The NCLEX-PN passing score is not a percentage. To pass, the computer's final estimate of your nursing ability must be at or above −0.18 logits, the NCLEX-PN passing standard that NCLEX.com lists as effective through March 31, 2029. That covers every NCLEX-PN sitting in 2027.
Because the exam is adaptive, there is no number of correct answers that guarantees a pass either. You answer between 85 and 150 questions, and the exam usually ends once the computer is 95% sure which side of −0.18 you are on. This guide explains what that number means, why it cannot be turned into a percentage, what your exam length does and does not tell you, and what NCSBN's 2025 data shows about who passes.
What is the NCLEX-PN passing score?
The NCLEX-PN passing score is −0.18 logits. NCSBN calls it the passing standard: the minimum ability required for safe and effective entry-level nursing practice. The 2026 NCLEX-PN Test Plan says the standard is applied the same way to every exam, that you must perform at or above it to pass, and that "there is no fixed percentage of candidates that pass or fail the examination."
−0.18
NCLEX-PN passing standard, in logits
NCLEX.com, Passing Standard
Mar 31, 2029
last day the −0.18 standard is listed as effective
NCLEX.com, Passing Standard
85–150
questions on every NCLEX-PN, in five hours including breaks
NCSBN, 2026 NCLEX-PN Test Plan
86.6%
first-time, U.S.-educated candidates who passed in 2025
NCSBN, 2025 NCLEX Examination Statistics
You will never see a number on your result. NCSBN's 2025 NCLEX Examination Statistics report puts it plainly: performance "is reported only as a pass-fail decision. Scores are never reported."
If you have also seen 0.00 logits online, that is the NCLEX-RN standard. NCSBN notes that the RN and PN standards "are not directly comparable because they are based on different item pools and different scopes of practice," so a PN standard below zero does not mean the PN exam is easier by some fixed amount.
What a logit is, and why there is no percentage
A logit (short for log-odds unit) is a unit on the scale NCSBN uses to place both question difficulty and candidate ability. According to NCSBN's statistics report, logits have no meaning in terms of nursing content and an arbitrary zero point, and the NCLEX-PN scale typically runs from −2.00 (easy items, lower ability) to +2.00 (hard items, higher ability). So the minus sign in −0.18 is not a "negative score." It marks a point just below the middle of that range.
The NCLEX-PN is a computerized adaptive test (CAT). After every answer, the computer re-estimates your ability from all your previous answers and the difficulty of those items, then picks the next item. NCSBN's report says the item is chosen to give you "approximately a 50% chance of answering it correctly." NCLEX.com adds that you should find every item challenging, because each one is aimed at your current ability.
That is why a percentage cannot work. The test plan explains that on a fixed-length exam, where everyone gets the same items, percent correct measures ability. On the NCLEX, two candidates can answer the same share of items correctly and still have very different ability estimates, because one of them was answering harder items. What counts is the difficulty of what you got right, not the count.
Three more details shape what "score" means here:
- 15 items do not count. Every NCLEX-PN includes 15 unscored pretest items that you cannot tell apart from scored ones. On an 85-item exam, 70 items count.
- Some items earn partial credit. NCLEX.com's FAQ lists three methods: plus/minus (points for correct picks, deductions for wrong ones, never below zero), zero/one (points for each correct pick, nothing for wrong ones) and rationale scoring (both parts of a linked pair must be right).
- Every attempt starts fresh. Everyone begins with an item of relatively low difficulty, and a retake does not pick up where your last exam left off.
How many questions are on the NCLEX-PN before it decides?
Between 85 and 150. The 2026 test plan sets a minimum of 85 items and a maximum of 150 within five hours, breaks included. After the 85th item, the exam ends as soon as the computer is 95% certain your ability is clearly above or clearly below −0.18. If your ability stays close to the standard, it runs to 150 and your final estimate decides. If time runs out first, you fail with fewer than 85 answers; with 85 or more, your final estimate decides.
