How These Questions Are Written

Last updated: September 28, 2026

Original items only

Every question is written for this site. We do not copy, paraphrase, or reconstruct official exam questions. If an item can’t be explained from a standard nursing priority, it doesn’t ship.

What a question has to include

• One stem, one best answer, and distractors that are plausible nursing actions.
• A category from the published NCLEX-RN client-needs list (management of care, safety and infection control, pharmacological therapies, physiological adaptation, reduction of risk potential, and the others on that outline).
• A rationale that says why the best answer comes first, not only why the others are wrong.

Item types on these forms

Each sitting uses one best answer, select all that apply, a matrix, a drop-down, a drop-down table, a highlight, a highlight in a table, drag-and-drop, a trend item, a bowtie, and one charted case of six questions.

What the score means

Each sitting is 30 items. Select-all, matrix, drop-down, and bowtie items can earn partial credit. The number at the end is how you did on that form. It is not scaled, it is not a readiness band, and it is not a prediction of an NCLEX result.

Review

A rationale is checked against the rule it claims (for example, an adult digoxin hold below 60, or soap and water for C. difficile) before the item is published. If a rule changes, or a reader shows us we’re wrong, the item is updated. Send those notes to contact.

The documents we use as the category list are named on sources.