The CDA exam is a 65-question multiple-choice test — 60 standard questions plus 5 scenario questions built around a short narrative and a photo — with up to 1 hour and 45 minutes to finish.
It is offered in English and Spanish and taken at a Pearson VUE test center after the Council for Professional Recognition approves your application.
Here is the format, the content, scheduling, what passing means and how retakes work.
What is the CDA exam?
The CDA exam is the assessment step of the CDA credential, the nationally recognized early childhood credential awarded by the Council for Professional Recognition and applied for online through the Council's YourCouncil system.
It is a timed, multiple-choice test — the point in the process where the Council checks what you know, separately from the training hours, work experience and portfolio your application documents.
Its place in the sequence is fixed.
After the Council approves your application, you receive a first "Ready to Schedule" notice for the exam, and only after you have completed the exam can a verification visit be scheduled through a second notice.
Since February 2, 2026, the exam also carries more weight: candidates who show a qualifying level of competence on it finish the credentialing process without a verification visit at all, under the Council's Credentialing Decision Enhancement.
Applications submitted on or after that date must include an uploaded professional portfolio.
The exam matters because the credential does.
Some states and employers require childcare workers to hold a nationally recognized credential, most often the CDA — the exam is a required step toward that credential.
If you are still early in the process, the guide to how to get a CDA walks the full sequence from training hours to award.
The process changed on February 2, 2026
How many questions and what format?
The CDA exam has 65 multiple-choice questions: 60 questions plus 5 scenario questions, each scenario built around a short narrative and a photo.
You have up to 1 hour and 45 minutes to complete the exam.
The five scenario items are the part of the format to prepare for.
Instead of a bare question stem, each comes with a short narrative and a photo, so read the whole situation before committing to an answer.
What topics does it cover?
The Council pages we read do not publish a topic-by-topic outline of the exam; the closest the Council comes is its Essentials textbook, covered below.
What the Council does define is the preparation your application documents.
Every initial CDA candidate must purchase the CDA Competency Standards book for their setting — green for Preschool, yellow for Infant-Toddler, magenta for Birth to Five, blue for Family Child Care, purple for Home Visitor.
Required training, in turn, has to cover eight subject areas:
- planning a safe and healthy learning environment
- advancing children's physical and intellectual development
- supporting social and emotional development
- building productive relationships with families
- managing an effective program operation
- maintaining a commitment to professionalism
- observing and recording children's behavior
- understanding the principles of child development and learning
Those eight areas are what required training covers in the center-based and family child care settings — a training requirement, not a published exam outline; Home Visitor candidates follow a different set of subject areas.
The exam's five scenario questions come with a short narrative and a photo, so practice answering from a described situation.
For study material straight from the source, the Council's own exam resource is the Essentials Study Guide Bundle: the Essentials for Working with Young Children textbook, which the Council says addresses every question on the exam, plus the Essentials Workbook, which includes sample test questions.
How to schedule at Pearson VUE
You do not schedule the exam with the Council.
English and Spanish CDA exams are taken at Pearson VUE test centers, and candidates schedule through Pearson VUE — by phone at 1-866-507-5627 for English or 800-511-6951 for Spanish.
Testing in another language works differently.
Candidates who want to be assessed in a language other than English or Spanish — American Sign Language counts — must get Council approval before submitting their application.
Approved candidates take a computer-based exam via remote proctoring rather than at a test center, and they still complete both the exam and the verification visit.
Mind the window: the Council gives you 6 months to complete the credentialing process, and the window starts on the date your application payment is submitted — not when you book the test.
Scheduling soon after your Ready to Schedule notice arrives protects that window.
Receive your Ready to Schedule notice
It arrives after the Council approves your application.Schedule with Pearson VUE
English: 1-866-507-5627. Spanish: 800-511-6951. You book through Pearson VUE, not the Council.Test at the center
English and Spanish exams are taken at Pearson VUE test centers.Keep the 6-month window in view
It started when your application payment was submitted, and it covers the whole credentialing process.
What score do you need to pass?
The Council does not publish a passing score for the CDA exam.
If a study course or website quotes you a specific number, it is not a figure the Council publishes.
What the score does is clearer.
Since February 2, 2026, a candidate who shows a qualifying level of competence on the exam finishes the credentialing process without a verification visit.
Candidates who do not reach that level go on to the verification visit, which can only be scheduled after the exam has been completed.
Either way, the exam is the step the rest of the process turns on.
After that, the Council's published timeline moves quickly when a file is complete: once exam and visit scores reach the Council — which takes 24 to 48 hours — a credentialing decision may take 1 to 3 business days if nothing is missing.
Errors or missing items can push the decision to at least 4 to 6 weeks.
What if you fail?
A failed exam does not end your application.
You can retake the CDA exam for $125 per attempt, with no appeal required, up to two additional times.
After three unsuccessful attempts, you may reapply for the credential once a six-month waiting period has passed.
Two practical notes if you are in this position.
First, the $125 retake fee is a separate payment on top of the application fee you already paid, so the cheapest attempt is the one you walk in prepared for — review the format above and the Council's Essentials study materials before rebooking, not the night before.
Second, the 6-month credentialing window keeps running the entire time; it began when your application payment was submitted, so book your retake as soon as you can genuinely prepare for it.
With the exam behind you and the credential in hand, the next step is work: browse childcare teacher jobs to see which centers near you are hiring.
Career information, not licensing or legal advice. Exam policies are set by the Council for Professional Recognition, and credential requirements for employment are set by states and employers. Confirm current exam rules with the Council and employment requirements with your state child care licensing agency.