What Changed on the CCRN (Adult) Exam on November 12, 2025

CCRN (Adult) test plan weights, 2020 vs 2025

AACN Certification Corporation launched revised CCRN exams on November 12, 2025, based on its 2024 study of practice. The previous Adult plan, printed in the March 2025 handbook, applied to exams taken on and after March 25, 2020. The current one applies to exams taken on and after November 12, 2025.

The change column is Passy arithmetic on AACN's printed percentages. Taken together, Cardiovascular and Respiratory fell from 32% of the exam to 25%, while Category D and Multisystem rose from 28% to 34%. Applied to 125 scored items, the seven-point drop is roughly nine fewer heart and lung items (a Passy estimate; AACN publishes no item counts).

Two category names changed as well. The Category C label now names Hematology/Immunology and Renal/GU, and the Category D label now says Behavioral/Psychosocial instead of Psychosocial. The current test plan breakdown describes each category in full.

Topics that moved between CCRN test plan categories

Comparing the two problem lists line by line shows several topics filed under a different category in 2025:

Moves matter because they change where a topic's weight sits. Delirium now counts toward the 18% Category D, which is why the delirium and behavioral emergencies guide sits with the body-system reviews.

Newly named and no longer named on the 2025 CCRN list

Read these two lists with one rule in mind: the 2025 list "no longer names" a topic, which is not the same as "the topic is no longer tested." The lists are problem lists with "e.g." examples, and a topic can still appear inside another problem. Increased intracranial pressure is a good example. The 2025 neurological list does not name it as a problem, yet ICP monitoring and ventricular drains are among the testable nursing actions.

Named in the 2025 list but not in the 2020 list (examples):

• Pulmonary hemorrhage
• Neurological storming
• Cardiac infection and inflammatory diseases
• Burns, anoxic injury and submersion injuries
• Systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS)
• Skin failure

Named in the 2020 list but not in the 2025 list (examples):

• Pulmonary fibrosis and aspiration
• Failure to wean from mechanical ventilation (2025 names "mechanical ventilation complications" instead)
• Acute hypoglycemia
• Osteomyelitis
• Dementia
• TAVR and papillary muscle rupture

Some lines were reworded rather than added or dropped. "Bariatric complications" in 2020 became "obesity related complications" in 2025, both under Multisystem. These lists are examples, not a full comparison, so if your resource is old, compare the two problem lists yourself.

What did not change on the CCRN (Adult) exam

Both the March 2025 and July 2026 handbooks describe the same structure:

• Length and scoring: a 3-hour test of 150 multiple-choice items, 125 scored and 25 used to gather statistics for future exams.
• The 80/20 split: Clinical Judgment 80%, Professional Caring and Ethical Practice 20%, with the same seven Professional Caring areas (the 2025 plan lists them in alphabetical order).
• The framework: the AACN Synergy Model for Patient Care organizes all AACN Certification Corporation exams.
• Generic drug names: the note that AACN is moving to generic names only, and that candidates may still see both generic and trade names during the transition, already appeared in the March 2025 handbook. AACN gives no end date for the transition.

AACN's launch announcement also says current CCRN study materials remain "relevant and useful" for candidates testing on and after November 12, 2025. As of October 18, 2026, we found no announcement of a newer Adult test plan on AACN's CCRN pages.

The CCRN cut score that goes with the 2025 test plan

AACN's cut-score page lists the CCRN (Adult) passing score as 83 correct out of 125 scored items, with a score effective date of 11/12/2025, the launch date of the new plan (as checked on October 18, 2026). AACN says the cut score is a raw number, not a percentage, and that it may change with a new study of practice or when forms are changed and equated. If a book or website gives a different number, check AACN's cut-score page. The passing score guide explains how it is set.

AACN reports first-time pass rates by calendar year, so its 2025 figure mixes candidates who tested under both plans. It publishes no split by test plan.

How to check whether a CCRN book or question bank is current

An older resource is not useless, as AACN's own note says, but it may spend its pages in the wrong proportions. Run five checks on any book, course or question bank:

1. Test plan date. Does it name the plan that applies to exams taken on and after November 12, 2025?
2. Weights. Does it show Cardiovascular at 13% and Respiratory at 12%, or the older 17% and 15%?
3. Filing. Where does it put delirium, PICS, acute pulmonary edema, TRALI and rhabdomyolysis?
4. Cut score. Does it give 83 of 125 with AACN's 11/12/2025 date, and call it a raw score rather than a percentage?
5. Drug names. Does it use generic names, as AACN is moving to?

If a resource fails two or three of these, keep using it for content but plan your hours from the 2025 weights, not from its chapter lengths. The CCRN study guide shows how to split the time.

Passy's free practice set was written against the six 2025 categories and reports your results by them. To test yourself on the 2025 CCRN categories with 20 mixed items →, take the set once and read the explanation for every option. Twenty items cannot match the real exam's topic mix or difficulty, and the result does not predict a pass.