Frequently Asked QuestionsGet Answers to Common NCLEX Questions

Each nursing regulatory body (NRB) has its own eligibility requirements to take the NCLEX. NCSBN does not maintain a list of requirements for each NRB. Contact the NRB where you are seeking licensure/registration for their requirements (applicable only to NRBs of the U.S., Canada and Australia).

To take the NCLEX, you will first need to complete two separate processes (applicable only to nursing regulatory bodies of the U.S. & Canada):

1. Contact your Nursing Regulatory Body (NRB) and request a licensure/registration application.
   • Registration process for Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) candidates
   • You will pay a licensing/registration fee to the NRB along with the submission of your application materials.
   • Licensure/registration applications must be obtained from the NRB in the state/province/territory where you are seeking licensure/registration, as requirements vary.
2. Register with Pearson (the testing vendor) using one of the following methods:
   • Online - Visit Pearson and pay with a credit, debit or prepaid card
   • Phone - Call Pearson Candidate Services at 866.496.2539 and pay the exam fee by credit, debit or prepaid card

Find out more about the NCLEX registration process.

If your Nursing Regulatory Body (NRB) has declared you eligible:

1. You must contact your NRB to make the necessary corrections.
2. Once the correction is confirmed with the NRB, please contact Pearson for a revised Authorization to Test (ATT) if needed.

If you have not been made eligible by your NRB, then you will need to contact Pearson to report the corrections.

Once you have been made eligible by your nursing regulatory body (NRB), you will receive an Authorization to Test (ATT) via the email address you provided when registering. If you have not received an ATT email, you may want to contact your NRB to ensure all necessary materials have been submitted and received, or to find out why they have not granted eligibility to your registration. You must have your ATT email to schedule an appointment to take the NCLEX.

You must test within the validity dates of your ATT (the average length of an ATT is 90 days). These validity dates cannot be extended for any reason. If you do not test within these dates you will have to reregister and pay another exam fee. The ATT contains your authorization number, candidate identification number and an expiration date. You need the ATT to schedule an appointment to take the NCLEX.

Call Pearson Candidate Services at 866.496.2539 or at one of the international telephone numbers in the NCLEX Candidate Bulletin to report a lost ATT or if your NRB has made you eligible and you have not received your ATT.

Links to all NRBs websites and contact information are available on the Membership page.

For further details, visit Authorization to Test.

You are able to take the NCLEX at any Pearson Professional Testing location, regardless of where you are applying for licensure/registration.

The NCLEX is given year round and is administered by Pearson. For candidates seeking licensure in the U.S., domestic test centers are those within the U.S. and American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands. For candidates seeking licensure/registration in Canada, domestic test centers are those within Canadian provinces/territories and the mainland U.S. (not including territories). International locations where the NCLEX is offered include Australia, Brazil, France, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Philippines, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Türkiye and United Kingdom.

Candidates can find test center locations by going to the Pearson website.

For more information on where the NCLEX is offered, visit the Test Center Locations page.

All forms of identification must be valid and meet the following requirements. If the ID does not meet these requirements (See Acceptable ID), you will be turned away and required to reregister and pay another examination fee:

• Physical (non-digital)
• Government-issued
• Non-expired
• Name (in Roman characters)
• Recent photograph
• Signature

Examples of acceptable forms of identification for domestic test centers are:

• Passport books and cards
• Driver's license
• Provincial/Territorial or state identification card
• Permanent residence card
• Military identification card

The only identifications acceptable for international test centers, including Puerto Rico, are:

• Passport books and cards

Candidates with identification from a country on the U.S. government's sanctioned countries will have to follow the requirements listed in order to sit for the exam.

For more information on identification, visit the Acceptable Identification page.

Definitions of Domestic and International Test Centers

Only the first and last names need to match between the candidate’s ID and ATT.

For more information on identification, visit the Acceptable Identification page.

No, the address does not need to match between the candidate’s ID and ATT.

