Once you’ve graduated nursing school (or close to it), you’re probably eager to begin a new career in the type of nursing you’ve dreamed about. Indeed, the industry really needs new professional nurses and other healthcare professionals for an expanded scope of care. There’s one more thing you must do beforehand – get a nursing license. In the United States and Canada, you must pass the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses or the NCLEX exam.
The NCLEX Exam
The NCLEX was developed to establish a way of measuring the basic professional competency of people in the nursing profession. Nursing wasn’t always considered a “profession” per se, but rather for others in the medical profession. This means that when you pass the NCLEX, you enter into a professional organization that gives you equal and professional footing with doctors.
The organization that administers and maintains the NCLEX is the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. The NCSBN is a powerful nursing organization with international credibility and ethics. Therefore, passing their exam means you measure up to their standards and scope of care.
How long after passing the NCLEX will a nurse receive their license?
You can expect your RN license one to three business days after passing the NCLEX. Of course, passing the exam only means you’ve met the competency requirement. Nursing license requirements vary by state and each state has its own version of the nursing license. Once you meet all the requirements, you can start working.
What score is needed to pass the NCLEX?
The NCLEX uses adaptive computing that continuously challenges the test taker by choosing from a group of potential questions that test potential knowledge. In other words, an easy question would be followed by a harder one until the chances of getting it right get to 50/50. Consequently, it’s recommended you take a review course designed to review for the NCLEX.
In addition, the NCLEX exam is constantly updated to current aspects of the industry to ensure continuous relevancy. There is no set score for passing or failing. Instead, test takers have five hours to answer at least 75 questions and not more than 145. The adaptive test continues for five hours until the computer indicates you have demonstrated the required knowledge.
What are you waiting for?
The industry needs people like you. Visit the FVI School of Nursing & Technology for details about the NCLEX exam. We have a 90.9% NCLEX first-time pass rate, which is the highest among ALL accredited Miami-Dade & Broward County AD-RN programs.
