Success in old and new licensure examinations: pre-admission factors and academic performance

Relationships of student and academic variables with nursing licensure examination scores were examined. During the years 1978-1984, 164 graduates of an integrated baccalaureate program took the old State Board examination and 159 took the new examination. Among the pre-admission variables, gradepoint average and student age were most useful in predicting exam scores. Nursing lecture courses were better predictors of success than clinical courses. Students who received A-grades in lecture courses scored relatively higher and B-students scored lower on the new licensure examination compared to the old examinations. Compared with their classmates, students entering the program as LPNs did markedly better on the new licensure examination than they did on the old examinations.