Do you need a license to practice as a RN or can you just how proof of passing NCLEX?

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I just passed NCLEX this week. Wondering if i can get a job without license

Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
I am not even in nursing school yet but I totally agree. I didn't know it used to be 250 questions and now 75. I mean seriously, peoples lives are at stake. Why on earth was it changed? I believe that there may be less diversion etc because obtaining that license would take a lot more work and determination, thus possibly weeding out those who just kinda wanna be a nurse. I will probably be creamed for this and I hope I am explaining myself clearly enough.

It used to be several hundred questions, not just 250. Why was it changed? Progress? :confused:

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
I am under the impression that the Nclex today would have 4 "correct" answers and one would need to choose the one answer that is, for the want of a better term, "more or most" correct. The implication being that a more critical thinking application is being used.

I would also believe that when someone like Diva (who like me is older than dirt) took the test there was only one correct answer to a possibly 2 sometimes 3.......

Yeah, we experienced nurses don't use critical thinking at all. You had to pick the most correct answer.

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Sure you can. I was hired for my first nursing position two months before I even graduated from nursing school. After I graduated, I practiced as a GN for about a week and a half, until I had taken NCLEX and verified that I had passed.

My state does not do paper licenses anymore, everything is verified online. I would think that you could get a position as a GN if nothing else, while you're waiting for your official license to come in the mail if you live in a state that still does them.

Congratulations!

Not in all states. Georgia and some others no longer allow one to work as a GN prior to licensure. Florida still does, but not Georgia. You can work as a PCT or CNA if you have that license, otherwise you must wait until your license is issued by the state. If someone wants to hire you, they can, but since you are no longer a student, you must wait until you pass NCLEX AND receive your license number to actually start working. Just heard about someone who was hired on contingency that they pass NCLEX and receive license in time to start new nurse intern program at a nearby hospital. The person passed NCLEX, but past issues caused the state to have to take extra time to evaluate the license so they lost the spot and have had to go through some extra steps for the license. They were ultimately issued a license with restrictions which means they would have lost the spot anyway. Youthful indiscretions came back to bite them!

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My bad diva:uhoh3:. How and who in the world took it from 1000 questions to 75!!! I would be @#$%ed off if I were all of you who had to take the 1000 question test. Doesn't seem right!!

It's not so much about what we had to do to pass the NCLEX- it whittles down the minimum competence levels ridiculously- and undoubtedly sends people through who got the luck of the draw that day with the computer questions. I see it as a safety issue. Big time. You've got people who - at the best with - what? 250 questions? and at worst, 75... now able to practice nursing with less than half of the number of questions as a failing student back when it was done "the old way". I don't see passing nurses with a lower standard of proficiency as progress (not that anyone does)... just really scary.

When computer testing started, I never dreamed it was going to make boards a way to send just about anyone through. Talk about hurting the image of nursing :eek:

With those 1000 questions, I think (if I remember right- you know us dinosaurs have fossilized brains :D) we had to get at least 600 right- I know for sure it was more than half. Less than 600 RIGHT answers, you failed- end of story. Blow it, and have to wait 6 months to re-take the test. There was some scoring scale- I don't remember the exact number from the scale- but it ended up to 60% right- which I thought was crazy- who wants a "failing" grade nurse? :eek: I was ****** off with myself for only getting 90-95% right. I felt I'd done poorly.

We were holed up in a hotel for 2 days (most got there the night before, instead of driving in that day). Mine were held at a hotel conference room that held 1500 people...at the end of a runway when O'Hare was the busiest airport in the world. Every few seconds, some jet blast would go overhead and have people already fritzed out with stress feeling like we should be screaming " incoming" ;) One poor girl was in a hospital bed at the front of the room, looked like a leg fracture; she didn't want to wait another 6 months to take them, so in came the bed :)

Of the 4 possible answers, 3 were generally plausible. One was an idiot answer ( I remember one about dietary stuff- something like which of the following are not allowed on a full liquid diet- a) broth b) ice cream c) pudding d) biscuit :uhoh3:. Most weren't NEARLY that easy. The patient might be a 14 year old pregnant girl in renal failure, coming in for an appy. Whaddya gonna do with her??? The pharmacy questions were mostly about how/why the drug worked (not primarily dose calculations- and no calculators for those).

IV rates were hand calculated. The assumption was NO pumps (and we didn't use them much- it was constant checking and if really lucky, a Dial-a-Flow- but those were rationed. Central lines and heparin were the only absolutes for getting a pump. IVPB antibiotics were always left on the pole- maybe with a buretrol. If you blew it with keeping up with your IVs, and they clotted off- you restarted the IV.

