The easiest nursing certifications to earn are Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS), which can be completed in a single day with no specialty experience required. If you’re looking for a specialty credential that carries more professional weight, certifications in medical-surgical nursing and ambulatory care nursing have some of the lowest barriers to entry among RN board certifications, though they do require clinical experience and a formal exam.
The answer depends on what you mean by “certification.” A skills-based course like BLS is simple to obtain but functions more as a workplace requirement than a career differentiator. A board-level specialty certification from an organization like ANCC takes real preparation but signals expertise to employers. Here’s how the most accessible options compare.
BLS and ACLS: Same-Day Credentials
BLS certification through the American Red Cross takes about four to five hours in an instructor-led format. A blended option lets you complete one to two hours of online coursework first, then finish with a two- to three-hour in-person skills session. There’s no prerequisite clinical experience, and nearly everyone who completes the course walks out certified. Renewal works the same way, and returning learners who demonstrate competency through adaptive testing can finish in roughly half the time.
ACLS follows a similar structure but adds cardiac rhythm interpretation and emergency drug protocols. It’s typically a two-day course. Both credentials are expected of most hospital nurses, so earning them won’t set you apart, but they’re the fastest certifications you can add to your resume.
Medical-Surgical Nursing Certification
For a credential that actually advances your career, medical-surgical certification is one of the most approachable specialty options. Two organizations offer it: the ANCC (which grants the RN-BC credential) and the Medical-Surgical Nursing Certification Board (which grants the CMSRN). Both require you to hold an active RN license and have at least two years of med-surg clinical experience.
Pass rates for the CMSRN have ranged from 67% to 75% over the past five years. In 2021, 75% of test-takers passed. That number has gradually declined, landing at 67% in early 2025. The ANCC’s medical-surgical exam has a 71% first-time pass rate. These numbers are moderate, not easy, but they’re considerably higher than some other specialties. For comparison, ANCC’s gerontological nursing, pain management, and nurse executive exams all sit at 63%.
Med-surg certification is popular because the clinical hours are straightforward to accumulate. If you’ve worked on a general medical or surgical floor for two years, you likely already qualify. Study timelines vary, but nurses preparing for specialty board exams typically spend six to ten weeks reviewing material, studying a couple of hours per day during the work week with more intensive sessions as the test date approaches.
Ambulatory Care Nursing
ANCC’s ambulatory care nursing certification posts a 77% first-time pass rate, one of the highest among all RN specialty exams. If you work in an outpatient clinic, physician’s office, or same-day surgery center, this credential aligns directly with your existing experience. The eligibility requirements mirror other ANCC specialties: an active RN license, a minimum number of clinical hours in ambulatory settings, and continuing education.
Because ambulatory care covers a broad scope of outpatient nursing rather than a narrow clinical specialty, the exam content tends to feel more generalizable and less intimidating than certifications in areas like cardiac-vascular nursing (67% pass rate) or informatics (65%).
Pediatric Nursing Certification
Pediatric nursing certification through ANCC carries a 75% first-time pass rate, placing it among the more accessible specialty credentials. The content focuses on child development, family-centered care, and common pediatric conditions. If you already work in pediatrics, much of the exam material overlaps with your daily practice, which reduces the study burden compared to certifications that test highly technical or procedural knowledge.
Hospice and Palliative Care for LPNs
Licensed practical nurses and licensed vocational nurses have fewer certification options than RNs, but the Certified Hospice and Palliative Licensed Nurse (CHPLN) credential is one of the more attainable. Eligibility requires a current LPN/LVN license and either 500 hours of hospice or palliative care experience in the past 12 months or 1,000 hours in the past 24 months, all under RN supervision. That threshold is reachable within about three to six months of full-time work in a hospice setting.
How Pass Rates Compare Across Specialties
To put the difficulty in perspective, here’s how first-time pass rates break down across ANCC’s RN specialty certifications:
- Ambulatory Care Nursing: 77%
- Pediatric Nursing: 75%
- Nurse Executive, Advanced: 73%
- Nursing Professional Development: 72%
- Medical-Surgical Nursing: 71%
- Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing: 71%
- Cardiac-Vascular Nursing: 67%
- Nursing Case Management: 66%
- Informatics Nursing: 65%
- Gerontological Nursing: 63%
- Nurse Executive: 63%
- Pain Management Nursing: 63%
The gap between the highest and lowest pass rates is 14 percentage points. No specialty certification is a guaranteed pass, but your odds improve significantly when the exam content matches your everyday clinical work.
What Actually Makes a Certification “Easy”
Pass rates only tell part of the story. The biggest factor in how difficult a certification feels is how closely it matches your current practice. A nurse with five years on a step-down unit will find the progressive care (PCCN) exam far more manageable than someone crossing over from outpatient work, even though PCCN requires 1,750 clinical hours in just two years or 2,000 hours over five years.
Preparation time also matters. Nurses on forum discussions consistently report studying for six to ten weeks before their specialty exams. Most start casually, reading a review book during downtime, then ramp up to a few hours daily in the final three to four weeks. Joining a study group helps focus your effort on the areas most likely to appear on the exam.
Cost is relatively uniform across certifications. Most specialty exam fees fall between $200 and $400 depending on the certifying body and whether you hold membership in a professional association. Many hospitals reimburse the exam fee or offer a pay differential for certified nurses, which can offset the cost within a single pay period. Certifications typically renew every five years through continuing education hours or retesting.
If your goal is the fastest possible credential, BLS is the answer. If you want the most achievable specialty certification that employers recognize, ambulatory care, pediatric, or medical-surgical nursing offer the best combination of accessible eligibility requirements and above-average pass rates. Choose whichever one aligns with the work you’re already doing.