- The exam has 150 questions (135 scored, 15 pretest) in a 3-hour closed-book format via PSI.
- Passing requires a scaled score of 500 out of the 200-800 range.
- Patient Care: Symptom Management carries the most weight at 39 of 135 scored items.
- 2025 first-time pass rate was 66.3% (57 of 86 candidates), so preparation matters.
What the CHPLN Actually Tests
The Certified Hospice and Palliative Licensed Nurse (CHPLN) credential, awarded by the Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center (HPCC) with preparation support from HPNA, validates that an LPN/LVN can competently manage the physical, emotional, and interdisciplinary demands of end-of-life care. Unlike a generic nursing knowledge test, the CHPLN exam is built entirely around real hospice and palliative practice scenarios - symptom clusters near end of life, family dynamics, interdisciplinary coordination, and the practical realities of working under RN supervision.
If you're just getting oriented to the credential itself, it helps to start with the basics covered in What Is CHPLN? and CHPLN Certification before diving into study strategy. This guide assumes you already know you want to sit for the exam and need a concrete plan to pass on your first try.
Exam Format, Timing, and Question Style
The CHPLN exam is a closed-book test administered by PSI, either at a physical test center or through live remote proctoring. Knowing the mechanics cold removes a huge source of test-day anxiety.
- 150 total questions: 135 are scored and 15 are unscored pretest items you cannot identify during the exam.
- Format: Four-option multiple choice only - no multi-select, no fill-in, no drag-and-drop.
- Time limit: Three hours, which averages out to a little over a minute per question, but scenario-based items will take longer than recall questions.
- Passing standard: A scaled score of 500 on a 200-800 range, not a raw percentage - see CHPLN Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass for how scaling actually works.
Because every question is drawn from the same closed-book, scenario-driven pool, memorization alone won't carry you. Most CHPLN questions present a short patient or family vignette and ask what the LPN/LVN should do next, prioritize, or report to the supervising RN. For a deeper look at whether this style of testing is difficult for LPNs coming from med-surg or long-term care backgrounds, read How Hard Is the CHPLN Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026.
Key Takeaway
Practice answering scenario-based questions under a strict per-question time budget - roughly 70-75 seconds average - so the three-hour clock never becomes the reason you miss questions you actually knew.
The 7 Domains: Where to Put Your Study Hours
The 2026 candidate handbook (dated December 2025) uses the content outline based on the 2019 job analysis, and it allocates the 135 scored items unevenly across seven domains. Studying every domain equally is one of the most common - and most fixable - mistakes candidates make. For the full breakdown of every domain's scope and sample content, see CHPLN Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 7 Content Areas.
| Domain | Scored Items | Relative Weight |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Patient Care: End-Stage Disease Process | 18 | Moderate |
| 2. Patient Care: Pain and Comfort Management | 27 | High |
| 3. Patient Care: Symptom Management | 39 | Highest |
| 4. Patient Care: Treatments and Procedures | 12 | Lower |
| 5. Care of Patient, Family, and Other Caregivers | 15 | Moderate |
| 6. Patient and Family Education and Advocacy | 13 | Moderate |
| 7. Interdisciplinary and Collaborative Practice Issues | 11 | Lower |
Domain 3: Patient Care: Symptom Management (39 items - the largest domain)
This domain alone accounts for nearly 29% of the scored exam, so it deserves the largest share of your review time. Expect vignette questions on managing dyspnea, nausea, delirium, terminal secretions, anxiety, and skin breakdown in patients nearing end of life.
- Recognize symptom clusters unique to the active dying phase versus earlier disease trajectories
- Know nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic interventions the LPN/LVN can implement or recommend under RN supervision
- Differentiate symptoms requiring immediate RN/physician notification from those manageable with standing orders
Domain 2: Patient Care: Pain and Comfort Management (27 items)
The second-largest domain focuses on comprehensive pain assessment and comfort-focused care planning.
- Pain assessment tools appropriate for nonverbal or cognitively impaired patients
- Opioid and adjuvant therapy principles as applied within LPN/LVN scope of practice
- Nonpharmacologic comfort measures and their role alongside medication regimens
Domain 1: Patient Care: End-Stage Disease Process (18 items)
This domain tests recognition of disease trajectories across major end-stage conditions - cardiac, pulmonary, renal, neurological, and oncologic - and how each trajectory shapes the plan of care.
- Typical decline patterns and prognostic indicators for major terminal diagnoses
- How disease-specific trajectories inform anticipatory guidance for families
The remaining domains - Care of Patient, Family, and Other Caregivers; Patient and Family Education and Advocacy; Treatments and Procedures; and Interdisciplinary and Collaborative Practice Issues - carry fewer points individually but together represent a meaningful share of the exam. Don't skip them; a candidate who masters only the top two domains still leaves points on the table.
