I'm asking this question because my step-daughter has taken, and now failed, the NCLEX in California twice. She's beside herself and can't understand why this is happening. She graduated at the top of her class in the Philippines, passed the Philippine board on the first try and spent months studying for the test in California. She was even scoring around 70-75% on the Pearson practice exams she's been taking for weeks now...and still.
Anyway, I just had to ask if she'd be better off taking the test in another state (like my state of Illinois) if the test was, in fact, that much harder. The blow to her confidence and the cost for retaking the exam over and over again is getting to be a bit much for her.
Your problems with the NCLEX and the others you know of who've failed the test begs the question; has the test become too hard? Could there be a little min-conspiracy to make the test so hard that a lot of people have to retake it thus filling the coffers of the various states.
If you're able to competently do your job and even get kudos from co-workers it really makes me wonder if I should put my tin-foil hat on....
Thanks for telling your story NurseGloria. I find it very disturbing that only a year or two ago nursing jobs seemed to be a dime a dozen and now it's looking like any other type of job out there. What happened? Budget cuts? Did hospitals fill all the needed positions? I find this worrisome for all the current students who have been told the demand for nurses is going to go on for a long time to come.
In any case, I hope you find something soon. Is there another area you can go into that your extensive background in nursing can take you. Things are tough for a lot of people, but I never suspected nurses would be feeling the pinch too.
Thanks for the updated info on passing rates for the NCLEX for 2009. Very helpful and interesting. I noticed that the pass rate is much lower for foreign educated students when those who failed the test take it for a second time. Anyone know why that would be. Seems a little disheartening to see that.
They say that foreign nurses have a 45% chance of passing NCLEX the first time which seems a small percentage compared to US graduates-----but then, we must factor in the total number of students involved and the ratios involved as well-----the number of foreign nurses (we are talking about nurses from all over the world except the USA) who take it far outweigh the number of US graduates taking the NCLEX. Therefore, if 2 million foreign graduates take it, and 1 million make it, they will say that there is only a 50% chance of nailing it the first time if you're a foreign graduate. On the contrary, if there are 100 US graduates who take it and 90 make it, they will say that US graduates nail the exam at a 90% rate.
Also, you have to be familiar with American culture when you take the NCLEX. In a review class in the Philippines, one instructor that I had wasn't exactly sure what a "tricycle" was. Not because she was an incompetent nurse but because one has to be familiar with one's culture. The reviewer question involved asking the milestones of a toddler-----and one of the choices mentioned was riding a tricycle. A tricycle here in the US is a toy a toddler rides that has three wheels, but note that in the Philippines, regardless of the number of wheels, it's still a bicycle! Also, a tricycle in the Philippines is one that is being used for public transport.
Your problems with the NCLEX and the others you know of who've failed the test begs the question; has the test become too hard? Could there be a little min-conspiracy to make the test so hard that a lot of people have to retake it thus filling the coffers of the various states.
If you're able to competently do your job and even get kudos from co-workers it really makes me wonder if I should put my tin-foil hat on....
Ray
April 1 the NCLEX is raising the standard. Personally, the nurses I know who have taken the test recently passed , many with 75 questions. In my state you can't practice nursing without passing the test,therefore there are no competent nurses getting kudos and denied a license.
Is your stepdaughter working in her home country? Getting clinical experience may help her pass the NCLEX and also make her more employable when she passes the NCLEX.
Specializes in burn unit, ER, ICU-CCU, Education, LTC.
Do the states get paid for the NCLEX? I thought a private company receives the $200.00 for each time taking the test. The state gets the license fees. Correct?
Specializes in burn unit, ER, ICU-CCU, Education, LTC.
I just looked it up again. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc. is a for profit corporation as far as I can tell. The registered agent is Thomas G. Abram at 222 N. LaSalle St. 24th floor, Chicago, Il. No president or secretary are posted on the Illinois Secretary of State website. Julio Santiago is the Director at Large Chair of the Illinois Board of Nursing.