For more information on identification, visit the Acceptable Identification page.

Official exam results are available only from the nursing regulatory bodies (NRBs) within 6 weeks of the exam appointment. Pearson and NCSBN do not provide exam results.

Candidates whose NRB participates in the Quick Results Service (only applies to candidates seeking licensure in the U.S.) can access their ‘unofficial’ results 48 hours after their exam date and time (a fee is required).

Links to all NRB websites and contact information are available on the Membership page.

For more information about getting NCLEX results, visit the Results Reporting section.

Yes, the registration fee is forfeited if a candidate cannot cancel outside of 24 business hours from their appointment and/or does not keep their appointment. The candidate will need to reregister and pay another exam fee. Because a test was not administered, the candidate would be able to test after they are made eligible again by their nursing regulatory body and receive a new Authorization to Test. The same policy applies to a candidate who does not test within their authorization period.

No. There are no refunds of NCLEX fees for any reason.

For more information, visit the Refund Policy section.

NCSBN does not recommend or endorse any review courses or study materials. If you are interested in participating in a review course or purchasing review materials, please consult a nursing education professional for suggestions. Links to all nursing regulatory bodies' (NRB) websites and contact information are available on the Membership page.

You may ask the TA for a Confidential Comment Sheet to provide any information about your exam appointment to NCSBN, the test centers or Pearson Candidate Services. If you have questions about your testing session, please contact NCSBN within two weeks of your exam appointment.

The same NCLEX-RN exam is used for Canadian and U.S. entry to nursing practice. For questions about whether you can practice in another state/province/territory, please contact the nursing regulatory body for that jurisdiction. Links to all nursing regulatory bodies’ websites and contact information are available on the NCSBN website.

The following NCLEX resources are available in French:

• NCLEX-RN Test Plans 
• NCLEX Tutorial
• NCLEX Candidate Bulletin
• NCLEX Webinar Series
• NCLEX Exam Preview
• NCLEX Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

No. Candidates have to answer a question in order to move onto the next question.

For more information, visit the Computerized Adaptive Testing section.

The CAT algorithm selects items that are of optimal difficulty for the candidate. Therefore, each item selected with be relatively difficult for the candidate. Candidates cannot reliably identify which items are easy and which are difficult with regard to the NCLEX scale. At the end of an examination, a candidate is usually receiving items that they have approximately a 50% chance of answering completely correct. The candidate's sense of what is easy and what is difficult is relative to their ability. Because the examination is adaptive, both high and low ability candidates will think the items at the end of the exam are challenging.

For more information, visit the Computerized Adaptive Testing section.

This means that it took only the minimum number of items for the scoring algorithm to determine with 95% certainty that the candidate’s nursing ability was below the passing standard.

For more information, visit the Computerized Adaptive Testing section.

No. The NCLEX uses computerized adaptive testing (CAT) to administer the items. Initially, everyone is administered an item with a relatively low difficulty level, and his/her progression on the exam from that point onward depends on their performance. A complete overview on how CAT works can be found on the Computerized Adaptive Testing information page.

For more information, visit the Computerized Adaptive Testing section.

'Near the Passing Standard' means a particular candidate’s ability estimate is not clearly above or clearly below the passing standard in a content area.

For more information, visit the Candidate Performance Report section.

The NCLEX is designed as a screening tool used to identify candidates that can demonstrate that their nursing ability is sufficient to be competent in practice. Providing more detailed feedback for candidates who fail is done in an attempt to help the candidate direct their remediation strategies. Providing feedback to people who do not need remediation serves no purpose and could be misused by candidates or employers in making employment decisions.

For more information, visit the Candidate Performance Report section.

The NCLEX is computer adaptive and items are selected based on each candidate’s ability. Each exam adheres to the test plan content area percentages. The items fall across all difficulty levels and cover all areas of the test plan. Entire exams are not focused on specific nurse specialties.

