From Prep to Pass: Dominate the Next Gen NCLEX-PN and Launch Your Career (Part 1)

The Next Generation NCLEX-PN (NGN), launched by the NCSBN (National Council of State Boards of Nursing) on April 1, 2023, is the newest version of the NCLEX-PN licensure exam for nurses. The NCLEX-PN exam (National Council Licensure for Practical Nurses) is a critical national licensing exam for Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) that establishes professional ability to provide safe and competent patient care. 

This complete, two-part guide is your resource for all things NCLEX-PN: from exam format, what’s covered in the exam to how to prepare and pass the exam the first time. We’ll provide an actionable blueprint for NGN success. In this first part, we’ll review mastering the NGN format, including its innovative question types so you can be equipped with the confidence and tools you need to pass the Next Gen NCLEX-PN the first time. 

Although the NCLEX-PN exam may appear intimidating, by gaining a clearer understanding and appreciation for how to approach the exam, you can succeed with confidence. So let’s begin!  

Key Takeaways

• Understand the NGN Format and Focus: Because the Next Gen NCLEX-PN emphasizes clinical judgment and real-world decision-making and application, it ensures nurses are prepared to face the actual challenges of everyday patient care. 
• Leverage the CJMM Framework: Master the six-step Clinical Judgment Measurement Model (CJMM), a structured decision-making process for practical nursing skill, to confidently assess, prioritize and deliver the best patient care decisions.
• Prepare Strategically for the New Question Types: Become familiar with innovative question types like bowtie, case studies and trend analysis, and partial credit scoring to best prepare for Next Gen NCLEX-PN exam success.

Understanding the Next Gen NCLEX-PN

Passing the NCLEX-PN exam is a legal requirement to become an LPN in the US. It ensures that entry-level practical nurses have the requisite knowledge and safety skills to be able to proficiently perform nursing requirements. With its unique examination system, the NCLEX-PN tests a nurse’s knowledge of practical subjects with real-world scenario applications. 

Unlike the original NCLEX-PN which was more theoretical, the NGN is designed to assess a nursing candidate's practical clinical judgment of real-world nursing scenarios. Because the exam aligns with everyday nursing realities, it evaluates a nurse-candidate’s ability to make informed decisions under pressure.

Who Should Take the NCLEX-PN?

Anyone who wants to become an LPN, licensed to practice nursing in the US or Canada must take the NCLEX-PN. It is intended to be taken by graduates from accredited practical or vocational nursing programs. It is the hallmark of your readiness to safeguard nursing standards and responsibilities.  

What Is the Next Gen NCLEX-PN and Why Was It Introduced?

The Next Gen NCLEX-PN is an updated version of the NCLEX licensure exam, implemented to more accurately test the critical thinking and decision-making skills in nurse-candidates for safe and effective nursing practices. In effect, the Next Gen NCLEX-PN tests for clinical nursing judgement, a critical aptitude necessary for effective patient care. Unlike the NCLEX which tests for more theoretical understanding, key reasons for rolling out the Next Gen NCLEX-PN included:

• Responding to the growing complexity of healthcare and modern patient care.
• Closing the divide between theoretical and applied, real-world nursing scenarios.
• Ensuring nurses make the best, informed decisions under time-sensitive circumstances.

At the core of the Next Gen NCLEX-PN is the Clinical Judgment Measurement Model (CJMM) which organizes the decision-making process for nursing into six phases:

1. Recognizing Cues: Identify relevant signals like vital signs and pertinent patient history from various sources.   
2. Analyzing Cues: Organize and interpret these signals to analyze a patient's clinical presentation.
3. Prioritizing Hypotheses: Assessing and ranking prospective explanations for a patient’s condition based on factors like urgency and risk. 
4. Generating Solutions: Predict the expected outcomes and develop interventions to address the prioritized hypotheses.
5. Taking Action: Implement the selected interventions appropriately and effectively. 
6. Evaluating Outcomes: Evaluate the patient’s response to the interventions and compare the observed outcomes with the anticipated result. 

Developed by the NCSBN, this structured CJMM framework enables the Next Gen NCLEX-PN to evaluate a candidate’s ability to make reasoned clinical judgments. In this way, this cognitive process outlines the critical thinking pathway nurses employ to make sound clinical assessments so that  the NGN can assess core nursing competencies.   

