75qs and scared...

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Jul 17, 2015

Hey everyone,
I've been a silent member lurking around the forums for a while now... thanks for all of the good info through nursing school!
I just took the NCLEX this morning in the Bay Area (California), and afterwards I was antsy to know my results and tried to sign up again to see if I would get the good pop-up.
Could anyone tell me what my chances are?:
Test shut off after 75q.(I feel there was a good amount of passing-level questions. Format-wise, a lot of it looked similiar to Kaplan's.)
My exam status is currently "Result not available" (I'm assuming that I was too hasty in trying to check for the pop-up...)
Did not get a "good" pop-up when I tried to re-register.
It charged my credit card, the charge is pending. (Even though I put the wrong exp date.)
Do I still have a chance of passing?
If I (miraculously) did pass, will the pending $200 go through??
Thanks, everyone. I'd appreciate any input!!

Oh, my....a lot wrong here. But I think I can help :)

--- Your chances of passing are dictated by how well you prepared for the exam, your school's passing rate, what kind of student you were while in school. Depending on what statistics you're looking at, the national average for a US-educated applicant for the NCLEX-RN is somewhere between 82-85%. Those are very good odds.

--- You cannot determine if your questions were above or below the passing standard by reading them. And Kaplan designs its program specifically TO look like the NCLEX...so therefore it did. If you were doing very well, they were higher level questions. If you were doing very poorly....they were not.

-- Having only the minimum number of questions means you either did very well and could demonstrate competency quickly.....OR.....you did so miserably that there was no way you were going to pass, and it shut off. Considering all of the above...which scenario is more likely?

--- "Results not available" refers to the availability of Quick Results, a fee-for-service from Pearson Vue that will give you your test results for a fee of $8. YOU, however, will ALWAYS see "unavailable", since your State does not participate in that program. You cannot get QR in CA.

-- Lastly, if you passed two screens that warned you that any funds you submitted were non-refundable---and you submitted anyway---then you have spent $200. The software is designed to accept payment for another registration and MOST of the time, if you have passed the exam, MOST of the time you will be unable to pay for a duplicate registration (it recognizes you have one now, and don't need another). SOME of the time, however, since one registration is "done", it WILL allow you to pay for another, whether you will ultimately need it or not.

By changing your expiration date, it made it more likely you would not be charged, but WOULD see a "contact your bank" or "card declined" notice. This would be the infamous "bad pop up" people talk about, and MOST of the time, it indicates failure. I have no idea whether your card will be charged or not in the end; you authorized the payment so you might have it go through regardless of the date you used. Your card was valid, and putting in a wrong date doesn't guarantee you WON'T be charged. It's just a trick to see if you can avoid the charge. Some say it's fraud, intentionally submitting false financial information when attempting to pay for an online service....but I'm not a lawyer.

Anyway, at this point, there is nothing you can do but wait for official results. You might want to check the BrEZe website; many times people find their names/license numbers posted there before they receive official notice of passing.

Every NCLEX is reviewed for a Quality Assurance check at some point during the 24 hours following the exam. This is why people are told repeatedly to NOT do the PVT before 24 hours has passed, because you don't know WHEN your exam is finalized.

I do have to say that 75 is a pretty concrete number, nothing really on the fence about it, it's really good or really bad. I personally have not come across anyone who did the minimum number, got a bad pop up and passed.....nor gotten a good pop up and failed....with the minimum number scenario only. But it is possible it happened, because....the PVT IS only a trick.

Good luck!

luxue · Jul 17, 2015

Thanks for your response!

Whoops... I guess I needed to do more research... :dead:

What I meant by the Kaplan-style questions is that I had a lot of questions with what I've been told is considered to be "above the line" formats. (I've also been told that Kaplan only presents to you "passing" level questions??)

I heard if it's "below-the-line", it's a lot of "define this" or basic A&P content-based questions. Am I still mistaken?

