Nclex Pass rate for your school

My school's pass rate is currently 95%. I've never worked so hard in my life!!!

There are a couple of things to keep in mind about NCLEX pass rates. The overall average (all schools) first-time test taker passing percentage is about 87-88%. The "law of large numbers" is in effect, meaning that since this represents a large sample, it is likely to more closely approximate the rate that you, as an individual student will experience. So in one sense, the passing rate for an individual school is irrelevant. That said, as some other posters have pointed out, there are schools that emphasize passing the NCLEX (using the HESI or ATI tests) as part of their curriculum. This selects out candidates who are unlikely to pass and increases (some would say artificially inflates) the percentage of first-time passers attributed to the school.

The fact is that no matter what school you attend, you need to pass the NCLEX to practice as a nurse. I would contend that a motivated student graduating from a nursing school with a first-time passing rate of say, 70%, is much more likely to fall into the 87-88% overall average range than the 70% school range. The reverse (being closer to the 87-88% range graduating from a school with a 98% pass rate) is likely not to be the case if, and only if, that school dismisses students who don't score highly enough on the HESI.

So what does all this mean? That if you are motivated nursing student who is willing to put the required study time into preparing for the NCLEX that you have a roughly 87-88% likelihood of passing the NCLEX regardless of what nursing school you attend.

With respect to LPN vs RN, my advice would be to go for the RN. The LPN is a lot of work, in fact nearly equal to that of an RN program, with only marginally higher rates of first-time passers for LP/VN boards. So why not go for the RN?

YMMV.

Fortunately, my school does not use exit exams to inflate their pass rates.

Hi there: Just got off my night shift, and before I sleep, checking into latest allnurses.com.....so I didn't read all the other comments. So someone else may have already commented in a similar fashion. But in case ur not aware, NCLEX pass-rates for a school are NOT INDICATIVE of much. And the reason is: schools all want to SHOW a high NCLEX Pass Rate, so most (if not many) schools require some type of "standardized exit exam", before they will allow you to take NCLEX. For example, the HESI, or the ATI exams are 2 much used such tests. And the specific nursing program REQUIRES grads to reach a certain test score on the HESI or ATI, before they will "sign off" and permit you to file for the NCLEX. Doing so pretty much ensures that their grads will then pass NCLEX. Hence, they show an "artificially high" NCLEX pass rate. Grads whose HESI or ATI score is not "high enough to likely pass NCLEX" never make it to NCLEX where they might fail.

So, plz be aware of this.

I'm confused as to how you can successfully graduate from your program and then be denied the opportunity to sit for your boards. My school has TEAS and I can't remember the GPA requirement but I do remember it being up there. They told us that the process for selection was so thorough that you should be proud to be sitting in that seat because for every 1 of you that get in there are 15 that don't, and our class started out with 35. The school is highly regard among the facilities and our grads are usually the first picks for openings. We have a 100% pass rate on the NCLEX-RN on the first attempt, and that's posted from the state. We also have a 100% retention rate, although I believe that also reflects those that may not pass and repeat a course, because we are only at 20 currently, but the others are retaking courses lost along the way. Our program is tough no doubt but I believe I'm getting my money's worth in curriculum and the instructors are better than I could have dreamed of. They are all masters prepared, some are published, and there are a lot of nursing excellence awards floating around that office. Back to the point though of the original question, we take ATI tests each semester to see where we are and are expected to hit our benchmarks. No one has ever said that they could not take boards after they graduated because of one of those tests. I would think that it should be more of a test of how prepared your program has made you, and if you cannot reach the benchmarks and you're not likely to pass that it would be in your best interest as a candidate to get intervention with some refreshers and nclex prep and if your school has a number of students falling into this category then they should offer that prep work before taking the boards. I dint believe that they can keep you from taking boards if you graduate just to keep their statistics high.

Schools of nursing do this all the time, and it is perfectly legal.

If a student fails the exit exam (ERI, Hesi, Kaplan, etc.), the school can refuse to send a copy of the final transcript to the state board of nursing. And if the state board of nursing does not have a complete file with a final transcript, the student doesn't get to take NCLEX until he/she manages to pass the exit exam.

