Strategies to Improve NCLEX-RN Success: A Review

Quantitative evaluation of variables to student success in a mastery learning baccalaureate nursing programme

“…Nurse educators, who implement admission policies and pedagogical practices, standardized testing and remediation efforts, could influence student progression and success performance on the NCLEX‐RN ® on the graduate's first attempt (Seidman, ; Simon, McGinniss, & Krauss, ). Nursing programmes commonly employ standardized assessments to identify at‐risk students unlikely to be successful in nursing programmes and on the NCLEX‐RN ® (Nibert & Morrison, ; Quinn, Smolinski, & Peters, ). The mastery learning approach (MLA) is a non‐traditional pedagogy, which posits that all students can achieve educational outcomes of any subject content if faculty provides appropriate and quality instruction through a variety of instructional strategies without regard to time needed to reach the outcome (Guskey, ; McGaghie, Issenberg, Cohen, Barsuk, & Wayne, ; Morgan, ).…”

Professional Preparation: Faculty Practices for NCLEX-RN® Success

“…Monroe and Dunemn (2020) recently described success predicting postgraduation readiness for NCLEX-RN ® with a postgraduation readiness exam. In their literature review, Quinn, Smolinski, and Peters (2018) found that multifaceted approaches to improve NCLEX-RN ® success was the most favored strategy.…”

Comparing Results of Alternate Format Test Questions to Standard Multiple Choice Test Questions in First, Second, and Third Year Baccalaureate Nursing Students

“…Ultimately, all nursing students must pass a licensure exam at the end of their nursing education program in order to practice as a registered nurse. In the United States, the NCLEX-RN exam has been the licensure exam that nursing graduates are expected to pass since 1978 as the final step to practice safely as a registered nurse [9][10] [11]. Since 1994, the NCLEX-RN exam has been delivered as a computer adaptive exam for licensure assessment in nursing [9].…”

“…The NCLEX-RN exam utilizes test question items in a variety of formats that include not only multiple choice questions, but also alternate format items including but not limited to "multiple response, fill in the blank calculation, ordered response, and hotspot" [13]. Quinn et al [11] suggest nurse educators have an obligation to prepare nursing students to write the NCLEX-RN exam, and the National League of Nursing (NLN) [14] recognizes that faculty must assess students for competence using multiple approaches. Wendt and Kenny [15] state that "the use of alternate format items may allow examinees to demonstrate competencies in a different manner while also enabling more authentic assessment of additional knowledge, skill, and abilities".…”

“…Wendt and Kenny [15] state that "the use of alternate format items may allow examinees to demonstrate competencies in a different manner while also enabling more authentic assessment of additional knowledge, skill, and abilities". Some authors also recommend that alternate format items be included in nursing educational program exams [11] [15]. We were interested in learning if changes in question item format had an impact on an individual's ability to answer a test question correctly.…”