Since the beginning of its development, the NCLEX has served as a fair, reliable tool to measure the minimum competency required to deliver safe, effective entry-level nursing. The exam is developed to ensure that no candidate is afforded an unfair advantage when testing. The language and terminology selected for exam items must be universal and support the assessment of one construct—entry-level nursing knowledge while eliminating the inadvertent assessment of other factors.

The exam uses consistent language for every examinee. In order to achieve accurate, stable measurement, terminology used in exam items can have only one meaning. All NCLEX items undergo a rigorous review process to ensure items represent the client population and remain free from unintentional bias. Only items that meet statistical and differential item functioning (DIF) criteria become operational.

Yes, the NCLEX bolds key words such as best, most, essential, first, priority, immediately, highest, initial, next, refute, increased, decreased and support.

The NCLEX uses consistent language for every examinee. In order to achieve accurate, stable measurement, terminology used in exam items can have only one meaning. NCSBN understands most clinicians acknowledge both generic and brand/trade names when referring to drug medications. At this time, the NCLEX will reflect, on most occasions, the use of generic medication names only. We take into account that the use of the medication generic name is more consistent while a brand/trade medication name may vary. Some items may refer to general classifications of medications.

NCSBN does not specify a list of medications that are on the exam.

On average, NCLEX items currently include a combination of international systems of units (SI) and imperial measurement options used in the nursing profession. The unit of measurement presented in the item will be familiar to the NCLEX candidate.

Beginning with the launch of the Next Generation NCLEX, items that contain a numeric laboratory value will include the corresponding normal reference range.

How does NCSBN define Clinical Judgment for purposes of a Next Generation NCLEX (NGN)?

To develop a valid and reliable means of measuring clinical judgment, NCSBN conducted extensive reviews of the literature in nursing, decision theory and testing. The result was the assessment framework referred to as the NCSBN Clinical Judgment Measurement Model (NCJMM).

It is important to note that the NCJMM is a framework designed for and specific to testing and should not be construed as a replacement for other evidence-based theories of nursing theory or practice. In particular, the NCJMM does not compete with the Nursing Process or specific pedagogical or andragogical models around the teaching of clinical judgment. Rather, it provides a systematic, evidence-based framework for measuring whether nurse licensure candidates demonstrate at least minimal competence with respect to clinical judgment and decision making.

For the purposes of the NCLEX, Layers 3 and 4 of the NCJMM guide item writers in the development of NGN content; Layer 3 elements provide the primary measurement focus for items and the Layer 4 elements provide context. Each of the Layer 3 and Layer 4 elements are defined in more detail in the publications on the NGN resource page.

The NCLEX incorporates processes considered fundamental to the practice of nursing and therefore are integrated throughout the NCLEX Test Plan client needs categories. Clinical judgment is included as an integrated process in the 2023 NCLEX Test Plan.

Since the practice of nursing requires application of knowledge, skills and abilities, the majority of items are written at the application or higher levels of cognitive ability, which requires more complex thought processing. These questions require a candidate to utilize problem-solving skills in order to select the correct answer.

The NCLEX-RN and NCLEX-PN is designed to measure one construct, nursing ability.  To this end the goal of the NCLEX is to use language that is construct focused without making the exam unnecessarily difficult. A readability analysis is performed on all operational pools.  The NCLEX-RN exam does not exceed 1,300 Lexiles and the NCLEX-PN 1,200 Lexiles. 

Visit the Technical Brief page for information on the Readability of the NCLEX.

The NCLEX master pool contains enough items to make up multiple operational pools. To maintain exam security and ensure that repeating candidates will not receive the same items from one attempt to the next, operational item pools are rotated regularly.

Examples of item formats can be found in the NCLEX Tutorial, offered in both English and French.

Any item formats, including standard multiple-choice items, may include multimedia such as charts, tables and graphic images.