I discussed this with our faculty and they said that although they do confirm this happens in schools, this doesn't happen in ours. The ATI exam is a judge for THEM as faculty to see if they have covered the material efficiently and they use it as a tool to guide their further teachings. They were quite surprised when I mentioned the theory of overinflating the pass rates by using this method.

My school used to hover in the '80's, I think, but they're at 50% (est) now.

2 passed and 2 failed on the latest exam.

The school is no longer taking Spring or Fall students.

Someone on here mentioned it some months back but I thought, "Well - how is that? I attend the school and heard nothing of this."

Weird that only 4 people sat for the exam. They usually have lots of nursing students...in the beginning.

I dont understand why folks are failing.

You need a 3.0 gpa (minimum).

You have to take A&P, Chem and 1-2 others.

The Pre-Nursing courses are challenging. Can't imagine that the REAL nursing program is any easier.

But, despite that, the professors are great. They help the students. I'm an 'evening' student.

Trust me - the dept does meet us half-way. They even had practice lab practicals and tutoring on Saturdays for the working students.

The Director is sweet as can be. Spoke to her when I switched majors from accounting/finance. She was very encouraging, approachable and nice.

I don't know...but, I hate to hear this kind of thing because some will look at the pass rate and assume that ours is just a crappy school.

I'm looking elsewhere for nursing schools. I'm almost afraid to look at the only other community college that offers ADN because they WILL have an influx of students.

I have visions of 'wait-listing' dancing in my head. *laugh*

BUT there's more than one way to skin a cat. So...here's the plan: *laugh*

- Attend Galen

- Continue taking courses at the community college. Online. 3-6 hrs (retaking everything that isn't an 'A'. *laugh*). I doubt that Galen holds classes year-round so, depending on whether certain courses are offered in the summer, I may be able to finish up the campus-based courses in the summer sessions.

I really don't too many more classes to take...

(clarifying: I'm continuing school because I've long-range goals of being a CRNA...or in management, i.e., DON of a nursing home - because I just LOVE old people! *laugh* Midwifery seems interesting, too. In any case, I need a degree. Being a 'floor nurse' WILL get old. I'm going to want to progress. I will want more responsibilities. More autonomy. More respect. More money. When I was an accounting major, the plan was never to get my BS/MAcc and audit crap for the rest of my life. It was a stepping stone. You're supposed to progress from the bottom. Not stagnate. I envisioned myself being manager. A CFO. Making Partner of the firm, even. Same with nursing. It's about creating options for yourself...)

There are a few schools down here (Tx) that offer online RN-BSN.

Looking into Excelsior, too.

If not, you have the option of 'challenging the board'...

Either way, by the time I get my RN-BSN, I'll have been in the workforce long enough to get the proper ICU or OBGYN experience to qualify for certain MSN programs.

My school used to hover in the '80's, I think, but they're at 50% (est) now.

2 passed and 2 failed on the latest exam.

The school is no longer taking Spring or Fall students.

Someone on here mentioned it some months back but I thought, "Well - how is that? I attend the school and heard nothing of this."

Weird that only 4 people sat for the exam. They usually have lots of nursing students...in the beginning.

I dont understand why folks are failing.

You need a 3.0 gpa (minimum).

You have to take A&P, Chem and 1-2 others.

The Pre-Nursing courses are challenging. Can't imagine that the REAL nursing program is any easier.

But, despite that, the professors are great. They help the students. I'm an 'evening' student.

Trust me - the dept does meet us half-way. They even had practice lab practicals and tutoring on Saturdays for the working students.

The Director is sweet as can be. Spoke to her when I switched majors from accounting/finance. She was very encouraging, approachable and nice.

I don't know...but, I hate to hear this kind of thing because some will look at the pass rate and assume that ours is just a crappy school.

I'm looking elsewhere for nursing schools. I'm almost afraid to look at the only other community college that offers ADN because they WILL have an influx of students.

I have visions of 'wait-listing' dancing in my head. *laugh*

BUT there's more than one way to skin a cat. So...here's the plan: *laugh*

- Attend Galen

- Continue taking courses at the community college. Online. 3-6 hrs (retaking everything that isn't an 'A'. *laugh*). I doubt that Galen holds classes year-round so, depending on whether certain courses are offered in the summer, I may be able to finish up the campus-based courses in the summer sessions.

I really don't too many more classes to take...