Start online researching and look out for nurses and patients. Don't forget the cost of review materials, books, and interest on tuition loans. Go nurses!
Specializes in burn unit, ER, ICU-CCU, Education, LTC.
I am confused about the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc. and what I know about not-for-profits in Illinois. Not for profit administrators receive salaries. How can I get a copy of the annual financial report for this "not for profit"? I thought not for profits had to have a president and secretary, or at least three directors whose names were posted on the Illinois Secretary of State website.
What is the relationship between the National Council of State Boards of Nursing and Pearson Vue? Does anybody really know what is going on? Maybe we should go back to the time when private persons and organizations could hire nurses according to education and experience without a licensure requirement.
It is too expensive to review, test, and be licensed now for this to not have somebody receiving big bucks at the expense of student nurses and nurses. Profits and state regulatory agencies should not be related in any way. Who is looking at the statistics concerning the number of nurses disciplined out of practice through legal fees or "consent agreement" sanctions that cause a nurse to give up the license?
How can older nurses make a living when they have been forced out of nursing to make room for the younger nurses who are a financial resourse in education, testing, and initial license fees, and who are also less expensive to insure?
I want to know who the actors are and who profits. This information is very hard to find. Why?
They say that foreign nurses have a 45% chance of passing NCLEX the first time which seems a small percentage compared to US graduates-----but then, we must factor in the total number of students involved and the ratios involved as well-----the number of foreign nurses (we are talking about nurses from all over the world except the USA) who take it far outweigh the number of US graduates taking the NCLEX. Therefore, if 2 million foreign graduates take it, and 1 million make it, they will say that there is only a 50% chance of nailing it the first time if you’re a foreign graduate. On the contrary, if there are 100 US graduates who take it and 90 make it, they will say that US graduates nail the exam at a 90% rate.
I'm not sure what point you're trying to make -- that is the point of using percentages rather than gross numbers, that percentages apply regardless of your N. The chart Silverdragon posted shows that ~42% of internationally educated graduates who took the NCLEX-RN in 2009 passed on the first try, and ~88% of US-educated grads passed on the first try. How, exactly, does "factor(ing) in the total number of students involved" affect that?
I just looked it up again. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc. is a for profit corporation as far as I can tell. The registered agent is Thomas G. Abram at 222 N. LaSalle St. 24th floor, Chicago, Il. No president or secretary are posted on the Illinois Secretary of State website. Julio Santiago is the Director at Large Chair of the Illinois Board of Nursing.
Start online researching and look out for nurses and patients. Don't forget the cost of review materials, books, and interest on tuition loans. Go nurses!
What is wrong with this picture?
I am confused about the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc. and what I know about not-for-profits in Illinois. Not for profit administrators receive salaries. How can I get a copy of the annual financial report for this "not for profit"? I thought not for profits had to have a president and secretary, or at least three directors whose names were posted on the Illinois Secretary of State website.
What is the relationship between the National Council of State Boards of Nursing and Pearson Vue? Does anybody really know what is going on? Maybe we should go back to the time when private persons and organizations could hire nurses according to education and experience without a licensure requirement.
It is too expensive to review, test, and be licensed now for this to not have somebody receiving big bucks at the expense of student nurses and nurses. Profits and state regulatory agencies should not be related in any way. Who is looking at the statistics concerning the number of nurses disciplined out of practice through legal fees or "consent agreement" sanctions that cause a nurse to give up the license?
How can older nurses make a living when they have been forced out of nursing to make room for the younger nurses who are a financial resourse in education, testing, and initial license fees, and who are also less expensive to insure?
I want to know who the actors are and who profits. This information is very hard to find. Why?
I'm not sure what you mean by the "information is very hard to find." Have you not looked at the NCSBN website, or do you choose not to believe the information there?
