If your exam stopped at 85 questions, that tells you nothing about whether you passed — and the same is true at 150. This page explains why, using the stopping rules NCSBN publishes, and shows how many of your items actually counted. Free, no sign-up.
Once you have answered the minimum number of items, the exam stops as soon as it is 95% certain your ability is clearly above or clearly below the passing standard. It can reach that certainty in either direction, so stopping early says nothing about which. NCSBN calls this the most common scenario.
If your ability sits very close to the passing standard, the exam keeps going to the maximum number of items. At that point the confidence-interval rule is disregarded and only your final ability estimate counts: at or above the passing standard is a pass, below it is a fail.
If time expires before the maximum is reached and no 95% decision has been made: if you have NOT answered the minimum number of items, the result is a fail outright; if you have, the exam is scored on the final ability estimate from all the items you completed.
The first rule is the one that makes exam length uninformative: it fires as soon as the exam is confident in either direction. NCSBN puts it plainly in the 2026 NCLEX-RN Test Plan: “The length of the candidate’s examination is not an indication of a pass or fail result. A candidate may pass or fail regardless of the length of the examination.” To prepare against that test plan, see the Myndaq NCLEX-RN course.
| Length | 85 to 150 items, computerized adaptive, with 15 unscored pretest items on every exam |
| A minimum-length exam | 52 content-area items + 18 case-study items + 15 unscored pretest items = 85 |
| Case studies | 18 items in 3 sets of 6, one per step of NCSBN's clinical-judgement model |
| Appointment | 5 hours including breaks; a submitted question cannot be revisited |
| Test plan | 2026 NCLEX-RN Test Plan, in force from 2026-04-01 to 2029-03-31 |
| Authorization to Test | Averages 90 days and cannot be extended |
| Results | Official results come only from your nursing regulatory body, within 6 weeks. Unofficial Quick Results after 48 hours, where your nursing regulatory body participates, for US licensure only, and for a fee |
| Fees | US$200 registration in the US and Australia (CA$360 in Canada), US$150 international scheduling, US$50 to change regulatory body; none refundable |
NCSBN has announced that from 2027-02-01 the registration fee becomes US$350 in the United States and Australia, and CA$570in Canada. Quick Results are not universal — they are a paid service, offered only to candidates seeking US licensure whose board takes part — so confirm with yours rather than assuming.
The question count tells you nothing. NCSBN says so in its own test plan: the length of the examination is not an indication of a pass or fail result, and a candidate may pass or fail regardless of it. The exam stops as soon as it is 95% certain your ability is clearly above or clearly below the passing standard, so an 85-item exam is exactly as consistent with a clear pass as with a clear fail. A 150-item exam simply means that certainty was never reached and the decision was made on your final ability estimate. Wait for your nursing regulatory body.
Between 85 and 150, within a five-hour appointment. It is a computerized adaptive test, so the length depends on how quickly it becomes confident about your ability, not on how well you are doing in any way you can read from the number. NCSBN’s test plan states there are 15 unscored pretest items on every examination, so an 85-item exam has 70 scored items and a 150-item exam has 135. A minimum-length exam is 52 content-area items plus 18 case-study items plus those 15 pretest items.
The 95% confidence-interval rule, which stops the exam once you have answered the minimum number of items and your ability is clearly on one side of the passing standard; the maximum-length rule, used when the exam reaches its maximum without that certainty, where only the final ability estimate counts and at or above the standard is a pass; and the run-out-of-time rule, which applies when time expires before the maximum is reached. Under that last rule, if you have not answered the minimum number of items the result is a fail outright; if you have, the exam is scored on the final ability estimate from the items you completed.
No. The result is pass or fail only — there is no score, no percentage and no percentile to convert. It also includes 18 case-study items in three sets of six, one item per step of NCSBN’s clinical-judgement model, and once a question is submitted you cannot go back to it.
Official results come only from your nursing regulatory body, within six weeks. The unofficial Quick Results Service is available 48 hours after the exam, but it is limited three ways: it applies only to candidates seeking licensure in the United States, only where that nursing regulatory body takes part, and a fee is charged. Check with your board rather than assuming.
US$200 to register in the United States and Australia, or CA$360 in Canada, plus a US$150 international scheduling fee if you test outside the country you are seeking licensure in, and US$50 to change your nursing regulatory body. None of it is refundable. From 1 February 2027 the registration fee becomes US$350 in the United States and Australia, and CA$570 in Canada.
Every figure on this page was read on NCSBN's own nclex.com pages and the 2026 NCLEX-RN Test Plan PDF on 2026-09-20. Each source below is listed against the facts it actually carries: the item counts and the stopping rules are in the test plan and the CAT page, not in the FAQs.