- A CAEd is a Certified Alzheimer Educator credentialed by the National Certification Board for Alzheimer Care (NCBAC).
- The exam is 100 multiple-choice questions in 150 minutes, taken via remote proctoring with no advance appointment.
- Passing requires a scaled score of 664 on a 300-900 range, not a simple percentage.
- Behavior (18-22%) and Communication (15-20%) are the two heaviest of the nine domains tested.
What Is a CAEd, Exactly?
CAEd stands for Certified Alzheimer Educator, a credential issued by the National Certification Board for Alzheimer Care (NCBAC). It's designed for people who teach, train, or supervise staff and families in dementia-specific care - not for direct hands-on caregivers alone, but specifically for those who deliver dementia education inside a facility, agency, or training program.
Because "CAEd" is used loosely online, it's easy to land on content describing a completely different credential. This article covers only the Certified Alzheimer Educator designation and pulls every fact from NCBAC's own published materials. If you're comparing this to other acronyms you've seen, treat any numbers from those sources as unrelated to what's described here.
If you're still deciding whether this is the right certification path for your role, the companion piece Is the CAEd Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 walks through the decision in more depth.
Who Issues the Credential
The Certified Alzheimer Educator credential is administered entirely by NCBAC. NCBAC controls the handbook, the eligibility rules, the exam blueprint, the remote-proctoring platform, and the renewal process. There is no separate third-party testing vendor - candidates test through NCBAC's own remotely monitored browser system.
Who Hires a Certified Alzheimer Educator
The CAEd is aimed at professionals who already work in memory care, assisted living, skilled nursing, home health, or adult day programs and who take on a teaching or in-service training role. Typical candidates include staff development coordinators, dementia program directors, in-house trainers who run CAC (Certified Alzheimer Caregiver) prep courses, and clinical educators inside long-term care organizations.
Employers value the CAEd because it signals someone can both understand dementia care content and teach it competently to frontline staff and family caregivers - which is why Domain 9, adult learning theory & techniques, carries real weight on the exam rather than being an afterthought. For a broader look at where the credential shows up on job postings and how organizations use it, see CAEd Jobs.
Eligibility Requirements
NCBAC sets a tiered eligibility structure that trades formal education for verified experience. You must be at least 21 years old, and you need one of the following combinations:
- High-school diploma plus the CAC credential and 4 years of qualifying experience
- 2 years of college or an LPN license plus 3 years of experience
- Bachelor's degree or RN license plus 2 years of experience
- Graduate degree plus 1 year of experience
- A stated 5-year experience/teaching exception pathway for candidates without the above credentials
The handbook is specific that qualifying experience must be direct-care or supervisory work at a minimum of 25 hours weekly - part-time or occasional dementia-care exposure doesn't satisfy this. On top of the experience tiers, every applicant needs 35 hours of dementia-specific training completed within the preceding 2 years. That training-hours figure is the current live requirement; older handbook language referencing 30 hours has been superseded by NCBAC's current web instructions.
Key Takeaway
Before you register, confirm your experience hours meet the 25-hour weekly threshold and that your 35 hours of dementia-specific training fall within the last 2 years - both are checked, not just assumed. Full detail is in CAEd Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
The Nine Exam Domains
The CAEd exam is built from nine content domains, each with a published weight range. Understanding these weights tells you exactly where to concentrate your review time.
Domain 4: Behavior (18-22%)
The single largest domain. Expect questions on interpreting behavioral expressions of unmet needs, de-escalation approaches, and how educators should train staff to respond rather than react.
- Antecedent-behavior-consequence thinking applied to dementia-related behaviors
Domain 2: Communication (15-20%)
The second-largest domain, covering verbal and non-verbal communication strategies across dementia stages, plus how to coach caregivers on communication techniques.
- Adapting communication as disease progression changes comprehension
Domain 9: Adult Learning Theory & Techniques (12-17%)
This domain reflects the "educator" half of the credential - how adults learn best, how to structure in-service training, and how to assess whether teaching actually changed staff behavior.
- Selecting teaching methods appropriate for frontline caregiving staff
Domain 1: Knowledge of Disease (12-16%)
Core disease knowledge - types of dementia, progression, and the physiological basis educators must be able to explain accurately to non-clinical staff.