I've done extensive Kaplan studying... I did over 80% of their qbank, all 7 trainers, and the sample tests with decent scores/averages... I'm hoping that the prep that I've done was adequate. I hope those pass rates are in my favor.

And for being charged... I guess I misunderstood the process for the "trick"... I thought that you had to submit the order to find out about the "good pop-up"... I guess I can only keep my fingers crossed about that... And I guess I needed to do more research, because I didn't know about that 24hr rule! Ruh roh.

I really, really hope that I'm on the passing side of that fence! I hope it's just because of that 24hr second-time-review thing.

Thanks again for the input! I'm glad to know my exam status won't change- you've definitely saved me the time & energy from checking for that to change! :)

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Jul 17, 2015

A popular misconception is that higher level questions will appear in a particular formatting type. They can be in ANY format type: SATA, multiple choice, drag/drop, etc.

Something you just said makes me think I'm not understanding something correctly. You said your charge was 'pending', that you had been charged. You ONLY know this after you actually submit payment....if you don't submit payment, you cannot know if you were unable ("good pop up", saying "you cannot schedule another exam at this time") or WERE able (and have a receipt for the charge).

So....did you submit the payment...or not?

Honestly, you sound like you SHOULD have passed, and if only 75 questions were given, then you shouldn't have had a charge on your card IF YOU submitted it. Maybe you did not...?

At any rate, there isn't anything more to do; if you do the PVT again and it HAS charged you, all you will know is that you cannot schedule yet another one (because you DID schedule another one!).

At 75 questions, there's just no "on the fence" at all: you passed easily or failed big time. I spend a lot of time going over these things with people and haven't yet personally seen anyone who got charged (or bad pop up after doing PVT correctly) having it flip over to pass. Or good flip to fail. Not with 75 questions. Like I said...you'd be the first for me, and that's saying a lot!

I'm wondering if you just didn't follow through with the PVT correctly....and didn't actually SUBMIT the card info....in which case....you did NOT get a bad pop up, you didn't DO it. Could you clarify this for me? Maybe I'm getting dense as the day goes on, LOL....

luxue · Jul 17, 2015

Yes on the format types priority, delegation, SATA, exhibit, multiple choice. I definitely saw those in varying numbers... But I felt like there were definitely enough of what I've been trained to view as "above the line" questions.

I didn't count specifics but the MC questions I did have seemed similar to how Kaplan gave us questions when it came to difficulty and the ways to work out the question. (I hope this clarifies what I've been trying to say.... haha.)

I feel like I'm being confusing! Sorry about that! Here's what I did:

I got home, around 40min after I completed the survey at the end, and hopped on the computer.

Since I couldn't initially find any history of my taking the test... no "reschedule" or "re-anything" options, I hit the "start registration process" and went all the way through... since I was jittery/nervous/not 100% there from all the stress, I almost did it automatically.

-I did do the page with the "have you taken the NCLEX before?" and identifying the nursing school I attended.

-I entered credit card & billing info, and submitted the order until I got to the receipt page.

-Only red-text notification I got was the reminder that the order won't go through until I go through the very end. I went past that page and went all the way through. At least I don't recall seeing a button for a further step.

I'm hesitant to do it all the way again with a different card... It would seriously suck if I get charged $200 x 2 trying the trick... T_T

On the credit card website, the payment isn't finalized... but it shows up that the card has been put through the process (it's "pending", along with a charge at a grocery store a few days ago. haha).

Additionally, in my email, Pearson Vue did send me a NCLEX Receipt and an automated "registration acknowledgement" email, for a total of 2 emails as a result of this process.

Not to be cocky or to try to deny the situation here, but I personally feel like there were enough "above the line" questions for a passing exam... but the fact that I'm not getting the same "pop up" and getting charged compared to everyone passing (with the pop-up) is making me anxious. I'm hoping that I'm doing something wrong here.

Did I do anything wrong from what you can tell??

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Jul 17, 2015

Hmm. Your description of registering/PVT seems like the usual process, I don't see anything UNusual in it. We already hit on the thing about doing it too early, but like I said--at 75 questions it's a pretty definite pass or definite fail.

