Evolving Licensure Examination: Assessing Student Confidence and Accuracy With Next Generation NCLEX

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Assessment and Evaluation

Background:

• The Next Generation NCLEX (NGN) examination incorporates novel item types.
• Limited data exists on nursing students' confidence and performance with these new NGN item types.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare prelicensure nursing students' confidence and accuracy in answering NGN-style items versus traditional multiple-choice questions (MCQs).

Main Methods:

• A descriptive comparative study was conducted.
• A 12-item quiz assessed confidence and accuracy for NGN-style items and MCQs covering identical content.

Main Results:

• Only 32.1% of students felt confident answering NGN questions; confidence did not correlate with scores.
• Students scored lower on NGN bowtie and select-all-that-apply items compared to MCQs.
• Students scored higher on NGN highlight table and matrix multiple-choice questions compared to MCQs.

Conclusions:

• Incorporate NGN item types into nursing curricula to improve student confidence and performance.
• Reinforce NGN test-taking strategies throughout the nursing program.