"About NCSBN
The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) is a not-for-profit organization whose purpose is to provide an organization through which boards of nursing act and counsel together on matters of common interest and concern affecting the public health, safety and welfare, including the development of licensing examinations in nursing. "
The website also includes more information about the history and make-up of the NCSBN, the names of the officers and members of the Board of Directors, and how the organization operates. There are also links to several years' worth of Annual Reports, which may or may not include financial information (I didn't look).
Nursing licensure was quite inexpensive until the NCLEX "went computerized." Before that, it was a v. simple affair. In my state, the BON offered the exam twice a year (you talk about the difficulties of an older nurse getting back into practice, so I imagine you know this), in a site that was either free or v. cheap to use (the gymnasium of the state uni located in the state capital) and the exam proctors were members of the BON and nursing faculty from around the state who volunteered. Initial licensure only became expensive when applicants had to start paying a private-for-profit company (Pearson) a fee for taking the exam. They are the ones making the "big bucks" off the NCLEX. As for the cost of review courses and study materials, that is an individual choice one makes. Nursing programs are supposed to be teaching students what they need to know to pass the NCLEX -- if one chooses to spend a lot (or a little) money on materials to study for the exam, so be it. Neither Pearson or the NCSBN requires anyone to do that.
I, personally, am not at all happy about a separate, non-nursing, for-profit business charging people a lot of money to take the NCLEX, but that doesn't mean there's some big, nasty conspiracy here, as you seem to imply.
Specializes in ICU, PICU, School Nursing, Case Mgt.
Sorry, but I have to disagree with the premise that the nclex is too hard. Please!!! Perhaps some of the "more mature" or at least experienced RN's can relate...when I took the NCLEX 16 years ago, it had not yet become computerized. I believe we were the last year that literally "wrote" the test. It took two days, was in 4 separate sections and over 500 questions.
Fortunately, I passed on the first try-I was either lucky enough or prepared enough.
I think the new NCLEX is NOT hard enough! The thought of passing an exam with 75 questions for a profession that puts people's lives in your hands MAKES ME SHUDDER!
Would you like to be a patient in ICU that had a nurse that after 2 to 4 years of school was tested on only 75 questions? Perhaps that nurse took this test more than once or twice...it's scary!
Ok, some people do not test well...HOWEVER this is a profession where you will be tested ON A DAILY BASIS! You simply can not Panic!! It is one thing to freak out over a test and another to freak out when you walk up to the bedside of your patient and find that person unresponsive, not breathing, in cardiac arrest or bleeding out.
If you can not immediately think on your feet and keep your head-then maybe this is NOT the profession for you. This is not accounting, people! Lives are at stake!
I also agree that they are turning out too many new nurses...I don't know why but nursing has suddenly become the "in" profession...and yes, THERE IS NO NURSING SHORTAGE ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I first began practice, there were many openings available and you could choose your career path...if you did not like one place then you could walk out of the door and have a new job that afternoon. Not anymore. I know nurses that have many years experience, great resumes, great reviews and can not find a job.
I live in South Florida and I have one friend that has been actively searching and interviewing for 6 months. She has 10 years of experience-ICU and Tele-and an excellent record...her department was downsized in a merger with another hospital-that is why she is currently unemployed...It is SCARY!! Now, add many UNQUALIFIED (but cheaper) nurses to the mix and it is a potiential disaster.
Before all of you nursing students and new grads get bent out of shape---I do not mean that ALL new grads are not qualified...BUT it does take time, effort and experience to make a competant nurse and even the most well seasoned nurses make mistakes. We are all still learning on this job...the day we stop learning is the day we need to get out of nursing!!!!!
RaycerX
13 Posts
Foxygirl,
Your problems with the NCLEX and the others you know of who've failed the test begs the question; has the test become too hard? Could there be a little min-conspiracy to make the test so hard that a lot of people have to retake it thus filling the coffers of the various states.
If you're able to competently do your job and even get kudos from co-workers it really makes me wonder if I should put my tin-foil hat on....
Ray