- What Is CAC Certification?
- Who Administers It: NCBAC
- Eligibility Routes
- Exam Format and Scoring
- The Eight Content Domains
- Cost and Registration
- Remote Proctoring Requirements
- Renewal and Continuing Education
- Who Earns the CAC and Why
- Building a Study Plan Around the Domains
- Frequently Asked Questions
- CAC is issued by the National Certification Board for Alzheimer Care (NCBAC), not any other "CAC" credential.
- The exam has 100 multiple-choice questions in 2.5 hours, passing score 664 on a 300-900 scale.
- Exam fee is $175; the optional Caregiver Course adds $500 for a $675 total package.
- Behavior (18-22%) and Communication (15-20%) are the two heaviest-weighted content domains.
What Is CAC Certification?
The Certified Alzheimer Caregiver (CAC) credential is a specialty certification for people who provide hands-on care to individuals living with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. It's designed for direct-care staff and family or informal caregivers who want a documented, standardized way to demonstrate competency in dementia-specific care skills - not a general nursing or clinical credential. If you're still getting oriented to the basics, our companion pieces on What Is CAC? and CAC Meaning cover the terminology in plain language before you dive into exam mechanics here.
Because "CAC" is used by several unrelated credentialing programs across different industries, it's worth being explicit: everything in this article refers to the Certified Alzheimer Caregiver certification issued by NCBAC. If you want a deeper breakdown of the acronym itself, see What Does CAC Stand For? and What Is A CAC?.
Who Administers It: NCBAC
The National Certification Board for Alzheimer Care (NCBAC) develops, maintains, and administers the CAC exam. NCBAC publishes its own candidate handbook, application process, and remote-testing procedures, and these primary sources - not third-party blogs - govern current fees, eligibility, and delivery details. The most recently linked candidate handbook carries a revision date of October 1, 2019, but NCBAC's live application and remote-testing pages are the authoritative source for anything that has changed since, including pricing and technical requirements.
Eligibility Routes
NCBAC offers two distinct paths into the CAC exam. Understanding which one applies to you determines how you document your background on the application.
Standard Eligibility Route
This path is built around direct dementia-care experience plus documented training.
- Minimum age 18
- Paid or unpaid direct dementia-care experience of at least 15 hours weekly for one full year
- That experience requirement drops to six months if you're a CNA, LPN, or RN
- At least 25 hours of dementia-care training completed within the previous two years
Alternative Route: Training/Apprenticeship Program
Candidates who are at least 18 and have participated in a recognized Dementia Training/Apprenticeship Program can qualify without separately proving the hours-worked history required under the standard route.
For a full walkthrough of documentation requirements and how to present your hours on the application, see CAC Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
Exam Format and Scoring
The CAC exam consists of 100 multiple-choice questions delivered in a two-hour-and-thirty-minute window. Unlike percentage-based exams, CAC scoring uses a scaled range of 300 to 900, and the passing threshold is 664. That means your raw number of correct answers doesn't map directly to a percentage - the scale accounts for question difficulty across different form versions.
Key Takeaway
Don't try to estimate your score using a percentage-correct mental model. A 664 on the 300-900 scale is the target, and question difficulty is factored into how raw answers convert to that scaled score.
For a dedicated breakdown of exactly what 664 represents and how candidates commonly misinterpret scaled scoring, read CAC Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass. If you're trying to gauge overall exam difficulty before committing to a study timeline, How Hard Is the CAC Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 and CAC Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows are useful next reads.
The Eight Content Domains
NCBAC organizes the CAC exam into eight official content areas, each carrying a percentage range of the total question set. Two domains - Behavior and Communication - together account for a large share of the exam, which should shape how you allocate study time.
| Domain | Weight |
|---|---|
| Behavior | 18-22% |
| Communication | 15-20% |
| Knowledge of Disease | 12-16% |
| Activities | 10-14% |
| Health | 5-10% |
| Patient Rights | 5-8% |
| Safety | 4-6% |
| Caregiver Needs | 2-5% |
Domain 4: Behavior (18-22%)
The largest domain on the exam. Candidates must understand common behavioral expressions of dementia - agitation, wandering, sundowning, resistance to care - and appropriate, non-pharmacological caregiver responses. Expect scenario-based questions that ask you to identify the most therapeutic response to a described behavior rather than recall a definition.
