- The Official 2025 Numbers
- Reading the Data Honestly: A Small Cohort
- First-Time vs. Repeat Candidates
- Why Prepared Candidates Tend to Pass
- What "Passing" Actually Means: The 500 Scaled Score
- Where the Scored Items Sit
- The Eligibility Filter Behind the Numbers
- A Domain-Weighted Study Plan
- Fees, Windows, and the Retest Safety Net
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Official 2025 CHPPN results: 89.2% overall pass rate (33 of 37 attempts) and 94.3% for first-time candidates (33 of 35).
- The cohort is tiny, so a single result shifts the percentages noticeably. Treat the figures as context, not a prediction.
- The passing scaled score is 500 on a 200-800 scale, not a raw percentage of questions answered correctly.
- Pediatric Diagnoses & Symptom Management carries 34 of 135 scored items, the largest single domain.
The Official 2025 Numbers
If you are weighing the Certified Hospice and Palliative Pediatric Nurse (CHPPN) credential, the first question most candidates ask is simple: how many people actually pass? The Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center (HPCC), which awards the CHPPN, publishes exam statistics. For 2025, the official figures are:
| Candidate Group | 2025 Pass Rate | Passes / Attempts |
|---|---|---|
| Overall | 89.2% | 33 / 37 |
| First-time candidates | 94.3% | 33 / 35 |
| Repeat candidates | 0% | 0 / 2 |
These are exam-attempt statistics, which means they count attempts rather than unique people. At a glance, the headline is encouraging: roughly nine in ten attempts ended in a pass, and nearly every first-time candidate who sat the exam succeeded. But the denominator matters as much as the percentage, and that is where careful reading begins.
Reading the Data Honestly: A Small Cohort
The CHPPN is a specialty credential for nurses who work in pediatric hospice and palliative care, a narrow clinical field. That shows up in the statistics: only 37 attempts in the 2025 data. With a population this small, each individual result moves the percentages substantially. Four unsuccessful attempts out of 37 produce the 89.2% overall figure; had two more candidates passed, the number would look meaningfully different.
For a deeper look at how candidates perceive difficulty beyond the raw percentages, see How Hard Is the CHPPN Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026.
First-Time vs. Repeat Candidates
The 94.3% first-time figure
Of 35 first-time attempts in 2025, 33 passed. That is a strong result, and it fits what you would expect from a credential with a real eligibility gate. Candidates have to document substantial pediatric hospice or palliative practice before they can even apply, so the people sitting the exam are generally working in the specialty every week.
The 0% repeat figure
The repeat result, 0 of 2, looks alarming but is nearly meaningless statistically. Two attempts cannot support any conclusion about how repeat candidates fare in general. What it does suggest, qualitatively, is that a candidate who did not pass the first time should treat the retake as a new project rather than a quick second pass: diagnose which domains cost points, rebuild those areas, and only then reschedule.
Key Takeaway
Do not read "0% repeat" as a warning that retakes are impossible. Read it as a reminder that repeating the same preparation tends to repeat the same result. If you have to retest, change your study plan, not just your test date.
Why Prepared Candidates Tend to Pass
The high first-time rate is not an accident. Several features of the CHPPN pathway filter and prepare the candidate pool:
- Practice-hour requirement: You need 500 hours of pediatric hospice/palliative nursing practice in the preceding 12 months, or 1,000 hours in the preceding 24 months. Candidates are not studying the material cold; they are applying it daily.
- Unrestricted RN licensure: A current unrestricted RN license in the United States or its territories (or the Canadian equivalent) is required.
- Audit exposure: License and practice documentation may be audited, which discourages marginal or premature applications.
- Self-selection: Because the exam is optional and specialty-specific, the nurses who register tend to be motivated and already invested in the field.
You can review the full qualification checklist in CHPPN Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
What "Passing" Actually Means: The 500 Scaled Score
One of the most common misunderstandings about certification exams is treating the pass mark as a percent-correct threshold. The CHPPN does not work that way. The passing scaled score is 500 on a 200-800 scale. A scaled score converts your performance into a standardized scale so that results remain comparable across different exam forms, even if one form happens to be slightly harder than another.
That has practical consequences for how you interpret both the pass rate and your own practice results:
- You cannot convert "I got 70% on a practice set" directly into a pass or fail prediction.
- The exam has 150 multiple-choice questions, but only 135 are scored; 15 are unscored pretest items that look identical to the rest. Treat every question as if it counts.
- The format is nonadaptive, so the exam does not get easier or harder based on your answers.
For a closer look, read CHPPN Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.
Where the Scored Items Sit
A pass rate tells you how many people succeed, but not where points are won and lost. The exam content is organized into five domains, and the official scored-item counts, in domain order, are 24, 24, 34, 31, and 22 (135 total).
| Domain | Scored Items |
|---|---|
| Domain 1: Patient Care - Assessment and Planning | 24 |
| Domain 2: Patient Care - Pain Management | 24 |
| Domain 3: Patient Care - Pediatric Diagnoses & Symptom Management | 34 |
| Domain 4: Family-Centered Support, Education, and Advocacy | 31 |
| Domain 5: Professional Practice | 22 |
Domain 3: Pediatric Diagnoses & Symptom Management (34 items)
The largest domain, and the one most likely to decide a borderline result. Expect scenario-based questions that require choosing the single best response for a child with a life-limiting condition.
- Recognizing disease trajectories across pediatric diagnoses
- Prioritizing symptom interventions when several are competing
- Matching the intervention to the child's developmental stage
Domain 2: Pain Management (24 items)
Expect medication-focused reasoning. The exam is closed book and calculators are prohibited, but an equianalgesic conversion table accompanies applicable questions, so the skill being tested is applying the table sensibly rather than memorizing conversion factors.
