NORTH CAROLINA NCLEX-RN PASS RATE

RN PROGRAMS 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
National Pass Rate ALL RN 85.5 86.6 87 85 87.3
State Pass Rate ALL RN 92 90 90 86 89
School Name Type 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
National Pass Rate ADN 85.29 86.62 87 85 87.5
State Pass Rate ADN 92 90 91 86 893
Alamance Community College ADN 90 81 94 78 83
Asheville-Buncombe Community College ADN 91 95 97 92 91
Beaufort County Community College ADN 86 96 93 82 85
Blue Ridge Community College ADN 74 71 100 88 90
Cabarrus College of Health Science ADN 88 89 88 97 98
Caldwell Community College ADN 96 81 81 91 84
Cape Fear Community College ADN 100 95 97 89 100
Carolinas College of Health Science ADN 95 89 84 86 95
Catawba Valley Community College ADN 86 93 91 93 84
Central Carolina Community College ADN 100 93 100 88 100
Central Piedmont Community College ADN 80 93 91 92 76
Coastal Carolina Community College ADN 92 96 88 92 91
College of The Albemarle ADN 86 91 96 90 100
Craven Community College ADN 89 92 91 74 86
Davidson County Community College ADN 97 94 92 100 98
Durham Tech. Community College ADN 83 92 96 90 91
Fayetteville Tech Community College ADN 94 93 82 90 89
Foothills Nursing Consortium ADN 92 89 97 83 87
Forsyth Tech. Community College ADN 86 92 95 77 86
Gardner-Webb University ADN 89 84 85 78 72
Gaston College ADN 89 100 100 95 86
Guilford Tech. Community College ADN 86 85 86 100 93
James Sprunt Community College ADN 75 78 100 91 90
Johnston Community College ADN 100 100 91 97 100
Lenoir Community College ADN 78 93 83 83 77
Mayland Community College ADN 75 89 94 77 100
Mitchell Community College ADN 89 97 96 100 97
NEWH Nursing Consortium ADN 84 90 94 83 95
Piedmont Community College ADN 100 92 100 75 93
Pitt Community College ADN 67 77 93 92 91
Presbyterian School - Queens ADN 91 76 89 98 89
Randolph Community College ADN 92 91 86 76 76
Region A Nursing Consortium ADN 87 89 94 85 90
Richmond Community College ADN 97 91 94 89 78
Roanoke-Chowan Community College ADN 75 81 91 83 100
Robeson Community College ADN 67 90 83 56 57
Rockingham Community College ADN 89 100 100 88 96
Rowan-Cabarrus Community College ADN 70 88 93 94 100
Sampson Community College ADN 93 83 96 92 88
Sandhills Community College ADN 100 85 85 91 84
Southeastern Community College ADN 86 96 100 82 92
Stanly Community College ADN 89 88 88 82 97
Surry Community College ADN 94 98 85 73 99
Vance-Granville Community College ADN 90 94 89 75 79
Wake Tech Community College ADN 98 100 92 94 91
Wayne Community College ADN 100 93 92 91 93
Western Piedmont Community College ADN 89 82 86 59 88
Wilkes Community College ADN 86 86 82 88 65
School Name Type 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
National Pass Rate BSN 85.86 86.5 86.9 85 86.7
State Pass Rate BSN 91 91 87 84 87.2
Barton College BSN 94 93 86 71 84
Duke University BSN n/a n/a 100 85 98
East Carolina University BSN 93 97 81 83 94
Lenoir-Rhyne College BSN 92 100 88 73 76
NC A&T State University BSN 81 77 75 81 69
NC Central University BSN 81 82 81 65 65
Queens University of Charlotte BSN 93 71 79 93 75
UNC-Chapel Hill BSN 94 94 93 97 94
UNC-Charlotte BSN 94 86 89 72 77
UNC-Greenboro BSN 92 98 95 80 93
UNC-Wilmington BSN 91 90 89 74 94
Western Carolina University BSN 95 88 71 88 88
Winston-Salem State University BSN 84 93 94 97 87
National Pass Rate DIP 86 86.31 89.8 88 90.2
State Pass Rate DIP 92 83 91 97 99
Mercy School of Nursing DIP 89 92 91 98 100
Watts School of Nursing DIP 100 96 94 93 98

