Is the CPR Written Test Open Book? BLS, Heartsaver and Red Cross Rules

Written & reviewed by Quibank Editor · Last reviewed 2026-10-19 · Editorial standards

The written test in a CPR class depends on which card you are buying. In an American Heart Association BLS course it is required, you need at least 84% to pass, and it is open-resource, so the provider manual can sit on the desk while you answer. In AHA Heartsaver and Red Cross lay-responder classes it is optional unless your employer or a regulator asks for it, and the Red Cross version was closed-book in its most recent public instructor's manual (2016).

In AHA courses, the part that actually decides who walks out without a card is the hands-on skills test, which since 2019 has been scored against a manikin or device that measures your compressions. Here is what each test involves, as of the AHA's 2025 Guidelines course materials.

AHA BLS: 84%, and you may use the book

The AHA's FAQ for the 2025 BLS Provider instructor-led course (dated June 16, 2026) lists the completion requirements plainly: pass the Adult CPR and AED Skills Test, pass the Infant CPR Skills Test, and "score at least 84% on the exam." The same FAQ states that the Association "has adopted an open-resource policy for exams." That policy is not new; the 2020 BLS FAQ used the same 84% figure and the same wording.

Open-resource has a defined meaning. You may use the BLS Provider Manual (print or eBook), your own notes, and the 2025 ECC Handbook. You may not talk to other students or ask the instructor for answers. The AHA does not publish the number of questions on its public pages, so any count you read online comes from a training center or a blog, not from the AHA; ask your instructor if it matters to you.

The practical consequence is that the BLS written test rewards knowing where things are in the manual, not memorizing every table. A candidate who has already spent an evening finding the page with the compression-to-ventilation ratios for one and two rescuers will answer those items in seconds. Someone who opens the book for the first time during the exam can still run out of patience, if not time.

Heartsaver and Red Cross lay courses: the test may not exist

For the AHA's lay-responder line, the written exam is optional. The AHA's Heartsaver course FAQs say it "does not mandate completion of an exam for Heartsaver courses," and that an optional exam exists for students who need one for regulatory or job requirements. Childcare licensing, some school districts and some employers fall into that category, which is why two people in the same Heartsaver class can have different experiences.

The Red Cross's lay course works the same way, with stricter test conditions. The 2016 edition of its First Aid/CPR/AED Instructor's Manual says participants are not required to pass a final written exam, but an instructor may give one when an employer requests or requires it. When the exam is given, the rules are specific: participants put away all course materials and phones, they must score 80% or better on each exam section, and the combined adult, child and infant CPR section requires 10 of 12 correct. A participant who fails gets the chance to take the alternative version of the exam. That is the most recent edition available publicly; ask your instructor whether the current one has changed it.

The skills test is where people actually fail

Since January 31, 2019, the AHA has required an instrumented directive feedback device or manikin in every course that teaches adult CPR, with feedback at minimum on compression rate and depth. In practice, the skills check no longer depends only on an instructor watching you. The manikin records whether each compression reaches the target depth and pace.

The 2025 BLS course added two things to the skills tests. The infant test now covers both the heel-of-one-hand technique and the two-thumb encircling technique, and hands-only CPR was added to the out-of-hospital scenario. If your last card was issued under the 2020 materials, that infant test is the part most likely to feel unfamiliar.

Candidate reports match this. On allnurses, a nursing student in 2023 described passing the online part of an AHA RQI program and then repeatedly failing the manikin's compression check, reporting a 43% score against a stated 75% pass line, with depth as the problem.

Online-only courses do not produce an AHA card

The AHA's course FAQs say students "must complete a hands-on skills session to obtain an AHA course completion card" for any course that includes CPR. HeartCode BLS, the AHA's online version, splits the course in two: the online part, then a hands-on skills session, and the AHA's October 2025 HeartCode FAQ says you need to show your online certificate of completion before the skills session. A website that issues a BLS card with no in-person or remote manikin check is not issuing an AHA card, whatever its logo looks like.

Once issued, an AHA card is valid for two years through the end of the month in which it was issued. The Red Cross's 2021 Basic Life Support fact sheet also gives two years, and lists shorter Review and Challenge course options for people who are renewing rather than starting from scratch.

If you miss the written test or a skill

The AHA does not publish a BLS remediation timetable on its public pages. Retest windows and whether you see a different version of the exam are set by the training center, under rules in the AHA Program Administration Manual that only instructors can access. The AHA's PALS course progress checklist, for example, describes remediation as retaking the test and, in some cases, a recommendation to repeat the entire course. If your job depends on getting the card that day, ask the training center for its remediation policy when you book, not after the exam.

How to use the open-resource rule well

Before class, tab three places in the manual: the adult, child and infant compression depths; the compression-to-breath ratios for one and two rescuers; and the AED sequence.
Read scenario items for the fork that decides them: is the person responsive, are they breathing normally (gasping does not count), and is a second rescuer present. The answer usually changes when one of those changes.
Do not use the book on items you already know; checking every answer is how open-resource tests take twice as long as they should.
For the skills test, practice depth more than anything else. Use a firm surface, lock your elbows, and let the chest recoil fully between compressions; the feedback device scores your depth on every one.
Drill the decision points with the free adult CPR and AED practice questions, and if you want the core numbers in one sitting, the CPR certification episode covers rates, depths and ratios in a few minutes.

Try the free CPR, AED and First Aid practice test →