Eligibility, Fees, and Registration Mechanics
Before you build a study plan, confirm you actually qualify. HPCC requires a current, unrestricted U.S. or territorial LPN/LVN license plus hospice or palliative nursing practice under RN supervision totaling either 500 hours in the preceding 12 months or 1,000 hours in the preceding 24 months. Full details, including how practice hours are documented, are covered in CHPLN Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
Fees You Should Budget For
- Initial exam fee: $260 for HPNA members, $365 for nonmembers
- reTEST Assured (optional, one-time): $135 - allows a retake in one of the next three testing windows (not the same window you originally sat)
- HPAR recertification: $235 early / $345 standard for members; $340 early / $450 standard for nonmembers
- Renewal by re-examination: $235 members / $340 nonmembers
A full cost breakdown, including how reTEST Assured compares to paying full price twice, is available in CHPLN Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.
Testing Windows and Deadlines
CHPLN testing happens in four windows per year - March, June, September, and December - with online application deadlines falling on February 15, May 15, August 15, and November 15 respectively. Because the deadline is roughly a month before the window opens, candidates who want extra runway to study should apply as soon as they hit eligibility, not on deadline day. See CHPLN Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling for the full 2026 calendar and how to pick the window that fits your prep timeline.
A CHPLN-Specific Study Timeline
Generic study techniques like spaced repetition and timed practice blocks only help if they're pointed at the right material. Below is a sample eight-week plan that weights time according to the actual scored-item distribution rather than treating all seven domains equally.
Domain 3: Symptom Management
- Review dyspnea, nausea/vomiting, delirium, and terminal secretion management protocols
- Work through vignette-style practice questions daily since this domain has the most scored items
Domain 2: Pain and Comfort Management
- Study pain assessment tools for nonverbal patients
- Review opioid/adjuvant therapy concepts relevant to LPN/LVN scope
Domain 1: End-Stage Disease Process
- Map disease trajectories for cardiac, pulmonary, renal, and neurological conditions
Domains 5 & 6: Family Care and Education/Advocacy
- Practice questions on caregiver support, grief anticipation, and patient/family teaching scenarios
Domains 4 & 7: Treatments/Procedures and Interdisciplinary Practice
- Review lower-weighted but still-tested content: procedures within LPN/LVN scope and IDT collaboration norms
Full Review and Timed Practice
- Take full-length timed practice exams to build stamina for the 3-hour format
- Revisit weak domains identified from practice test scoring
Running full-length practice sessions on our CHPLN practice test platform during that final week is one of the best ways to simulate the real pacing and question style before test day. If you want a compact reference to review the morning of the exam, keep the CHPLN Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts handy.
Common First-Attempt Mistakes
- Treating all domains equally. Spending the same number of hours on Interdisciplinary Practice Issues (11 items) as Symptom Management (39 items) is a poor use of limited study time.
- Studying RN-level content instead of LPN/LVN scope. The CHPLN tests what an LPN/LVN does under RN supervision - not independent RN decision-making. Questions often hinge on knowing when to escalate versus when to act.
- Ignoring the pretest items. You won't know which 15 of the 150 questions are unscored, so treat every question as if it counts.
- Underestimating the scaled scoring model. A 500 scaled score isn't the same as 500/800 raw correct answers - don't try to reverse-engineer a percentage target.
- Applying too close to the deadline. Missing the February 15, May 15, August 15, or November 15 application deadline pushes you to the next quarterly window entirely.
Key Takeaway
Align your practice-question ratio to the real exam weighting: roughly twice as many practice items on Symptom Management as on any of the four smallest domains combined.
After You Pass: Renewal and Career Use
CHPLN certification lasts four years. Renewal happens through HPAR (Hospice and Palliative Accountability for Recertification), documenting practice and professional-development evidence in LearningBuilder, or by sitting for the renewal exam again. Fees differ depending on membership status and whether you renew early or at the standard deadline - details are in CHPLN Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.
Holding the CHPLN credential signals to hospice agencies, palliative care teams, and home health organizations that you've demonstrated competency across all seven domains covered on the exam - not just years of on-the-job experience. If you're weighing whether the time and fees are worth it relative to your career goals, Is the CHPLN Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 and CHPLN Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis walk through that decision in more depth. For a sense of where certified nurses typically work, CHPLN Jobs covers common employer types and roles.
Frequently Asked Questions
The exam has 150 total questions - 135 scored and 15 unscored pretest items - administered in a three-hour closed-book format through PSI.
You need a scaled score of 500 on a 200-800 range. This is not a simple percentage of correct answers; it accounts for question difficulty across the pool.
Patient Care: Symptom Management, with 39 of the 135 scored items, is by far the largest domain and deserves the most study time, followed by Pain and Comfort Management at 27 items.
You can purchase the one-time reTEST Assured option for $135, which allows a retake in one of the next three testing windows - not the same window as your original attempt.
Testing occurs in March, June, September, and December, with online application deadlines of February 15, May 15, August 15, and November 15 respectively.