Key Features of the Next Gen NCLEX-PN Exam

The NGN features innovative question types and scoring methods that distinguish it from the traditional NCLEX. Here’s a closer look:  

Subject Matter

The Next Gen NCLEX-PN, like the traditional NCLEX-PN, is centered around clinical judgment mastery of four Client Needs categories:

1. Safe and Effective Care Environment: This category focuses on creating and managing a safe and effective patient care environment, including coordinated care and safety and infection control.
2. Health Promotion and Maintenance: This area focuses on ways nurses can promote health while preventing illness.  
3. Psychosocial Integrity: This category focuses on a nurse’s ability to support a patient’s emotional, mental and social wellbeing.
4. Physiological Integrity: The largest component of the Next Gen NCLEX-PN, this category focuses on basic care and comfort, pharmacological therapies, reduction of risk potential and physiological adaptation. 

New Question Types

Going beyond the typical multiple choice questions, the Next Gen NCLEX-PN explores real-world nursing scenarios with formats that include:

• Case Studies: Evolving scenarios that unfold to ask stepwise, critical reasoning and decision-making questions about real-world nursing scenarios.
• Bowtie Questions: Emphasizing identification of the most relevant actions, possible complications and patient outcomes. 
• Expanded Stand-Alone Items: Focusing on independent test assessments that determine your clinical judgment and decision-making skills from questions like extended multiple response, matrix/grid items, enhanced hot spot and drop-down cloze. 
• Trend Questions: Identifying patterns and care priorities using patient charts and relevant data. 

Partial Credit Scoring

Unlike the traditional NCLEX approach to questions as all-or-nothing, the NGN offers more nuanced partial credit. In this way, candidates are rewarded for discerning part of the critical thinking needed to answer each question. This new policy encourages greater efforts in clinical judgment. 

Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT) Format

Similar to the traditional NCLEX, the Next Gen NCLEX-PN applies the CAT format to make question difficulty responsive to testing performance. The exam contains 85 to 150 questions, including 15 unscored pre-test questions. This adaptive format ensures that your fitness for nursing competence is carefully assessed. 

Does the NGN make passing the NCLEX-PN harder?

Not necessarily. Although the Next Gen NCLEX-PN tests more rigorously for critical thinking and decision making skills in clinical judgment, it also offers partial credit opportunities. Many candidates have found the exam to be manageable with the right test prep strategy. This emphasizes a focus on the CJMM process and practicing NGN-style questions to build confidence.    

Next Gen NCLEX-PN Question Types and Strategies

The Next Gen NCLEX-PN has several different question formats, each designed to probe core nursing competency, critical reasoning skills and decision-making ability. Here are the common question types:

For the exam, questions are designed not only to test theoretical knowledge but also practical nursing applications. Comfort and familiarity with these question types will help ensure more complete accuracy.  

Key Content Category Covered in the NCLEX-PN

The following content categories of the NCLEX-PN exam establish competent credibility to become a licensed LPN. These competencies ensure that each LPN possesses the requisite know-how to practice safe and effective patient care. Each area emphasizes real-world decision-making confidence and critical thinking skills to ensure the LPN candidate is qualified. 

Here are the key content categories that make up the NCLEX-PN exam, with their weighted values for the exam:  

Mastering these sections of the NCLEX-PN exam ensures you have the ability to safely and competently handle effective patient care. By focusing on these categories, you can better prepare for successfully responding to the actual theoretical and practical demands of the NCLEX-PN exam. 

Read On in Our Second Part to This Ultimate Guide!

Join us in the second part for this series on the Next Gen NCLEX-PN exam where we’ll explore how best to prepare for the exam, tips for exam day and post-exam considerations. We’ll see you on the flip side!

Ready to Partner with Achieve Test Prep to Master Your NCLEX-PN Exam Journey?

Achieve Test Prep is here when you need us to help you pass the NCLEX-PN exam with confidence on your first try. If you’re just starting out and want to become a nurse faster, Achieve can help get you there by fast-tracking your nursing career with bridge programs like LPN to RN, LPN to BSN, CNA to RN, RN to BSN among many more options. Be among the many satisfied students who have succeeded with Achieve and get ahead in your nursing path today.