Should there be a limit on trying to pass NCLEX?

Nurses General Nursing

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I often see where people have failed NCLEX 3 or more times. Some states require a remedial course of study after failing so many times. Arizona will allow multiple times in 1 year. In Kansas, you must petition the board if you take more than 24 months after graduation to pass NCLEX. In Louisana you can only take the NCLEX four times in four years. In Michigan, it is 3 years or a max of 6 tries. South Carolina is 4 tries in one year and then remediation.

http://www.virtualnursinghome.com/licensure.htm

Most of the states do not have a limit for retaking the NCLEX. You can keep going and going and going. Eventually the law of averages will catch up, and the test will be passed, IMO.

So, how do you feel about the number of times a person should be able to take the NCLEX exam? Remember, this is the same nurse that will be taking care of you or your loved ones. Should remedial education be required after 3 tries, 5 tries, a certain time frame?

This is a harsh world, there are some people who should not be nurses, and if the NCLEX is one way to prevent that, then I am in favor of a 3 try limit, followed by remediation and then one more try to pass.

I feel that the practice of allowing unlimited re-takes does nothing to advance the practice of nursing.

bob

I think there should be a general rule, but you can petition to try again if you are not a good test taker or something but many teachers, currnet nurses (though not your classmates), and physisions attest to your ability in clinicals (the nurses and md's should have been fully lisenced at the time they watched you)

Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

I don't think it would be fair for me to say "there should be a limit" when i passed it on the first try, therefore i won't.

Some people aren't good test takers. That doesn't mean they'd be a bad nurse.

Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/Education.

What an excellent, thought-provoking topic! Let the debate begin...

:)

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

I agree with you, Bob. There should be some restrictions of the type you mentioned, but I am not prepared at this time to give an opinion as to what specifically they should be.

I have always understood that a "great nurse" could fail boards on her first try. But I would not want a nurse taking care of me or a loved one who had finally passed 10 years after graduation on her 45th attempt. For their own good, as well as for public safety, people who fail the exam repeatedly need to get a diagnosis of their test-taking problem and resolve it ... or move on with their lives.

After a certain number of tries (3? maybe 4?), there should be a petitioning process whereby the test taker has to show evidence that they had taken a remedial course ... or had practiced safely in a lower-level health care role ... or had some language/learning barier that impaired their test-taking skills that would NOT effect their ability to practice safely ... etc. The BON would then review the specifics of their case and decide whether or not to allow them to continue trying to pass the exam.

Some very good nurses may have trouble passing the exam and require multiple tries. However, beyond a few tries, someone should be reviewing their situation and counseling them. Having a mechanism in place that required their case to be reviewed after a set number of failed attempts would help them get the help they need. As it is now, they are just out there on their own ... wondering what they are doing wrong ... and not knowing where to turn for help or how long to continue trying. We could really use a better system for dealing with / helping those who struggle with the exam.

I think you raised a good question, Bob.

llg

I think there should be a general rule, but you can petition to try again if you are not a good test taker or something but many teachers, currnet nurses (though not your classmates), and physisions attest to your ability in clinicals (the nurses and md's should have been fully lisenced at the time they watched you)

I may actually just have said this because in a few years, probably many since i am still in highschool, i will hopefully be taking the NCLEX and i am scared already because of everything i have heard. plus i am not a good testtaker

I think there should be a limit. But only what is fair to those who are poor test takers--maybe 4-5 times with interventions available. I feel badly for those who have troubles passing, but in nursing we need people who know their stuff. In my state kids in high school have 5 opportunities to pass a test in order to get their diploma--what is the difference between that and nursing exams? (aside from the responsibility of the job-that is a given)

I have to agree that there should be a limit. NCLEX is hard, no doubt about it, but the majority of the questions are critical thinking and nursing is all about critical thinking..If you cant take a test on a computer using critical thinking skills then your chances of those skills kicking in when someone is crashing on you are not too good.

i would imagine that by the time a person has taken the exam 3 or 4 times they will have realized that they need some help either with the content or test-taking strategies. many take additional kaplan or princeton review courses etc. to become better prepared. imo, there should not be a limit on the number of tries a person attempts to pass boards as long as they are continually trying to learn and do things to help themselves succeed.

nursing exams are much different than any kind of tests many people have ever taken- there is so much critical thinking, so much prioritizing. it may take some people longer than others to get to the level of competence that they need to pass their nclex but if they really want it bad enough, enough to not give up after whatever shame/embarrassment they may feel after not passing it the first few times, and are willing to work hard to gain that level of competence, they should be given every opportunity.

i hope i am making sense here : ) basically, competence is competence, if it takes you one try, or three tries, or seven. on the seventh try, someone doesn't just pass 'on accident' because the 'averages caught up with them', it means they are passing of their own merit because they have done something differently, something that worked, in either their content review or their test-taking strategies.

basically, competence is competence, if it takes you one try, or three tries, or seven. on the seventh try, someone doesn't just pass 'on accident' because the 'averages caught up with them', it means they are passing of their own merit because they have done something differently, something that worked, in either their content review or their test-taking strategies.

That is the way NCLEX is supposed to work. But, what of the person who takes 4 tries and still fails. They will have seen an extra 1060 questions. Questions you can't see by doing Kaplan or anything else. They are the real questions. Although there are many, many questions available for the test, eventually there will be repeats. That is where the averages catch up. If you have seen 5-10% of the questions from prior tests, and can recall them, you have an advantage over those who take the test a finite number of times.

As far as a poor test taker. My god, they just finished nursing school. Don't you think they may have had to take a test or two, and learned some test taking strategies?

I will still stick by my feeling that 3 times and then remediation should be the norm. If failed the 4th time, perhaps a formal remedial nursing course, much like nurses who have been away from nursing for several years are required to do before obtaining a license.

bob

Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
As far as a poor test taker. My god, they just finished nursing school. Don't you think they may have had to take a test or two, and learned some test taking strategies?

Not a simple as that for some.

Specializes in Education, Medical/Surgical.

Just thinking out loud here but if it's a NATIONAL test with standard NATIONAL passing levels, then shouldn't all states have the same rules aobut retakes? My state is 3 then remediation-I think that is correct.

Fifty states with 50 different rules....my goodness.

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