by TessaMae

Updated Aug 19, 2009 at 06:53 AM by Silverdragon102

Lots of people seem to ask about scoring, the number of questions they got, and why they see the same item more than once so I decided to copy this information from the NCSBN.org website. I hope this helps someone! We went over this in school but I guess lots of programs don't...

[left]Pretest Items
Of course for CAT to work, the difficulty of each item must be known in advance. The degree of difficulty is determined by administering the items as pretest items to a large sample of NCLEX candidates. Because the difficulty of these pretest items is not known in advance, these items are not included when estimating the candidate’s ability or making pass-fail decisions. When enough responses are collected, the pretest items are statistically analyzed and calibrated. If the pretest items meet the NCLEX statistical standards, they can be administered in future examinations as scored items. There are 15 pretest items on every NCLEX-RN® examination and 25 on every NCLEX-PN® examination. It is impossible to distinguish operational items from pretest items, so do your best on every item.
Additional Constraints

Another tidbit...

Similar Items
Occasionally, a candidate may receive an item that seems to be very similar to an item they received earlier in the examination. This could happen for a variety of reasons. For example, several items could be about similar symptoms, diseases, or disorders, yet address different phases of the nursing process. Alternatively, a pretest (unscored) item could be about content similar to an operational (scored) item. It is
incorrect to assume that a second item, which is similar in content to a previously administered item, is administered because you answered the first item incorrectly. Always select the answer you believe to be correct for each item administered. All examinations conform to their respective test plan (NCLEX-RN or NCLEX-PN).

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Page 17 https://www.ncsbn.org/2009_Detailed_NCLEX_Process.pdf

Re: NCLEX scoring and repeat items...

There is also a really easy to understand powerpoint presentation on their website called "how CAT works".
It explains how the computer picks a question for you (based on your previous response) that it thinks you have a 50/50 chance of getting correct. I can't seem to post a ppt file though...and I just checked and converting it to a pdf didn't work, sorry I can't seem to remove it! Its on their website under "exam psychometrics"