Each nursing regulatory body (NRB) has its own eligibility requirements to take the NCLEX. NCSBN does not maintain a list of requirements for each NRB. Contact the NRB where you are seeking licensure/registration for their requirements (applicable only to NRBs of the U.S., Canada and Australia).

To take the NCLEX, you will first need to complete two separate processes (applicable only to nursing regulatory bodies of the U.S. & Canada):

1. Contact your Nursing Regulatory Body (NRB) and request a licensure/registration application.
   • Registration process for Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) candidates
   • You will pay a licensing/registration fee to the NRB along with the submission of your application materials.
   • Licensure/registration applications must be obtained from the NRB in the state/province/territory where you are seeking licensure/registration, as requirements vary.
2. Register with Pearson (the testing vendor) using one of the following methods:
   • Online – Visit Pearson and pay with a credit, debit or prepaid card
   • Phone – Call Pearson Candidate Services at +15312705640 and pay the exam fee by credit, debit or prepaid card

Find out more about the NCLEX registration process.

If your Nursing Regulatory Body (NRB) has declared you eligible:

1. You must contact your NRB to make the necessary corrections.
2. Once the correction is confirmed with the NRB, please contact Pearson for a revised Authorization to Test (ATT) if needed.

If you have not been made eligible by your NRB, then you will need to contact Pearson to report the corrections.

Once you have been made eligible by your nursing regulatory body (NRB), you will receive an Authorization to Test (ATT) via the email address you provided when registering. If you have not received an ATT email, you may want to contact your NRB to ensure all necessary materials have been submitted and received, or to find out why they have not granted eligibility to your registration. You must have your ATT email to schedule an appointment to take the NCLEX.

You must test within the validity dates of your ATT (the average length of an ATT is 90 days). These validity dates cannot be extended for any reason. If you do not test within these dates you will have to reregister and pay another exam fee. The ATT contains your authorization number, candidate identification number and an expiration date. You need the ATT to schedule an appointment to take the NCLEX.

Call Pearson Candidate Services at 866.496.2539 or at one of the international telephone numbers in the NCLEX Candidate Bulletin to report a lost ATT or if your NRB has made you eligible and you have not received your ATT.

Links to all NRBs websites and contact information are available on the Membership page.

For further details, visit Authorization to Test.

You are able to take the NCLEX at any Pearson Professional Testing location, regardless of where you are applying for licensure/registration.

The NCLEX is given year round and is administered by Pearson. For candidates seeking licensure in the U.S., domestic test centers are those within the U.S. and American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands. For candidates seeking licensure/registration in Canada, domestic test centers are those within Canadian provinces/territories and the mainland U.S. (not including territories). International locations where the NCLEX is offered include Australia, Brazil, France, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Philippines, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Türkiye and United Kingdom.

Candidates can find test center locations by going to the Pearson website.

For more information on where the NCLEX is offered, visit the Test Center Locations page.

All forms of identification must be valid and meet the following requirements. If the ID does not meet these requirements (See Acceptable ID), you will be turned away and required to reregister and pay another examination fee:

• Physical (non-digital)
• Government-issued
• Non-expired
• Name (in Roman characters)
• Recent photograph
• Signature

Examples of acceptable forms of identification for domestic test centers are:

• Passport books and cards
• Driver’s license
• Provincial/Territorial or state identification card
• Permanent residence card
• Military identification card

The only identifications acceptable for international test centers, including Puerto Rico, are:

• Passport books and cards

Candidates with identification from a country on the U.S. government’s sanctioned countries will have to follow the requirements listed in order to sit for the exam.

For more information on identification, visit the Acceptable Identification page.

Definitions of Domestic and International Test Centers

Only the first and last names need to match between the candidate’s ID and ATT.

For more information on identification, visit the Acceptable Identification page.

No, the address does not need to match between the candidate’s ID and ATT.

For more information on identification, visit the Acceptable Identification page.

Official exam results are available only from the nursing regulatory bodies (NRBs) within 6 weeks of the exam appointment. Pearson and NCSBN do not provide exam results.

Candidates whose NRB participates in the Quick Results Service (only applies to candidates seeking licensure in the U.S.) can access their ‘unofficial’ results 48 hours after their exam date and time (a fee is required).

Links to all NRB websites and contact information are available on the Membership page.

For more information about getting NCLEX results, visit the Results Reporting section.

Yes, the registration fee is forfeited if a candidate cannot cancel outside of 24 business hours from their appointment and/or does not keep their appointment. The candidate will need to reregister and pay another exam fee. Because a test was not administered, the candidate would be able to test after they are made eligible again by their nursing regulatory body and receive a new Authorization to Test. The same policy applies to a candidate who does not test within their authorization period.

No. There are no refunds of NCLEX fees for any reason.

For more information, visit the Refund Policy section.

NCSBN does not recommend or endorse any review courses or study materials. If you are interested in participating in a review course or purchasing review materials, please consult a nursing education professional for suggestions. Links to all nursing regulatory bodies’ (NRB) websites and contact information are available on the Membership page.

You may ask the TA for a Confidential Comment Sheet to provide any information about your exam appointment to NCSBN, the test centers or Pearson Candidate Services. If you have questions about your testing session, please contact NCSBN within two weeks of your exam appointment.

The same NCLEX-RN exam is used for Canadian and U.S. entry to nursing practice. For questions about whether you can practice in another state/province/territory, please contact the nursing regulatory body for that jurisdiction. Links to all nursing regulatory bodies’ websites and contact information are available on the NCSBN website.

The following NCLEX resources are available in French:

• NCLEX-RN Test Plans
• NCLEX Tutorial
• NCLEX Candidate Bulletin
• NCLEX Webinar Series
• NCLEX Exam Preview
• NCLEX Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

No. Candidates have to answer a question in order to move onto the next question.

For more information, visit the Computerized Adaptive Testing section.

The CAT algorithm selects items that are of optimal difficulty for the candidate. Therefore, each item selected with be relatively difficult for the candidate. Candidates cannot reliably identify which items are easy and which are difficult with regard to the NCLEX scale. At the end of an examination, a candidate is usually receiving items that they have approximately a 50% chance of answering completely correct. The candidate’s sense of what is easy and what is difficult is relative to their ability. Because the examination is adaptive, both high and low ability candidates will think the items at the end of the exam are challenging.

For more information, visit the Computerized Adaptive Testing section.

This means that it took only the minimum number of items for the scoring algorithm to determine with 95% certainty that the candidate’s nursing ability was below the passing standard.

For more information, visit the Computerized Adaptive Testing section.

No. The NCLEX uses computerized adaptive testing (CAT) to administer the items. Initially, everyone is administered an item with a relatively low difficulty level, and his/her progression on the exam from that point onward depends on their performance. A complete overview on how CAT works can be found on the Computerized Adaptive Testing information page.

For more information, visit the Computerized Adaptive Testing section.

‘Near the Passing Standard’ means a particular candidate’s ability estimate is not clearly above or clearly below the passing standard in a content area.

For more information, visit the Candidate Performance Report section.

The NCLEX is designed as a screening tool used to identify candidates that can demonstrate that their nursing ability is sufficient to be competent in practice. Providing more detailed feedback for candidates who fail is done in an attempt to help the candidate direct their remediation strategies. Providing feedback to people who do not need remediation serves no purpose and could be misused by candidates or employers in making employment decisions.

For more information, visit the Candidate Performance Report section.