NCSBN's 2025 statistics show how that played out for first-time, U.S.-educated PN candidates:
The pattern has been similar since the Next Generation NCLEX launched in April 2023. The share stopping at 85 items was 69.3% for April–December 2023 and 67.8% in 2024 (2023 and 2024 reports). Only 0.7% of 2025 first-time candidates used the full five hours, and the average exam took 2 hours 18 minutes.
The computer reached 95% certainty at the earliest point allowed. That happens for strong passes and for clear fails. NCLEX.com's FAQ says a fail at the minimum means it took only 85 items to be 95% sure your ability was below the standard. 2025: 64.6% of first-time, U.S.-educated candidates.
Your estimate was near enough to −0.18 that the computer needed more items, then reached 95% certainty before the maximum. Again, either result is possible.
Your ability stayed close to the standard. At item 150 the computer drops the 95% rule and compares your final ability estimate with −0.18: at or above passes, below fails. 2025: 17.7% of first-time, U.S.-educated candidates.
The run-out-of-time rule applies. Fewer than 85 answered items is a fail. With 85 or more, your final ability estimate is compared with −0.18. 2025: 0.7% of first-time, U.S.-educated candidates took the maximum time.
How the NCLEX-PN passing standard has changed
The PN standard has gone up step by step since computerized adaptive testing began in 1994, and it has stayed at −0.18 since 2020. NCSBN's Board of Directors re-evaluates it every three years, when the test plan is reviewed. The test plan lists what the board weighs: a standard-setting exercise by an expert panel, the history of the standard and candidate performance, a survey of educators and employers, and the educational readiness of high school graduates interested in nursing.
April 1994
CAT begins with a standard of −0.56 logits
October 1996
Raised to −0.51
April 1999
Raised to −0.47
April 2005
Raised to −0.42
April 2008
Raised to −0.37
April 2011
Raised to −0.27
April 2014
Raised to −0.21
March 25, 2020
Raised to −0.18, the current standard
April 2023 and April 2026
−0.18 retained for another three years each time
March 31, 2029
End of the period NCLEX.com lists for −0.18
The 2026 NCLEX-PN test plan runs to the same date. NCLEX.com does not yet list a standard for exams after it.
Dates and values come from NCSBN's 2025 NCLEX Examination Statistics and NCLEX.com. For 2027, the practical point is simple: the standard you will be measured against is the one candidates have faced since March 2020.
NCLEX-PN pass rates: what NCSBN's data shows
In 2025, 86.6% of first-time, U.S.-educated candidates passed the NCLEX-PN: 47,470 of 54,818, according to NCSBN's 2025 statistics. Across all 68,996 PN candidates, including repeaters and internationally educated nurses, the pass rate was 77.3%.
The gap between first attempts and retakes is the number to remember. U.S.-educated candidates passed at 86.6% on their first try and 41.7% on a repeat attempt. That does not mean a retake is hopeless; it means the cheapest pass is the first one, so test when you are ready rather than as soon as you are eligible.
Over a longer view, first-time pass rates fell to 80% in 2021 and 2022, then rose to 87%, 88% and 87% in 2023, 2024 and 2025. The Next Generation NCLEX launched on April 1, 2023, so the 2023 figure includes three months of the previous exam:
Pass rates are group results, not your personal odds. The standard itself has not moved since 2020, so these swings reflect the candidates and the exam, not a change in the cut point.
After the exam: results, the performance report and retakes
You get your official result from your board of nursing, which NCLEX.com says sends it within six weeks of the exam. In participating U.S. jurisdictions you can see an unofficial result sooner: Quick Results are available two business days after the exam through your Pearson account for $7.95, and they do not authorize you to practice.
If you do not pass, NCSBN sends a two-page Candidate Performance Report. It rates your performance in each test plan content area and in clinical judgment as below, near or above the passing standard. NCLEX.com's advice is to study the "below" areas first, then the "near" ones, without dropping the rest. If you answered fewer than the minimum number of items, you get a shorter report with no diagnostic detail.
