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Nurse Leader & Educator Certs

Exam facts · handbook revised May 2025 · checked Nov 6, 2026

CNML requirements, from application to renewal

Facts checked against aonl.org and psionlinestore.com · Last checked Nov 6, 2026 · Not affiliated with ANCC, ANA, AONL, NLN or AACN.

Every rule the credentialing center sets for the exam, read from the candidate handbook revised in May 2025 and AONL's CNML FAQ on November 6, 2026. Where its own pages disagree, we print both.

Open the CNML practice test60 questions, mixed domainsNurse executive certification

In numbers

questions that count
10012100 scored questions
raw pass mark
75 of 1001275 of the 100 scored questions correct (raw score)
credential term
3 years1
to renew
45 h or re-exam12

Format and test day

Table 1.CNML facts with the document each one comes from. Checked Nov 6, 2026.
FactDetailSourceChecked
Certifying bodyAONL Credentialing Center (AONL-CC)The American Organization for Nursing Leadership’s credentialing center. The AHA Certification Center runs the program; PSI develops, delivers and scores the exam.AONL-CC: CNML Candidate Handbook, revised May 2025 (PDF)1
CredentialCertified Nurse Manager and Leader (CNML)AONL-CC: CNML Candidate Handbook, revised May 2025 (PDF)1
AccreditationAccredited by both NCCA and ABSNC, per AONL's CNML FAQ (the CNML and CENP programs)AONL: CNML FAQ2
Questions115 questions100 scored and 15 unscored pretest questions.AONL-CC: CNML Candidate Handbook, revised May 2025 (PDF) · AONL: CNML FAQ12
Question formatMultiple choice with four options (A–D), one answerAnswers can be changed and there is no penalty for guessing. An on-screen calculator is provided; a silent non-scientific calculator is allowed.AONL-CC: CNML Candidate Handbook, revised May 2025 (PDF)1
Exam time2 hoursAONL-CC: CNML Candidate Handbook, revised May 2025 (PDF)1
Where you testPSI test center or PSI live remote proctoringTesting outside the U.S. costs an extra fee.AONL-CC: CNML Candidate Handbook, revised May 2025 (PDF)1
Testing windowSchedule and take the exam within 90 days of applyingMissing the window forfeits the application and all fees.AONL-CC: CNML Candidate Handbook, revised May 2025 (PDF)1
Other feesSecond reschedule $100 (the first is free at least 2 business days ahead); testing outside the U.S. costs extraAONL-CC: CNML Candidate Handbook, revised May 2025 (PDF)1

Eligibility: license, degree, hours

Table 2.CNML facts with the document each one comes from. Checked Nov 6, 2026.
FactDetailSourceChecked
EligibilityUnrestricted RN license; a baccalaureate or higher with at least one degree in nursing; and 2,080 hours as a nurse manager or primary unit leader, or 4,160 hours in a nursing leadership support roleThe baccalaureate can be in any field if another degree (for example an ADN) is in nursing. AONL audits 10% of applications.AONL-CC: CNML Candidate Handbook, revised May 2025 (PDF)1
  • Which hours count. Option 1 is time as a nurse manager or primary unit leader. Option 2 doubles the hours for a leadership support role, and the handbook names no job titles for it. The exam FAQ says your title need not match: compare your actual work with the candidate definition and the outline. It sets no time limit on when the hours were worked.
  • A degree example. An ADN plus a bachelor's in health administration meets the education rule. A health administration degree with no nursing degree at all does not.
  • If you are audited. The audit asks for your transcript or diploma and a letter from your employer stating your role and hours, so collect both before you apply (handbook, pp. 6–7).
  • Older summaries count years, not hours. The hour-based rule came with the October 2023 outline; prep pages written earlier still describe the old one.

The CNML outline and what changed in 2023

Table 3.CNML facts with the document each one comes from. Checked Nov 6, 2026.
FactDetailSourceChecked
Content outlineCommunication and Relationship Building 25 · Health Care Environment and Clinical Principles 18 · Leadership 25 · Professionalism 14 · Business Skills and Principles 18 (of 100 scored questions)AONL-CC: CNML Candidate Handbook, revised May 2025 (PDF)1
Outline in forceContent outline in force since October 30, 2023 (handbook revised May 2025)AONL-CC: CNML Candidate Handbook, revised May 2025 (PDF) · AONL: CNML FAQ12
What changed recentlySince October 30, 2023: five domains replaced the four old areas (financial, human resources, performance improvement, strategic management), the pass mark is 75 of 100, and eligibility is counted in hours; the May 2025 handbook adds live remote proctoringAONL’s CNML page still describes the four old principles; the handbook outline is the one in force.AONL-CC: CNML Candidate Handbook, revised May 2025 (PDF) · 2 more123

Out of 100 scored questions, each domain's count is also its percentage. What each domain covers, with a study plan built on these weights, is on the CNML study guide.

