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The highest paid nursing jobs are the advanced-practice roles, where BLS reports a combined median of $132,050 against $93,600 for registered nurses. But BLS groups nurse anesthetists, midwives and practitioners into one occupation — which is exactly why the $200k CRNA figures circulating online mislead.
The CCRN is AACN's credential for nurses caring directly for acutely or critically ill patients, and eligibility is gated on documented clinical practice hours in a defined patient population — not on how much you have studied. Check your hours, and which exam variant matches your unit, before you book.
Cardiac feels like the centre of the CCRN, but Cardiovascular is only 13% of the Adult exam. This guide weights your revision to AACN's published test plan — including the 20% Professional Caring and Ethical Practice domain most candidates skip — and sequences it into six weeks around shift work.
The CCRN (Adult) first-time pass rate was 72.02% in 2025, down from 81.20% in 2023. AACN sets the standard as a raw cut score — 83 of 125 scored items — not a percentage. Here is the data by track, what that cut score actually asks of you, and how to plan for the field as it is now.
A paid CCRN review course earns its price in three situations: you are not currently practising in the population you are certifying in, a practice test shows gaps across three or more blueprint areas, or you have already failed once. Otherwise, start with AACN's free exam bibliography and sample questions.
The "AANP exam" is administered by NPCB — legally the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Board. It covers four certifications: FNP, AGNP, PMHNP and ENP. The FNP exam is 150 multiple-choice questions with 135 scored items, and Diagnosis plus Planning alone carry 53% of the clinical domain.
There is no single best nursing specialty, and the rankings claiming otherwise lean on pay data the BLS has never published. What you can decide is fit — using six axes that genuinely differ between specialties, plus the workplace questions that predict how a unit will actually feel to work on.
One exam, two versions, the same in every state. Here is what the NCLEX is, how the adaptive algorithm decides pass or fail, what registration and fees actually involve, and which guide to read next based on where you are.
The RN Test Plan tells you what share of your scored questions comes from each area of nursing practice, before you sit the exam. Here are all eight weighted subcategories, converted into the number of questions each is actually worth.
You may not need to transfer a nursing license at all. If you hold a multistate license under the Nurse Licensure Compact and are moving between compact states, you are already authorized to practice - though changing your primary residence starts a 60-day clock. Otherwise the process is licensure by endorsement.
There is no difference. LPN and LVN are the same credential under different state terminology - same scope, same exam, same career. The Bureau of Labor Statistics files both under a single occupation and a single code. If you are choosing between them, you are not choosing between anything: the state decides the name.
The NCLEX is a uniform national exam, but California adds its own administrative sequence. You apply to the Board of Registered Nursing first, clear a Live Scan background check, then register with Pearson VUE. The Authorization to Test issues only after the board confirms eligibility.
