Date Published: October 1, 2019
As a resource for anything and everything nursing-school-related, we have received numerous questions from students about Next Generation NCLEX. What is it? When will it launch? What do students need to know?
We’ve worked with The National Council of the State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) to provide you with the correct answers. Take a look at the information below.
What is Next Generation NCLEX?
Next Generation NCLEX is the nickname given to a new version of the NCLEX that’s in development. The purpose of this new NCLEX is to better evaluate candidates’ clinical judgment skills.
Related Read: NCLEX 101 – Exam Essentials
What is clinical judgment?
NCSBN defines clinical judgment as the observed outcome of critical thinking and decision-making – an iterative process that uses nursing knowledge to observe and assess presenting situations, identify a prioritized client concern and generate the best possible, evidence-based solutions to deliver safe client care.
Clinical judgment skills are crucial to your success as a nurse. Why? Clinical judgment is linked to 46% of tasks performed by entry-level nurses, and nearly 1 out of 2 novice nurses are involved in a nursing care error.
How will the NCLEX Exam change with NextGen?
The Next Generation NCLEX will include new question formats focused on clinical judgment. Those identified so far are multiple selection, highlight, cloze — also called drop-down — drag-and-drop, and matrix.
With the new item types, NCSBN does not know yet if the NGN will be longer or shorter. However, it will not exceed 6 hours. So far, NCSBN testing shows most candidates need only about 1 minute to answer the new items.
Related Read: Alternate Item Formats and How to Prepare for Them
When will changes take effect?
Take a deep breath. The NCSBN says the Next Generation NCLEX’s anticipated launch will not be before 2023. That means if you are taking the NCLEX any time before 2023, you may encounter NextGen content on the exam, but your answers to those questions will not count toward your success.
Your optional participation in answering those questions — which appear at the end of the exam in a “Special Research Section” — simply helps the NCSBN’s research in testing the question formats. By answering those questions, you’re helping future nursing students, so consider it a good deed to participate!
What’s next?
The NCSBN is continuing its research and analyzing its data. It anticipates having additional information in late spring of 2020 to be able to share a better timeline of when they plan to launch the Next Gen NCLEX.
Looking for more information about the NCLEX Exam? Head over to the Passing the NCLEX category of our blog.
