Ambulatory care nursing certification pass rate and format
Last checked Set against ANCC: Ambulatory Care Nursing Certification page and 11 further documents listed in Sources
- first-time pass rate
- 77% (2025)
- questions, 125 scored
- 150
- scaled pass mark
- 350 of 500
- before a retest
- 60 days
ANCC data 2025[6] ANCC data 2024[7] ANCC page[1] ANCC outline 2026[3] ANCC handbook 2025[4] ANCC score reports[5]
The ambulatory care nursing certification pass rate that ANCC publishes counts first attempts by calendar year: 77% of 2025's first-time candidates passed. The exam itself: 150 multiple-choice items, 3 hours on the clock, 125 of them scored, and a pass is 350 or higher on ANCC's scaled range, 500 being the maximum. Retesting is possible 60 calendar days after the last attempt.
On this page 9 sections
Item counts, timing, scoring and retests
| Fact | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Question format | Multiple choice on screen with a single best answer per item; all 25 of ANCC's free samples offer four choices. Unscored trial items look like the rest, and a blank earns the same zero as a wrong pick, so answer everything. | ANCC page[1] ANCC sample questions[2] |
| Answer choices | Four, A to D. | ANCC sample questions[2] |
| Questions | 150 questions | ANCC page[1] ANCC outline 2026[3] |
| Scored questions | 125 questions that count toward the score. | ANCC outline 2026[3] |
| Unscored questions | 25 pretest questions that ANCC is trying out and does not score. | ANCC outline 2026[3] |
| Exam time | 3 hours. The handbook's 3.5-hour and 4-hour figures describe most ANCC exams in general, with check-in and a practice session counted in the 4 hours. | ANCC page[1] |
| How it is scored | Criterion-referenced. Your count of correct answers becomes a raw score that ANCC converts to its scale; a panel of specialty nurses, guided by a psychometrician, fixed the cut with the modified Angoff method. Results are not ranked against other test takers. | ANCC handbook 2025[4] |
| Passing score | 350 or higher on ANCC's scaled range, 500 being the maximum. ANCC does not translate 350 into a percent correct; the "70%" seen on prep sites is a guess, not a published figure. | ANCC handbook 2025[4] |
| Score report | Pass or fail. A failed attempt also shows the scaled result, with every content domain marked high, medium or low. A passing report carries no number. The domain ratings exist to steer study before a retest. | ANCC handbook 2025[4] ANCC score reports[5] |
| Results | Through Prometric's online score report portal, with an email after the exam explaining how to open it. Results reach ANCC one to two days after testing; they are never given out by phone, fax or email. | ANCC handbook 2025[4] |
| First-time pass rate | 77% in 2025: 1,209 of 1,562 first-time takers passed. 2024: 75% (1,050 of 1,401). ANCC reports first attempts per calendar year. | ANCC data 2025[6] ANCC data 2024[7] |
| Credential holders | 7,956 nurses held the credential on December 31, 2025. | ANCC data 2025[6] |
| Wait before a retake | 60 calendar days after the last attempt. The retest application can go in 5 days after the exam; it is reviewed like a new one, against the eligibility rules in force on that day, and the whole exam is taken again. | ANCC handbook 2025[4] ANCC score reports[5] |
| Retake limit | No more than 3 attempts in any 12-month period. | ANCC handbook 2025[4] ANCC score reports[5] |
| Retake fee | Not published: ANCC's handbook says retest fees apply, yet neither it, the retest page nor the exam page gives an amount. Ask ANCC before you reapply (read Nov 14, 2026). | ANCC handbook 2025[4] ANCC score reports[5] ANCC page[1] |
Every row checked Nov 14, 2026. Compared with the AMB-BC page, revision 5 of the certification guide, the retest policy and the 2025 data sheet. Booking and fees: registration.
Where the pass mark sits on the scale ANCC handbook 2025[4]
A scaled result: neither a count of right answers nor a percentage.
What the 2025 pass rate does and does not count
The yearly certification data give one rate per exam, for people taking it for the first time in that calendar year. Retakers are left out, so the figure says nothing about how many candidates pass eventually. The table also gives the year before for comparison.
Everyone in the 2025 figure sat the outline used from December 2021. No pass rate has been published yet under the outline introduced on September 11, 2026, so treat the 2025 number as context rather than a forecast.
How the cut at 350 was set
The cut was fixed in advance by a panel of specialty nurses working with a psychometrician, using the modified Angoff method: panelists estimated, question by question, the odds that a barely qualified nurse gets it right. Your result is compared with that fixed cut; how other candidates did that month plays no part. How many right answers reach the cut is not released.
