Castleport Test Prep

CMSRN Exam Prep: The 89-Right 2026 Study Plan and Free Tool

Last verified: August 28, 2026 · By the Castleport Test Prep Editorial Team

The CMSRN exam is 150 questions in three hours. Only 125 count toward your score. MSNCB publishes a passing standard score of 95, described as about 71% correct—so about 89 of 125 right is a useful planning number, leaving about 36 misses. It is not an official fixed raw cut score. The application fee is $394, or $267 for AMSN members.

That is the answer most CMSRN exam prep pages stop at. Here is the part they skip, and it is the blind spot that can wreck an otherwise solid plan: 66 of the 125 scored-item allocation sits in systems, team, coordination, documentation, ethics, quality, and professional-practice domains—not the Patient/Care Management or Holistic Patient Care domains.

We counted every numbered activity line in the current blueprint. Then we built the free tool around the parts a candidate actually has to decide.

JavaScript enhancement · free CMSRN exam-planning demonstration

Free · no email · no clinical question bank

The CMSRN 89 Check

Turn MSNCB’s current exam facts into a visible score-planning band, a blueprint-weighted study allocation, a version check, a cost and eligibility precheck, and a 72-second pacing drill. This is a planning tool—not a diagnostic, score estimate, or pass prediction.

Official-source facts checked August 28, 2026

Score-planning translation

How many can you miss?

125 of 150 questions count toward the score. MSNCB publishes a standard score of 95 and calls it approximately 71% correct. 71% of 125 is 88.75, so plan around about 89 right and 36 misses.

89

right, about

36

misses, about

125

scored items

Planning-right Planning-miss

Do not turn 89 into an official cut score. MSNCB publishes a standard score of 95 and describes it as approximately 71% correct. It does not publish 89 as a fixed raw cut score; 89 is a planning translation. At 70%, the translation is 88; at 72%, it is 90. Build a cushion.

What 36 misses looks like by domain

This spreads the planning miss budget evenly. Real misses will not distribute evenly; that is why the Study Plan asks where you are weak.

DomainScored itemsEvenly spread misses
Patient/Care Management4012
Nursing Teamwork and Collaboration267
Elements of Interprofessional Care216
Holistic Patient Care195
Professional Concepts195
Total12536

Primary records: MSNCB Certification, July 2025 Handbook, 2023 Blueprint, Exam Processes and Fees, and Statistics.

Castleport Test Prep is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or approved by MSNCB, AMSN, ANCC, Pearson VUE, or Prometric. Exam, credential, organization, and provider names are used descriptively. Castleport claims no ownership in those names or marks. Official requirements control.

The free CMSRN 89 Check belongs directly above this paragraph.

Six tabs, no email, nothing to buy. Put in your test date, weekly study hours, and weakest domains. It builds a weekly allocation from the current five-domain blueprint, converts “standard score 95” into a visible planning band, prices the routes that can be priced from published fees, checks whether the material in your hand matches the active exam, and gives you a 72-second pacing drill.

Castleport independently verifies exam-version and requirement details against current official sources, shows its math, and dates the check.

Independent-use disclosure: Castleport Test Prep is an independent publisher and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or approved by the Medical-Surgical Nursing Certification Board (MSNCB), the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN), the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), Pearson VUE, Prometric, or any other exam owner, credentialing body, or testing vendor. Exam, certification, credential, organization, and provider names are used descriptively to identify the exams and services discussed. Castleport claims no ownership in those names or marks.


This page is for you if—and is not if

It is for you if you are an RN preparing for the CMSRN and want to know what to study, what it costs, whether you qualify, what version is active, and whether the review material someone handed you still matches it.

It is not for you if:

  • You are studying for ANCC’s MEDSURG-BC exam. Different credentialing body, different blueprint, different eligibility details. We compare the published structures below, but you should never use one exam’s numbers as the other exam’s rules.
  • Your hours come only from pediatrics, psychiatry, obstetrics and gynecology, the operating room, or the emergency room. MSNCB lists those as settings that are not medical-surgical. Read the eligibility section before paying.
  • You already hold the CMSRN and only need to renew. Renewal has a separate January 2026 handbook and current web page. Skip to the recertification section.
  • You want real, recalled, leaked, or “latest live” exam questions. Castleport does not use them or point candidates toward them.
  • You want a pass guarantee. Castleport does not offer or imply one.

The one thing to know before you spend a dollar on CMSRN exam prep

The right prep path turns on five things: the blueprint active on your test date, whether your practice hours qualify, the time left in your 90-day authorization window, the domains you actually neglect, and whether the product in your hand maps to all five domains.

The official handbook and MSNCB’s current site set the requirements. The free CMSRN 89 Check turns those published facts into a plan. It does not diagnose readiness, estimate your eventual score, or predict whether you will pass.


What score do you actually need to pass the CMSRN?

MSNCB requires a standard score of 95 and describes it as approximately 71% correct. Across 125 scored questions, 71% is 88.75, so about 89 right—and about 36 misses—is a planning translation, not an official fixed raw cut score.

