I’ve seen a number of posters comment about the NCLEX pass rate statistics. These are available to the public and are among the criteria to consider for applicants to gauge the strength of a BSN program. The thinking when comparing schools is (all else equal) the higher pass rate is better.
Some of the comments I’ve seen include a caveat that schools have the ability to pre-qualify test takers. And that schools may somehow make taking the test unavailable to students who score poorly on these pre-tests. That way their NCLEX pass rate is higher than it would be if all students took the test. My question - is this possible and how do schools regulate the pool of test takers for the NCLEX?
It definitely happens among many schools. Some are tougher than others. Duquesne University had many angry students because they required an excessively high score on the pre-test. You can find news articles on that controversy online from a year or two ago.
My understanding is that the college needs to certify to the State board of nursing that the student is ready to take the test. The school can make a student re-take prep classes until they bring up their test scores. In some cases, students have had to wait a full year to take the exam, because the college made they re-take a class that was only offered in the spring semester.
As a result, be VERY suspicious of a college with an unusually high pass rate (such as over 95% on the first time a student takes the exam).
@Charliesch thanks for the info. I looked up the school in question and found that Duquesne prevented students from graduating based on not meeting an arbitrary threshold on a NCLEX prep test. That is crazy. I wonder how this practice impacts another key measure prospective students use for selecting a school: 4-year graduation rate. The school can’t have it both ways can it? Thanks again.
Many colleges use a cutoff score on the prep test. However, Duquesne at first used an excessively high cut off score, until the students went to the newspapers and gave the Unversity really bad press.
Some other problems occurred when for profit schools NCLEX rates were so low that students complained about the school making a profit and they were not prepared for the exam. There was a backlash against the schools who then instituted the comprehensive exam system. The same thing happened in other TX and MA schools. The following is from an article about these policies: The controversy over comprehensive tests for nursing schools has in fact been around for several years; a 2012 report from the National League for Nursing (NLN) stated that the organization “recognizes the pressure faced by nursing schools to maintain high NCLEX pass rates… It is the prevalent use of standardized tests to block graduation or in some other way deny eligibility to take the licensing exam that is most concerning to the NLN.”
You can draw a parallel between some nursing schools following this policy and other institutions who will refuse to write a committee recommendation for a student who wishes to apply to med school. The goal is to keep the stats looking favorable to attract more students.
If you are doing well throughout your studies and prepare for the exam, you will not have any problem passing.
If a college’s pass rate falls too low, it can go on probation, and could lose its accredition.
In any case, be very very suspicious of any for-profit programs. Some are really bad (particularly in Florida).