Is a 78% school pass rate for NCLEX PN good?

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Aug 23, 2006

A 78 percent pass rate is, in my honest opinion, a decent NCLEX pass rate. It indicates that about 4 out of every 5 test-takers from the aforementioned school will end up passing the examination. I took NCLEX-PN about 8 months ago and found it neither easy nor difficult. NCLEX is a mixture of nursing knowledge, critical thinking, and strategy on how to answer test questions. My only advice is to not read into the questions too much.

Achoo!, LPN · Aug 23, 2006

If our school drops below a 95% pass rate, they re-evaluate the cirriculum.

PANurseRN1 · Aug 23, 2006

That's a pretty crummy pass rate for a school.

EricJRN, MSN, RN · Aug 23, 2006

It's a little bit below average, but if it only happens for one year, probably not a huge deal. Some programs have only a small number of graduates, so if 2-3 people fail in a class like that, it can devastate the percentage.

The pass rate for first-time, US-educated candidates tends to be in the mid to high 80's, so the majority of people are successful. So, easy? No. But very doable with some effort? Yes.

pagandeva2000, LPN · Aug 26, 2006

Hi, I suppose to take the NCLEX PN on August 14, but moved it up to September 6..I was thinking 78% is not that high right? Say if there was 20 people taking it, about 4 to 5 will fail..So that is why I moved up the test date to prepare myself and study in everyway possible for non failure..I was wondering..Is NCLEX that hard to pass?

NCLEX was a strange exam to me...there was no real preparation for it, but I passed with minimum questions. I got questions that were not covered in my cirriculum and didn't come on the review courses, or the 6 CD ROMS that I did practice questions on. But, practicing questions prepared me to be on test mode, and helped my critical thinking. I think it is wise to have put it off a bit if you were not too sure, but don't continue to bypass taking the test because eventually you do burn out and get tired. I agree with the others, it is critical thinking, common sense and you can't read too deeply into those questions.

Jules A, MSN · Aug 27, 2006

I'm not impressed by that rate but like others have said there could be good explanations. In my state the rate for the different colleges is usually in the 90%+ range. I also believe that the program doesn't necessarily prepare you for the boards so I'm not sure how much of a reflection this is on the program itself. The amount of time you put into studying for the boards and your personal test taking ablility is a bigger part, imo. If this school is your only option and you are confident in your test taking skills I'd go for it. I have decent testing skills so getting through the program was more worrisome to me than passing the boards.

pagandeva2000, LPN · Aug 27, 2006

I'm not impressed by that rate but like others have said there could be good explanations. In my state the rate for the different colleges is usually in the 90%+ range. I also believe that the program doesn't necessarily prepare you for the boards so I'm not sure how much of a reflection this is on the program itself. The amount of time you put into studying for the boards and your personal test taking ablility is a bigger part, imo. If this school is your only option and you are confident in your test taking skills I'd go for it. I have decent testing skills so getting through the program was more worrisome to me than passing the boards.

I agree with Jules; it is the test taking skills that dominate the ability to pass NCLEX. There is no way to know what is on the boards, even with a school with a 90% pass rate. I attended a review that stated that 90% of the students that take their review course have passed the boards, even repeat test takers, but I found that VERY FEW of the things they actually discussed even appeared on NCLEX-PN. What this review course would recommend is that people call them after taking the exam and tell them of any questions they remembered so that they can pass it on to future students. They asked that we call about a week before the exam so that they can update us on what questions have appeared in recent exams. I called them, and I do admit that they gave me 5 questions that appeared to the letter on the test, but to pay close to $300 dollars for 5 questions can be discouraging for a person that has to sit through all 205. I finished in 40 minutes with 85 questions and passed, but it was because of critical thinking, not because of the review course or school. I remembered about 20 questions and passed that information to them, but it is no guarentee that any of them showed up for test takers coming behind me. The review course told us that there is a question pool that they pull from each 90 days (this may be why they don't allow repeat candidates to take the exam immediately after they fail, I assume). There are some people that told me their test was dominated with long term care, others said pharmacology and then, my test was mostly neuro and cohorting questions (which I did not get in school, by the way).

khrissi17 · Aug 30, 2006

Well my school's passing rate I think is 98% but that's RN school..I recently passed the NCLEX-PN after completing 3 semesters of RN school I had to teach myself Med/Surg and some Pharm and Peds..so if I could pass you can too! Don't rely on your school's passing rate- rely on God and yourself and you'll pass guaranteed

rnICU303, BSN, CNA, RN · Sep 1, 2006

78% pass rate is not that good, 90% and above is considered good. Good for you for taking the extra time!

lindseylpn · Sep 1, 2006

where i went to school they had a 98% pass rate and everyone from my graduating class passed the first time except one and she passed the second time

WoosahRN, MSN, RN · Sep 6, 2006

I am in an RN program but I took the LPN at the halfway point. If I am not mistaken our school has a 100% pass rate but that is probably because not everyone takes it. I remember because I was so afraid that I would be the "One" who screwed up the percentage. The RN pass rate is 97% but we joke that it is because they weed so many people out through the 4 semesters. Each class starts with 60 but by graduation it is about 35. MAYBE a little higher. So again, I think they weed out the "weak" ones. I don't believe that that many people are "weak" just need the extra help or get burned out...we've all been there.

As far as the test. Don't think too much. I had heard all the rumors and theories that if the questions are really hard you are doing well and that if they are too easy you are not and that if you answer an easy one they get harder. Blah blah blah. After trying to analyze the first 20 questions I stopped worrying about it. I took my time and was so relieved when it shut off at 85 that I didn't care how hard the questions seemed. I was just happy to be done.