A standard score is converted from your raw performance so candidates taking different forms can be held to a common standard. That is why MSNCB publishes 95, not “89 out of 125.”

But you cannot plan study work around an abstract converted score. You can plan around a band:

If the underlying raw percentage were… Correct out of 125 Misses
70% 88 37
71%—MSNCB’s approximate description 89 36
72% 90 35

Aim past the band, not at it. A plan built around exactly 89 leaves no cushion for a weaker domain, a difficult form, or a bad testing morning.

Twenty-five of the 150 questions are unscored pretest items. You cannot identify them, so they still consume time. At the full-exam average of 72 seconds per question, 25 items represent about 30 minutes of the three-hour clock.

Official structure and score language: MSNCB CMSRN Certification and the current CMSRN Certification Handbook, last updated July 2025. The 89/36 translation is Castleport’s arithmetic on MSNCB’s approximate percentage.

→ Open “The 89 Map” in the tool and see the planning band square by square.


Where does the CMSRN actually keep its points?

The current blueprint allocates 59 scored items to Patient/Care Management plus Holistic Patient Care and 66 to the other three domains. That 59/66 grouping is Castleport’s planning classification, not MSNCB’s terminology.

The official domain weights are:

Domain Weight Scored items
Patient/Care Management 32% 40
Nursing Teamwork and Collaboration 21% 26
Elements of Interprofessional Care 17% 21
Holistic Patient Care 15% 19
Professional Concepts 15% 19
Total 100% 125

Read the second row again. Nursing Teamwork and Collaboration is the second-largest domain. It includes delegation, supervision, mentoring, preceptorship, leadership models, change management, staffing, conflict, financial stewardship, and disaster planning.

Now group the five domains by the type of work they publish:

  • Patient-facing care domains—Patient/Care Management + Holistic Patient Care = 59 items, 47.2%
  • Systems, interprofessional, professional, and team domains—Elements of Interprofessional Care + Professional Concepts + Nursing Teamwork and Collaboration = 66 items, 52.8%

Those category names are ours. The item counts are MSNCB’s.

A grouping-free version makes the same point: Professional Concepts plus Nursing Teamwork and Collaboration equals 45 scored items, or 36% of the exam. Those two domains do not define body-system categories. A plan organized only around cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, renal, neurological, and endocrine content can be useful clinical review while still failing to map a large part of the published exam.

Which domains carry the most published topic load per point?

We counted each numbered activity line in the 2023 CMSRN Exam Blueprint. The count returned 132 activity lines across 28 subareas. We completed the count twice; both passes returned the same 132 and the same domain split.

Domain Scored items Numbered blueprint lines Lines per scored item
Patient/Care Management 40 30 0.750
Holistic Patient Care 19 18 0.947
Elements of Interprofessional Care 21 24 1.143
Nursing Teamwork and Collaboration 26 31 1.192
Professional Concepts 19 29 1.526
Total 125 132 1.056

This ratio does not measure question difficulty or tell you how many questions will be drawn from each individual line. It measures how much published blueprint territory sits behind each allocated scored item.

The spread is about 2.03×: Professional Concepts publishes roughly twice as many activity lines per allocated point as Patient/Care Management. A plan allocated only by domain size can therefore under-serve the domain with the densest published territory.

Two blocks deserve an explicit place in the plan:

  • Leadership has 12 numbered lines inside Nursing Teamwork and Collaboration. It is the single largest named block in the blueprint and an easy block to skim.
  • Care Coordination and Transition Management has 11 numbered lines inside Elements of Interprofessional Care. It covers discharge planning, readmission risk, social determinants, medication reconciliation, and the continuum of care.

The official item counts and percentages are MSNCB’s. The 132-line count, the ratios, and the 59/66 grouping are Castleport’s original analysis.

→ Open “Where the Points Are,” then carry that load map into the Study Plan tab.


How do you build a CMSRN study plan that matches the blueprint?

Start from MSNCB’s weights, then bend the allocation toward your two weakest domains. Do not divide your study time evenly just because the blueprint has five columns.

Here is the method used in the tool:

  1. Start with the official weight. Patient/Care Management 32, Teamwork 21, Interprofessional Care 17, Holistic Patient Care 15, Professional Concepts 15.
  2. Apply a self-rating factor. Weak = 1.35, developing = 1.00, strong = 0.75.
  3. Normalize the adjusted weights. Divide each adjusted domain value by the adjusted total.
  4. Multiply by your weekly hours. The result is a study-time allocation, not a readiness result.

A worked eight-hour example for a nurse who is strong in Patient/Care Management and weak in Professional Concepts and Teamwork:

Domain Official weight Self-rating Adjusted value Weekly share Hours/week
Patient/Care Management 32 Strong 24.00 22.9% 1.8
Nursing Teamwork and Collaboration 21 Weak 28.35 27.1% 2.2
Elements of Interprofessional Care 17 Developing 17.00 16.3% 1.3
Holistic Patient Care 15 Developing 15.00 14.3% 1.1
Professional Concepts 15 Weak 20.25 19.4% 1.6
Total 100 104.60 100% 8.0

The nurse who is already strong at the bedside stops automatically spending 32% of study time there and starts spending 46.5% on the two weak domains—without abandoning the largest domain.

