How our online courses work

Earning your online certification or recertification has never been easier! Here is a step-by-step explanation of how our courses work for ACLS, BLS, and PALS.

Normal enrollment

Most customers enroll directly from our course signup page. The path to full certification has four steps:

flowchart LR
  A[Complete online training] --> B["<img src='/images/en/products/sample-certificate-acls.svg' width='60'><br>Receive cognitive eCard"]
  B --> C[Complete skills test]
  C --> D[Receive cognitive + skills eCard]
  click B "/images/en/products/sample-certificate-acls.svg" "View sample certificate"
  click C "/instructor-partnership" "Learn about skills testing"
  style B text-decoration:underline,color:#0d6efd
  style C text-decoration:underline,color:#0d6efd
  1. Complete online training — Study the course materials at your own pace and pass the online exam with 84% or higher. You get three attempts and there are no time restrictions.
  2. Receive cognitive eCard — Immediately after passing, you receive a same-day PDF eCard noting “cognitive evaluation.”
  3. Complete skills test — Have an AHA-certified instructor verify your hands-on skills. You can use your own instructor or download the skills form (ACLS, BLS, or PALS).
  4. Receive cognitive + skills eCard — After skills verification, you receive an updated certificate noting “cognitive and skills evaluation.”

Many employers accept the cognitive-only eCard from step 2. If your employer does not require hands-on skills testing, you are done after step 2.

Skills-required enrollment

This path applies only to purchases made on our skills-required page. These enrollments skip the cognitive-only eCard and go straight to skills testing:

flowchart LR
  A[Complete online training] --> B[Complete skills test]
  B --> C[Receive cognitive + skills eCard]
  click B "/instructor-partnership" "Learn about skills testing"
  style B text-decoration:underline,color:#0d6efd
  1. Complete online training — Same online course and exam as above.
  2. Complete skills test — Skills testing is scheduled as part of your enrollment.
  3. Receive cognitive + skills eCard — You receive the combined “cognitive and skills evaluation” certificate directly.

American Heart Association courses

For AHA-branded courses (HeartCode ACLS, HeartCode BLS, HeartCode PALS), the process is similar but uses AHA terminology. AHA calls their certificate a “course completion card” rather than “cognitive evaluation.”

flowchart LR
  A[Complete HeartCode online portion] --> B["<img src='/images/en/products/sample-certificate-aha-acls-part1.webp' width='60'><br>Receive AHA Part 1 certificate"]
  B --> C[Complete skills test]
  C --> D["<img src='/images/en/products/sample-certificate-aha-acls.svg' width='60'><br>Receive eCard"]
  click B "/images/en/products/sample-certificate-aha-acls-part1.webp" "View sample Part 1 certificate"
  click D "/images/en/products/sample-certificate-aha-acls.svg" "View sample course completion card"
  style B text-decoration:underline,color:#0d6efd
  style D text-decoration:underline,color:#0d6efd
  1. Complete HeartCode online portion — Complete the AHA eLearning module online.
  2. Receive AHA Part 1 certificate — After completing the online portion, you receive a Part 1 completion certificate.
  3. Complete skills test — Attend a skills session with an AHA-authorized instructor.
  4. Receive AHA course completion card — AHA issues a provider course completion card, valid for two years.

Note that AHA offers Heartsaver Virtual courses which are equivalent to the AHA Heartsaver course. Their virtual course is 100% online, from your own home. And both courses result in an identical course completion card.

Learn more and enroll on our AHA course page.