Understanding your NCLEX-PN report can help you study for next time.
Becoming a licensed practical nurse or licensed vocational nurse isn't easy. The national licensure examination, NCLEX-PN is a dynamic, interactive exam that asks questions that test your critical thinking skills as much as your nursing knowledge. Because of the exam's unique format, which measures your answers against a "passing standard," the National Council of State Boards of Nurses -- the creator of NCLEX -- doesn't issue numeric scores. You either receive a notice that you passed or a results report with an analysis of how you performed. The score report gives candidates guidance to study, improve and try again.
Instructions
1. Wait for the score report to arrive from your state board of nursing. Do not call Pearson VUE, the testing company or NCSBN. While reports can come as soon as three days after an exam sitting, expect it will take at least a week. Results are only sent by mail, so make sure both your nursing board and Pearson VUE have your updated address.
2. Review the results report, which begins in the second page of the letter. It will tell you how many of the 205 questions you answered before the exam shut-off. This is very important. Because NCLEX requires you to either rise above the passing standard with a 95 percent confidence level, the more questions you answered, the closer you were to passing. It means you weren't falling below the passing standard, but you also weren't rising above it enough for the computer to shut off and pass you. If you took relatively few questions, then you know you performed below the passing standard frequently enough that the computer determined you could not pass.
3. Look at the clinical subject categories you were asked about and what percentage of your exam each subject comprised. This gives you an idea of how the test selects different areas of nursing skill such as pediatrics, labor and delivery, orthopedics, ethics, scope of practice and school nursing. This breakdown gives you an idea of what might be on your next exam, although no two exams are alike and you could experience questions next time that weren't in this sitting.
4. Note which subjects you received "near passing" and "below passing" marks. Focus your study on these areas in which you were deficient.
5. Examine how much time you took sitting the exam. If you were near the maximum of five hours, this also indicates you were close to passing. Much like answering many questions without passing, using up the maximum amount of time indicates you weren't falling below passing standard but were also not clearing the 95 percent confidence level required to pass.