This is a planning allocation, not a diagnostic, score estimate, or outcome prediction. MSNCB does not publish a required study period. It does publish a hard operational clock: once your Authorization to Test arrives, you generally have 90 days to sit the exam. Build backward from the actual authorization dates in your portal.

→ Put your test date, weekly hours, and five honest self-ratings into the Study Plan tab.


Is the CMSRN hard? What the pass rates actually say

MSNCB published a 67% pass rate for 2025: 4,845 attempts, 3,246 passes, and 1,599 failures. The published rate declined in each published year from 75% in 2021 to 67% in 2025. MSNCB does not publish a first-time-only rate.

Year Tested Passed Failed Published pass rate Active certificants
2021 3,897 2,926 971 75% 35,564
2022 3,222 2,355 867 73% 33,541
2023 2,746 1,988 758 72% 30,930
2024 4,337 2,981 implied by arithmetic 1,356 69% 30,463
2025 4,845 3,246 1,599 67% 31,019

The 2024 qualification matters. MSNCB’s live table duplicates 4,337 in both the tested and passed cells while also listing 1,356 failed and a 69% pass rate. Those values cannot all be true. Subtracting failures from tested gives 2,981, and 2,981 ÷ 4,337 = 68.73%, which rounds to MSNCB’s published 69%.

Across 2021–2025, MSNCB reports 19,047 attempts and 5,551 failures, a pooled failure share of about 29.1%. That still does not give any individual candidate a personal probability of passing.

What the trend does not tell you

The current blueprint took effect May 15, 2023, and the pass rate is lower in the later published years. That timing is not proof that the blueprint caused the decline. MSNCB does not publish the causal explanation, first-attempt rates, candidate mix, or form-level difficulty data.

What you can control is how you prepare.

Official figures: MSNCB Statistics. The 2024 implied pass count and pooled calculations are Castleport’s arithmetic and are labeled as such.


Do you qualify to take the CMSRN?

For US, territorial, and Canadian candidates, MSNCB lists two main requirements: a current, unencumbered RN license and 2,000 hours of medical-surgical practice in the past three years. Two full years of practice is recommended, not listed as a separate eligibility requirement.

Getting this wrong can cost months or an application fee.

2,000 hours is roughly fifty 40-hour weeks. Do not assume your calendar alone settles eligibility; check the hours and the type of work.

What can count as medical-surgical practice?

MSNCB says medical-surgical nursing is what you practice, not where, and names hospital, outpatient, home, telemedicine, and other nontraditional settings. The current requirement expressly allows practice as a clinical nurse, manager, or educator.

Expressly allowed roles/settings Settings MSNCB lists as not medical-surgical
Clinical nurse Pediatrics
Manager Psychiatry
Educator Obstetrics and gynecology
Hospital, outpatient, home, telemedicine, and other qualifying settings Operating room
Multiple qualifying positions within the three-year lookback Emergency room

Managers and educators may mistakenly assume their hours do not count, but the current official language says qualifying hours in those roles can count.

If you practice internationally, get the hours requirement in writing

MSNCB’s current public materials conflict for candidates practicing internationally without a US RN license:

  • The current certification web page states 1,000 practice hours in the past three years.
  • The July 2025 handbook states 2,000 practice hours in the past three years.

Both require a current, unrestricted license and a credential evaluation such as CGFNS or WES where applicable. A candidate in the 1,000–1,999-hour range should obtain written confirmation from MSNCB before paying.

The application audit

The current handbook says MSNCB randomly audits 5% of initial applications. If selected, be ready for the listed supervisor to verify the license and practice hours, and respond within the stated deadline. Name someone who will answer the request and use an email address you actually monitor.

→ Use “Cost & Eligibility” for a rules-based precheck, then treat MSNCB—not the tool—as the final authority.


Is your CMSRN study guide out of date?

The active five-domain blueprint took effect May 15, 2023. Pearson VUE and OnVUE now deliver the exam. A current-looking cover can still sit on top of superseded vendor, fee, score, or eligibility language.