 

NORTH CAROLINA NCLEX-PN PASS RATE

LPN PROGRAMS 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
National Pass Rate LPN 86.45 86.4 88.2 89 89.4
State Pass Rate LPN 92 94 96 97 93.9
Alamance Community College PN-Exit 89 100 100 n/a 100
Asheville-Buncombe LPN 97 98 100 100 97
Beaufort County Community College LPN 100 90 100 100 92
Bladen Community College LPN 95 91 97 100 100
Brunswick Community College LPN 87 76 100 100 81
Caldwell Community College PN-Exit 100 96 100 100 100
Cape Fear Community College LPN 92 100 100 100 95
Carteret Community College LPN 93 92 85 86 95
Central Carolina Community College LPN 100 95 96 100 100
Cleveland Community College LPN 100 100 100 100 89
Coastal Carolina Community College LPN 100 94 100 100 100
College of The Albemarle LPN 80 82 80 78 77
Craven Community College LPN 92 100 85 100 100
Durham Tech Community College LPN 88 85 88 67 74
ECPI Charlotte LPN n/a n/a n/a n/a 84
ECPI-Raleigh LPN n/a n/a n/a n/a 100
Fayetteville Tech Community College LPN 77 95 100 100 95
Forsyth Tech Community College LPN 100 100 100 100 100
Gaston College LPN 100 100 93 96 97
Guilford Tech LPN n/a n/a n/a n/a 93
Isothermal Community College LPN 86 86 96 100 89
James Sprunt Community College LPN 80 73 77 100 100
Johnston Community College PN-Exit 100 94 100 100 100
Lenoir Community College LPN 100 100 100 93 100
Mayland Community College LPN n/a n/a n/a n/a 88
McDowell Tech Community College LPN 76 95 95 95 96
Montgomery Community College LPN 86 75 96 96 90
RN Fail-taking PN LPN 100 95 100 98 91
NEWH Nursing Consortium LPN 100 100 97 96 100
Roanoke Chowan Community College PN-Exit 100 100 100 100 100
Robeson Community College PN-Exit 92 100 100 94 91
Rockingham Community College LPN 92 90 81 94 86
Rowan-Cabarrus Community College LPN 97 84 95 87 89
Sampson Community College LPN 100 92 100 96 97
Sandhills Community College LPN 94 89 100 100 88
South Piedmont Community College LPN 78 100 80 100 100
Southeastern Community College LPN 100 100 100 100 100
Southwestern Community College LPN n/a n/a n/a 100 100
Surry Community College LPN 96 100 95 100 100
Vance-Granville Community College LPN 90 94 100 91 94
Community College LPN 92 100 93 100 100

 

The NCLEX® Exam

To ensure public protection, the United States and its territories require entry into the practice of nursing to be regulated by licensing authorities within each jurisdiction. Each jurisdiction requires all candidates for licensure as entry-level nurses to pass an examination (NCLEX) which assesses the knowledge required to perform safely and effectively.

NCLEX stands for The National Council Licensure Examination which is a standardized exam used by each state board of nursing to determine if RN or LPN/LVN candidates are competent for entry-level nursing practice. There are two NCLEX tests offered by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN): the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses - NCLEX-RN ® and the National Council Licensure Examination for Practical Nurses - NCLEX-PN ®.

The NCLEX-RN is for registered nurse candidates while the NCLEX-PN is for practical and vocational nurses. The main difference between the two tests is the number and difficulty of correctly answered questions required to pass the exam. The States and territorial boards of nursing use these exams in making licensure decisions. The NCLEX-RN has 265 questions and the minimum number you need to answer is 75. The NCLEX-PN has 205 questions and the minimum number you need to answer is 85. The NCLEX exams are administered using Computerized Adaptive Testing - CAT. There is a six hour limit for NCLEX-RN and a five hour time limit for NCLEX-PN which includes time for the computer tutorial and breaks.