If you had to pee during boards- a 'monitor' came with you- period. You could bring pencils to the test. No purse, books, notepad (paper for drug calculations was provided), nothing . The 'monitor' stood outside of the stall door, and listened for papers shuffling, or any indication that someone had cheat sheets with them. If so- end of nursing . I was the first one done in each of the 4 sections, and the 'monitors' thought I had to go to the loo..... I wanted to scream "NO.....let me OUT of here" !!! So, back up to the hotel room to wait for the others in my class.

I understand that there are good nurses coming out of schools- mostly from their own doing, from what I can tell. School is ripping people off with the "minimum standards" being the goal. It seems (I can be wrong) that "excellence" isn't the goal- getting through it is 'good enough'. :crying2: It makes me understand the big fear of "losing my license"- it's not that prevalent to lose a license- you have to really screw up bad !! Like FBI Most Wanted List, or the psycho nurses of death (yes, there are some other situations but it's still not the big thing looming over nurses' heads. You're much more likely to get bloody poop on your new scrubs, or have a patients' SO rolling around in the sack with them ):D

OK.... enough of my POV :D

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In accordance with the latest comments I must say that, even though the NCLEX was hard, I was surprised that it was so short. In my previous profession, my field required two licenses or could be considered a two-tiered process. Once you qualified for the first license, you took the test, worked for at least two more years, sometimes four depending on qualifications, and then you took the second licensing test to obtain a full license. I got the first step license before the economy tanked and it took all day. It was a solid 8 hours of testing. The exceptional were finished in 7 hours maybe, but it was an all day ordeal. While public safety was involved, it was nowhere near the level of "public safety" as involved in a nursing license, yet I was able to complete the NCLEX in literally a couple of hours. I understand the view that the test is "intuitive", but have to agree with some of the other posts. One reason I was given for the length of the previous exam I mentioned was that the length and severity itself ruled out people who couldn't concentrate or take the stress. I did see several people who walked out after 5 or 6 hours and just quit. I have seen some of my classmates (new nurses) who could benefit from a little more mental toughness.

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Specializes in PICU, ICU, Hospice, Mgmt, DON.
It's not so much about what we had to do to pass the NCLEX- it whittles down the minimum competence levels ridiculously- and undoubtedly sends people through who got the luck of the draw that day with the computer questions. I see it as a safety issue. Big time. You've got people who - at the best with - what? 250 questions? and at worst, 75... now able to practice nursing with less than half of the number of questions as a failing student back when it was done "the old way". I don't see passing nurses with a lower standard of proficiency as progress (not that anyone does)... just really scary.

When computer testing started, I never dreamed it was going to make boards a way to send just about anyone through. Talk about hurting the image of nursing :eek:

With those 1000 questions, I think (if I remember right- you know us dinosaurs have fossilized brains :D) we had to get at least 600 right- I know for sure it was more than half. Less than 600 RIGHT answers, you failed- end of story. Blow it, and have to wait 6 months to re-take the test. There was some scoring scale- I don't remember the exact number from the scale- but it ended up to 60% right- which I thought was crazy- who wants a "failing" grade nurse? :eek: I was ****** off with myself for only getting 90-95% right. I felt I'd done poorly.

We were holed up in a hotel for 2 days (most got there the night before, instead of driving in that day). Mine were held at a hotel conference room that held 1500 people...at the end of a runway when O'Hare was the busiest airport in the world. Every few seconds, some jet blast would go overhead and have people already fritzed out with stress feeling like we should be screaming " incoming" ;) One poor girl was in a hospital bed at the front of the room, looked like a leg fracture; she didn't want to wait another 6 months to take them, so in came the bed :)

Of the 4 possible answers, 3 were generally plausible. One was an idiot answer ( I remember one about dietary stuff- something like which of the following are not allowed on a full liquid diet- a) broth b) ice cream c) pudding d) biscuit :uhoh3:. Most weren't NEARLY that easy. The patient might be a 14 year old pregnant girl in renal failure, coming in for an appy. Whaddya gonna do with her??? The pharmacy questions were mostly about how/why the drug worked (not primarily dose calculations- and no calculators for those).

IV rates were hand calculated. The assumption was NO pumps (and we didn't use them much- it was constant checking and if really lucky, a Dial-a-Flow- but those were rationed. Central lines and heparin were the only absolutes for getting a pump. IVPB antibiotics were always left on the pole- maybe with a buretrol. If you blew it with keeping up with your IVs, and they clotted off- you restarted the IV.

