored arrangement. The guide also references the National Collegiate Testing Service (NCTS). No specific remote-proctoring vendor was verified, so confirm the exact arrangement with TCNCC when you apply.
- Testing-service fees are on you. The exam fee does not necessarily include site or service charges.
With roughly a minute and12 seconds per question on average, pacing matters. Practice answering in timed blocks so that the two-hour limit feels familiar rather than tight. Calculator permission and any adaptive-testing policy were not verified, so do not assume either; ask TCNCC directly.
The Dated Blueprint and Reference List
Here is a detail most competitor pages miss. The official CTN-Advanced Exam Guide states that its content was last revised in January 2022. Inside it, the Content Outline is marked 1/2011 and the reference list is marked as revised 2010. The guide file also sits under a March 2026 upload path, but that path does not establish a 2026 blueprint revision.
This is also why a generic "latest research" approach can backfire: a newer concept you studied may not be what a question writer working from a 2010-era reference list expects. When a question seems to hinge on a classic model, answer from the classic model. For help building a resource list, see CTN-A Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt.
Building a Domain-Weighted Plan
Rather than a generic schedule, tie your calendar directly to the blueprint. The sample below assumes you have already been approved to test and are working backward from your exam date. Adjust the pacing to your own timeline.
Foundations and Assessment (Domains 1 and 3)
- Review the transcultural nursing models named in the official guide
- Practice distinguishing assessment tools and when each applies
Healing Practices (Domain 2, 20%)
- Study health beliefs, folk and traditional healing, and caring expressions across communities
- Work scenarios on integrating these with biomedical plans
Culturally-Based Nursing Care (Domain 4, 40%)
- Drill interpreter versus translator use and cultural brokering
- Practice preservation, accommodation, and re-patterning decisions
Small Domains and Timed Practice (Domains 5-7)
- Cover outcome evaluation, research basics, and professionalism
- Take a full 100-question timed set under closed-book conditions
Notice that Domain 4 gets the longest block because it carries the most weight, and that Domain 2 is scheduled before it so the cultural content is fresh when you start applying it. For a compact last-minute refresher, keep CTN-A Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts nearby, and when you are ready to test your recall, try the practice questions on the main practice test site.
After you pass: what happens next
Certification is valid for five years. Renewal is handled through an application with documentary eligibility evidence and attestation that is subject to audit, and the published requirements include 2,400 practice hours in the preceding five years, three credits or 42 contact hours of cultural-care education, and the three-of-five professional criteria. The renewal fee is $175 for members or $300 for nonmembers. The published renewal route does not specify a new exam. Weighing the full investment? See Is the CTN-A Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026, and remember to keep your eligibility evidence organized in case of a portfolio audit.
If you want to practice with questions built around the seven weighted domains, visit the CTN-A Exam Prep practice test platform to see where your knowledge is strongest and where it needs work. And for a quick refresher on the basics of this credential, see What Is CTN-A Certification?
Frequently Asked Questions
TCNCC does not publicly disclose an aggregate pass rate for the Certified Transcultural Nursing - Advanced exam, and it does not publish the split between scored and unscored items. Any specific percentage you find online should be treated as unverified unless it cites TCNCC directly.
The published passing score is 70% on a 100-question multiple-choice exam with up to two hours allowed. Because the scored and unscored split is not public, plan to perform well across the whole blueprint rather than trying to calculate an exact number of questions you can miss.
Difficulty is best judged by the blueprint and your background rather than a statistic. Candidates already hold graduate degrees and substantial documented practice, and questions test advanced application. The heavy weighting on Culturally-Based Nursing Care (40%) means scenario judgment matters more than memorization.
Not as far as the public record shows. The official exam guide states its content was last revised January 2022, with a content outline marked 1/2011 and a reference list marked 2010. A March 2026 upload path does not establish a 2026 blueprint revision, so confirm the current guide on the TCNS Advanced Certification page.
The application and exam fee is $325 for TCNS members or $450 for nonmembers. These are alternative rates, not charges you add together. Testing-site or service fees may be charged separately, and no fixed proctoring surcharge is published.
The publicly reviewed materials do not establish a retake policy or retake fee, so do not assume one. Contact TCNCC or TCNS before you apply to confirm the current rules, waiting periods, and costs for a repeat attempt.