There is no established percentage of items formats that will be administered to candidates. The NCLEX is computer adaptive and items are based on the candidate’s ability. There are different item types used on the NCLEX and across all difficulty levels.

NCLEX items have multiple item formats. There is partial credit scoring for items for which more than one key exists. There are three methods for scoring items for partial credit: plus/minus, zero/one, and rationale scoring. 

Yes, unless the item requests that the candidate records their answer using a whole number. If asked to record to one (or two) decimal places, the candidate must enter the decimal point for the answer to be correct.

Answers to calculation items should be rounded at the end of the calculation.

Yes. The candidate is not prompted to open all of the exhibit tabs. It is important that the candidate review each exhibit tab entirely and make an answer selection before moving to the next item.  If the candidate does not answer an item but tries to move on to the next item, a prompt will appear informing the candidate “You cannot continue with this question unanswered.” 

All NCLEX operational items are reviewed on a continuous basis to ensure that they contain accurate content and reflect current entry-level nursing practice. In cases where there is an immediate change in nursing practice, such as changes in guidelines and policies, all items relevant to the topic in question will be reviewed to ensure that item content remains accurate. If necessary, items can be pulled from the operational pool as needed to ensure only current content remains on the exam.

To meet the needs of French-speaking, Canadian NCLEX-RN candidates, NCSBN offers the NCLEX-RN examination in French. NCSBN translates two operational item pools each year into French. Following this forward translation by a translation professional with expertise in Canadian French, NCSBN works with Canadian regulatory bodies to identify a Canadian Translation Panel. The panel consists of three nurses proficient in English and French who review each translated item for accuracy and contextual equivalency. This method, referred to as a mixed method, process oriented approach, is supported in the literature as a preferred method for ensuring construct equivalence in health care measurement instruments.

Following the Canadian Translation Panel’s approval the French NCLEX Operational pool is administered to French Canadian NCLEX-RN Candidates. Once sufficient candidate response data is obtained, the items are subject to a separate Differential Item Functioning (DIF) analysis, to ascertain whether the items appropriately measure candidates’ nursing ability irrespective of the language in which these test items were administered. Items identified as possessing DIF are reviewed by the NCLEX DIF panel for presence of bias. In addition to the construct equivalence confirmed by the Canadian Translation Panel, the use of DIF analysis is supported in the literature as a preferred method to ensure measurement equivalence.

Reference the About and Prepare pages for additional resources.

The NCSBN Board of Directors voted to revise the definition of the NCLEX entry-level nurse from having six months experience or less to having no more than 12 months experience. The dates of implementation for the revised definition are:

April 1, 2017, for the NCLEX-PN Exam
April 1, 2019, for the NCLEX-RN Exam

NCSBN invites nurses from all jurisdictions using the NCLEX to participate as Subject Matter Expert nurse volunteers on the NCLEX Practice Analysis Panel and NCLEX Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Panel. Because the health care industry is rapidly changing, practice analysis studies are traditionally conducted on a three-year cycle. Information gathered in the practice analysis studies assists NCSBN in evaluating the validity of the test plan. Periodically, NCSBN conducts comparative practice analyses to determine whether the current test plan is valid for testing populations in specified locations.

Reference the current and past Practice Analyses for more information.

Respondents of the practice analysis survey rate the importance of each entry-level nursing activity statement, the frequency with which they perform the activity and the relevancy of performing each activity with regard to clinical judgment. These importance, frequency and clinical judgment relevancy ratings are analyzed at the end of the survey process. Overall, tasks or activities that are deemed unimportant or infrequently performed by respondents may be eliminated from the new test plan. NCSBN ensures the remaining activity statements are categorized in the approved NCLEX categories. These categories form the basis of the test plan, and the relative importance, frequency and clinical judgment relevancy ratings of each activity inform the appropriate NCLEX Test Plan category percentages used during exam administration.

For more information, reference the Practice Analyses and Test Plans.

