Does the difficulty of state RN licensure vary from state to state?

Editorial Team / Admin · Feb 15, 2015

NCLEX is a national test. It does not vary from state to state.

klone, MSN, RN · Feb 15, 2015

The NCLEX is a national exam, and its difficulty does not vary by state.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Feb 15, 2015

I'm wondering if there is a varying level of difficultly per state for the RN licensure examination?

NCLEX is a national exam. The level of difficulty does not change from state to state because all test questions are drawn from the same massive test bank.

I should mention that this misconception arises from a pesky old wives' tale about NCLEX that keeps on persisting through the years. In essence, many people mistakenly assume that the passing standard for NCLEX is lower in some states. Thus, when these candidates fail NCLEX a couple of times, they apply to retake it for another state BON under the assumption that the test will be easier.

I live in a large metropolitan area in North Central Texas that is located about 80 miles south of the Oklahoma state line. People incorrectly conclude that the 'Texas NCLEX' is really difficult and the 'Oklahoma NCLEX' is easier.

I'll repeat that NCLEX is a national exam. There is no such thing as the Texas NCLEX or an Oklahoma version of NCLEX. The passing standard is the same for every state in the union.

JWG223 · Feb 15, 2015

No. They likely did gain a psychological advantage by thinking so though.

BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN · Feb 15, 2015

No state has it's own boards, it is all the same exam no matter where you are physically sitting while taking it.

Am I the only one that finds it incredulous that so many grads don't know this? I shake my head Everytime one of them asks "which state has the easiest boards forme to pass?" Oy!!!

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Feb 15, 2015

Requirements for licensure by endorsement may vary from state to state but requirements for initial licensure by examination do not. NCLEX is a national exam.

When you say they "moved to other states and took state RN boards and passed in those states on their first attempt", do you mean that they decided to get their initial license in a neighboring state or that they just physically went to the next state to take NCLEX and obtained licensure in the original state? (Since NCLEX is a national exam it doesn't matter where you physically take it. You don't have to take it in the state that you are applying for licensure in.) Either way, NCLEX is neither more or less difficult depending on the state.

BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN · Feb 15, 2015

You graduated in May and have five years of nursing experience already?!

I graduated nursing school in May and took my state boards one time and passed, thank God. Most of the people in my class passed their boards the first time, but the people we all expected not to pass the first time ended up not passing, some students took their RN boards up to 3 times in our state, and then moved to other states and took state RN boards and passed in those states on their first attempt. Many of them hadn't studied in months and had almost gave up on passing altogether, so I'm wondering if there is a varying level of difficultly per state for the RN licensure examination? Please give me any opinions or feedback you've got, thanks in advance

klone, MSN, RN · Feb 15, 2015

Their experience could be as a CNA or LPN.

Editorial Team / Admin · Feb 15, 2015

Their experience could be as a CNA or LPN.

OP's other post from last year does mention being a CNA.

BIGT68 · Feb 16, 2015

Okay thanks for clarifying, the only reason I asked was because I had heard that some states required more than the minimum competency to be licensed in their state, but I was aware of that the state boards were to test for minimum competency, the testers I was talking about went states to live, not just to take the test, I just thought it was weird that they weren't able to pass the state boards in this state multiple times, but were able to go to another state and pass on the first time I have been an LPN for one year, a CNA for over five, and an RN for almost a year, the reason it was showing my CNA stuff and experience of 5 years, is because when I put in that I forgot my password it took me to my old account, thanks for the feedback and clarification

BIGT68 · Jun 29, 2015

Requirements for licensure by endorsement may vary from state to state but requirements for initial licensure by examination do not. NCLEX is a national exam.
When you say they "moved to other states and took state RN boards and passed in those states on their first attempt", do you mean that they decided to get their initial license in a neighboring state or that they just physically went to the next state to take NCLEX and obtained licensure in the original state? (Since NCLEX is a national exam it doesn't matter where you physically take it. You don't have to take it in the state that you are applying for licensure in.) Either way, NCLEX is neither more or less difficult depending on the state.

They physically moved to another state, I was talking to some veteran nurse friends, they said that when they took boards that the questions were in fact pulled from the same question bank, but states like Kansas and California made their nurses get a higher percentage of questions correct above the national average to practice in their state. The state of Texas and Oklahoma have some of the lowest requirements in the country. For example my friend couldn't pass boards in Kansas, so she moved to Texas she took it there and passed, now she is moving to California and has to retake boards because the requirements by the state of Texas to get licensure in there state is much lower than California, and if she decided to not test in California and just come back to Kansas, she would have to take boards as well to practice in our state, because once again, Texas has a much lower standard. Sorry to took me so long to reply, glad I finally found some info