The National Council Licensure Examinations (NCLEX-PN® for practical nurses and NCLEX-RN® for registered nurses) are the nursing exams that must be passed in order to become a licensed nurse in the United States. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN®) administers the nursing boards tests through Pearson VUE, a subsidiary company that owns, updates, and administers the special computerized tests. The NCSBN sends a nurse her NCLEX® results by mail after she takes her nursing boards at a Pearson VUE testing center. The test-taker is informed in bold font in the first sentence of the two-page letter whether or not she has passed the examination, making an initial interpretation of the NCLEX® results simple. If the student understands the unique nature of the NCLEX® test, additional information provided by the NCSBN can be used to conduct a more in-depth interpretation of the test-NCLEX® taker’s results.
As stated in the first sentence of the test result letter, a student can interpret her NCLEX® results as passing or failing. The computerized NCLEX® exam is tailored to each individual test taker, with different questions posed to each student. The length of the test, which varies from 75 to 265 questions, is also dependent on the individual students and their test responses. A student is asked a question that she has a 50% chance of answering correctly, according to Pearson VUE. If she answers correctly, the computer will ask her a more difficult question; if she answers incorrectly, the computer will ask her an easier question.
If the student has demonstrably passed or clearly failed the passing standard, the computer will end the test after the minimum 75 questions have been asked. If the computer needs to ask more questions to determine whether the student passed the test, it will do so up to a maximum of 265. The second paragraph of the NCLEX® results letter, again in bold font, lists the exact number of questions that were asked of the student. The fewer the questions, the more clearly — and quickly — a student demonstrated a score that was either below or above the passing standard.
The NCLEX® results letter also includes information about a student’s test success or failure in various areas. On the second page, test categories are listed, with student results reported as below, near, or above the passing standard. If a student has failed her boards, this section can assist in identifying specific areas of study to focus on before retaking the nursing boards.