What the CFRN costs, first attempt to renewal

1. Exam: $380, or $285 for ASTNA members, or the $195 military price (service members on active duty or in the reserves, and veterans).
2. A second attempt, if needed: $200 retest within a year, counted from the first exam date, after the 90-day wait.
3. Or the add-on, chosen at the first application: $450 with Test Assurance ($355 ASTNA, $265 military); the retest application is then free.
4. Renewal after 4 years: $280, or $210 with ASTNA, or $195 military.

BCEN Learn sells review courses for CEN, CPEN and TCRN, not for the transport exams, so any review course or book comes from outside BCEN.

At every price level Test Assurance costs $70 more than the plain fee, and it replaces a $200 retest ($195 at the military price, where the break-even is about 36%). It pays off if the odds of a fail on the first try exceed 70 ÷ 200, which is 35%.

For scale, the board's 2025 counts put fails at about 42% of flight-exam results and 43% of ground-exam results (our arithmetic: fails over passes plus fails). Both figures sit above the break-even, but they mix first and repeat attempts and were scored against the old marks, which have since moved in opposite directions. Your own practice results and how recently you worked in transport are the better guide. Test Assurance also fixes the cost in advance, whatever happens on the first attempt.

ASTNA lists active membership at $109 a year, as of November 11, 2026. The member prices save $95 on the exam and $70 on renewal, $165 over a cycle.

• Joining for the exam alone: $285 plus $109 is $394, more than the $380 fee.
• Joining for the exam year and the renewal year: $218 in dues at the one-year rate against $165 saved.

On the board's fees alone membership does not pay for itself; the case for it rests on what else ASTNA offers, which this page does not price. Multi-year rates are in the table.

The credentials are billed separately: two applications, two retest risks and two renewals. The board's cost pages list no combined price, as read on November 11, 2026; its voucher program is a volume discount for employers and groups. CAMTS asks for the one pertinent to the program's scope of care, so the credential to hold is the one that matches the program's vehicle and patients (which credential fits).

All six of the board's credentials are compared, one price row each, on BCEN certifications. The trauma exam's path, with its own association discount, is on TCRN cost.