(clarifying: I'm continuing school because I've long-range goals of being a CRNA...or in management, i.e., DON of a nursing home - because I just LOVE old people! *laugh* Midwifery seems interesting, too. In any case, I need a degree. Being a 'floor nurse' WILL get old. I'm going to want to progress. I will want more responsibilities. More autonomy. More respect. More money. When I was an accounting major, the plan was never to get my BS/MAcc and audit crap for the rest of my life. It was a stepping stone. You're supposed to progress from the bottom. Not stagnate. I envisioned myself being manager. A CFO. Making Partner of the firm, even. Same with nursing. It's about creating options for yourself...)

There are a few schools down here (Tx) that offer online RN-BSN.

Looking into Excelsior, too.

If not, you have the option of 'challenging the board'...

Either way, by the time I get my RN-BSN, I'll have been in the workforce long enough to get the proper ICU or OBGYN experience to qualify for certain MSN programs.

Sounds like you have a good solid plan. As for wait list nightmares, everyone has them, so don't let them get you down. One thing that you said concerns me though. Before you retake everything you didn't get an A in do this...contact your school and ask them about their specific admissions criteria and how they rank applications. When I sat for my TEAS test, someone asked the question about how admissions were decided upon. In our program they made their decision first based on the TEAS (the entrance exam) (you got so many "points" depending on how you scored on your math and science portions). Then they assigned points based on your grade in Anatomy (5 for an A, 4 for a B, 3 for a C), but they only considered your FIRST time taking it and the grade. It would have done no good for people to retake it to bring a B or a C to an A unless their academic transcript was minimal and they needed the GPA boost. Then they looked at overall college level GPA, no matter what the major (we have people in our program who's previous degrees range from Romance Languages to Masters in Psychology). They also looked at your essay but I don't think that counted for very much. Before you put yourself through retaking things that you've already passed see if it will really matter for you.

I don't get the "challenging the board" thing? I've seen issues come up where military people or LVN's try to challenge the board to earn the right to sit for the RN exam, but I don't see what you mean when taking it in context to the RN-BSN thing? Your college will award you the BSN, not the board. With a previous degree you won't have to take a ton of classes to go BSN. If you are seriously thinking of going for CRNA, those programs can be very competitive, so make sure you get your BSN from a respected college/university, and start looking around graduation time at different programs and what they require. I have mulled around a lot of CRNA programs and I'm not even out of RN school yet, but I'm already trying to formulate a plan as to which university to get the BSN from to help me get into a CRNA program if that's what I decide to do. Also it makes a difference when looking for jobs because of the experience requirements they want you to have.

Good luck! The sky's the limit in nursing that's for sure. It's a tough road but when you put your nose to the grind and set your goals and work hard at them you'll achieve more than you ever thought you could. I can't believe it's only a couple months before I start the job search process. I'm scared to death!

I'm confused as to how you can successfully graduate from your program and then be denied the opportunity to sit for your boards. My school has TEAS and I can't remember the GPA requirement but I do remember it being up there. They told us that the process for selection was so thorough that you should be proud to be sitting in that seat because for every 1 of you that get in there are 15 that don't, and our class started out with 35. The school is highly regard among the facilities and our grads are usually the first picks for openings. We have a 100% pass rate on the NCLEX-RN on the first attempt, and that's posted from the state. We also have a 100% retention rate, although I believe that also reflects those that may not pass and repeat a course, because we are only at 20 currently, but the others are retaking courses lost along the way. Our program is tough no doubt but I believe I'm getting my money's worth in curriculum and the instructors are better than I could have dreamed of. They are all masters prepared, some are published, and there are a lot of nursing excellence awards floating around that office. Back to the point though of the original question, we take ATI tests each semester to see where we are and are expected to hit our benchmarks. No one has ever said that they could not take boards after they graduated because of one of those tests. I would think that it should be more of a test of how prepared your program has made you, and if you cannot reach the benchmarks and you're not likely to pass that it would be in your best interest as a candidate to get intervention with some refreshers and nclex prep and if your school has a number of students falling into this category then they should offer that prep work before taking the boards. I dint believe that they can keep you from taking boards if you graduate just to keep their statistics high.

The thing is that you don't 'successfully graduate' from the program unless you hit a specific percentage on the HESI. It isn't that you graduate and then they don't allow you to sit for the NCLEX, you cannot graduate without the appropriate HESI score just like you cannot graduate without a minimum of a 76 in Fundamentals.