Using this method (CAT) each NCLEX exam is unique and the questions are retrieved from a database as the exam progresses. The computer measures the ability of the candidate using the answers provided previously and changes the difficulty and topic of the new questions accordingly - if you answer correctly the computer will select harder NCLEX questions and if you are answer incorrectly it will choose easier questions. The NCLEX software estimates your ability every time you provide the answer to a question and with each new answer you provide the estimate of your ability gets more precise.

The NCLEX exam software selects questions that it considers you will have a close to 50% chance of answering correctly - not too hard or too easy for the ability it believes you have. This is done so that a well prepared candidate will be asked more difficult questions thus having a good chance of passing the NCLEX exam by answering the minimum number of questions while less prepared candidates are not forced to guess the answers to questions too difficult for them. The expected number of correct answers is half the total number of NCLEX questions you are presented with because of the adaptive nature of the test.

After you answer the minimum number of questions for the NCLEX exam the software will analyze your performance and it may shut-down the computer. This means that you either passed or failed the exam. The computer will shut-down only when the program running the test has determined with 95% certainty that your ability is either above or below the passing standard.

The only way to get additional NCLEX questions is if you are very close to the passing score - either 2.5% above or 2.5% below it. If this is the case you should not worry about failing but instead should concentrate on answering correctly the next set of questions. You must understand that you are very close to passing the exam if you answer most NCLEX questions correctly from this point on. You must answer the maximum number of questions on the exam only if at the end of each set of questions you are within the 2.5% above or below the passing score. The time you spend on each question is not an important factor with regard to passing but you should answer the required number of questions in the allotted time.

If you are required to answer the maximum number of NCLEX questions and the computer still isn't 95% sure you can pass, the 95% confidence requirement is dropped. If at this point you have a score higher than the minimum required you pass the exam otherwise you fail. If you run out of time and did not answer the minimum number of questions required you fail automatically. If you run out of time but you answered the minimum number of questions required and for the last 60 NCLEX questions your score was never below the passing standard you pass otherwise you fail the exam. This does not mean that you have to answer the last 60 questions correctly but only that at any point during the last 60 NCLEX questions your score was above the minimum required to pass the exam. You can think about it this way: for each correct answer add one to your score while for each incorrect answer subtract one. Adding your scores one at a time for each question answered should never result in a negative score in order for you to pass if you run out of time but you have answered the minimum number of questions required.

The NCLEX-RN and NCLEX-PN questions are mostly multiple-choice questions with four answers. In some cases the NCLEX exam uses more difficult question formats such as multiple-choice questions that require you to select one or more correct answers, fill-in-the-blank questions or questions that require you to identify an area on a picture. Both exams cover mostly the same topics but the NCLEX-RN is more difficult. 

You must apply to your state board of nursing in order to take the NCLEX examination. That board of nursing will decide whether or not you are eligible for the NCLEX examination. If you are eligible you must register to take the exam using the Authorization to Take the Test (ATT) provided by the board of nursing in your state. They will also provide you with a list of testing centers and instructions for how to schedule and take the licensure examination. After you take the test you will have to wait for the results. The time you need to wait depends on how the results are reported in your state: mail, online, phone or email. If you fail the test you will receive a summary of your test performance indicating topics where you did well and topics that you need to study further. You will be able to take the test again after a mandatory waiting period - usually 45 days.

NCLEX-RN Exam
Kaplan NCLEX-RN Exam 2006-2007 with CD-ROM
Kaplan MCAT Comprehensive Review with CD-ROM
NCLEX-RN Exam Cram (Exam Cram)
NCLEX-PN Exam Practice Questions Exam Cram (Exam Cram)

Nursing Resources

Information about employment opportunities may be obtained from local hospitals, nursing care facilities, home health care agencies, psychiatric facilities, the North Carolina State Board of Nursing, and local offices of the State employment service. For information on nursing schools and lists of accredited programs in other states visit one of the following websites: Oklahoma Nursing Programs, Virginia Nursing Schools and Nursing Schools in Wisconsin.

The information on North-Carolina-Nursing-Schools.com is for general informational and educational purposes only. North Carolina-Nursing-Schools.com makes no representation that the information is accurate, reliable, complete or timely.