This site has not yet given health care environment its own page. For now the practice test carries its questions, and its subtopics are covered where the hub keeps them. Care delivery models sit with the NE-BC business domain, regulation with NE-BC ethics and regulation, evidence-based practice with the NPD-BC, and RCA, FMEA and high reliability with NEA-BC quality and safety.

AONL refreshed its leader competencies in 2026 without changing this outline: how the two line up.

PSI test center or live remote proctor

Both formats belong to PSI, and you lock one in at booking: a PSI testing room, or your own room watched by a live proctor over webcam. If an accommodation cannot be provided remotely, the handbook sends you to a test center (handbook, p. 8).

  • The window is firm: what a missed window costs is on cost.
  • Moving the date: one reschedule costs nothing when you phone PSI two or more business days ahead. A second carries the fee in the table, and it has to land inside 90 days of the session you originally booked (handbook, p. 9).
  • Calculator: business items can include census arithmetic, and the calculator rules are in the format row above.

The CNML outline

Before your testing window opens

The same CNML questions with every option explained, in a study app.

App StoreGoogle Play

Passing score and pass rates

Table 4.CNML facts with the document each one comes from. Checked Nov 6, 2026.
FactDetailSourceChecked
Passing score75 of the 100 scored questions correct (raw score)Applies to exam forms in use since October 30, 2023; the standard was set by modified Angoff.AONL: CNML FAQ · AONL-CC: CNML Candidate Handbook, revised May 2025 (PDF)12
ResultsPass/fail on an on-screen score report, with a raw score for each domainAONL-CC: CNML Candidate Handbook, revised May 2025 (PDF)1
Pass rate64.9% of first-time candidates in 2024 (633 tested)68.2% in 2023 (506) and 71% in 2022 (448). AONL had not posted 2025 figures by November 2026.AONL-CC: CNML annual statistics 2022–2024 (PDF)4
Certified nurses2,572 certified (2023)AONL-CC: CNML annual statistics 2022–2024 (PDF)4
  • A raw count, not a scaled score. The 15 pretest questions do not count, and they are not flagged on screen.
  • First-time pass rates fell two years in a row: 71% in 2022, 68.2% in 2023 and 64.9% in 2024, while the number of candidates grew each year. AONL had published no 2025 figure when we checked.
  • "70 to pass" is the standard from handbooks before the October 2023 forms. Pages that still quote it predate the current outline.
  • The report shows a raw score per domain, which makes a failed attempt easier to plan around than a single number.

Retaking the CNML

Table 5.CNML facts with the document each one comes from. Checked Nov 6, 2026.
FactDetailSourceChecked
RetakesAfter at least 90 days, up to 4 attempts in 2 years, each with a new applicationAONL-CC: CNML Candidate Handbook, revised May 2025 (PDF) · AONL: CNML FAQ12

Use the waiting period on the domains your score report flagged. Each retry is billed as a fresh application, itemized on cost.

Renewal and its fee

Table 6.CNML facts with the document each one comes from. Checked Nov 6, 2026.
FactDetailSourceChecked
Valid for3 yearsAONL-CC: CNML Candidate Handbook, revised May 2025 (PDF)1
RenewalEvery 3 years: pass the exam again in the last year, or 45 contact hours of eligible professional developmentApply no more than a year before expiry; for an extra $50 you can apply up to 30 days after it.AONL-CC: CNML Candidate Handbook, revised May 2025 (PDF) · AONL: CNML FAQ12
Renewal fee$275, or $200 for AONL membersAONL: CNML FAQ2

AONL runs its own renewal; ANCC's rules do not apply to this credential. How AONL and NLN renewal differ from ANCC's is on certification renewal.

More on the CNML

  • CNMLAONL's exam for unit nurse managers: format, domains, eligibility
  • CNML practice test60 unit-level questions in the five domains’ proportions
  • CNML costFees checked Nov 2026: exam, AONL dues, reschedules, retakes, renewal
  • CNML study guidePlan by the 2023 outline weights, AONL's prep and reading list, stale material

CNML eligibility and scoring, quick answers

Does charge nurse experience count toward eligibility?

AONL does not say by title. If the role carried real leadership responsibility, it may fit the support-role route at the higher hour count; check your duties against the candidate definition and ask AONL-CC before you pay.

Is the score scaled like ANCC's?

No. The result is a raw tally of correct answers on the scored items, and you need 75 of them.

When do I learn whether I passed?

At a PSI test center the pass/fail report, with a raw score for each domain, appears on screen before you leave. The handbook does not say how remote-proctored candidates receive theirs (p. 13).

Sources

  1. AONL-CC: CNML Candidate Handbook, revised May 2025 (PDF) aonl.org · checked Nov 6, 2026
  2. AONL: CNML FAQ aonl.org · checked Nov 6, 2026
  3. AONL: Certified Nurse Manager and Leader (CNML) aonl.org · checked Nov 6, 2026
  4. AONL-CC: CNML annual statistics 2022–2024 (PDF) aonl.org · checked Nov 6, 2026

Each figure is reread against its document on a fixed cycle, and the date beside a source is its latest pass. Where a number here and the document part ways, the document wins (how corrections happen).