CNA Exam Structure and Content 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which section of the CNA exam is most likely to include questions about net present value and capital budgeting?
- Regulation and Tax
- Auditing and Attestation
- Business Environment and Concepts (Correct answer)
- Financial Accounting and Reporting
Correct answer: Business Environment and Concepts
Business Environment and Concepts covers managerial accounting topics including capital budgeting, NPV, and financial decision-making.
Question 2: A candidate who does not pass one section of the CNA exam must typically:
- Retake all sections from the beginning
- Only retake the failed section within the credit retention window (Correct answer)
- Automatically lose credit for all previously passed sections
- Wait five years before retesting
Correct answer: Only retake the failed section within the credit retention window
Candidates retain credit for passed sections and only need to retake the section(s) they failed, subject to the 18-month credit window rules.
Question 3: On the CNA exam, 'written communication' tasks most frequently appear in which section?
- Auditing and Attestation
- Financial Accounting and Reporting
- Business Environment and Concepts (Correct answer)
- Regulation and Tax
Correct answer: Business Environment and Concepts
Business Environment and Concepts is the section that historically includes written communication tasks requiring candidates to compose professional memos or letters.
Question 4: What happens to a candidate's exam scores if they do not complete all sections within the credit retention window?
- All credits are permanently revoked
- Credits expire and the candidate must retake expired sections (Correct answer)
- The candidate receives a waiver automatically
- Scores from expired sections are averaged into remaining sections
Correct answer: Credits expire and the candidate must retake expired sections
Credits for passed sections expire after the 18-month window, requiring the candidate to retake those sections to regain credit.
Question 5: Which of the following describes the adaptive testing feature used on the CNA exam?
- Questions become easier as the exam progresses regardless of performance
- Question difficulty adjusts based on the candidate's responses (Correct answer)
- All candidates receive identical question sets
- The exam adapts by reducing question count for high scorers
Correct answer: Question difficulty adjusts based on the candidate's responses
Computer adaptive testing adjusts the difficulty of subsequent questions based on whether the candidate answered previous questions correctly.
Question 6: Which scoring model does the CNA exam use to convert raw scores to the reported 0–99 scale?
- Simple percentage of correct answers
- Scaled scoring using Item Response Theory (Correct answer)
- Grade curve based on peer performance
- Fixed raw-to-scaled conversion table
Correct answer: Scaled scoring using Item Response Theory
Item Response Theory (IRT) is used to equate scores across different exam versions, ensuring fairness regardless of which question set a candidate receives.
Question 7: A candidate receives a score of 72 on a CNA section. What does this result mean?
- The candidate passed with distinction
- The candidate failed and must retake the section (Correct answer)
- The candidate passed, as 75 is the minimum passing score
- The score is invalid and requires a rescoring request
Correct answer: The candidate failed and must retake the section
The minimum passing score for CNA sections is 75, so a score of 72 means the candidate did not pass and must retake that section.
CNA Exam Structure and Content 3
Which section of the CNA exam is most likely to include questions about net present value and capital budgeting?