Frequently Asked Questions

The NCLEX (National Council Licensure Examination) is a standardized exam that determines whether a candidate is prepared for entry-level nursing practice. It covers the four major categories of client needs: Safe and Effective Care Environment, Health Promotion and Maintenance, Psychosocial Integrity, and Physiological Integrity.

The Next Generation NCLEX introduces clinical judgment scenarios to better assess a candidate's ability to make safe nursing decisions. Question types include standalone items and unfolding case studies with formats like drag-and-drop, matrix multiple-choice, and enhanced hotspots.

CAT selects each question based on your response to the previous question. It estimates your ability dynamically, ensuring items aren't too easy or too hard. The exam ends when the system is 95% confident in your pass/fail result or after a maximum time/item limit.

There is no fixed percentage. The passing standard is a single theta score on an IRT-based scale. If your final ability estimate meets or exceeds the standard, you pass. The standard is updated every 3 years by the NCSBN.

NCLEX-RN: 75–145 items (15 pretest), 5 hours. NCLEX-PN: 85–150 items (25 pretest), 5 hours. NGN introduces new item types that may count as multiple scored items—for example, a SATA with 8 options might yield up to 8 scorable points.

If you haven't answered enough items, the exam ends. The pass/fail decision is based on all answered items: if your ability estimate is above the passing standard, you pass; if below, you fail. If your estimate is too close to call, additional rules are applied.