If you had to pee during boards- a 'monitor' came with you- period. You could bring pencils to the test. No purse, books, notepad (paper for drug calculations was provided), nothing . The 'monitor' stood outside of the stall door, and listened for papers shuffling, or any indication that someone had cheat sheets with them. If so- end of nursing . I was the first one done in each of the 4 sections, and the 'monitors' thought I had to go to the loo..... I wanted to scream "NO.....let me OUT of here" !!! So, back up to the hotel room to wait for the others in my class.

I understand that there are good nurses coming out of schools- mostly from their own doing, from what I can tell. School is ripping people off with the "minimum standards" being the goal. It seems (I can be wrong) that "excellence" isn't the goal- getting through it is 'good enough'. :crying2: It makes me understand the big fear of "losing my license"- it's not that prevalent to lose a license- you have to really screw up bad !! Like FBI Most Wanted List, or the psycho nurses of death (yes, there are some other situations but it's still not the big thing looming over nurses' heads. You're much more likely to get bloody poop on your new scrubs, or have a patients' SO rolling around in the sack with them ):D

OK.... enough of my POV :D

At the risk of copying your post xt and making people roll their eyes:uhoh3:, that is exactly like it was for me. A group of us traveled to Orlando to take the exam and stayed in the hotel near the testing center for the two nights. We didn't sleep too much the night before but up bright and early. It was like going thru Homeland Security to get into the center. And you are right, I forgot...NO calculators...everything was done mathmatically worked out on paper...and I doubt I could do it today..the equasions anyway.

And yes, we also had 4 answers in which there were 3 that were correct...you did have to choose the "most correct one" so you guys do not have the handle on that one!

So that rationale doesn't fly...........

I am still shaking my head over the change in the exam...don't know how a test of 75 questions total could possibly be an accurate predictor of a well prepared nurse -when 600 was the just the number you had to get correct before...:confused:

OK, I really am done...that's the way it is and apparently it's not going to change...so carry on...;)

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
In accordance with the latest comments I must say that, even though the NCLEX was hard, I was surprised that it was so short. In my previous profession, my field required two licenses or could be considered a two-tiered process. Once you qualified for the first license, you took the test, worked for at least two more years, sometimes four depending on qualifications, and then you took the second licensing test to obtain a full license. I got the first step license before the economy tanked and it took all day. It was a solid 8 hours of testing. The exceptional were finished in 7 hours maybe, but it was an all day ordeal. While public safety was involved, it was nowhere near the level of "public safety" as involved in a nursing license, yet I was able to complete the NCLEX in literally a couple of hours. I understand the view that the test is "intuitive", but have to agree with some of the other posts. One reason I was given for the length of the previous exam I mentioned was that the length and severity itself ruled out people who couldn't concentrate or take the stress. I did see several people who walked out after 5 or 6 hours and just quit. I have seen some of my classmates (new nurses) who could benefit from a little more mental toughness.

If someone can't concentrate or gets stressed out over a lengthy test, that person might not be suited for nursing, period.

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Specializes in PICU, ICU, Hospice, Mgmt, DON.
If someone can't concentrate or gets stressed out over a lengthy test, that person might not be suited for nursing, period.

I think you just said it all....

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Oh Come on!!!! Are you kidding me???How can you have graduated from nursing school and taken the NCLEX without knowing that you DO need a license to practice?? Why would you have to take an exam to get a license if didn't need it? No critical thinking needed to figure this out honey, simply common sense!!!

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Oh Come on!!!! Are you kidding me???How can you have graduated from nursing school and taken the NCLEX without knowing that you DO need a license to practice?? Why would you have to take an exam to get a license if didn't need it? No critical thinking needed to figure this out honey, simply common sense!!!

I don't blame the OP. The school she attended evidently didn't make this clear (as with other things that come up often). It's a valid question. The general population wouldn't know if the computer generated "okee dokee" was enough, or if they needed a piece of paper to present to a future employer.

Lots of stuff lacking. iPods don't teach it all :)

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.

So I am assuming that back in the stone ages ;) when you had to answer 1000 questions that it wasn't the progressive type testing it is now where the amount of questions you take depends on the level of difficulty of the questions you answer?

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
If someone can't concentrate or gets stressed out over a lengthy test, that person might not be suited for nursing, period.

I am well suited for nursing but I would not handle a 1000 question test. I was worried if I got the 265 questions for NCLEX. To spend 5 hrs taking a test. It's just not me. Thankfully I passed in 75 questions in a little under an hour. That I was able to handle. I just get to bored.

I am a great nurse!

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