Can an LPN challenge the NCLEX-RN....

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Mar 22, 2011

elkpark okay point taken ,but you can also just apply to and take the 30 units test without going back to school if you perfer , a coworker of mines has done so and I also was going to attemp until I realized that it was pointless if your not in CA ... now this was more than five years ago so go figure

The 30-unit option in California is not a test-out option. You must go to school in order to complete the 30-unit option. There is no way to completely test-out and become an RN. If your friend claims to have completed the 30-unit option without actually having earned 30 college credits at an institution of higher learning, he/she is lying.

The California LVN must return to a community college or university to complete 30 units worth of college credits before becoming eligible to sit for the NCLEX-RN in CA. The fact that LVNs need to complete an additional 30 units in school is the very reason it is called the 30-unit option.

30 units = LVN must attend school (no testing out).

dragondudeoc · Nov 17, 2011

I read online from a different posting that at one time, during the nursing shortage, that the RN boards let the LPN's challenge the RN boards.

SE_BSN_RN, BSN · Dec 31, 2011

OKAY AFTER HAVE READ ALL OF THE COMMENT ACUALLY YOU CAN TEST OUT OF THE RN BELIEVE IT OR NOT AND IT CAN ONLY BE DONE IN CALIFORNIA ITS CALLED THE LVN 30 Unit Option BUT ITS ONLY RECOGNIZED IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA ONLY !!! This advanced placement option LVN-RN provides access to the RN curriculum for the applicant who is an LVN with an active and in good standing license in California. This option qualifies the student to meet the Board of Registered Nursing requirements for eligibility to apply for the California RN licensing examination (NCLEX-RN). Upon completion the student receives a certificate of completion but is not considered a graduate of Glendale College or the Department of Nursing. A license obtained through this program may not qualify the graduate for licensure by endorsement in other states. A current California LVN license and prerequisite courses are required in order to apply. Upon acceptance, the student will then enter the program. See the nursing counselor for detailed program requirements.

But you have to do the classes in CA, and you can only work in CA. You can't transfer to another state and work as an RN.

SE_BSN_RN, BSN · Dec 31, 2011

I think a lot of us here are aware of the "30 unit option" for LVNs in CA -- but the original question was whether LVNs could "challenge" the NCLEX-RN without returning to school. The "30 unit option" does involve returning to school (albeit, not a "full" RN program) and counts as completing an education program approved by the CA BRN.
There are other threads on this site discussing this option for LVNs in CA.
And you're correct, people licensed by this route cannot then become licensed in any other state (because their RN education doesn't meet the standards of all the other states). CA has some unusual educational options -- they were the last state to still have some certificate NP programs, long after all the other states had gone to MSNs only (and, again, those NPs cannot be licensed or practice in any other state).

Correct. No LPN/LVN anywhere can challenge the RN boards. You have to go to school and take the classes and get the clinical time.

guest584920 · Apr 25, 2012

Veteran enlisted military medics (advanced medics) are eligible to take the NCLEX-RN Exam and receive Licensure as a Registered Professional Nurse (R.N.) in West Virginia. See 19-3-3 (3.1.b):

http://apps.sos.wv.gov/adlaw/files/rulespdf/19-03.pdf

I was an Army 91C20 (Licensed Practical Nurse), today that would be 91W-M6 and successfully challenged the NCLEX-RN in 1993 back in days when it was a two long written test.

I am completing my BSN (three classes to go!) through Excelsior and they gave me 30 semester hours of prior learning validated by the NCLEX-RN.

So yes it can be done....