NCLEX® Test

The National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN®) and the National Council Licensure Examination for Practical Nurses (NCLEX-PN®) are the two exams administered by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc. (NCSBN) to test entry-level nursing skills of candidates for licensure as Registered Nurses and as Licensed Practical/Vocational Nurses. The NCLEX examinations are presented entirely as computerized adaptive tests.

The main purpose of the NCSBN is to assess the student’s ability to use critical thinking skills to make nursing judgments. The NCLEX is structured according to the framework that the students are able in Meeting Client Needs. Totally there are four major group and ten subgroups. All of the questions on the NCLEX exam involves incorporated contents on nursing unlike other nursing programs which are medical model based and require that the students take separate medical, surgical, pediatric, psychiatric, and obstetric classes

The NCLEX tests are the final obstacles in the student’s nursing career. As a result the questions are focused on the student’s skills in taking decisions on a variety of patient care situations under critical conditions. The NCLEX test calls for the understanding of the basic principles of nursing by the student and his ability to apply this to diverse essentials of patient safety management.

Answering the NCLEX questions requires book knowledge and not realistic experience. The topics enclosed by the NCLEX test writers’ covers all the fundamentals of patient care and sometimes the topics even include things that are practically impossible in the modern healthcare world. The NCLEX should always remember to choose the answer that identifies the safest approach among the rest of the choices provided. It is important to memorize the normal laboratory data like the blood gas value, to be able to answer the questions dealing with the lab questions. If the student answer indicates a range above normal then the result will be highlighted with an asterisk symbol. The students are advised to avoid such situations by being as well versed as possible with the lab data ranges.

One of the main point that the student should remember while answering the questions is choosing the option of notifying the physician or contacting other health care workers only if he is sure that all the other options are wrong. The student is expected to think of safety first in all cases of medical problems. For example if equipment breaks down and the patient is in trouble, the student is expected to work on solving the patient’s problems before getting someone else to fix the equipment.

The chief requirements of a student applying for the NCLEX are:

• To apply for licensure in the state or territory in where the student wishes to be licensed.
• Meeting the eligibility criteria required for taking the NCLEX examination (Refer to the application for RN/LPN by Examination or the Board of Nursing Statutes and Regulations for eligibility requirements).
• Registering for the examination with Pearson VUE (testing company) by paying a registration fee of $200.

Though the student may register himself at anytime it is highly recommended to apply for the license before the NCLEX exam. Once the student’s application has been approved and registered with Pearson VUE the testing company would be electronically notified of the student’s eligibility to take the examination. As soon as the testing company enters the student’s eligibility the Pearson VUE will issue the Authorization to Test (ATT). The student is required to call the Pearson VUE and schedule an examination date and time as soon as he receives his receipt of the ATT letter. The results along with the license to practice nursing incase of the student passing the test will be mailed within 14 days from the test date. The results cannot b assessed through any other form.

If a student with disability needing special accommodation wants to take the test he is expected to submit a completed “Application for Examination Accommodation for Candidates with Disabilities” form. This form can be downloaded from the website: www.commerce.state.ak.us/occ or the student can contact the division and request the form. Since the issue of license in the United States is under the authority of each individual state and not under the federal government the students have to apply only through one of the states.

All the questions of the NCLEX examination are multiple choices and are provided in the Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT) format to measure the student’s proficiency. The candidates taking the RN are required to answer a minimum of 75 questions and those taking the LPN should answer a minimum of 85 questions. Once the student has provided the answers for the minimum number of questions the computer will try and access the students competency level. If the scores are above the set passing range then the student would be declared as passed but if the score is below the passing range then he would be declared as failed. Incase the student scores a range that is too close to the standard to allocate a definitive result to be determined, the student would go on receiving questions to be answered until a final evaluation can be made. Students taking the RN can answer a maximum of 265 questions and the LPN candidates a maximum of 205.

The student’s are expected to finish the test with in the time span of 5 hours which is inclusive of the two ten minute breaks and the time set aside for the preliminary computer discussion.