- Opioid selection and route considerations
- Interpreting the equianalgesic table without a calculator
- Non-pharmacologic and adjunctive approaches
Domain 4: Family-Centered Support, Education, and Advocacy (31 items)
The second-largest domain and often underestimated by clinically strong nurses. Questions center on the family as the unit of care, including communication, anticipatory guidance, and advocacy.
- Supporting parents and siblings through decision-making
- Education that respects the family's values and understanding
- Advocating across the care team and community
A full breakdown of each area is available in CHPPN Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 5 Content Areas.
The Eligibility Filter Behind the Numbers
Because you must already be an experienced pediatric palliative nurse to apply, the CHPPN pass rate describes a pre-qualified group, not the general nursing population. That is worth remembering if you are comparing the CHPPN to other credentials: a high pass rate here does not necessarily mean the content is easy. It more likely reflects that people who reach the exam have deep, recent, relevant practice behind them.
At the same time, daily practice does not automatically translate into exam performance. Clinical routines in your own unit may differ from the "single best answer" logic the exam rewards. Candidates who work mainly in one setting, such as home-based hospice, can find that questions drawn from other pediatric diagnoses or care settings feel less familiar. That is exactly where structured review pays off. Our CHPPN Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt walks through how to close those gaps.
A Domain-Weighted Study Plan
Generic study advice is easy to find; what is useful is a plan that mirrors where the points are. The sequence below assigns the heaviest domains the most time and puts the most clinically familiar material first, so your confidence builds while you tackle weaker areas.
Domain 1 and Domain 5 foundations
- Review assessment and planning frameworks (24 scored items)
- Cover professional practice, ethics, and scope (22 scored items)
- Take a short baseline set to see which areas surprise you
Domain 3: the 34-item core
- Work through pediatric diagnoses and their symptom patterns one cluster at a time
- Practice choosing a single best answer when two options seem reasonable
Domain 2 and Domain 4
- Drill pain management scenarios using the equianalgesic table without a calculator
- Study family-centered communication, education, and advocacy scenarios (31 items)
Full-length simulation and review
- Sit a timed 150-question run to rehearse the 3-hour limit
- Revisit only the domains where you missed the most items
When selecting practice material, note the difference between resources. HPNA's official practice product contains 50 questions; the actual certification examination has 150. Independently written practice simulations, including those on this site, can help you build stamina and breadth, but they are not the real exam. Our CHPPN practice test is designed to help you rehearse question style and pacing across all five domains.
For a compact last-week review, keep the CHPPN Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts handy.
Fees, Windows, and the Retest Safety Net
Pass-rate numbers feel abstract until money and deadlines are involved. Here is how the practical side works for the CHPPN:
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Initial exam fee (HPNA member) | US$305 |
| Initial exam fee (nonmember) | US$445 |
| reTEST Assured | US$135, usable in one of the next 3 testing windows |
| Delivery | PSI test centers or live remote proctoring |
Membership must be in place before you apply to receive the member price. That detail catches candidates out, because joining after submitting the application does not retroactively lower the fee. Full pricing, including renewal costs, is covered in CHPPN Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.
Testing windows and application deadlines
The exam is offered in four windows each year, each with its own application period:
- March 1-31: apply December 1-February 15
- June 1-30: apply March 1-May 15
- September 1-30: apply June 1-August 15
- December 1-31: apply September 1-November 15
Choosing a window is partly a pass-rate decision: scheduling too early to "get it over with" tends to compress preparation, while a window that leaves you two to three months of structured study is usually the more sensible choice. See CHPPN Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling for planning help.
After you pass
Certification lasts 4 years. Renewal runs through the Hospice and Palliative Accrual for Recertification (HPAR) process in LearningBuilder, which requires practice-hour and professional-development documentation. HPAR practice eligibility mirrors the initial standard: 500 hours in the preceding 12 months or 1,000 in the preceding 24 months. If you are weighing long-term value, Is the CHPPN Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 covers the broader picture.
Frequently Asked Questions
According to official 2025 statistics, the overall pass rate was 89.2% (33 of 37 attempts). First-time candidates passed at 94.3% (33 of 35), while repeat candidates passed at 0% (0 of 2). These come from a small cohort, so they can shift noticeably from year to year.
No. The passing scaled score is 500 on a 200-800 scale. It is a standardized score, not a raw percentage, so you cannot translate a practice-test percentage directly into a pass or fail result.
Not necessarily. Candidates must already have substantial pediatric hospice or palliative practice (500 hours in 12 months or 1,000 in 24 months), so the group sitting the exam is experienced and self-selected. The exam itself covers 135 scored questions across five domains and rewards best-answer clinical judgment.
Eligible unsuccessful initial candidates can purchase reTEST Assured for US$135 and use it in one of the next 3 testing windows. Use the time to review your weakest domains before retesting rather than simply rebooking.
Pediatric Diagnoses & Symptom Management is the largest domain at 34 scored items, followed by Family-Centered Support, Education, and Advocacy at 31. Because the exam is scored on a scaled basis across all domains, solid performance in these two areas contributes the most to your overall result.
The 2025 data tell a hopeful but limited story: prepared, experienced pediatric palliative nurses passed at high rates, yet the sample is small enough that no one should treat the percentage as a promise. Focus on the content in front of you, weight your study time toward the larger domains, and let the numbers serve as encouragement rather than a forecast. For a broader orientation to the credential itself, start with What Is CHPPN Certification? and revisit the CHPPN pass rate overview as new official statistics are released.