Most US states give nurse aide candidates a multiple-choice written (or oral) knowledge test plus a hands-on skills evaluation, and every question on the written test carries the same weight. Enter the questions and correct answers for each content area, such as physical care skills, psychosocial care skills and the role of the nurse aide, and the overall percentage follows immediately, along with how many more answers you would have needed.
The overall figure is correct answers divided by total questions, times 100, and a value exactly equal to the passing percentage counts as met. The correct answers needed are the passing percentage applied to your total question count and then rounded up, because a question cannot be split. The short and spare counts are the difference against that figure and stop at 0 rather than going negative.
Each state, or the testing vendor it uses, sets its own passing mark. The prefilled 70% is a typical figure as of September 2026, so replace it with the number in your state candidate handbook. A per-area minimum is off by default because most states score the written test as a whole; turn it on only if your handbook sets a floor for each area. Unscored pretest questions should be left out of your counts, and the skills evaluation is not covered here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Use the figure in your state candidate handbook. Many states set the written test pass mark at roughly 70% to 80%, and 70% is prefilled as a starting point.
No. It is off by default because most states score the written test as a whole. Turn it on only when your handbook sets a floor for each content area.
A question cannot be split, so the count matching the required percentage has to be rounded up before the threshold is actually cleared.