Odds of failing NCLEX at 85 ?'s?

Nursing Students NCLEX

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Odds of failing NCLEX at 85 ?'s?

I took my NCLEX on Saturday and shut off at 85 questions. What are the posssibilities of failing at minimum questions? I read a post of someone who took it twice and failed twice at 85 questions. I'm getting sick to my stomach. HELP!

1 Votes

Sorry, but the number of questions means absolutely nothing in making a guess as to whether or not that you passed. And there is no predictor, you will just need to wait and see.

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Specializes in Knuckle Dragging Nurse aka MTA.

everyone i know that scored 85 passed the nclex. everyone that went to 205 failed. You can pass at 205, but remember tis means that after 200 questions you still haven't met the minimum competency. If you notice on this board the people finishing with 85 pass, while most that go to 205 fail. The numbers do matter in tems of percentage of passing /failing. I say the sooner the computer shuts off the better.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

I think the odds are in your favor, but people fail at 85 too. I haven't heard that they publish the odds. Do they?

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Specializes in Knuckle Dragging Nurse aka MTA.

yes but the people that fail with 85 KNOW they fail and have bombed it while leaving the testing center. the only stats they publish is the pass fail rate which is roughly 80% pass rate for first time lpn testers.

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Tweety said:
I think the odds are in your favor, but people fail at 85 too. I haven't heard that they publish the odds. Do they?

NCSBN doesn't publish the odds of passing at any certain number of questions. They do publish the following: Pass rates (around 85% most of the time for first time test takers); average number of questions (around 120 most of the time); average amount of time (about 2 hours). Candidates pass and fail at every number.

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BigB said:
everyone I know that scored 85 passed the NCLEX. everyone that went to 205 failed. You can pass at 205, but remember tis means that after 200 questions you still haven't met the minimum competency. If you notice on this board the people finishing with 85 pass, while most that go to 205 fail. The numbers do matter in tems of percentage of passing /failing. I say the sooner the computer shuts off the better.

Someone could fail (and they do) at 85 questions. So sooner isn't always better.

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I bet here in a couple of days, we will be seeing a post from you that you passed. Take a few deep breaths and try to be positive. ?

chris69 said:
I took my NCLEX on Saturday and shut off at 85 questions. What are the posssibilities of failing at minimum questions? I read a post of someone who took it twice and failed twice at 85 questions. I'm getting sick to my stomach. HELP!!!
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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

The computer, on average, shuts off between 87 and 120 questions. By the way, I am hoping you passed so that all of your anxieties will be relieved and replaced with much joy. :)

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I hope you guys are right. Our family's future is riding on me passing, no pressure. I need to get a job now that we're expecting, we'll need the money. My friends are way more optimistic than I'm.

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Specializes in Knuckle Dragging Nurse aka MTA.

chris , if your computer shutoff at 85, and you walked away from the center feeling good , i wouldn't worry at all. Now if it shut off at 85 and you guessed at more than half the questions asked, then worry.

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It is so true that number don't mean anything. I had 85 questions and passed, but my friend had 85 and failed. Another friend had 205 question and failed, but when she took it again she had 205 and passed. So it could go either way:uhoh3:

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