Critial information for test takers regarding time limit!

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Specializes in "Wound care - geriatric care.

If you answer all your 265 questions within the time limit of 5 hours one type of analysis will occur but that's not the same if you run out of time. If you answer all questions within the time limit the computer will look at all the questions and make an decision heather you pass or fail. However if you run out of time the computer will only look at the last 60 questions you answered! This is very important because, say you did very well in the first part of the test or in the first 100 questions: it wont matter because only the last 60 q of the entire test will be evaluated. It is a known fact test takers will perform poorly at the end of a long and hard 265 question test. I have no ideal why the grade it this way but they do. Make sure every question you answer is as good as gold or you are risking failing the test when you could have passed. Never rush to the end trying to beat time. Following is a link to a very interesting investigative paper dealing with this matter.

http://www.mountainmeasurement.com/pdfs/NCLEXrules.pdf

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

I see the paper is 13 years old. Are you sure that it is still applicable?

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actually 5 hours is a long time to answer even 265 questions which 5hours =300minutes , which you need 265 min for 265 questions . to be safe only spend 1-2 minutes per question , in my experience . i spend 60 minutes for 30 questions , then took a break after twice . i got a total of 80 questions and spent 3 hours all in all . even though you have only a max of 160 min for 80 questions . It never ran out of time because there was still 2 hours left . dont fret about time as long you dont spend more than 2 min per no , your ok

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Specializes in "Wound care - geriatric care.
I see the paper is 13 years old. Are you sure that it is still applicable?

I am not sure but it appears these variables still the same so I don't see any reason why this paper would not still be valid.

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Specializes in "Wound care - geriatric care.
actually 5 hours is a long time to answer even 265 questions which 5hours =300minutes , which you need 265 min for 265 questions . to be safe only spend 1-2 minutes per question , in my experience . i spend 60 minutes for 30 questions , then took a break after twice . i got a total of 80 questions and spent 3 hours all in all . even though you have only a max of 160 min for 80 questions . It never ran out of time because there was still 2 hours left . dont fret about time as long you dont spend more than 2 min per no , your ok

1-2 minutes per questions is what most test takers need I agree with you. There are some test takers however that cannot perform at that pace or at least will need extra time for some hard questions. This is the case with most ESL (English as a second language). Some NCLEX questions are not written to be clear and to the point at all. Instead they are designed to test your ability of seeing errors and find what the question is asking you. For ESL students this is a daunting task to perform in such short amount of time, doable but can become a serious issue. This might not be the case for native English speakers. So my post is more relevant for foreign students who might not be aware of this grading rule.

As the paper points out, there are a number of students that would have passed this exam provided the whole exam was included in the final estimate and not the final 60 questions. So my point is: if you are in this type of test taker your last 60 questions must be your best questions since not all the questions you worked so hard to answer correctly are simply disregarded.

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there are a lot of rumors out there. i suggest that anyone interested go to the actual nclex website

www.ncsbn.org here is the simple version but they have very in depth information on how the exam is scored. hope this helps!

what does the number of items i answered tell me about my results?

it is important to understand that the length of your nclex examination or the number of items answered is not an indication of a specific pass or fail result. it does indicate how close your ability was to the passing standard, but it could have been either above or below it. a candidate with a relatively short examination may pass or fail just as a candidate with a long examination may pass or fail. each candidate, no matter what the length of the examination, has ample opportunity to demonstrate their true ability and is given an examination that conforms to the nclexrn ® test plan or nclex-pn ® test plan. many candidates'examinations will end before the maximum number of items has been administered.

please do not be concerned if your examination finishes earlier or lasts longer than other candidates. the length of your examination is determined solely by your performance on

the examination. the differing lengths of each candidate's examination are an illustration of computerized adaptive testing (cat) at work.

what if i ran out of time?

when a candidate runs out of time before completing

the maximum number of items, the following rule will be

applied: the candidate will pass if their ability estimate has

remained above the passing standard for the last 60 items.

the candidate will fail if their ability estimate was below the

passing standard for any of the last 60 items. this does not

mean that you have to answer 60 items correctly.

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