AACN certifications and how each one renews

As listed on the board's exam statistics and handbook pages (exam stats, handbooks, read November 11, 2026):

• Specialty exams for bedside and knowledge-based roles: CCRN (Adult), CCRN (Pediatric), CCRN (Neonatal) and PCCN for progressive care.
• Subspecialty exams: CMC (cardiac medicine) and CSC (cardiac surgery), both adult only and both requiring a current specialty certification first.
• Advanced practice: ACNPC-AG for adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioners, and ACCNS-AG, ACCNS-P and ACCNS-N for clinical nurse specialists.
• Renewal only: CCNS and ACNPC. Holders can keep them, but no new candidates are tested.

You do not have to join the association to sit any of them; joining just cuts the fee.

PCCN, the progressive care exam, runs on the same pattern as CCRN: 125 scored items among 150, three hours, a cut of 82 of 125, $260 for members and $375 for others, and a 2025 first-time rate of 70.10% (PCCN handbook, exam stats, read November 11, 2026). Beyond this line, PCCN gets no coverage here.

Each exam in the table has two prices. For CMC the gap is $240 against $150; for CCRN it is $375 against $260. Set that against one year of dues ($78): on a single CMC attempt the member saving beats the dues by $12, AACN's own sum in the CMC handbook, and on a CCRN attempt it covers them with room to spare. At renewal the gap is smaller: by CERPs, CMC costs $130 against $75 and CCRN $230 against $150. A renewal-year membership therefore pays for itself only for CCRN, by a couple of dollars, or when a CCRN and a CMC renew in the same year; for a CMC renewal alone the dues cost more than they save.

CCRN, PCCN, CMC and CSC all last three years and renew the same basic way (the advanced practice credentials follow their own cycle): practice hours with the right patients plus continuing education, or a retest. What changes is the number and kind of CERPs.

• Specialty credentials (CCRN, PCCN): 432 h + 100 CERPs, spread across the Synergy categories. Direct Care renewals need at least 60 in Category A (clinical), 10 in B and 10 in C; Knowledge Professional renewals use 80/10/10 and Tele-critical Care 70/5/25 (renewal by Synergy CERPs at a glance, read November 11, 2026).
• Subspecialty credentials (CMC, CSC): 432 h + 25 CERPs, all of them Category A on the subspecialty's topics, and the specialty certification underneath must stay current. The CMC renewal handbook lets an ACLS course count once (CMC renewal handbook, pp. 3–4).

A nurse holding CCRN and CMC therefore tracks two renewals with two CERP totals. The table below lists them side by side.

AACN does not let CMC or CSC stand alone. The subspecialty is displayed attached by a dash to a current specialty credential, as in PCCN-CMC or CCRN-CSC, and if the specialty lapses the subspecialty can be neither displayed nor renewed (CMC renewal handbook, FAQ pp. ii–iii, read November 11, 2026). The practical consequence is on cardiac nursing certifications.

AACN retired CCRN-K, CCRN-E and PCCN-K as separate credentials on November 14, 2023 (transition announcement). Nurses in education, management or tele-ICU roles now take the same CCRN exam through a Knowledge Professional or Tele-critical Care pathway, and the pathway changes only the hours that count and the CERP split at renewal. Pages that still describe a separate CCRN-K exam are out of date.

AACN announced revised test plans for both cardiac subspecialties, built on its 2025 study of practice and used for exams taken on or after November 19, 2026 (AACN newsroom). It adds that current CMC and CSC study materials remain useful for exams on the new plans. The new CMC plan is laid out section by section on the CMC exam page; the differences between the two subspecialties are on CMC vs CSC.

AACN runs a free online lookup that employers and verification agencies may use as primary source verification for every one of its certifications. Searching works by the certificant's name; certified nurses can also log in to verify their own record or print a wallet card (AACN verify certification, read November 11, 2026).