Essentially, the NCSBN or the National Council State Boards of Nursing (who administers the NCLEX) is planning to include a variety of 5 new question types (explained below) that better measure clinical judgment into the NCLEX beginning of 2023.
Right now is 2020. This is planning on happening in 2023 so youâve got some time. If youâre in school right now, chances are you wonât be exposed to the new NCLEX on test day.
You might, however, see some of these exam items on your exam as the NCSBN begins to test some of these question types, but they will not be scored.
The Next Generation NCLEX project began in about 2012 when the NCSBN said, âHey, are we doing everything that we can to prepare new nurses to enter the floor?â And they said, âwell, no, weâre not. We need to help them think a little bit differently and feel more clinically prepared.â
With that, it was determined that creating new questions types might improve their ability to gauge readiness to work on the hospital floor.
As of the latest update, there are 5 new question types.
The 5 new NCLEX question types include:
Essentially, three of the ânewâ NCLEX question types already exist and the new format is just adjusting delivery (multiple response, drag and drop, hot spot).
Essentially, these are select all that apply questions (SATA) questions with additional answer options.
So basically youâre given a STEM or a question and youâre asked to select all the answers that all the items or all the answers that answer that question. So theyâre just adding a few more options to SATA questions. Now hereâs the good thing . . . theyâre planning to use partial credit scoring. So thatâs huge.
So extended drag and drop is an alternate format question type on the NCLEX. These extended drag and drops are different because not all of the options will be required to be used in the answer.
So itâs almost like a select all that apply, drag and drop. Itâs really nothing more than that. Itâs just that youâre dragging it over rather than clicking a button. So in some cases, there might be more boxes available, than there are correct answers. And so you just have to select which ones actually apply to the patient for this new NCLEX question.
Given a sentence and itâs almost like a fill-in-the-blank, but instead of fill-in-the-blank, itâs a dropdown. So youâre given a sentence of the nurses evaluating a patient with pneumonia. You hover over the first dropdown and you select your answer and then you hover over the second and you select your answer. Itâs truly nothing more than that.
Itâs just selecting the appropriate dropdowns in any given sentence or within tables on a chart.
These seem kind of interesting in that youâre, for example, given a report, a written report from an off going nurse, and inside that report thereâs a couple pieces of information that you have to identify as important or things that you need to take action on.
So youâre given this report, this written report or a med chart or something like that, or a lab value and you have to select within there by like highlighting the phrase that requires the most immediate action. This is a great way to test nursing priorities.
Youâre going to see an Excel spreadsheet and youâll have different columns. One column will be patient data or actions that the nurse would take. And then the other three columns will be or correct answer options. And you would have to select one of the columns for each of these rows.
In all honesty â these seem like an exciting new NCLEX question type.
Now is this intimidating? Yeah, it will be a little bit intimidating for nursing students knowing that this is quite a bit different than just a four answer options, but we got your back.
To help remove the test anxiety around the NCLEX, we developed SIMCLEX which is a computer adaptive NCLEX simulator that replicates the adaptive nature of the NCLEX . . . you can take a SIMCLEX today.
Take a SIMCLEX NowBut at the same time, this is almost like when you are able to give an oral report or an essay answer option instead of selecting the right answer. I remember when I took anatomy and physiology, our professor would give us like a hundred-question test and they would give us two essays. I loved the two essay parts because I was able to explain everything that I knew versus having to select one right answer option. And maybe Iâd read the question wrong. So this is almost like that. Itâs almost giving you a chance to show more of what you know and I believe that a lot of these truly are going in the right direction for preparing nurses to deal with all that we see on the floor versus selecting a right answer option.
Thereâs a lot of times in nursing, thereâs not really a right answer, itâs just the best answer for that time for that patient. So I do believe that this is in the right direction. Donât get too concerned about this. If youâre taking the NCLEX this year or next year, if youâre taking it in 2022, maybe start becoming familiar with it. If youâre taking it in 2023 or beyond. I think that by that point, all the tech is going to be rolled out. All the testingâs going to be done where you would actually need to understand whatâs going on here. We will have many resources coming for you to help you take these questions as it gets closer.