Nothing is glaring out at me as "no, wait, THIS is what it means!"

After you submitted your card payment you got a receipt for $200 from Pearson Vue....so although the charge hasn't actually been made against your account (no transfer done), it's pretty clear that it WILL be paid. Your grocery store gave you a receipt; the fact that it's 'pending' on your bank's end doesn't mean you won't be paying...it means you will.

SATA, m/c, delegation, priority....the thing is, a SATA question can be above the passing line or below it. It is only a format type, NOT an indication of higher level questioning. The reason I keep going back to "type" of question is because it's not uncommon for someone to declare a specific question "definitely above the passing line" because HE found it to be more involved, more difficult....but in reality, another person found it to be fairly straightforward and NOT 'higher level'.

I'm not trying to tell you that you definitely failed this thing. I'm only saying that trying to determine where you fell on the question spectrum is nearly impossible. A 'delegation question' can be above OR below the passing standard. You just can't know from your own test.

But I DO stand behind the thinking that if your nursing school was reputable, had a good reputation for rigorous standards....if YOU were a very good student who earned good grades and did well in clinicals....if YOU prepared well for this thing, then in all likelihood you aced it.

My only concern is the pending charge. Getting a receipt for a new registration after completing a test with only 75 questions....well, I just don't know. If you DO pass, it's yet another one for those who declare PVT to be so bloody accurate to have to face. And if you fail.....it'll be time to completely reassess your approach to the exam.

I can only go by what you're saying, so I can't know if you are a really good student and had a very bad exam....a really good student who had a GREAT exam and bad luck with PVT....or what.

Hang in there. Check the BrEZe website tomorrow, the next day.....many people report finding out their licenses were issued that way. Maybe one day California will get with the program and figure out how to process this paperwork in less time---like every OTHER State out there.

Breathe. It will be over soon :)

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · Jul 17, 2015

Waiting at least 24 hours isn't exactly a rule, but it certainly helps in that usually Pearson Vue has done the definitive QA scoring (2nd scoring) on your exam by then. It's incredibly rare but possible that you could have a bad result and then a good one even if the system shuts off at 75. That being said, I would say that happens extremely rarely because you must be consistently well above or below the passing standard at 75 questions for the system to shut off then. Generally speaking, if the system shuts off at 75, it's going to be very clearly a pass or fail and the 2nd scoring won't usually change that.

If you now have a charge pending on your card, that means the billing system checked the pass/fail flag, saw a set fail flag, and proceeded with billing. You will very likely owe them $200 with little to no recourse. The good news is that since you have paid for a retest, you should be able to easily schedule your retest. The bad news is that if you actually passed the exam (you won't know it for another day or so, if your state does Quick Results) you just donated $200 to Pearson Vue.

Just as a reminder, the NCLEX is scored twice. One is done at the testing center and that one determines when the computer should shut off. The second one is done for QA, is definitive, is scored (apparently) slightly differently, and is done off-site. That one usually is done within 24 hours, but sometimes longer, but because of their Quick Results system, it'll be done within 48 hours to ensure that the QR system has your result.

It's the differences between scoring methods used on-site vs definitive off-site that cause "flips" of your pass/fail status when you are very close to the pass/fail line. When your exam shuts off at 75, and you get a results flip, it means you were extremely close to the pass/fail line, but not so close that the system has to ask you question 76. Once you're asked #76, then your chances of a flip are the same as if the exam stopped at 120 or 203, or whatever.

Because the chance of a flip at 75 questions is so rare, I suspect you have failed since you got charged the reschedule fee.

ETA: I just noticed you're in California (like me). We don't have Quick Results here. Keep an eye on the BreEZe system. If you paid for the IP, watch for the IP to be cancelled. That means they took notice that you attempted the NCLEX. If you do not see some RN license numbers (8 digit number) within an hour, certainly within the day, of cancellation of an IP, you failed the NCLEX.