The 15-signal CMSRN version check

# If the material says… Verdict Current boundary
1 ANCC administers or awards the CMSRN Wrong credential MSNCB administers and awards CMSRN; ANCC administers MEDSURG-BC.
2 RN-BC or Medical-Surgical Nursing (RN-BC) as the CMSRN name Wrong credential Those labels belong to ANCC’s credential history, not CMSRN.
3 Passing score 350 Wrong exam scale CMSRN uses standard score 95; ANCC uses a different scale.
4 Body systems only, with no mapping back to all five CMSRN domains Incomplete version match Current prep should map coverage to all five MSNCB domains.
5 Three-domain CMSRN outline Wrong blueprint CMSRN has five domains. ANCC’s current MEDSURG-BC outline has three.
6 Prometric or ProProctor delivers the CMSRN Superseded logistics CMSRN delivery is through Pearson VUE and OnVUE.
7 $79 processing or extension fee Superseded fee The current published amount is $90.
8 A mandatory retake waiting period Superseded rule MSNCB says it has no waiting period.
9 Two years of experience is a third CMSRN eligibility requirement Misstates current eligibility 2,000 hours is required; two years is recommended.
10 All 150 questions are scored Wrong format 125 are scored; 25 are unscored pretest items.
11 The exam lasts 3.5 hours Wrong format The current limit is three hours.
12 72% or 73% presented as the current annual pass rate Stale statistic MSNCB publishes 67% for 2025.
13 ID can simply be expired for 90 days Superseded rule Plan on unexpired ID. The handbook mentions renewal paperwork; the current site requires exceptions to be preapproved at least 10 business days before the appointment.
14 A fixed raw number such as “89 is the official cut score” Overclaim 89 is a planning translation; MSNCB publishes standard score 95 and an approximate percentage.
15 Real, recalled, leaked, or live exam questions Walk away Legitimate prep does not depend on protected exam content.

Signal 4 is deliberately more precise than “body systems are old.” Clinical system review can still be useful. The failure is never mapping that review back to all five current domains, especially Professional Concepts, Interprofessional Care, and Teamwork and Collaboration.

What changed between the April 2024 handbook and the current record?

What April 2024 handbook Current record verified August 28, 2026 Why it matters
Delivery Prometric / ProProctor Pearson VUE / OnVUE Old test-day instructions can fail at check-in.
Nonrefundable application portion $79 $90 Affects every withdrawal calculation.
Extension fee $79 $90 Affects a missed or expiring test window.
Scheduling Six-day portal blackout Appointments may be made up to three days before the desired date, subject to availability Changes the usable end of the 90-day window.
Test-center changes Older fee ladder Changes allowed up to 48 hours before; no separate MSNCB change fee is published Confirm the reschedule and keep the email.
OnVUE changes ProProctor rules May be changed up to exam time Different operational boundary.
ID Up to 90 days expired Plan on unexpired; handbook renewal-paperwork language and current preapproval rule apply Avoid a preventable turn-away.
Tutorial Separate 10-minute tutorial Help screen during the exam; MSNCB recommends the Pearson VUE demo before test day Do not plan on a separate untimed tutorial.
Accommodations Older lead-time language Approval before scheduling; MSNCB review may take up to 10 business days Apply before booking.
Recertification Included in the certification handbook Separate January 2026 recertification handbook Renewal rules moved.
Transfer pathway Documented with $193/$303 fees Still presented on a live AMSN/MSNCB route, but on a page carrying other superseded logistics Verify the current fee before paying.
Handbook date April/May 2024 Last updated July 2025 Use the current file, not an official-domain search result with an older cover.

An old official PDF can still be an old PDF. Check the cover date, then check current web processes for fees and vendor logistics.

→ Run the Version Check on the book, app, or course you were about to use.


What does the CMSRN cost in 2026?

The exam costs $394. AMSN members pay $267. The application contains a $90 nonrefundable processing portion. A first retake is $315, or $189 for AMSN members. A one-year full AMSN membership costs $115, so joining first makes the initial exam route $382—$12 less than paying the standard exam fee alone.

Current published fees

Line item AMSN member Standard/nonmember
Initial CMSRN application $267 $394
First discounted retake $189 $315
CertAssure add-on $100 $200
Nonrefundable portion of each application $90 $90
90-day authorization extension, if granted $90 $90
Recertify by contact hours $225 $325
Recertify by exam $267 $394
Late recertification fee $90 $90
Inactive status $105 $165
Emeritus status $75 $100
AMSN full membership, one year $115
AMSN New to Practice membership, two years $99
AMSN practice exam $99 $139
AMSN online review course $149 $199
AMSN live facility review course $6,500 for the first 100 attendees; $325 per additional 10

Common routes, priced

Route Total
Standard exam only $394
Join AMSN, then member exam $382
Existing AMSN member, exam only $267
Existing member, exam + CertAssure $367
Join + member exam + CertAssure $482
Standard exam + CertAssure $594
Join + member exam + member practice exam $481
Join + member exam + member online review course $531
Join + exam + practice exam + online review course $630
Standard exam + nonmember practice exam + online review course $732
Standard exam + paid first retake $709
Join + member exam + member retake $571

Should you join AMSN before applying?

On the initial fee alone, the arithmetic is unusually clean:

  • Standard exam: $394
  • One-year full membership + member exam: $115 + $267 = $382
  • Difference: $12 less, plus the membership term

AMSN also lists a $99 two-year New to Practice membership for a newly graduated nurse or one in practice two years or less. Confirm your eligibility with AMSN before selecting that tier.

The CMSRN Certification Grant can cover the full application fee. MSNCB says applicants must have been AMSN members for at least one year, and applications are open year-round.