- Recognizing triggers behind behavioral expressions
- De-escalation and redirection techniques
- Distinguishing behavior tied to unmet needs vs. disease progression
Domain 2: Communication (15-20%)
The second-heaviest domain. Questions test verbal and nonverbal communication strategies adapted to different dementia stages, including how to simplify language, use validation techniques, and read body language when verbal ability declines.
- Stage-appropriate communication adjustments
- Validation vs. correction approaches
- Nonverbal cues and their interpretation
The remaining six domains - Knowledge of Disease, Activities, Health, Patient Rights, Safety, and Caregiver Needs - round out the exam with lighter but still meaningful weight. A full breakdown of every domain, including subtopics and sample question angles, is available in CAC Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 8 Content Areas.
Cost and Registration
The CAC exam fee is $175. NCBAC also offers an optional Caregiver Course for candidates who want structured preparation before test day; adding it brings the total to $675 ($175 exam plus $500 course). Course access runs for 90 days or until the exam is taken, whichever happens first - so if you purchase the course, plan your study window accordingly rather than letting access lapse unused.
For a line-by-line look at what's included in each pricing tier and how the course access window affects scheduling, see CAC Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown. If you're deciding whether the investment makes sense given your career goals, Is the CAC Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 weighs the cost against typical outcomes.
Remote Proctoring Requirements
CAC exams are currently delivered through NCBAC's browser-based remote-proctoring process. There's no software to install - everything runs through your web browser - but a few technical requirements are non-negotiable:
- Government-issued photo identification for identity verification
- A working camera for proctor monitoring
- Reliable, stable internet connection
- A supported device: desktop computers and Chromebooks work; phones and tablets are not supported
Key Takeaway
Test your camera, internet stability, and browser access on your actual testing device (computer or Chromebook, never a phone or tablet) well before your scheduled exam time.
Because testing windows and scheduling procedures can shift, check CAC Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling before locking in an appointment.
Renewal and Continuing Education
CAC certification isn't a one-time credential - it renews annually. Renewal costs $35 per year and requires completion of six continuing-education hours. This annual cadence keeps certified caregivers current on dementia-care practices without requiring a full re-examination each cycle. Build renewal deadlines into whatever calendar or reminder system you already use for licensure or workplace credentials so the annual fee and CE hours don't sneak up on you.
Who Earns the CAC and Why
The CAC credential appeals to a range of direct-care roles: CNAs, home health aides, memory-care facility staff, adult day program employees, and family caregivers who want formal recognition of their dementia-care competency. Employers running memory-care units or dementia-specific programs often value a candidate who has demonstrated mastery across all eight content domains rather than general caregiving knowledge alone.
If you're weighing whether the credential will actually move your job prospects or pay, CAC Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis and CAC Jobs look specifically at how the certification is used in hiring and advancement within dementia-care settings.
Building a Study Plan Around the Domains
Because Behavior and Communication together make up roughly a third to nearly half of the exam, an efficient study plan front-loads those two domains rather than spreading equal time across all eight. A short, CAC-specific timeline might look like this:
Behavior + Communication
- Work through scenario-based practice questions covering agitation, wandering, and sundowning
- Drill stage-appropriate communication and validation techniques
Knowledge of Disease + Activities
- Review dementia types, progression stages, and disease-specific care implications
- Study meaningful activity planning by cognitive stage
Health, Patient Rights, Safety, Caregiver Needs
- Cover the four lighter-weighted domains together
- Take a full-length timed practice exam under the 2.5-hour limit
Spacing your review this way - heaviest domains first, lighter domains consolidated near the end - mirrors how the exam actually weights content rather than treating every domain equally. For a detailed week-by-week plan with specific resources and self-assessment checkpoints, see CAC Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt. For a fast-reference version once you've studied the material, CAC Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts is designed for last-week review. You can also run full-length timed practice exams on our CAC practice test platform to simulate the actual 100-question, 2.5-hour format before test day.
Frequently Asked Questions
The National Certification Board for Alzheimer Care (NCBAC) develops and administers the Certified Alzheimer Caregiver exam and sets its eligibility, fee, and renewal rules.
The exam has 100 multiple-choice questions with a time limit of two hours and thirty minutes.
You need a scaled score of 664 out of a possible 300-900 range. This is not a percentage-correct score.
No. NCBAC's remote-proctoring process supports desktop computers and Chromebooks only; phones and tablets are not supported.
Renewal is $35 annually and requires completion of six continuing-education hours.
For more foundational context, browse What Is CAC Certification? and What Does CAC Mean?, or start practicing with timed questions on CAC Exam Prep to see how your readiness lines up against the domain weights covered above.