Everything you wanted to ask before signing up.

Yes. The core platform — adaptive practice questions, performance analytics, exam simulation, focus mode, all of it — is completely free. Always.

CertifyRN is funded by display advertising. That keeps the platform free for every nurse, forever. We will never charge for access to study questions or core features. If a premium tier launches in the future, it will only add convenience features like ad removal — never gate the actual study tools.

Currently live: CPHQ (Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality).

Coming soon: PCRN (Progressive Care RN), CCRN (Critical Care RN), CEN (Certified Emergency Nurse), CMSRN (Medical-Surgical RN), and additional specialty certifications based on demand.

If there's a certification you'd like to see added, contact us at info@certifyrn.com — demand drives our roadmap.

No. CertifyRN runs entirely in your web browser — phone, tablet, or computer. There's no app store install, no software to keep updated, and no storage on your device. Just go to certifyrn.com and sign in.

Your progress automatically syncs across every device you sign in on, so you can practice on your phone during a break and pick up on your laptop at home.

Click "Continue with Google" or "Continue with Apple" on the home page. That's it — your existing account creates the login automatically. No password to remember, no email verification step.

We do not store passwords. Authentication is handled by Google or Apple, which means your sign-in is at least as secure as your email account itself.

The CertifyRN engine tracks your performance and adjusts what you see next based on how you're doing. Instead of random shuffling, your study time is directed where it matters most:

• Questions you got wrong return more often, until you consistently answer them correctly
• Questions you haven't seen yet get prioritized, so you actually cover the full bank
• Questions you pin for review are surfaced more frequently
• Questions you've clearly mastered come up less often, so they don't waste your time

The result: every round is built around the questions where you have the most to learn — not the ones you've already nailed.

Balanced Mode — 10 questions per round, mixing unseen, previously-wrong, and pinned questions weighted by the adaptive engine. This is your default day-to-day study mode.

Focus Mode — 20 questions per round, pulling exclusively from your weak spots: pinned questions, questions you've gotten wrong, and questions you've barely seen. Use this when you have a chunk of study time and want maximum impact on weak areas.

Both modes draw from the same question bank — they just select differently.

Exam Simulation runs a full-length, certification-specific exam under realistic conditions: no feedback during the test, no ability to flag, no rationale until the end. You get a pass/fail verdict and full review at completion.

This is the closest thing to test-day experience you can get without paying for an official practice exam. Use it 1–2 weeks before your actual exam to gauge readiness.

Your readiness score is a weighted calculation, not just raw accuracy. It multiplies your accuracy in each domain by that domain's weight on the actual exam blueprint, then sums the result.

Example: scoring 90% on a 30%-weighted domain matters more than 90% on a 5%-weighted domain. The readiness score reflects what your real exam outcome would likely look like, given the blueprint.

Each available certification launches with 700+ questions covering every domain on the exam blueprint, and the banks grow regularly as new questions are added and refined.

Every question includes a detailed rationale explaining why the correct answer is correct — and often why the distractors are wrong — so you learn from each one regardless of whether you got it right.

Yes. Email us at info@certifyrn.com from the address associated with your account, and we'll delete your account and all associated study data within 30 days.

For full details on what we collect and how it's stored, see our Privacy Policy.

Ads are how CertifyRN stays free. We use Google AdSense, which serves ads relevant to nurses and healthcare professionals. We do not control the specific advertisers shown, but the targeting is generally workplace-appropriate.

If a premium tier launches in the future, the primary benefit will be ad removal for users who prefer that experience. The free tier will always include the full study toolkit.

Most candidates do well with 2–4 weeks of consistent daily practice, depending on your experience level and background knowledge. Nurses with strong day-to-day exposure to the certification's content area tend to need less time; those preparing in an unfamiliar specialty typically need closer to 4 weeks.

Even just 15–20 minutes a day is enough to make meaningful progress. The adaptive engine works best when you study little and often rather than cramming in long blocks. Use the dashboard's readiness score as a guide — a score above 75% across all domains is a strong signal you're ready to test.

Take one early — even on day one — to identify which domains are weakest. Then take another 1–2 weeks before your real exam to confirm readiness.

Don't take exam simulations too frequently. Each one is meant to be a snapshot under realistic pressure, not a daily routine. Use Balanced Mode and Focus Mode for daily practice instead.