A retake works like a new exam. You register again and pay again: the U.S. fee is $200 for registrations completed before February 1, 2027, and $350 from that date, retakes included (NCLEX.com fees). NCLEX.com's scheduling page says repeat candidates are offered appointments starting 45 days after their last attempt, and NCSBN rotates item pools so you do not see the same items again.
How to pass the NCLEX-PN when there is no target score
You pass the NCLEX-PN by being consistently above −0.18 across the whole test plan, not by hitting a number of correct answers. The scoring rules point to a few concrete habits.
- Study every content area. The exam must match the test plan percentages at every length, so you cannot pass on your strong areas alone. Use the 2026 NCLEX-PN Test Plan as your checklist.
- Get used to hard questions. Items are aimed at your ability, so the exam will feel difficult even when you are passing. Practice with questions that make you think, and do not read a tough item as a sign you are failing.
- Do not read meaning into similar items. The test plan says a similar item may be a different phase of care or an unscored pretest item, and is not a sign you got the first one wrong.
- Answer carefully, then move on. You cannot skip an item or return to it after you select Next. In 2025 the average first-time exam took 2 hours 18 minutes of the five hours, so you have time to read every option.
- Respect the partial-credit rules. On select-all-that-apply items scored plus/minus, a wrong pick costs a point, so choose only the options you can justify.
Here is one original NCLEX-PN-style question to practice that habit. It is written by Prepia, not taken from NCSBN.
Frequently asked questions
What is the passing score for the NCLEX-PN?
The NCLEX-PN passing standard is −0.18 logits, listed on NCLEX.com as effective through March 31, 2029. You pass if the computer's estimate of your ability is at or above that point when the exam ends. It is not a percentage or a number of correct answers.
What percentage do you need to pass the NCLEX-PN?
There is no percentage. Each item is chosen to match your ability, so the share you answer correctly says little; what matters is the difficulty of the items you answer correctly. NCSBN reports only pass or fail and never a score.
How many questions are on the NCLEX-PN?
Between 85 and 150, in a five-hour limit that includes breaks. Fifteen are unscored pretest items. In 2025, 64.6% of first-time, U.S.-educated candidates stopped at 85 items and 17.7% answered all 150; the average was 100 items.
What is the NCLEX-PN pass rate?
In 2025, 86.6% of first-time, U.S.-educated candidates passed, and 77.3% of all NCLEX-PN candidates passed. U.S.-educated repeat candidates passed at 41.7%.
Is the NCLEX-PN passing standard changing in 2027?
No change has been announced. NCLEX.com lists −0.18 logits as effective through March 31, 2029, and NCSBN's 2025 statistics report says the standard was retained in April 2026 for another three years.
If my NCLEX-PN stops at 85 questions, did I pass?
Not necessarily. The exam stops at 85 when the computer is 95% sure your ability is clearly above or clearly below the standard, so it can be a pass or a fail. NCSBN says exam length is not an indication of the result.
Sources
- NCLEX.com (NCSBN) — Passing Standard, accessed October 2, 2026.
- NCLEX.com (NCSBN) — Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT), accessed October 2, 2026.
- NCSBN — 2026 NCLEX-PN Test Plan (PDF), accessed October 2, 2026.
- NCSBN — 2025 NCLEX Examination Statistics, Research Brief Vol. 96, June 2026 (PDF), accessed October 2, 2026.
- NCSBN — 2024 NCLEX Examination Statistics, Research Brief Vol. 94, July 2025 (PDF), accessed October 2, 2026.
- NCSBN — 2023 NCLEX Examination Statistics, Research Brief Vol. 88, June 2024 (PDF), accessed October 2, 2026.
- NCLEX.com (NCSBN) — FAQs, accessed October 2, 2026.
- NCLEX.com (NCSBN) — Candidate Performance Report, accessed October 2, 2026.
- NCLEX.com (NCSBN) — Quick Results, accessed October 2, 2026.
- NCLEX.com (NCSBN) — Scheduling, accessed October 2, 2026.
- NCLEX.com (NCSBN) — Fees & Payment, accessed October 2, 2026.