NCLEX: expectation to pass

Nurse_Mike, ADN, RN · Oct 1, 2019

18 hours ago, NICU Guy said:
Each NCLEX test is random. The computer does not know if this is your first attempt or 10th attempt. It start out with a random question above the pass line and depending on your answer, gives you a random question that is more difficult or less difficult than the last question. It does not eliminate math or pharmacology from your available questions because you missed them on a previous test and it assumes that you studied those topics. If that was true, the people that have taken NCLEX 5 times would run out of available questions since they probably missed questions on all the topics over the 5 tests.

It start out with a random question above the pass line and depending on your answer, gives you a random question that is more difficult or less difficult than the last question.

This part i dont think would ever be up for debate with anyone with legitimate knowledge of the test. And the other parts of your post should not be up for debate either.

Thank you NICU Guy for shedding light on my post and clearing that up. Not only is their no offence taken but I am glad you have given valuable correction and input to help others. You make good points. I hope I did not misconstrue what regina from remar said. If no one else has any information to refute this, I will absolutely assume that you are correct. What you have said makes complete sense. I went to school with another student that was a whiz at math. When he took NCLEX and passed the first time, he did not see a single math question.

My first test, I had close to 10 questions that were asking all sorts of things related to vancomycin, and about 8 that mentioned grapefruit, in addition to the 13 dosage questions. My next test, I did not have a single question in all of the 265 about any of that stuff. It is random, very random.

Perhaps what regina meant is that some re-takers get so hung up on focusing on their weak areas which may be a subcategory of a larger category, and they may not see questions on their next test like they saw on their previous in preparing for a retake, thus, their study in other areas may lack the proper maintenance and attention, which could prove detrimental to them in the test.

Nurse_Mike, ADN, RN · Oct 2, 2019

Don't know how applicable this is, but is from the NCSBN website:

Are NCLEX item banks rotated?

SEE ANSWER

The NCLEX master pool contains enough items to make up multiple operational pools. To maintain exam security and ensure that repeating candidates will not receive the same items from one attempt to the next, operational item pools are rotated regularly.

https://www.ncsbn.org/9010.htm

**NICU Guy, BSN, RN** · Oct 2, 2019

On 10/1/2019 at 1:05 AM, Nurse_Mike said:
Perhaps what regina meant is that some re-takers get so hung up on focusing on their weak areas which may be a subcategory of a larger category, and they may not see questions on their next test like they saw on their previous in preparing for a retake, thus, their study in other areas may lack the proper maintenance and attention, which could prove detrimental to them in the test

Yes, the test questions are random. If you fail the test, you should study your weak areas for the next test, but you also need to refresh your memory on areas that you are not weak. Just because you got certain types of questions the first time, does not mean you will get the same type of questions the next time. You need to be prepared for all of the possible topics (just like the real world).

Nurse_Mike, ADN, RN · Oct 3, 2019

yes, agreed.