Is CertAssure worth buying?

CertAssure is an optional, nonrefundable add-on that covers a second attempt if the first attempt is unsuccessful. It does not predict, guarantee, or improve an outcome.

Route CertAssure cost Retake cost avoided Break-even failure probability
AMSN member $100 $189 52.9%
Nonmember $200 $315 63.5%

If—and only if—you apply the published 2025 all-attempt failure rate of 33% as a simple comparison:

  • Member expected retake cost: 0.33 × $189 = $62.37, making CertAssure $37.63 more than that expected value.
  • Nonmember expected retake cost: 0.33 × $315 = $103.95, making CertAssure $96.05 more than that expected value.

MSNCB does not publish a first-attempt-only rate, so the population rate cannot tell you whether CertAssure fits your own risk. Buy it for budget certainty, not because a cohort average proves it will save money.

If your employer pays: FailSafe, decoded

Vouchers Current price Price per voucher Current web-page review-course discount
3 $1,182 $394 15%
5 $1,970 $394 15%
10 $3,940 $394 15%

Every bundle prices each voucher at exactly $394. The value is the second attempt within the program terms, not a lower first-attempt voucher price.

One official conflict is worth taking to the contract: the current FailSafe page says 15% for all tiers, while the July 2025 handbook describes 5% / 10% / 15% for 3 / 5 / 10 vouchers. A facility should confirm the current discount term before an educator negotiates or budgets around it.

Our damaging admission, and what we do instead

We do not currently sell a CMSRN study guide, question bank, course, or paid Exam System. No CMSRN diagnostic is live. This page and the CMSRN 89 Check are new free coverage. Castleport takes no affiliate commission on the AMSN or MSNCB resources named here.

If you need a clinically reviewed question bank today, Castleport is not that product. AMSN’s 150-question practice exam is linked by MSNCB and matches the published CMSRN envelope of 150 questions in three hours. Read its access and contact-hour terms below.

What Castleport did here instead is the work most summaries skip: the 89-right planning translation, a reproducible 132-line blueprint count, a topic-load comparison, a current version map, a five-year statistics check, and the break-even math on the add-on.

→ Price the route that actually applies to you in “Cost & Eligibility.”


What do the current AMSN CMSRN study materials include?

AMSN sells the practice exam and review course MSNCB links. MSNCB also says those resources are not required, are not the only or preferred route, do not include current exam questions, and do not imply successful performance.

AMSN CMSRN Practice Exam—$99 member / $139 nonmember

The live listing states:

  • 150 multiple-choice questions
  • Three hours per attempt
  • Current-blueprint alignment
  • Unlimited attempts during access
  • Rationales after attempts
  • 180-day access from purchase
  • 3.0 contact hours claimable once
  • “Passing grade of 120.00” plus evaluation for the activity certificate
  • No guarantee of passing the CMSRN exam

The listing does not define the denominator or scoring scale behind “120.00,” so it should not be converted into an assumed 80% exam benchmark. It is the activity’s completion threshold, not MSNCB’s CMSRN passing standard.

The current online Certification Review Course—$149 member / $199 nonmember

New buyers are directed to AMSN’s new listing. The live AMSN exam-prep page says:

  • 11 newly revised modules
  • 14.75 NCPD contact hours
  • $149 for members / $199 for nonmembers

The library listing visibly contains 11 numbered lessons, but its description still says nine modules. The older 20.5-hour course is marked for sunset and directs new users to the new course. MSNCB’s resource summary has also continued to surface legacy course language in places.

The current visible lesson list includes one named Teamwork and Collaboration lesson, then clinical/system lessons. It does not show standalone lesson titles named Professional Concepts or Elements of Interprofessional Care. That is not proof those domains are absent inside the modules. It is a buying question:

How do the 11 visible lessons map to all five CMSRN domains, especially Professional Concepts and Elements of Interprofessional Care?

Ask AMSN before buying if the answer affects what you must supplement.

The exam reference list gives away the intended balance

The current handbook says every exam item must cite at least two references, prefers the most recent AMSN Core Curriculum for Medical-Surgical Nursing where possible, and also points to AMSN’s current Scope and Standards of Medical-Surgical Nursing Practice.

The remaining list includes clinical texts, pharmacology, pathophysiology, transcultural nursing, fundamentals, and two leadership/management texts. That is consistent with a blueprint allocating 45 scored items to Professional Concepts plus Nursing Teamwork and Collaboration. It does not mean all 45 items come from those two books; it means leadership and management are explicitly part of the reference architecture.


What happens on CMSRN exam day?

CMSRN delivery is through Pearson VUE at a test center or through OnVUE remote proctoring. The exam is 150 questions in three hours. Test-center candidates receive an immediate printed pass/fail result, and both delivery modes receive detailed online result information within 24 hours.

The 72-second clock

150 questions ÷ 180 minutes = 72 seconds per question.

