- The CHPLN exam has 150 questions (135 scored, 15 pretest) in a 3-hour, closed-book format.
- Passing score is 500 on a 200-800 scale; PSI administers testing at centers or via live remote proctoring.
- Patient Care: Symptom Management carries 39 of 135 scored items - the single largest domain.
- Eligibility needs 500 hospice/palliative hours in 12 months, or 1,000 in 24 months, under RN supervision.
Quick Facts at a Glance
Before you build a study plan, you need a single reference point for the mechanics of the exam itself. This section functions as your one-page cheat sheet - the numbers below are pulled directly from the 2026 candidate handbook and HPCC's published exam statistics, not estimates. For a deeper walkthrough of any single fact, see the CHPLN Study Guide 2026.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Credentialing body | Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center (HPCC) |
| Preparation/association partner | HPNA (Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association) |
| Exam administrator | PSI - test center or live remote proctoring |
| Question count | 150 total (135 scored + 15 unscored pretest), four-option multiple choice |
| Time limit | 3 hours, closed-book |
| Passing score | 500 on a 200-800 scaled range |
| 2025 first-time pass rate | 66.3% (57 of 86 candidates) |
| 2025 overall pass rate | 69.6% (78 of 112 administrations) |
| Initial exam fee | $260 HPNA members / $365 nonmembers |
| reTEST Assured | $135 one-time, retake in one of the next three windows |
| Certification term | 4 years, renewed through HPAR or re-examination |
The Seven CHPLN Domains by Scored Weight
The content outline in the 2026 handbook (dated December 2025) is built on the 2019 job analysis and applies to every 2026 administration. HPCC has already posted a separate outline for 2027, so make sure any prep resource you're using references the correct year. Here are the seven domains in official order, with their exact share of the 135 scored items.
Domain 1: Patient Care: End-Stage Disease Process - 18 scored items
Covers disease trajectories across cancer, cardiac, pulmonary, renal, neurological, and other terminal conditions, plus prognostic indicators used in hospice eligibility decisions.
- Recognizing signs of active dying versus stable decline
- Disease-specific end-stage markers across major diagnostic categories
Domain 2: Patient Care: Pain and Comfort Management - 27 scored items
The second-largest domain. Expect heavy coverage of opioid titration, adjuvant analgesics, non-pharmacologic comfort measures, and equianalgesic conversions.
- Opioid rotation and equianalgesic dosing math
- Breakthrough pain assessment and management
Domain 3: Patient Care: Symptom Management - 39 scored items
The single largest domain on the exam, nearly triple the size of the smallest. Dyspnea, nausea, delirium, anxiety, constipation, and terminal secretions all live here.
- Distinguishing terminal restlessness from undertreated pain
- Managing dyspnea and secretions in the final days of life
Domain 4: Patient Care: Treatments and Procedures - 12 scored items
Focuses on wound care, catheter and tube management, and other hands-on interventions appropriate to the LPN/LVN scope under RN supervision.
- Pressure injury staging and palliative wound care goals
- Device and line management in the home or facility setting
Domain 5: Care of Patient, Family, and Other Caregivers - 15 scored items
Grief, bereavement, caregiver burnout, and family dynamics during the dying process.
- Anticipatory grief versus complicated grief patterns
- Supporting caregivers experiencing compassion fatigue
Domain 6: Patient and Family Education and Advocacy - 13 scored items
Teaching patients and families about disease progression, medication regimens, and advance directives, while advocating for patient wishes.
- Explaining hospice benefit and levels of care in plain language
- Advocacy when patient wishes conflict with family preferences
Domain 7: Interdisciplinary and Collaborative Practice Issues - 11 scored items
The smallest domain but not skippable - covers the LPN/LVN's role within the interdisciplinary team, reporting relationships, and ethical/legal boundaries.
- Scope of practice under RN supervision
- Communicating changes in condition to the IDT
For a domain-by-domain study checklist, walk through the CHPLN Exam Domains 2026 Guide, which expands each bullet above into testable concepts.
Exam Format, Timing, and Scoring
The CHPLN exam is a closed-book, four-option multiple-choice test delivered by PSI. You'll see 150 questions in total, but only 135 count toward your score - the remaining 15 are unscored pretest items PSI is field-testing for future exams, and you won't know which is which. Budget your three hours accordingly: that's an average of 1.2 minutes per question if you work steadily through all 150.
Scoring uses a scaled range of 200 to 800, and you need 500 to pass. Scaled scoring means the raw number of questions you answer correctly isn't converted 1:1 into your final score - different exam forms are equated for difficulty, so 500 always represents the same competency threshold regardless of which version of the exam you received. If you want the full mechanics of how that scale works, read CHPLN Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.
Key Takeaway
Because 15 of your 150 questions don't count, don't panic if you hit a handful of oddly worded or unfamiliar items - they may be pretest questions that won't affect your pass/fail outcome.