I am not aware, however, of the HESI causing a significant problem for last term students in our program. By the time you get that far, the HESI shouldn't be a problem.

I did want to comment though on your school's 100% retention rate. I don't know any school that has a retention rate like that. Even if students don't fail, there are always students who move, have babies, change their minds, etc. I would personally question whether or not that was true if you have retained less than 60% of your class and haven't added in those students from previous terms who failed ahead of you who are now repeating. If you lose that many students and a 100% retention rate, then it would stand to reason that you would add a similar number of previous term students into your class.

The thing is that you don't 'successfully graduate' from the program unless you hit a specific percentage on the HESI. It isn't that you graduate and then they don't allow you to sit for the NCLEX, you cannot graduate without the appropriate HESI score just like you cannot graduate without a minimum of a 76 in Fundamentals.

I am not aware, however, of the HESI causing a significant problem for last term students in our program. By the time you get that far, the HESI shouldn't be a problem.

I did want to comment though on your school's 100% retention rate. I don't know any school that has a retention rate like that. Even if students don't fail, there are always students who move, have babies, change their minds, etc. I would personally question whether or not that was true if you have retained less than 60% of your class and haven't added in those students from previous terms who failed ahead of you who are now repeating. If you lose that many students and a 100% retention rate, then it would stand to reason that you would add a similar number of previous term students into your class.

We don't take the HESI, we take the ATI exams. I guess that makes sense how they do that then. I'd be sick to death if I completed a program and passed all my courses then didn't graduate because of a computerized exam given by my school. It's bad enough to have to pass the NCLEX. What do they do with these students who don't pass this exam? Do they retake it until they pass it? Do they have to retake classes? That makes me sick to my stomach.

I believe our school has a 100% retention rate (as of the consumer disclosure in 2009) because generally the students don't quit. That is also based upon students completing the program within 3 years of admission. All of the students who didn't pass came back and retook the class they didn't pass, therefore they were retained and I would guess that contributes to the retention rate. I will be interested to see how it changes because there was one student this semester who did just quit for personal reasons. There are no students in my level who are repeating. They say it is very rare to lose students in the last 2 semesters of our program. We are not at our max student number in any class except fundamentals I think, and that might be why, they make sure there are spots for those who have to repeat a course. We also have an academic retention coordinator and an academic success program that they'll put you on from test #1 in course #1 if you even came close to failing. They offer peer tutoring and our instructors are always available either in person, by phone, email, or text message if you need them. They provide you with all the tools for success. Based on the admissions criteria they're filling the classroom with people who want to succeed, not those that woke up one day and said "I think I'll be a nurse today."

We require an 80% to pass any course with a C, including Fundamentals. 92 is an A, 86 is a B.

There is a list from the NC Board of Nursing hanging in our lobby with all of our statistics on it.

I get what you're saying, it doesn't seem possible, but it is. The retention rate and the NCLEX pass rate is what made me move 400 miles to go to school here.

By the way, one of the students that just graduated got pregnant in her second semester, doubled up on her clinicals and finished them early, gave birth to twins, took her finals, and returned for the next semester to start so she would graduate on time as planned.

It's crazy I know it! These people are just dedicated. Maybe it was my "failure is not an option" comment in my essay that secured my spot.

ETA: I also must clarify that the pass rates for NCLEX did have fluctuations now that I've reread the disclosure (first time taking NCLEX pass rates) 2004 – 98%; 2005 – 100%; 2006 – 100%; 2007 – 93%; 2008 – 95%; 2009 – 100%, currently 2010 is at 100%

That's wonderful that your school is so hands on. That's amazing that they have the ability to have someone double up on clinicals. I don't know that that would be allowed or even possible in our program.

Have you checked your BON website for the raw data on NCLEX scores? Our school doesn't publish retention rates, but you can pretty much figure them out if you know the number of students admitted in a cohort and compare that with the annual number of first time NCLEX takers. If you have 35 starting and have approximatley 35 taking the test every year, then that's a pretty good indication of the retention rate.

For example

My school admits 105 to the traditional program, we generally have 120 start (the other 15 are from previous cohorts who need to retake for whatever reason). They admit 2 classes per year and we have about 175ish taking the NCLEX each year. So, we have about a 70% retention rate, give or take.