Elapsed time Target question
30 minutes 25
60 minutes 50
90 minutes 75
120 minutes 100
150 minutes 125
180 minutes 150

The Pace Check supplied with this page tests only whether you can maintain the 72-second average timing; it contains no clinical exam items and makes no readiness claim.

Booking, moving, and missing the appointment

Action Current published boundary Published MSNCB charge
Schedule Up to three days before the desired date, subject to availability None stated
Change/cancel a test-center appointment Up to 48 hours before No separate MSNCB change fee published
Change/cancel OnVUE Up to exam time No separate MSNCB change fee published
Switch modality Cancel, then rebook No separate MSNCB change fee published
Extend the 90-day authorization Request within 10 days after a missed appointment or expired period $90 if granted
Miss the 10-day extension request deadline Reapply Full applicable fee

“No fee published” is not the same as a guarantee that every mistake is free. MSNCB warns that failing to complete and confirm a reschedule can create a no-show and additional charge. Keep the confirmation email.

The ID rule

Plan on a government-issued photo ID with a signature, matching name, and future expiration date.

The July 2025 handbook says an ID must be unexpired or accompanied by renewal paperwork. The current web page says the ID must be unexpired and that any exception must be preapproved by MSNCB at least 10 business days before the appointment. Do not arrive expecting the testing vendor to interpret that conflict at the door.

→ Run the 72-second Pace Check before test day. It tests the clock, not clinical knowledge.


What happens if you do not pass the CMSRN?

MSNCB states that it has no waiting period. You may register for the discounted first retake when ready, within the program’s one-year window. The retake is $315 standard or $189 for AMSN members. After that retake, a new application is required for another attempt.

Practical order of operations:

  1. Check whether the problem was a failed attempt, a missed appointment, or an expired authorization.
  2. For a missed appointment or expired authorization, ask about the $90 extension within 10 days before defaulting to a higher-priced retake or new application.
  3. Use the result information you receive to rebuild the study allocation toward the domains that need work.
  4. Do not turn one result into a permanent verdict about your nursing ability.

CMSRN or MEDSURG-BC—which med-surg certification should you take?

Both current exams publish 150 total questions, 125 scored questions, and a three-hour time limit. The deciding differences are eligibility, testing window, administrator, scoring system, and published blueprint emphasis.

CMSRN MEDSURG-BC
Credentialing body / administrator MSNCB ANCC
Professional-organization relationship Endorsed by AMSN Administered by ANCC
Total / scored questions 150 / 125 150 / 125
Time 3 hours 3 hours
Delivery Pearson VUE / OnVUE Prometric
Authorization window 90 days 120 days
Passing standard Standard score 95, about 71% ANCC scaled score; passing score 350 on its scale
Standard initial fee $394 $395
Discounted member fee $267 AMSN $295 ANA
RN license Current, unencumbered Current, active
Practice hours 2,000 in 3 years 2,000 clinical specialty hours in 3 years
Years of practice 2 years recommended 2 years full-time equivalent required
CE before applying None listed 30 hours of med-surg CE in 3 years
Practice role wording Clinical nurse, manager, or educator Clinical practice
Credential term 5 years 5 years

A nurse who wants to apply now but has not completed 30 hours of recent med-surg CE may meet CMSRN’s published eligibility and not yet meet MEDSURG-BC’s.

The current blueprints publish different emphasis

ANCC’s current content outline, updated June 30, 2026 while retaining an effective date of September 10, 2024, allocates:

  • Assessment and Diagnosis: 49 items / 39%
  • Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation: 50 items / 40%
  • Professional Role: 26 items / 21%

The first two ANCC domains total 99 of 125 items, or 79.2%. Professional Role is 20.8%.

The CMSRN comparison uses a Castleport classification: its three systems/interprofessional/professional/team domains total 66 of 125, or 52.8%. Those are not equivalent category definitions, so the percentages should not be read as a scientific head-to-head measure. They do show that the two organizations publish different category structures and emphasis.

MSNCB publishes 132 numbered activity lines in its five-domain blueprint. ANCC’s three-page outline publishes a much shorter numbered list. That means MSNCB publishes roughly seven times as many numbered lines—not that it tests seven times as much knowledge or is seven times harder.

Choose by the credential requirements and exam emphasis that fit your role and timeline. Never study for one using the other’s score, vendor, or blueprint.

Is MEDSURG-BC being discontinued?

No current ANCC retirement notice identified MEDSURG-BC for retirement. ANCC’s current page remains open to new applicants, and its outline was updated June 30, 2026.

Can a MEDSURG-BC holder transfer to CMSRN without testing?

A live AMSN/MSNCB route still presents the transfer pathway. It states:

  • MEDSURG-BC certification expiring within one year
  • Current, unencumbered RN license
  • 1,000 medical-surgical practice hours in the last five years
  • 90 verified contact hours in the last five years, including 68 medical-surgical hours
  • A one-year grace period after MEDSURG-BC expiration
  • Fees shown as $193 member / $303 standard

The same page still contains superseded Prometric logistics, $79 fees, and old ID language. So the route is visible and linked, but the displayed transfer fee should be confirmed before payment.