Registration, Fees, and reTEST Assured
Initial examination fees are $260 for HPNA members and $365 for nonmembers - joining HPNA before you register is worth calculating into your total cost. Exams are scheduled through PSI, and you can choose either an in-person test center or live remote proctoring from home or another private location.
If you're worried about a first-attempt miss, HPCC offers reTEST Assured for a one-time $135 fee. It guarantees you a retake in one of the next three testing windows - but importantly, not the same window you originally tested in, so plan your study calendar with that gap in mind. A full cost breakdown, including renewal fees, is available in CHPLN Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.
Eligibility Requirements Recap
To sit for the CHPLN exam, you need a current, unrestricted LPN/LVN license valid in a U.S. state or territory. On top of licensure, HPCC requires documented hospice or palliative nursing practice performed under RN supervision, satisfied one of two ways:
- 500 hours of qualifying practice in the preceding 12 months, or
- 1,000 hours of qualifying practice in the preceding 24 months
There's no minimum years-since-licensure requirement beyond having an unrestricted license and meeting the hours threshold. If you're unsure whether your current role - home hospice, inpatient palliative unit, or long-term care with a palliative consult service - counts toward those hours, review the detailed criteria in CHPLN Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
2026 Testing Windows and Deadlines
CHPLN testing runs in four windows each year: March, June, September, and December. Applications are submitted online, and each window has its own hard deadline one month prior:
| Testing Window | Application Deadline |
|---|---|
| March | February 15 |
| June | May 15 |
| September | August 15 |
| December | November 15 |
Missing a deadline pushes you an entire quarter, so mark your target window on a calendar the moment you decide to sit for the exam. The complete scheduling logistics - including how reTEST Assured interacts with these windows - are covered in CHPLN Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.
Where to Spend Your Study Hours
With 39 of 135 scored items concentrated in Patient Care: Symptom Management, that domain deserves the largest single block of your study time - roughly double what you'd give Domain 7. A simple way to allocate a four-week final review is to mirror the scored-item weighting rather than splitting time evenly across all seven domains.
Symptom Management + End-Stage Disease Process
- Drill dyspnea, delirium, and nausea management scenarios (Domain 3)
- Review prognostic indicators by disease type (Domain 1)
Pain and Comfort Management + Caregiver Care
- Practice opioid conversion and titration math (Domain 2)
- Study grief stages and caregiver burnout signs (Domain 5)
Education, Advocacy, and Procedures
- Rehearse patient teaching scripts for hospice benefit questions (Domain 6)
- Review wound care and device management within LPN scope (Domain 4)
Interdisciplinary Practice + Full Review
- Clarify IDT reporting lines and RN supervision boundaries (Domain 7)
- Run a full 150-question timed practice session on CHPLN Exam Prep's practice platform
If you'd rather follow a structured multi-week plan from day one instead of just a final review sprint, the CHPLN Study Guide 2026 lays out a longer timeline. And if you're still weighing how demanding this exam actually is relative to your clinical background, How Hard Is the CHPLN Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 breaks down what makes it challenging beyond just content volume.
Key Takeaway
Don't neglect Domain 7 just because it's smallest - 11 scored items is still nearly a full letter grade's worth of questions, and interdisciplinary/scope-of-practice questions are often scenario-based, not memorization-based.
Recertification and HPAR
CHPLN certification lasts four years. When it's time to renew, you have two paths: HPAR (the professional activity review pathway, where you submit practice hours and professional-development evidence through LearningBuilder) or re-examination.
HPAR fees depend on both membership status and how early you file:
- HPNA members: $235 (early) or $345 (standard)
- Nonmembers: $340 (early) or $450 (standard)
If you choose to recertify by exam instead, the fee is $235 for members or $340 for nonmembers. Filing early is consistently the cheaper route regardless of which pathway you choose, so treat your renewal deadline the same way you'd treat an initial exam application deadline - don't wait until the standard window closes in on you.
Curious whether all of this - the fees, the hours, the four-year renewal cycle - pays off professionally? Is the CHPLN Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 and CHPLN Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis both dig into that question in more depth, and CHPLN Jobs covers the kinds of hospice and palliative care employers who look for this credential specifically.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are 150 total questions: 135 are scored and 15 are unscored pretest items used to evaluate future exam content. You have three hours to complete all 150.
You need a scaled score of 500 out of a possible 200-800 range. The scale accounts for slight difficulty differences between exam forms.
Patient Care: Symptom Management, which carries 39 of the 135 scored items - more than any other domain and nearly triple the smallest domain's weight.
You can purchase reTEST Assured for $135, which guarantees a retake opportunity in one of the next three testing windows, though not the same window as your original attempt.
Every four years, either through the HPAR pathway (practice hours and professional-development evidence submitted via LearningBuilder) or by retaking the examination.
Keep this page bookmarked as your quick-reference sheet, and pair it with focused practice questions on CHPLN Exam Prep as you move through your final weeks before test day.