Great Expectations of the NCLEX

The NCLEX examination is a tough exam but it is definitely not impossible.  The exam is to test competencies for an entry-level nurse.

The test tests your knowledge in four categories with subcategories.


Good Luck!

NCLEX-RN Categories

Safe and Effective Care Environment

• Management of Care 16-22% of questions
• Safety and Infection Control 8-14% of questions

Health Promotion and Maintenance

• 6-12% of questions

Psychosocial Integrity

• 6-12% of questions

Physiological Integrity

• Basic Care and Comfort 6-12% of questions
• Pharmacological and Parenteral Therapies 13-19% of questions
• Reduction of Risk Potential 10-16% of questions
• Physiological Adaptation 11-17% of questions

NCLEX-PN Categories

Safe and Effective Care Environment

• Coordinated Care 13-19% of questions
• Safety and Infection Control 11-17% of questions

Health Promotion and Maintenance

• 7-13% of questions

Psychosocial Integrity

• 7-13% of questions

Physiological Integrity

• Basic Care and Comfort 9-15% of questions
• Pharmacological Therapies 11-17% of questions
• Reduction of Risk Potential 9-15% of questions
• Physiological Adaptation 9-15% of questions

Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT)

Computerized Adaptive Testing is a lot different than the standard pencil and paper examinations. CAT is more effective testing and a lot more efficient.
Each Canidate receives questions from a large pool based on the following criteria:

• The item is limited to content area that will produce the best match to the test plan percentages. It is ensured that each candidate’s exam has enough questions from each content area to match the required test plan percentages.
• An item is selected that the candidate is expected to find challenging. Based on the candidate’s answers up to that point and the difficulty of those items, the computer estimates the candidate’s ability and selects an item that the candidate should have a 50% chance of answering correctly. This way, the next item should not be too easy or too hard and the examination can get maximum information about the candidate’s ability from the item.
• Excludes any item that a repeat candidate has seen in the last year.

Decision on Pass or Fail of NCLEX exam

The decision as to whether a candidate passes or fails the NCLEX-RN and NCLEX-PN examination is governed by three different scenarios:

1: The 95% Confidence Interval Rule

This scenario is the most common for NCLEX examination candidates. The computer will stop administering items when it is 95% certain that the candidate’s ability is either clearly above or clearly below the passing standard.

2: Maximum-Length Exam

Some candidate’s ability levels will be very close to the passing standard. When this is the case, the computer continues to administer questions until the maximum number of items is reached. At this point, the computer disregards the 95% confidence rule and considers only the final ability estimate:

• If the final ability estimate is above the passing standard, the candidate passes.
• If the final ability estimate is at or below the passing standard, the candidate fails.

3: Run-Out-of-Time Rule (R.O.O.T.)

If a candidate runs out of time before reaching the maximum number of items and the computer has not determined with 95% certainty whether the candidate has passed or failed, an alternate criteria is used.

• If the candidate has not answered the minimum number of required items, the candidate automatically fails.
• If at least the minimum number of required items were answered, the computer looks at the last 60 ability estimates:
• If the last 60 ability estimates were consistently above the passing standard, the candidate passes.
• If the candidate’s ability estimate drops below the passing standard even once over the last 60 items, the examinee fails.


*information on this page is from National Council of State Boards of Nursing