The NCLEX Examination
To ensure public protection, the United States and its territories require entry into the practice of nursing to be regulated by licensing authorities within each jurisdiction. Each jurisdiction requires all candidates for licensure as entry-level nurses to pass an examination which assesses the knowledge required to perform safely and effectively. The state and territorial boards of nursing use these exams in making licensure decisions.
NCLEX stands for the National Council Licensure Examination which is a standardized exam used by each state board of nursing to determine if RN or LVN candidates are competent for entry-level nursing practice. Registered nurse candidates must pass the NCLEX-RN exam while practical and vocational graduate nurses must pass the NCLEX-PN exam. The main difference between the two tests is the number and difficulty of correctly answered questions required to pass the exam. The NCLEX-RN has 265 questions and the minimum number you need to answer is 75. The NCLEX-PN has 205 questions and the minimum number you need to answer is 85. Texas NCLEX candidates have surpassed the national average NCLEX pass rates for both exams every year since 2000.
The NCLEX exams are administered using Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT) and there is a six hour limit for the NCLEX-RN and a five hour time limit for the NCLEX-PN including time for the computer tutorial and breaks. Computerized Adaptive Testing makes each exam unique by retrieving questions from a database as the exam progresses and by measuring the ability of candidates using the answers provided previously. Depending on your answers to previous questions, CAT changes the level of difficulty of new questions.
During the NCLEX exam, if you answer correctly the computer presents you with increasingly harder questions while if you answer incorrectly it chooses easier questions. The software estimates your ability every time you provide an answer to a question and for each new answer you provide the estimate of your ability gets more precise. Based on its estimation of your ability, the exam software selects questions it considers you have a close to 50% chance of answering correctly and therefore, well prepared NCLEX candidates will be asked more difficult questions but they have a good chance of passing the NCLEX exam by answering the minimum number of questions while less prepared NCLEX candidates are not forced to guess the answers to questions too difficult for them.
Due to the adaptive nature of this examination method, the expected number of correct answers is half the total number of questions you are presented with. After you answer the minimum number of questions for the exam, the software will analyze your overall performance and it may shut-down the computer. This means that you either passed or failed the exam because the computer will shut-down only when the program running the test has determined with 95% certainty that your ability is either above or below the passing standard. The only way to get additional questions is if you are very close to the passing score.
The time you spend on each question is not an important factor with regard to passing but you should answer the required number of questions in the allotted time. If you run out of time and did not answer the minimum number of questions required for either the NCLEX-RN or NCLEX-PN you fail automatically. The NCLEX questions are mostly multiple-choice questions with four answers. In some cases the NCLEX exam uses more difficult question formats such as multiple-choice questions that require you to select one or more correct answers, fill-in-the-blank questions or questions that require you to identify an area on a picture. Both exams cover mostly the same topics but the NCLEX-RN is more difficult than the NCLEX-PN.
Individuals must apply to the Texas Board of Nurse Examiners in order to take the NCLEX examination. The Board will decide whether or not you are eligible for the NCLEX examination and will provide you with a list of testing centers and instructions for how to schedule and take the NCLEX licensure examination. After you take the test you will have to wait for the results. In Texas, the official NCLEX results should arrive by mail within three weeks but you can pay to see unofficial results faster. If you fail the NCLEX you will receive a summary of your test performance indicating topics where you did well and topics that you need to study further. You will be able to take the test again after a mandatory waiting period of 45 to 50 days. In Texas, you can take the NCLEX exam an unlimited number of times for a period of four years from your date of graduation.
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