What score do you need to pass the NARM exam?
The honest answer is that nobody outside NARM knows, and anyone who gives you a specific number is guessing.
NARM does not publish a passing score. The examination is scored criterion-referenced — passing depends on reaching a minimum number of correct answers, set by NARM against a standard of competent practice rather than against how other candidates did. That threshold is not made public, and candidates who pass do not receive a score breakdown.
What "criterion-referenced" actually means for you
A norm-referenced exam grades you against the other people who sat it — a fixed percentage passes, so your result depends partly on how strong that year's cohort was. A criterion-referenced exam grades you against a fixed standard. If everyone sitting it demonstrates competence, everyone can pass. If nobody does, nobody does.
This is good news, and it changes how you should study. You are not competing with other candidates. There is no advantage in being relatively better than the person next to you, and no penalty for a strong cohort. The only question is whether you can demonstrate safe, competent practice across the content the exam covers.
Why we will not give you a number
We could invent one. Plenty of resources do — you will see "you need 75%" or "aim for 80%" stated with total confidence and no source. Those numbers are not published anywhere by NARM.
A fabricated cut score does real harm in both directions. Set it too low and a candidate stops studying while genuinely underprepared. Set it too high and a candidate who was ready delays a sitting, pays another fee, and loses months. Neither is a small mistake.
What we report instead
Our practice results are reported as percent-correct against a conservative readiness benchmark of 75%, weighted by the published domain matrix. That number is ours, not NARM's. It is deliberately set above where we would expect a competent candidate to sit, so that reaching it means you have margin — not that you have passed.
It does not predict a result. It is a study signal: it tells you which of the seven domains are carrying you and which are dragging, while there is still time to act on it.
The more useful question
Since the threshold is unknowable, the question worth asking is not "what percentage do I need?" but "where am I weakest, and how much of the exam does that cover?" The domains are not weighted evenly — a gap in Labor, Birth and Immediate Postpartum costs you seven times what the same gap costs in Well Baby Care.
Sources
Exam format and scoring type are from the NARM Candidate Information Bulletin (narm.org), June 2025 edition, which contains the CPM NARM Examination Matrix and the Written Test Specifications (rev. 2017). Domain weightings are from that matrix. Always confirm current requirements against NARM directly — they are the only authoritative source, and details change.
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