What the Ohio STNA Exam Is and Why It Matters

If you want to work as a nursing assistant in Ohio, you’ll need to become a State Tested Nurse Aide (STNA). “State tested” isn’t just a job title — it’s a legal credential. Ohio law, enforced by the Ohio Department of Health (ODH), requires anyone working as a nurse aide in a long-term care facility to complete an ODH-approved training program and then pass a two-part competency evaluation before their name is added to the Ohio Nurse Aide Registry. Employers check that registry, so until you’re listed on it, you generally cannot be hired — or stay employed — as a nurse aide in a certified nursing facility.

The exam itself isn’t designed to trick you. It exists to confirm that you can safely handle the day-to-day realities of caring for residents: helping someone bathe without compromising their dignity, transferring a resident without injuring either of you, recognizing signs that a resident’s condition is changing, and following infection-control basics. Understanding that purpose can make the material feel less like trivia and more like a checklist of skills you’ll actually use.

Eligibility: What You Need Before Test Day

Before you can sit for the STNA competency evaluation, you need to complete a state-approved nurse aide training program of at least 75 hours, combining classroom instruction with supervised clinical practice. These programs are offered by community colleges, career centers, and many nursing facilities themselves (some employers sponsor training for new hires). Once you finish the program, your instructor or training site typically helps you register for the exam and provides documentation of completion, which you’ll need to bring on test day along with a valid photo ID.

The Written Knowledge Test: Format and Scoring

The written portion is a 79-question multiple-choice test covering the knowledge a nurse aide needs on the job — things like resident rights, communication, infection control, body mechanics, nutrition, and basic safety and emergency procedures. You’re given 90 minutes to complete it, which is generally enough time if you’re not stuck re-reading every question multiple times. To pass, you need to score at least 70%.

The questions are scenario-based more often than purely definitional — expect to read a short description of a situation and choose the best response, rather than simply recalling a textbook term. That’s exactly why realistic practice questions help: they get you comfortable applying knowledge to a situation instead of just memorizing facts in isolation.

The Skills (Manual) Test: What to Expect

The second part of the evaluation is a hands-on skills test, usually taken on a separate occasion from the written exam (sometimes the same day, depending on scheduling at your test site). An evaluator observes you perform a small number of nurse aide tasks — typically three or four — assigned from a broader list of skills you trained on, such as transferring a resident, providing personal care, or taking vital signs. You’ll need to demonstrate each assigned skill correctly and completely, following the key safety and procedural steps your training covered, within the time allowed.

Because the specific tasks you’re asked to perform are assigned on the day of your test, the best preparation is practicing the full range of skills from your training program repeatedly — not guessing which ones you’ll be asked to do.

Who Administers the Exam

Ohio doesn’t administer the nurse aide competency evaluation directly. ODH designates an approved third-party testing vendor to schedule exams, proctor the written and skills tests, and report results to the Nurse Aide Registry. If you’re not sure where or when your exam is being held, your training program coordinator or the testing vendor’s website is the most reliable source — schedules, locations, and any fees can change, so it’s worth confirming current details directly rather than relying on older information.

If You Don’t Pass

It’s common to pass one part of the evaluation and not the other on a first attempt — and that’s not a dead end. In most cases, you only need to retest the portion you didn’t pass, not redo the whole exam. There is a limited number of retake attempts allowed within a certain window after completing training, so if you don’t pass on your first try, it’s worth asking your training program or the testing vendor promptly about retake deadlines and any associated fees, since waiting too long can mean having to complete training again.

Staying on the Registry: Renewal and Ongoing Eligibility

Passing the exam gets you onto the Ohio Nurse Aide Registry, but staying listed isn’t automatic forever. Ohio requires STNAs to demonstrate paid nurse aide work within a set period — generally measured in 24-month cycles — to keep their registry status active. If you go too long without qualifying work activity, your listing can lapse, which may mean retesting or completing additional steps to be reinstated. If you’re between jobs for an extended stretch, it’s worth checking your registry status directly with ODH or the testing vendor rather than assuming you’re still in good standing.

Tips for Preparing

A few habits make a real difference for most candidates:

• Practice with realistic questions, not just flashcards. The written exam leans on applied scenarios, so working through practice questions that mirror that format — rather than isolated vocabulary drills — builds the kind of judgment the real test rewards.
• Don’t neglect the skills side. It’s easy to over-focus on the written test and under-practice the hands-on skills, especially steps like hand hygiene, communication with the resident, and safety checks that evaluators specifically watch for.
• Review your training materials close to test day. Spacing out review sessions in the days before your exam, rather than cramming the night before, tends to help the material stick under test-day pressure.
• Know your logistics ahead of time. Confirm your test date, location, required documents, and any fees a few days in advance so test-day stress is about the exam itself, not paperwork.

Becoming an STNA is a meaningful first step into caregiving work, and the exam is simply a checkpoint to confirm you’re ready for it. With steady preparation on both the knowledge and skills sides, most candidates who complete their training go in well equipped to pass.