New Jersey Nurse Licensing Exam - NCLEX
NCLEX stands for the National Council Licensure Examination. The NCLEX exam is a standard test used in every state in the USA. This exam is required by the New Jersey State Board of Nursing in order to practice as a nurse. Graduates of LPN and RN programs must pass the NCLEX exam in order to obtain a practicing license. The NCLEX exam is a way to ensure public safety by testing the knowledge of future healthcare practicing professionals. Candidates who pass this exam are deemed to possess the required knowledge for entry-level, safe and effective practice of nursing.
If you have graduated from an approved nursing program and wish to work as a Graduate Nurse (GN) or Graduate Practical Nurse (GPN), you must apply for the NCLEX examination within 6 months of graduation but if you do not plan on working as a GN or GPN there is no time limit between graduation date and NCLEX exam date. In New Jersey you may not work as a graduate nurse until you receive an eligibility letter from the New Jersey Board of Nursing and an Authorization to Test from Pearson, the NCLEX testing group. If you are retaking the NCLEX examination because you failed to pass on a previous attempt, you may not work as a GN or GPN.
There are two types of NCLEX exams: NCLEX-RN and NCLEX-PN. Graduates of RN programs need to pass the NCLEX-RN exam while graduates of LPN programs need to pass the NCLEX-PN examination. The NCLEX-RN exam consists of a maximum of 265 questions out of which a candidate must answer a minimum of 75. Sometimes the test ends after the 75th question and sometimes it may continue for all of the 265 questions. The NCLEX-PN exam has a total of 205 questions and the minimum one is required to answer is 85. As with the NCLEX-RN exam, the NCLEX-PN might continue to ask questions until the last item is answered before making a decision of pass or fail.
The RN exam is more difficult than the LPN exam but both tests are adapted to the material studied in the respective nursing program. Both types of NCLEX exams are taken using Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT). Each question appears separately on a computer monitor and one must answer that test question before moving on to the next. There is a time limit for the test, with the NCLEX-RN having a six hour time period and the NCLEX-PN a five hour window for completion. The time limits for each exam include break periods and for a helpful tutorial at the beginning of the test. One must use the allocated exam time carefully in case the test continues to administer questions after the lower limit indicated above has been reached. It is important to avoid running out of time on the NCLEX exam because in that case the candidate will fail the exam.
Each NCLEX test is unique. The questions on the exam are pulled from a comprehensive database and the difficulty level of each question depends on the correctness of the answer for the previous question asked. For example if your first exam question was answered correctly then the computer retrieves a second question of greater difficulty. If the question is answered incorrectly then the next question is of less difficulty. This is called adaptive testing because the computer administers questions such that it can determine a candidate's level of knowledge. Depending on the correctness of one's answers and on the difficulty of the questions, the computer program may be able to determine with certainty that your knowledge is sufficient after the minimum number of questions (75 for RN and 85 for LPN) or it might need to continue asking questions up to the maximum number of items.
When the computer program is certain of one's level of knowledge (pass or fail) it will shut down. By shutting down, the program only indicates that one might have passed or might have failed the exam. The computer only shuts down the testing program when the software determined that you either have the required knowledge level to pass the exam or you need further study.
Question items on the NCLEX are mainly multiple-choice type and provide four answers to choose from. Other types of question may be fill in the blanks, or may ask one to point to an area on a picture. There are questions which have more than one correct answer and in this case one must select all the answers that apply. Upon completion of a RN or LPN program one needs to apply to the New Jersey Board of Nursing to take the NCLEX exam.
Specific forms need to be completed and the New Jersey Board of Nursing decides if one is eligible to sit for the NCLEX exam. The eligible candidate will receive a list of facilities which administer the test and instructions on scheduling the examination. There is a fee one needs to pay when applying to the Board of Nursing as well as another one for the NCLEX exam itself. The RN or LPN graduate can reschedule the NCLEX exam date without additional fees but this must be done a few days before the scheduled exam date. For rescheduling the NCLEX contact the testing center and set another date for the exam. In New Jersey, NCLEX testing is available 15 hours a day six days a week, except Sundays and holidays.
The results of the NCLEX test are not given immediately. The wait period for the official NCLEX results in New Jersey is usually a couple of weeks. Unofficial NCLEX results may be seen online within a couple of days but a fee is required. Those who do not pass the NCLEX exam receive a report of their performance which points out the topics where one did well and those that need improvement. For retaking the test one must wait between 45 to 50 days as mandated by the New Jersey Board of Nursing.
After three failures of the NCLEX-RN or NCLEX-PN examination you must successfully complete a New Jersey Board of Nursing approved remedial training program. Remedial training programs include classroom and clinical components and you must submit proof of completion when applying for the fourth attempt. If you fail the NCLEX exam you will have to reapply by submitting a new application to the New Jersey Board of Nursing as well as a NCLEX retake fee. You will also have to reapply for the NCLEX examination to Pearson and pay a non-refundable fee.
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