What happens after you pass the CMSRN?

The credential is valid for five years. To renew by contact hours, the current requirements include 1,000 medical-surgical practice hours, 90 verified contact hours, and at least 68 medical-surgical contact hours during the five-year period. Renewal by exam is also available.

Current fees are $225 member / $325 standard by contact hours and $267 member / $394 standard by exam.

Start logging on day one

MSNCB says 10% of recertification applications are selected for audit. Enter activities as you earn them and retain proof.

Rules the current handbook or page spells out:

  • ACLS can count once per certification period as medical-surgical contact hours.
  • PALS can count once as professional development rather than medical-surgical hours.
  • BLS and CPR do not count.
  • Eligible AMSN online-library contact hours can transfer into the application record automatically after completion/evaluation.
  • Six hours of qualifying precepting = one contact hour, up to 20.
  • One academic credit = 15 contact hours, up to 75.

The filing-window conflict

MSNCB’s current recertification page says the credential must expire within one year, and Certification Central guidance points to filing in the fifth year. The January 2026 handbook also says an application may be submitted starting in the fourth year, while another section directs candidates to complete and pay during the last year.

The safest operational plan is simple: enter hours throughout the term, prepare the file early, and use the fifth year for the paid submission unless MSNCB confirms an earlier window in writing.

Grace period change beginning January 1, 2027

For credentials expiring on or after January 1, 2027, the current MSNCB page says the recertification grace period becomes 30 days after expiration. A submission during that 30-day period carries a $90 late fee, and all required contact hours still must have been earned before the original expiration date.


Where MSNCB’s own current materials disagree—and what to do

The official record is spread across the certification handbook, recertification handbook, blueprint, current MSNCB pages, and older AMSN-hosted pages. We found 12 places where the record conflicts, duplicates, or lags.

Issue One official source says Another official source says Candidate action
International hours July 2025 handbook: 2,000 Current certification page: 1,000 Get written confirmation before paying.
Test-development partner Current certification page/handbook body identify DRC Handbook appendix still says Prometric Pearson VUE is the delivery vendor; the appendix is stale.
Renewal filing window Handbook says starting in year four Current page says credential expires within one year; other handbook language says last year Enter hours now; confirm before an early submission.
ID Handbook allows unexpired ID or renewal paperwork Current page says unexpired; exceptions need 10-business-day preapproval Plan on unexpired or secure preapproval.
Review-course count AMSN exam-prep page says 11 revised modules New listing description says nine modules; 11 lessons are visible Ask what the purchased course includes.
Review-course hours New course: 14.75 NCPD Sunset course: 20.5 NCPD; stale summaries may still surface it New buyers should follow the new listing.
FailSafe course discount Current page: 15% all bundle sizes July 2025 handbook: 5% / 10% / 15% Put the current term in the facility agreement.
Handbook date stamp Most current pages: July 2025 Final pages retain a May 2025 footer Use the cover/current file and verify the specific rule.
Reference-file label Linked/file naming suggests 2025 Embedded header can retain older handbook language Judge the content and source date, not the filename alone.
2024 statistics Tested and passed both display 4,337 Failed 1,356 and pass rate 69% imply 2,981 passed Use the official rate; label any reconstructed count.
Refund process Current page says refund minus $90 should arrive automatically Same page says withdrawal requests are case-by-case with documentation Do not assume a refund until confirmed.
Transfer fee Live transfer route displays $193 / $303 The same page contains superseded vendor and fee language elsewhere Confirm the transfer fee before paying.

Working rule: use the current handbook and current MSNCB process pages together. When eligibility, money, or a deadline conflicts, obtain the answer from MSNCB in writing.


What Castleport verified—and what remains unresolved

Every check below was performed on August 28, 2026.

Verified

  • Exam structure, time, standard score, current five-domain weights, and domestic eligibility
  • Current application, retake, extension, recertification, CertAssure, membership, practice-exam, and course prices listed on this page
  • Pearson VUE/OnVUE delivery and current scheduling boundaries
  • 2021–2025 official statistics and the 2024 table inconsistency
  • The 132-line / 28-subarea CMSRN blueprint count, completed twice
  • The current new and sunset AMSN review-course listings
  • The live MEDSURG-BC transfer route and the stale language surrounding its fee
  • Current MEDSURG-BC format, eligibility, fee, testing window, and June 30, 2026 outline update
  • Castleport product status: no CMSRN book, paid course, question bank, Exam System, or diagnostic is live

Not resolved by the published record

  • Whether international applicants need 1,000 or 2,000 hours
  • Whether a recertification application may actually be paid in year four or should wait until year five
  • The current transfer fee, because the live route sits on a page with other superseded fees/logistics
  • The denominator or scale behind AMSN’s practice-exam activity grade of 120.00
  • Why the annual pass rate fell from 75% in 2021 to 67% in 2025

This page contains no Castleport clinical question bank. The supplied pacing drill tests only the clock. Castleport does not use recalled, leaked, or live exam questions.


