Writing multiple times?

Nurses General Nursing

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OK I may get flamed big time for this and I am not trying to insult anyone but I have a question. Does anyone else ever think that some people should choose a different professional path when they read posts about having failed the NCLEX multiple times? I did read one post from someone who failed 14 times. I mean really? I will admit that I am Canadian and I have no experience with the NCLEX but do you really want a nurse that had to write dozen times before they could get a license? We get three shots and that's it you are done. I think three times is plenty. I can't imagine writing 10+ times and not questioning that maybe I shouldn't be a nurse. I know some people say it due to being a bad test taker but how did they get through school?

What does everyone else think?

Exactly. How many people would trust a surgeon who failed their rotation multiple times? How many people would place their lives in the hands of a doctor who couldn't pass their licensing board exams? Or a doc who scraped through licensing, but couldn't get a certification in their specialty?

doctors who fail their tests rarely get a second chance to get a residency. And if they take it a second time they need to ace it.

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When I took the, "State Boards", as they were called a hundred years ago, they were given in five specialties- Medical, Surgical, Peds, OB, and Psych. They were given over a two day period. We were fingerprinted before and after, each exam.

You could fail up to three sections, before you had to retake the entire exam over. If you failed only one or two, you could retake these. and if you passed the second attempt at these sections, you passed the Boards.

Since they have gone to this abbreviated, integrated, NCLEX (which I find is astonishing that this is actually a professional licensing exam), this is obviously not do able.

That being said, I agree, that there should be a limit as to how many attempts one is given to pass. It is sad, that some may not achieve their dream, but that is life. They can pursue another, less, demanding career, so their health care education classes don't go to waste. Perhap, PT or OT Assistant, etc. But again, that is life.

It is a shame, that schools don't screen applicants more thoroughly, and schools don't address that may be some students have slipped through the cracks, and made it all the way through school, and then failed. Again, that is life.

JMHO and my NY $0.02

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN (ret)

Somewhere in the PACNW

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If the NCLEX was a perfect tool measuring the ability of someone to become a good nurse, there wouldn't be bad ones right? There are plenty of nurses that had taken this test multiple times and had become great nurses and plenty of ones that pass the first time and are lousy RN's.

NCLEX is a basic test, it does not measure attitude or performance, so the answer is of course there will be bad nurses.

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
I have noticed one thing when you read posts from people preparing to take their licensing exam, no matter what country they are in. They always seem to approaching the material as if they haven't already seen it before. NOW is not the time to be learning this stuff. you were supposed to have learned it in school.I used no prep materials at all, just studied my books and notes from school. If what you are being tested on is based on your school work why would you need anything else to study with?

How bad was the school when a grad needs 1 half a dozen or more tries to pass?

I hate to say this, but I really didn't study for "state boards." A few of us drove to the hotel the night before and we went around the room asking each other questions, and that was it. No one in my class failed that year, and that was just another year in a long streak of graduates who passed on the first try.

I've heard responses to this along the line of "Things are much more complex than they were back then." Bullhockey! It is no more difficult today than it was when I took the exam.

As someone who is dealing with a serious illness, those posts scare me. I agree with a PP; it would be great to ask how many times a nurse took the NCLEX exam.

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My for-profit accelerated program has almost 90% pass rate of the NCLEX, did TEAS before you were even allowed to register for pre-reqs, we used the Kaplan program throughout our courses, we did NCLEX style questions in every nursing class past the first 2, and if you failed any course more than once (or more than 3 seperate courses) you were removed from the program. At the same time, a local university which has been training nurses since the 1940s lost their state accreditation, and all the nurses at local hospitals were very vocal about how unprepared those students were during their clinicals.

Suffice to say, I don't think the blame can all be laid on newer, for-profit schools. They have their issues, but the ones that are going to stick around are the ones with high NCLEX pass rates and high rates of grads working -- just like any other school.

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To the OP--I may be wrong, but I believe each state board of nursing can regulate how many times a student is allowed to attempt NCLEX.

I agree that attempts should be limited to 3. Personally I wouldn't mind an NCLEX exam (75-265 questions) in each of the 5 areas that were mentioned in other posts. We have to have accountability in this profession, and without a basic level of tested knowledge, that is not possible. A tough exam adds to our credibility.

I also would not believe that anyone had taken it 14 times. Possible, but unlikely.

"Follow the money" should not be directed so much at Pearson, who administer the test, but at the nursing schools who are eager to fill seats with warm bodies, pulled in by the promise of a secure career due to the alleged nursing shortage. My school had less than a 90% first-time passing rate for the May 2013 graduates. A professor told me that most of those who failed were people who had failed one or more courses and were moved on nonetheless, sometimes despite strenuous faculty objections.

It's not a uniquely American problem. I have a friend who is a specialty physician in an English-speaking first world country. His specialty college recently moved to limit attempts at boards (for the specialty) to 5 attempts. This is because they had someone who had tried to pass it eleven, yes eleven, times. The exam is offered once a year. This doctor had been continuing to practice, uncertified, in that specialty for that length of time. He was given one last chance and failed his final attempt.

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Specializes in LTC.

Honestly, I think the 75 questions and the computer shuts off is wonky. 75 questions can't determine if you are qualified to be a RN. All this talk of study this way, use this program is eye opening. No refresher course, no special study program and our class passed at 98% first try.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.
Yep, this is something that bugs me, also. I understand that there are people who are not good at test taking (how did they get through school?) but, this is the defining moment for becoming a nurse. If someone cannot pass the NCLEX after 3 times I would seriously question their abilities with real life situations. If it takes more than 3 times to pass they may turn out to be a decent nurse but, the odds are stacked against them.

To borrow a saying from JFK, I want the best and the brightest in this profession. It is not my intention to insult anyone but, allowing unlimited opportunities to pass cheapens the licence.

Yet his son took multiple times to pass his boards. I doubt he would have wanted his son to give up on law.

At any rate, I think some of this thread is exaggerating. Very few people take more than two times to pass the nclex.

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

There is currently a thread in the NCLEX forum from one person who has written 7 times.There is also this thread:

https://allnurses.com/nclex-discussion-forum/took-nclex-14x-836801.html

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Yet his son took multiple times to pass his boards. I doubt he would have wanted his son to give up on law.

At any rate, I think some of this thread is exaggerating. Very few people take more than two times to pass the nclex.

Passed on third try. Which is within the parameters most here are advocating for NCLEX.

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Specializes in Transitional Nursing.

I also think it should be a 3 strikes policy. I don't know that failing one or two times indicates someone will be a bad nurse, but three I feel like the person must not have gotten the education they needed. I wonder how often this is the fault of the nursing school.

I also think that there are people out there (I'm one of them) who really are just terrible test-takers. I have ADHD, and can't take stimulants. If there is a lot going on around me or if i am struggling with the material I kind of just stare at the question and almost don't comprehend it. Something as small as someone tapping their foot can make me go insane. I have to focus on finding my happy place and have figured out what works for me over the years. Just saying.......it does happen, and that's why I think three tries is fair.

Let ya know when I get there, I guess. ;-)

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

I think that if you fail twice, you should be required to take a remedial course. Fail it after the remedial course, and you're out. Personally, I thought NCLEX was a joke when I took it. 75 questions in about thirty minutes, and that was supposed to determine if I was safe to practice as a nurse?

I'll admit that I probably couldn't pass it again now, but I've been out of school for 8 years and working in the same specialty since. However, I know that I'm competent in what I do because I still have a job and my annual reviews reflect that there are no issues with my nursing practice.

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