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Anybody here who took the Pearsons Vue NMC exam? How was it? TY!

Congrats !! So nice to hear someone has passed! Was that your first time?

gen were you able to rebook?

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Hey everyone, like gen88 I sat the NMC online exam and failed. It was the most frustrating couple of hours ever! I'm pretty sure my overall grade would have been >80% but 2-3 of the essential questions were so poorly worded that I must have gotten one or two wrong. I feel like I knew everything that they referred to I just couldn't figure out what answer they wanted. There was an essential question related to a policy which I had read in preparation for the exam and not a single available answer was 100% correct and I have read that policy about 100 times since and still maintain that the available answers are all wrong. There was another question relating to a medical complication and 3 of the 4 options would all indicate a complication... I know we're meant to select the 'most correct' answer but there were two that were a dead set tie (and I have confirmed this by researching the complication after the exam) so even if i rest it I don't know what answer they want. In addition I was under the impression that the essential questions were on topics that were essential to safe lawful practice such as the laws of consent, drug calculations, detecting deterioration etc. but some essential questions were so specific to particular fields and if I hadn't been exposed to pretty much every specialty by working in ED and ICU for years I would have had no clue.

For those of you who are sitting it I would advise reading all of the NMC codes, competencies and published guidance. The topics that these are available in include medication management, consent, confidentiality ethics etc. I also read a short current text on UK health law and ethics and some case study books which were good to refresh anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, pharmacology and treatment. If I had more time I would have started reading through the tonnes of info on the RCN site.

The one thing I have to give credit for is that they don't keep you hanging, I checked the Pearson Vue website about an hour after finishing the exam and my fail was already sitting there. So when you finish the test go home, poor a huge glass of wine and check your results (then finish the bottle in grief). Good luck everyone, I would love to hear if anyone passes it so keep us updated!

Having just taken the exam myself (and passed), nixonk86's advice is spot on. Unfortunately the critical questions aren't noted anymore, so I have no idea what topics those covered, but I think it's essential to have thoroughly reviewed all of the NMC Publications posted on their website. I found the blueprints completely unhelpful, as they basically listed every nursing resource in the UK -- sometimes too much information is overwhelming and makes it impossible to use. My exam was a balance of 50% policy/ethics/communication/theory, and 50% clinical, so make sure you are also up-to-date on your Med Surg, though I did not find that any of the clinical questions were trying to trick me. Overall I think it was a fair exam, though had I not passed of course I would have felt differently! Just as with any exam, read the question thoroughly, and make sure you are answering exactly what it is asking (multiple answer choices may be "correct," but only one will answer the question asked). Good luck everyone; I've been in the transfer process for well over a year now and am really ready for this to be over!

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is this your first take? you are quite lucky if it is! cos december takers really had an unfair scoring.

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Feeling more hopeful now!!

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Specializes in Intensive Care - Pulmo.

yeah.. but problem is i still can't book a second sitting even when im waaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy past the 28 day wait period.. >.>

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Yes it was my first time to take test. I was planning on taking the exam last dec but upon reading this forum i opted to reschedule it.

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Specializes in Intensive Care - Pulmo.

Consider yourself lucky and congrats, but now that you've passed what's next in the process?

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The Dude, I would be causing mayhem if the NMC hadn't figured out how to make sure I could re-sit. Because Pearson Vue told me it was them, and honestly I trust Pearson Vue a gazillion times more than the NMC.

Gloucenurse07, yes how is the second step looking like?

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I'm so glad to hear that people are passing now, the agency I've been speaking to have said that in the last week or so they have had a fair few pass when before they only had one pass. I'm now a lot more relaxed about retaking it and in exactly one week I should know my result!

Regarding the essential questions, when I took it they were marked and there were 40 essential questions!!!!! probably about half were the really important law, ethics and general nursing and the others were really specialty specific.

My hope is that they have removed or improved the ambiguous questions and that they allow for one or two incorrect questions, I kind of hope that they haven't removed them altogether with a pass rate of only 60% because that really would let anyone pass!

I would love to know if anyone has failed in the last week.

I will let you guys know how I go next week... fingers crossed as I have a visa, flights and everything organised and I really don't want to apply for different jobs but if I fail again then the NMC is dead to me and I think I'll give up.

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Specializes in Intensive Care - Pulmo.

Hmm have you had any problems rebooking the exam? Because a fair number of people I know aren't able to book their second exam and both Pearson and the NMC are pointing fingers at one another

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i didn't pass. my test was in mid-december. it was probably the first time in my life i haven't passed a test but there's no point in complaining about it. i already tried to have NMC re-assess my test but they gave me a big NO.

i found the test kind of frustrating, since most of it was fairly easy and i was very confident in my answers. for a couple of questions (which HAD to be critical questions) i was sitting in the room, alternating between two or even three answers. i felt more than one could have been an appropriate answer. one question i just flat out didn't know and still haven't been able to find the answer in any of the blueprint materials. either way, i kind of knew that there was a high likelihood to fail given the strict rules of the test.

luckily, i may have the option to do the ONP as i applied prior to all of these changes. i'm just waiting for confirmation that NMC has received the last paper from my university.

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I think if we fail the exam they should allow us to do the ONP if we had received an offer... however I have heard that you can't do it in specialty areas and I am only interested in ED and ICU!

Thedude9 I had the same problem as everyone else but eventually I was able to book it again. Pearson cue issued me with a new username and it still didm;t work for a while. I sat the exam at the beginning of november and it was well over 28 days when I could rebook it.

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