Current state of CNA testing in Florida in 2023
2020 presented a set of unprecendented challenges for all members of the medical profession, and CNAs have been no exception. CNAs have been needed more than ever after the arrival of COVID-19, and even with many industries laid off workers or reducing hours, CNA employers have continued to hire more and more and currently have more job openings than they have qualified candidates to fill those roles. As the pandemic is still among us, many of the testing restrictions and additional measures implemented in 2020 are still in effect today.
We are very happy to announce that as of now, July 2023, CNA testing in Florida has finally returned to some sense of normalcy. Testing scheduling delays have been greatly reduced and some applicants are getting through from start to finish of starting the course and getting their CNA license in less than a month. You still need to wear a mask when you go to the testing center, but aside from that most other aspects of testing have returned to normal. The information on this page is mostly presented for historical purposes, and to give prospective students an idea of what to expect if there e
Testing stopped for months during the beginning of the pandemic
Starting in March 2020, all CNA testing carried out by Prometric stopped completely for several months, and did not resume until June 21 2020. This caused a massive backlog of students which heavily strained the scheduling resources after operations resumed.
There were long delays for test scheduling
For a full 2 years after the pandemic, the current time for students between the time they register for the Prometric state exam and when they actually hear back from Prometric regarding their test date is about 2 full months. This is more than twice the amount of time the process takes normally, and there are no signs that the timeline will improve in the short term. The best advice we can give to students is to be patient, and we also suggest that once you submit your application, you call the Prometric support line periodically to check up on your application. You can contact Prometric at (888)277-3500; be sure to have your Applicant ID in hand when you call them.
As of July 2023, the current wait time between registering and obtaining a testing date from Prometric is 2-6 weeks.
We extended our standard course access in order to better serve our students
To accommodate the extended timelines from start of course to test taking, we have extended our standard course access from 30 days to 90 days for exactly the same price. This allows our students to continue to have access to the course in preparation for their state exam up until the point they complete the exam. We have continued to offer the 90 day window even after the pandemic has been officialy declared over.
COVID-19 protection measures were implemented to protect test takers
All test takers are required to bring a mask and wear it at all times during their test day. The mask cannot contain an exhalation valve. In addition to this, some test sites may have their own requirements which must also be followed on test day. Some of these requirements may include things like checking for temperature at the site entrance, sign in logs, etc.
Not all testing centers are fully operational
A large part of the reason students are seeing long delays with their test scheduling is because many test centers are not back to pre-Covid opening hours. Unfortunately, there is no up to date list anywhere on current testing center status; our recommendation is that you call your preferred testing center BEFORE submitting your application for the Prometric state exam so you can verify that they are fully operational and avoid additional delays.