given by the board of nursing of the state where a nurse wants to work in. The nursing examination hopes to determine if a nurse is qualified to practice his or her nursing career in the United States.

Eligible to take the NCLEX are registered nurses with a nursing degree and licensed practical nurses even with online nursing schools degrees. They are required to submit their application and will be given an Authorization to Take the Test (ATT) once their applications are approved.

The NCLEX delves on the following subject matter, as identified by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing:

1) Health Promotion and Maintenance -- focusing on Growth and Development Through the Life Span, and Prevention and Early Detection of Disease;

2) Safe and Effective Care Environment – focusing on Management of Care, and Safety and Infection Control;

3) Physiological Integrity – focusing on Physiological Adaptation, Pharmacological and Parenteral Therapies, Basic Care and Comfort, and Reduction of Risk Potential;

4) Psychosocial Integrity -- focusing on Psychosocial and Coping Adaptation.

The NCLEX makes use of a Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT) interactive system that determines a NURSE’s level of competence. It is a multiple choice exam with a minimum of 75 questions (including nursing abbreviations) and a maximum of 265 questions for RNs and a minimum of 85 questions and a maximum of 205 questions for LPNs.

Examinees are given 5 hours to finish the exam, including the time given for introductory computer tutorial and 20 minutes break.

Nursing examination

fee for taking the NCLEX is $200 and more information is available on NCLEX Candidate Web site, where you will find the Candidate bulleting .

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