The remaining five domains - Activities (10-14%), Patient Rights (5-8%), Health (5-10%), Safety (4-6%), and Caregiver Needs (2-5%) - carry smaller but still testable weight. Skipping any of them is risky since the exam draws from all nine. For a domain-by-domain breakdown with study priorities for each, see CAEd Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 9 Content Areas.
| Domain | Weight |
|---|---|
| Behavior | 18-22% |
| Communication | 15-20% |
| Adult Learning Theory & Techniques | 12-17% |
| Knowledge of Disease | 12-16% |
| Activities | 10-14% |
| Health | 5-10% |
| Patient Rights | 5-8% |
| Safety | 4-6% |
| Caregiver Needs | 2-5% |
How the Exam Is Administered
The CAEd exam consists of 100 multiple-choice questions to be completed in 150 minutes. Current testing uses NCBAC's own remotely monitored browser platform - there's no advance appointment to book and no physical testing center to travel to.
To sit for the exam you need a camera-enabled PC, laptop, or Chromebook, a reliable internet connection, and a valid photo ID. Tablets and phones are explicitly excluded from the accepted device list. Once you start, your browser and camera activity are monitored throughout the session, and results are typically released within 2 business days after the recording is reviewed. The handbook also prohibits books, notes, and calculators during the test - this is a closed-book exam in every sense.
If you're weighing how demanding this format is compared to a traditional test-center exam, How Hard Is the CAEd Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 goes deeper into the format's practical challenges.
What It Costs
The CAEd exam fee is US$365. NCBAC also offers an optional educator course for an additional US$530, bringing the combined price to US$895 if you choose to bundle exam and course together. Course access runs for 90 days or until you sit the exam, whichever comes first.
Budgeting matters here - the optional course is a real investment on top of the exam fee, so it's worth deciding early whether you need the structured coursework or plan to prepare independently. A full breakdown of every fee, including renewal costs, is available in CAEd Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.
The Passing Score
NCBAC's handbook, dated September 30, 2019, sets the passing mark at a scaled score of 664 on a 300-900 scale. This is not a raw percentage of correct answers - scaled scoring accounts for question difficulty, so a 664 doesn't map directly to a fixed percentage of the 100 questions. Don't try to reverse-engineer a percentage target from this number; instead, focus preparation on covering all nine domains proportionally to their weight.
Key Takeaway
Because scoring is scaled rather than percentage-based, aim to answer confidently across every domain rather than trying to "just clear" the heavily weighted ones. For the full scoring mechanics, read CAEd Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.
Keeping the Credential Active
The CAEd is not a one-time credential. Renewal is annual and requires paying US$65 and completing 12 continuing-education hours each year. Plan your CE hours around your renewal date rather than scrambling near the deadline, since dementia-specific training opportunities aren't always available on short notice.
Preparing for Exam Day
Given the domain weights, a practical review sequence starts with the two heaviest domains - Behavior and Communication - since together they can represent well over a third of the exam. From there, move into Adult Learning Theory & Techniques and Knowledge of Disease, then finish with the five lighter domains in a single pass, since each individually carries less weight but collectively still makes up a meaningful share of the 100 questions.
Behavior & Communication
- Work through de-escalation scenarios and non-verbal communication strategies tied to disease stage
Adult Learning Theory & Knowledge of Disease
- Review teaching-method selection and core disease progression content
Activities, Health, Safety, Patient Rights, Caregiver Needs
- Cover the five lighter-weighted domains in one consolidated pass
Full Review & Device Setup
- Run full-length practice sets and confirm your laptop/Chromebook meets remote-proctoring requirements
For a structured week-by-week plan built specifically around these nine domains, see CAEd Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt. You can also run timed practice questions modeled on the actual 100-question, 150-minute format at our CAEd practice test platform before committing to a real exam session.
A quick-reference summary of domain weights, the passing score, and cost figures is compiled in CAEd Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts, which pairs well with full-length runs on the practice test site.
Frequently Asked Questions
CAEd stands for Certified Alzheimer Educator, a credential issued by the National Certification Board for Alzheimer Care (NCBAC) for professionals who train staff and families in dementia care.
The exam has 100 multiple-choice questions, and candidates are given 150 minutes to complete it.
No. NCBAC's remote-proctoring platform requires a camera-enabled PC, laptop, or Chromebook with reliable internet - tablets and phones are excluded.
The exam alone is US$365. Adding the optional educator course brings the combined total to US$895, with course access lasting 90 days or until you test.
You need a scaled score of 664 on a 300-900 scale, as set in NCBAC's handbook - this is not a simple percentage of correct answers.