CMSRN exam prep FAQ

How many questions do you need right to pass the CMSRN?
MSNCB publishes standard score 95 and describes it as about 71% correct. Across 125 scored questions, about 89 right and 36 misses is a planning translation. It is not an official fixed raw cut score.
How many questions are on the CMSRN, and how long is it?
There are 150 multiple-choice questions in three hours. Of those, 125 are scored and 25 are unscored pretest items. You cannot tell which are unscored.
What is the current CMSRN pass rate?
MSNCB publishes 67% for 2025: 4,845 attempts, 3,246 passes, and 1,599 failures. It does not publish a first-time-only rate.
Do you need two years of experience to take the CMSRN?
MSNCB’s current domestic eligibility requires a current, unencumbered RN license and 2,000 medical-surgical practice hours in the past three years. Two full years is recommended, not listed as a separate requirement.
Do management or educator hours count?
Yes. The current CMSRN language expressly allows qualifying practice as a clinical nurse, manager, or educator.
How much does the CMSRN cost?
The standard application is $394 and the AMSN-member application is $267. Each application includes a $90 nonrefundable portion. The first discounted retake is $315 standard or $189 member.
Is AMSN membership worth buying before the CMSRN application?
At the current one-year full-member price, yes on the initial exam arithmetic alone: $115 membership + $267 member exam = $382, which is $12 less than the $394 standard application. Membership itself is nonrefundable.
Is CertAssure worth it?
It breaks even at a 52.9% failure probability for a member and 63.5% for a nonmember. MSNCB does not publish a first-time failure rate, so buy it for budget certainty rather than treating the population rate as your personal odds.
How long do you have after the Authorization to Test arrives?
The current window is 90 days. The handbook says an extension request after a missed appointment or expired window must be made within 10 days; the extension fee is $90 if granted.
Is there a waiting period to retake the CMSRN?
MSNCB says it has no wait period. The discounted first-retake route is available within one year of the first attempt, subject to the current program rules.
Who delivers the CMSRN exam?
Pearson VUE delivers test-center appointments, and OnVUE provides remote proctoring. Prometric/ProProctor language is superseded CMSRN logistics.
Can you take the CMSRN at home?
Yes, through OnVUE, subject to system, room, identification, and check-in rules. Approved accommodations must be in place before scheduling.
What is on the CMSRN blueprint?
Five domains: Patient/Care Management 40 items, Nursing Teamwork and Collaboration 26, Elements of Interprofessional Care 21, Holistic Patient Care 19, and Professional Concepts 19.
How do you know whether a CMSRN study guide is current?
Look for the five current domains, 150 total/125 scored, three hours, standard score 95, Pearson VUE/OnVUE, current fees, and 2,000 hours as the requirement with two years described as recommended. Body-system review is not automatically stale, but it should map back to all five domains.
Is CMSRN or MEDSURG-BC better?
Neither is universally better. MEDSURG-BC requires two years of full-time RN practice, 2,000 clinical specialty hours, and 30 hours of recent med-surg CE. CMSRN lists 2,000 qualifying hours and no pre-application CE requirement, with two years recommended. Their published blueprints also emphasize different category structures.
Is MEDSURG-BC being discontinued?
No current ANCC retirement notice identified MEDSURG-BC, and ANCC’s current application page remains open.
Can you transfer MEDSURG-BC to CMSRN without testing?
A live AMSN/MSNCB route still presents that pathway and an application link. Because the same page contains superseded logistics and fees elsewhere, confirm the current transfer fee and requirements before paying.
Does the CMSRN expire?
Yes, after five years. The current contact-hour route requires 1,000 qualifying practice hours, 90 verified contact hours, and at least 68 medical-surgical contact hours.

Your next step

You now know the planning number, where the points sit, whether your hours fit the current domestic rule, what the route costs, and how to catch stale material before it eats your study time.

The last mile is your own allocation. Open the free CMSRN 89 Check at the top of the page, enter your date and weekly hours, and rate the five domains honestly. It will return a blueprint-weighted plan—not a promise, diagnosis, or prediction.

Nothing to buy. No email. When you are ready to apply, go straight to MSNCB.


Written by the Castleport Test Prep Editorial Team. Last verified August 28, 2026. No professional reviewer has yet been engaged for Castleport’s CMSRN coverage. When a real reviewer completes review, Castleport’s published reviewer record will identify the reviewer, credential, scope, and review date. Errors are investigated, corrected, and dated in the public corrections log. See how Castleport verifies exam claims and its independence policy.

Castleport Test Prep is an independent publisher and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or approved by MSNCB, AMSN, ANCC, Pearson VUE, Prometric, or any other exam owner, credentialing body, or testing vendor. Exam, certification, credential, organization, and provider names are used descriptively to identify the exams and services discussed. Castleport claims no ownership in those names or marks. Official requirements control.

Primary sources

All sources were checked August 28, 2026.