Try out our Test Taking Course for additional help on how to uncover the why behind the what, the most important information, and in a way that you can go out and implement. All right guys, we love you. Now go out and be your best self today. Happy nursing.
If you are here, you are most likely trying to figure out what is this Next Generation NCLEX and what can I do to prepare for it? You may have even heard scary things about it that are causing a little stress and anxiety.
First of all, let me say . . .
Nursing school is hard, and passing the NCLEX is concerning, but . . . YOU CAN DO THIS!
To be completely transparent I have not gone to nursing school. But many friends have graduated and there is one thing they all say â it is HARD. But it is also POSSIBLE and can even be ENJOYABLE.
So why am I the one writing this if Iâve never been to nursing school? Mostly because I have a different viewpoint than many students. My years of teaching, including time at the college level, have helped me to see things that may be missed by others.
One thing that can help is knowledge and understanding. As we face the unknown there is fear, doubt, and discouragement. But as we begin to understand what is expected, we can turn those fears into motivation and success.
You may remember about a year ago we wrote about the NGN. Since that time the NCSBN has released more information. I will be sharing some of the things that I have found from the NCSBN concerning their plans and hopefully, this will calm your fears.
Why do we even have the NCSBN and why do we have to take the NCLEX?
[The] National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) is an independent, not-for-profit organization through which nursing regulatory bodies act and counsel together on matters of common interest and concern affecting public health, safety and welfare, including the development of nursing licensure examinations.
ncsbn.org
So the NCSBN creates a standard and the NCLEX is the test that verifies new nurses meet that standard.
Up until 1994, the NCLEX was actually a paper test and it was only offered 2 times a year. That means if you graduated shortly after the test was administered, you might have to wait 5 months before you could even take the test!
But all that changed with Computer Adaptive Tests CAT. On April 1, 1994, the first computerized NCLEX test was given . . . and it was a game changer.
Before that you showed up at a Superdome with 150,000 other potential nurses, now you can schedule the test when you feel ready and take it in a quiet (albeit stressful) environment.
The first CAT version of the NCLEX was studied, piloted, and analyzed to make sure that it was effective. The NCSBN has continued to analyze and research if the NCLEX is still effective. The results are that it is effective, but it could also be better.
The NCLEX measures different domains of clinical judgment such as:
Green means good or in other words, it does a good job measuring.
Red is bad in other words it cannot measure that domain of clinical judgment.
Yellow â somewhere in between.
You will notice from this graph that there is at least one question type that is able to measure each domain of clinical judgment. . . but there is A LOT of red.
The conclusion that the NCSBN came to from this research is that yes the NCLEX can provide valid measurements but there is a lot of room for improvement.
So how do you improve a test like the NCLEX that does not have question types that match up with the domains they are trying to test? Logically there is a need for new question types which is why you are reading this whole article about the Next Generation of NCLEX.
There is a lot more to share but that will have to come in the next article. So for now please sign up below and I will send you an update once I post the next article.
Also, I will send you a Free Cheatsheet on Test Taking Tips!
Everyone in nursing school understands the gravity of the NCLEX. Nursing school is hard enough and then at the end of it, you have to pass the NCLEX. It is the ONE test above all other tests that will determine if you are fit to be a nurse after you graduate.
Often times just the mention of the NCLEX can strike fear into the hearts of most nursing students. Though everyone knows what the test is, very rarely does anyone explain what makes up the test.
In this episode, I go in-depth into what truly makes up the NCLEX. What type of questions can you expect to see, how should you study, what to do if you fail and how to ensure that with the help of NRSNG and our SIMCLEX testing tool you pass as quickly and easily as possible.
Passing the NCLEX and finding your first nursing job can be just as challenging as passing nursing school.
Whether you just finished school or still have some time before you start looking for a job . . . this is an episode you will want to save and listen to a couple of times.
Ashley recently graduated (with a 4.0 GPA) from a top-tier nursing school and managed to secure a job before she even passed the NCLEXÂź. One of her tips literally blew me away as I had never thought of trying this when I was applying for jobs.
Need some more NCLEX preparation pep talk? Then join NURSING.com growing community! See what study tips work, get awesome nursing updates, and have fun bouncing from NCLEX burnout with people who understand what youâre going through!