CareAide Prep · careaideprep.com
Alberta HCA exam prep for the 2026 AHRE
The Alberta HCA Registration Examination (AHRE) is 100 multiple-choice questions with four options each, sat in two hours, closed book, and reported as pass or fail only. CareAide builds unlimited practice to that exact blueprint — every question carries an explanation for all four options, which the real exam never shows you.
What the exam covers
Six competency domains, weighted as follows:
- Provision of Care — 25 to 35% of marks
- Safety — 16 to 20%
- HCA Role and Responsibility — 13 to 17%
- Communication — 12 to 16%
- Health Across the Life Span — 11 to 15%
- Collaborative Care — 8 to 12%
Between 53% and 73% of questions ask you to apply knowledge to a situation rather than recall a fact, and roughly 65% involve clients aged 61 or over. Preparation that is mostly memorisation is preparation for a different exam.
What CareAide includes
- Timed 100-question mock exams built to the six-domain blueprint, with the same two-hour clock.
- Per-domain quizzes and a 10-question Quick 10 for short sessions, with an explanation for every option.
- Spoken roleplay with AI-played residents, family members and colleagues — you talk, they answer, and responsive behaviours and refusals are practised out loud rather than read about.
- DARP and SBAR documentation grading, marked against how charting and handover are actually assessed.
- Spaced-repetition flashcards that resurface what you got wrong.
- An AI tutor that answers in plain language, builds a study plan and writes visual study notes.
- A readiness score across all six domains, so revision goes where the marks are.
- Mock job interviews and an Alberta HCA job search for after the exam, scored on a hiring rubric.
What a health care aide may do in Alberta
An Alberta HCA provides medication assistance as assigned by a regulated health care professional — not administration, and never an adjustment or a clinical judgement. Care is given under supervision and follows the client's care plan. This is the single distinction candidates most often lose marks on, and every CareAide question is written to it.
Common questions
- Is the Alberta HCA exam pass or fail?
- Yes — pass or fail only. No numeric score is released and the passing standard is set per exam form. You get a strengths and weaknesses graph afterwards, but you cannot review the questions you were asked.
- Who administers the exam?
- Meazure Learning, at their test centres. Since 2 February 2026 health care aides must also register with the College of Licensed Practical Nurses and Health Care Aides of Alberta (CLHA) and hold a practice permit. CareAide is independent of both.
- Does CareAide cover my province?
- CareAide covers seven provinces, each written to that province's own rules and role title: Alberta health care aides (the AHRE), Ontario personal support workers (the NACC PSW Final Exam), Nova Scotia continuing care assistants (the CCA Certification Exam), New Brunswick personal support workers (the Certificate of Qualification exam), and a Readiness Check for British Columbia health care assistants, Manitoba health care aides and Saskatchewan continuing care assistants, whose provinces set no entry exam.
- Is CareAide free to start?
- Yes. Independent learners get a free trial with no card required. After that a personal subscription is CA$99 per month plus your province's sales tax (CA$103.95 in Alberta with 5% GST; CA$111.87 in Ontario, CA$112.86 in Nova Scotia and CA$113.85 in New Brunswick with HST; plus any tax that applies elsewhere). If your college or employer pays for your access, you are never asked to pay personally.
Outside Alberta?
Practice written to your own province's rules and role title:
- Ontario personal support worker (PSW): NACC PSW Final Exam practice
- Nova Scotia continuing care assistant (CCA): CCA Certification Exam practice
- New Brunswick personal support worker (PSW): Certificate of Qualification practice
- British Columbia health care assistant (HCA) practice test
- Manitoba health care aide (HCA) practice test
- Saskatchewan continuing care assistant (CCA) practice test
Read more
- How to become a health care aide in Alberta
- Substantial equivalence: trained outside Alberta
- Free Alberta HCA practice questions
- What the Alberta HCA Registration Exam is
- The Alberta HCA exam blueprint
- HCA scope of practice in Alberta
- How to study for the Alberta HCA exam
- What happens on exam day
- Ontario PSW exam practice for the NACC PSW Final Exam
- Nova Scotia CCA exam practice for the CCA Certification Exam
- New Brunswick PSW exam practice for the Certificate of Qualification
- BC health care assistant practice test: the Readiness Check
- Manitoba health care aide practice test: the Readiness Check
- Saskatchewan continuing care assistant practice test: the Readiness Check
- HCA exam prep for colleges
- Care aide insights
CareAide is a product division of NGN Simulation Labs Ltd., Alberta, Canada. Independent of the CLHA and of Meazure Learning. About and contact.