Documents behind these figures: ANCC handbook 2025[4]
Pass, fail and the domain ratings
After a fail, the domain ratings on the report are the most useful thing the attempt gives you: open the study guide part for each domain rated low before you reapply.
Coming back after a fail
Since retesting means a fresh application, the three-year lookback for your ambulatory hours and continuing education is counted again from the day it arrives. A long gap after a fail can therefore cost hours. Plan the new authorization window around the waiting period in the table, so the date you book still falls inside it.
One number people misquote
The score rests on 125 questions, not all 150; the other 25 are unscored tryouts.
Documents behind these figures: ANCC outline 2026[3] ANCC page[1]
The outline the questions come from
| Fact | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Content outline in force | Test content outline effective September 11, 2026. ANCC paused this exam from August 28 to September 10, 2026 while the new outline went in. | ANCC outline 2026[3] ANCC page[1] |
| Questions by domain | Assess and Evaluate 51 questions (41%) · Plan and Implement 20 (16%) · Professional Role 30 (24%) · Education 24 (19%). | ANCC outline 2026[3] |
| Content outline | New outline from September 11, 2026: the same four domains with new question counts. Assess and Evaluate went from 50 to 51 questions, Plan and Implement from 23 to 20 and Professional Role from 28 to 30; Education stayed at 24. Professional development left the outline, prior authorization joined fiscal health, patient-generated health data joined clinical data interpretation, disease-specific interventions became a skill, and environment of care replaced safety rounds and root cause analysis among the safety examples. | ANCC outline 2026[3] ANCC outline 2021[8] ANCC page[1] |
| Previous outline | Outline effective December 20, 2021, used through August 27, 2026: Assess and Evaluate 50 questions (40%), Plan and Implement 23 (18%), Professional Role 28 (22%), Education 24 (19%). Earlier, from June 2, 2017, the exam ran 175 items (25 unscored) across five "Domains of Practice": Clinical Practice, Communication, Professional Role, Systems/Legal and Regulatory, and Education. AAACN's review questions and study page are still arranged by those five. | ANCC outline 2021[8] ANCC page[1] AAACN fact sheet 2018[9] AAACN review questions 2020[10] AAACN study resources[11] |
Every row checked Nov 14, 2026. From the test content outlines effective December 20, 2021 and September 11, 2026. What each change means for study: study guide.
More on the ambulatory care exam
Scoring questions before you sit it
Does a scaled 350 mean 70 percent?
No. The pass mark has no published percentage. Its place on the scale, 350, was fixed by a panel of nurses; the 70 percent seen on prep sites is a guess.
Can I tell which questions are the unscored pretest items?
No. Nothing marks them out, so answer each one as if it counts.
Documents behind these figures: ANCC handbook 2025[4]
Sources
- [1]ANCC: Ambulatory Care Nursing Certification (AMB-BC) page nursingworld.org; checked Nov 14, 2026
- [2]ANCC: Ambulatory Care Nursing sample questions nursingworld.org; checked Nov 14, 2026
- [3]ANCC: AMB-BC Test Content Outline (PDF), effective September 11, 2026, file revised June 29, 2026 nursingworld.org; checked Nov 14, 2026
- [4]ANCC: Foundations of ANCC Certification: Your Essential Guide (PDF; June 2025 edition, revision 5 posted Oct 12, 2026) nursingworld.org; checked Nov 14, 2026
- [5]ANCC: Test score reports and retest application, policy page nursingworld.org; checked Nov 14, 2026
- [6]ANCC: 2025 ANCC Certification Data (PDF) nursingworld.org; checked Nov 14, 2026
- [7]ANCC: 2024 ANCC Certification Data (PDF), April 24, 2025 Wayback Machine snapshot web.archive.org; checked Nov 14, 2026
- [8]ANCC: Ambulatory Care Nursing Test Content Outline, effective December 20, 2021 (PDF) nursingworld.org; checked Nov 14, 2026
- [9]AAACN: Ambulatory Care Nursing Certification fact sheet, updated November 14, 2018 (PDF) aaacn.org; checked Nov 14, 2026
- [10]AAACN: Ambulatory Care Nursing Review Questions, 5th edition, 2020 (PDF) aaacn.org; checked Nov 14, 2026
- [11]AAACN: Ambulatory Care Nursing Certification study resources aaacn.org; checked Nov 14, 2026
- [12]ANCC: Certification Renewal Handbook (PDF) for renewals from February 1, 2027 onward nursingworld.org; checked Nov 14, 2026