Is there really a control group that gets all 265 questions?

As far as I am aware this is false rumour that keeps rearing it's head.

Not true, though that has been a long-standing myth.

If you go here to the 2011 NCLEX Candidate Bulletin and see page 13, you'll see that the only time a candidate gets a maximum-length exam is when he/she is very close to the passing standard and the computer cannot easily make a pass/fail decision with 95% confidence based on fewer questions.

No, there is not a control group. This is a rumor.

Why? Because there is no need to have a control group to take all the questions. All NCLEX questions have already been pre-tested by testers before they can count on the test. Also, since every NCLEX is so different, so even if there was a group that had to take all 265 questions, it wouldn't do anything to prove the validity of the test.

If the computer can significantly determine that you are above/below the minimum passing score, you will pass/fail at 75 questions. If it cannot, you keep getting questions until either 1. The computer can make a determination, 2. You answer 265 questions, 3. You run out of time.

Every NCLEX test contains 15 "try-out" questions that are being tested for use on future NCLEX. So if you have 75 questions, only 60 count toward your score. If you have 265, 250 count toward your score. This is how NCLEX tries out their questions so that they don't need a control group.

This is not true. This is purely a rumor. Nothing wrong with taking all 265...but I believe it was started by people unhappy with taking all 265 and feeling like they should have passed in the minimum.