- Six hours – the maximum time allotted for the NCLEX is 6 hours.
- Take breaks – Take breaks if you need a time out or need to move around. First optional break is offered after 2 hours of testing, next is offered after 3.5 hours of testing. All breaks count to your allotted six hours.
- 75/265 – the minimum number of question you can answer is 75 and a maximum of 265. Of the 75 questions, 60 will be scored question and the remaining 15 are pretest or unscored questions.
- Read the question and answers carefully – do not jump into conclusions or make wild guesses. Read the entirety of the question including its choices before selecting your final answer.
- Look for keywords – avoid answers with absolutes like always, never, all, every, only, must, except, none, or no.
- Don’t read into the question – Never assume anything that has not been specifically mentioned and don’t add extra meaning to the question.
- Eliminate answers that are clearly wrong or incorrect – to increase your probability of selecting the correct answer!
- Watch for grammatical inconsistencies – Subjects and verbs should agree. If the question is an incomplete sentence, the correct answer should complete the question in a grammatically correct manner.
- Rephrase the question – putting the question into your own words can pluck the unneeded info and reveal the core of the stem.
- Make an educated guess – if you can’t make the best answer for a question after carefully reading it, choose the answer with the most information.
- New question types – New question types are added on the test. These questions are found on the Special Research Section of the test, which pops up after the candidate finishes the exam. These do not count toward your score and are testing out the feasibility of the test question, not the test-taker.