That's wonderful that your school is so hands on. That's amazing that they have the ability to have someone double up on clinicals. I don't know that that would be allowed or even possible in our program.

Have you checked your BON website for the raw data on NCLEX scores? Our school doesn't publish retention rates, but you can pretty much figure them out if you know the number of students admitted in a cohort and compare that with the annual number of first time NCLEX takers. If you have 35 starting and have approximatley 35 taking the test every year, then that's a pretty good indication of the retention rate.

For example

My school admits 105 to the traditional program, we generally have 120 start (the other 15 are from previous cohorts who need to retake for whatever reason). They admit 2 classes per year and we have about 175ish taking the NCLEX each year. So, we have about a 70% retention rate, give or take.

Yes, that's how I knew that so far this year we have 100% pass rates. The list is posted in our lobby, but I just looked it up online. Of the 71 schools listed 8 of them had 100% pass rates. The number of graduates from those programs varies quite a bit, with some of them coming in with only 8 graduates, 11 graduates. Ours is more than twice the number of graduates of any other with a 100% pass rate at 76. Now that being said, of course when you have 76 graduates you have a better chance of passing all of them than say East Carolina University who has the most at 265 graduates and a 97% pass rate, which is pretty darned good. I'm probably going to get blasted for this from people lurking the board (LOL) but we are talking numbers here, and these are raw facts, when you look at UNCC who had 108 graduates and had only an 85% pass rate, and Duke University with 68 graduates and a 99% pass rate (and I only use UNCC and Duke because everyone knows who they are and they're very respected BSN programs). Now I know everyone loves their school and has pride in their school, and I'm not saying ANYTHING derogatory about any other program in our area, but every hospital I've been to says that our graduates are more prepared than graduates from other programs and they're so happy to see us when we come in, and we have a really high hire rate after graduation (I think it's 93% right now? Not sure though). Now all this I think I can narrow down to simply the number of clinical hours we're subjected to, then the preceptorship we do before we graduate, the professional development (continuing ed class with actual nurses) that we're required to do, community health and research projects, and of course the caliber of the faculty because they really do rock.

Now, all that being said, I have to tell you that we are also a diploma school of nursing. And I know how people feel about diploma schools of nursing sometimes, but we're eligible to get our bachelors just like everyone else is, and I think it says a lot about a diploma program (which is often looked down upon) to have better statistics than a lot of the BSN programs that are on the list there. I feel very confident in my ability to pursue my bachelors after graduation with the preparation I've received.

Calculating those retention rates. I can see how you did that formula for yours, ours is a little more difficult I think. Our entire school is limited to 140 students. So far we have had 2 classes graduate this year, we graduate 3 regular classes per year. We also have a night and weekend program that only starts one time per year, but they shouldn't factor into this year's numbers yet because they only graduate in December (it's 7 semesters) if they only start in the fall. Each class used to start with around 30 (at least those people graduating this year should have) (they've increased it, my class had 35 I think and it seems there are a lot of students in the current fundamentals class, I think 37), but there is also an accelerated program that shaves a semester off and you graduate with another class, so for me to figure out exactly how that worked I'd really just have to go to admissions and have them tell me exactly what's published in the consumer disclosure, LOL But when you look at the numbers, it's got to be pretty correct because even if they did have a standard 35, which I know they increased my class size, two graduating classes at 35 students each would be 70 from two classes and we had 76 take the NCLEX this year so far, so if you add the accelerated students in there (10 is the max for accelerated, we have 8 in ours, there's another bunch of deciding factors there) then that would be about right.

Doubling up on the clinical, yeah not standard practice, but in certain semesters you only have 1 clinical day and there are two clinical days scheduled that different groups go on so the groups aren't too big. She was in her second semester during a regular semester (not a condensed summer semester when you feel like you LIVE in the hospital) so she only had 1 clinical day and attended 2 clinical days per week when it got closer to her due date to get them done. We also have the option to sign up for a clinical elective to add on to our schedules (4 credit hours) if we want. Who would subject themselves to that is beyond me, but I think that's more like an additional preceptorship and some students who need full time status because of insurance or financial aid reasons do that. I'm already full time so thankfully I don't have to do that to myself. I've done enough choosing to accelerate and double up on classes and clinicals to graduate early.