Over the course of a year, NCSBN invites nurses from all jurisdictions using NCLEX to participate on NCLEX Item Development Panels (Practice Analysis and Knowledge, Skills and Abilities [KSA] expert panels, item writing, item review, Regulatory Body Review and Panel of Judges [POJ] for Standard Setting Process). In addition to these item development opportunities, Canadian nurses also review NCLEX items during the Translation Review.

To participate in the development process, experienced nurse volunteers must work with entry-level nurses and be familiar with entry-level nursing knowledge. Input from entry-level nurses is sought out in many areas of the item development process such as Practice Analysis and KSA expert panels and the POJ. Reference Exam Volunteer Opportunities for additional information about qualifications and volunteer opportunities for the item development program.

NCSBN recruits nursing instructors in clinical areas as item writers and nurses who are employed in clinical settings as item reviewers. To construct meaningful examination items, NCLEX item writers must be familiar with entry-level nursing knowledge, test construction process and item development theories. These necessary qualifications are in-line with those of nursing educators. Educators with a master’s level or higher degree are invited to participate in the NCLEX-RN item writing process. In terms of reviewing NCLEX items, nurse clinicians, who work with entry-level nurses by providing preceptorship, mentorship and supervision, see entry-level practice first-hand. These expert nurses are able to bring their knowledge of the clinical settings to the item review process and ensure that NCLEX items are reflective of current entry-level nursing practice.

Subject matter experts with entry-level nursing licensure examination item development experience or who have been involved in the development of prep guides or courses in the previous two years cannot volunteer for the NCLEX; the purpose of this is to minimize potential biases that these previous experiences may bring to the NCLEX development process.

Reference Exam Volunteer Opportunities for additional information.

The NCSBN’s Board of Directors reevaluates the passing standard every three years or when the test plan changes to ensure that the passing standard for NCLEX-RN and NCLEX-PN examinations accurately reflects the amount of nursing ability currently required to practice competently at the entry level.

For more information, visit the Passing Standard section.

Anytime there is a change in the passing standard there is an expected temporary effect on the candidate passing rate. Historically, pass rates tend to be lower immediately following a passing standard increase. These pass rates traditionally rebound within three years of a new passing standard being set.

Reference the NCLEX Pass Rates for more information.

To better prepare students for the NCLEX, educators can gain familiarity with the current NCLEX Test Plan, its corresponding content distribution and examination delivery methodology. NCLEX resources are available free-of-charge for educators and students. These resources include:

• NCLEX Tutorial
• NCLEX Exam Preview
• NCLEX Candidate Bulletin
• Test Plans
• Computerized Adaptive Testing
• Information about the NGN
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Facebook

NCSBN encourages educators and students to utilize these resources and become familiar with the NCLEX, its delivery, anticipated item types, specific terminology and test site administration rules. 

All nursing programs recognized by their nursing regulatory body may subscribe to NCLEX Program Reports. The NCLEX Program Reports are designed to help program administrators and educators understand how their nursing students performed on the NCLEX examination.  

Additional information on NCLEX Program Reports may be found on the Mountain Measurement website.

NCLEX Regional Workshops are hosted by nursing regulatory bodies (NRBs). If you are interested in a regional workshop, please contact your NRB.

In order to comply with local health and government social distancing measures, Pearson occasionally is required to unschedule some NCLEX appointments. Please log into your Pearson account as soon as possible to reschedule your appointment for the next available date/time. Please note that candidates are able to take the NCLEX at any test center, regardless of the nursing regulatory body they are applying to for licensure/registration.

Pearson testing centers will enforce safety procedures per local government requirements. Candidates may be required to prove vaccination status and/or wear their own face mask during the entire testing appointment at Pearson test centers depending on location. Please consult Pearson's COVID-19 webpage for details at specific testing centers.

No, as of Aug. 2, 2021, candidates will be turned away from the testing site if their acceptable ID is not valid. Review the acceptable ID criteria here.