April 1st marks the day we have all been waiting for (or dreading) since the NCSBN announced there were going to be changes to the NCLEX . . . NextGen-style questions! If this time wasn’t already stressful enough for you, now you have to worry about “something new”. I want to take a few minutes to let you know that you will be okay. YOU CAN DO THIS and NURSING.com has your back.
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Over the last 2 years, I have been knees-deep studying the changes to the NCLEX. In this post, I will explain everything I learned about how the scoring works on Matrix Multiple Choice questions. After reading you will have confidence when you click submit after every question on the NCLEX.
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Let's get started. Below is an example of a Matrix Multiple Choice question:
You can tell it's a matrix because it has columns and rows. It's multiple-choice because you can only select one option on each row.
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To know how many points the question is worth just count the number of rows. For example, the question below is worth 5 points because it has 5 rows . . . easy enough, right?
The scoring for this is done by what's called zero-one scoring. In other words, you can get one point if you get it right or you get zero points if you get it wrong. That's why they call it zero one! You can get up to one point for each row.
Scoring Method:
- 0/1 Scoring
- +1 for each right answer
- 0 for each wrong answer
- Add up the points for each row
To help understand the scoring a little better, let's look at how this would work with an actual example.
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If the question below was my question and we wanted to score it, the first thing we would do is look at the first row did I get the answer right or wrong?
I got it right, that would give me one point! Let’s move on to the second row:
I got it wrong. So unfortunately zero points.
Then you just continue on to the following rows. In the last few rows, I got all of the answers correct so I get one point for each correct answer.
Now it is time to calculate the score by adding it up.
- 1 Answer: +1
- 2 Answer: 0
- 3 Answer: +1
- 4 Answer: +1
- 5 Answer: +1
Remember from above this question was worth 5 possible points, so on this particular question, I got 4 points out of a possible 5. Not too bad, right?
Let’s review the key points on scoring Matrix Multiple Choice.- Item Type: Matrix Multiple Choice
- Scoring Method: 0/1
- Partial Credit: Yes
- Most Helpful Tip: Understand the nursing concepts being tested
NURSING.com has all of the resources you’ll need to help you understand, practice and gain confidence before you walk into the NCLEX.
For a limited time, NURSING.com is offering free NextGen accounts for all nursing students . . . no matter where you are in your nursing journey. Click below to learn more!
You can do this!
Happy nursing.
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