The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) recently released the 2025 Q1 pass rates for the NCLEX exam, the licensure exam nurses must pass to practice. The data shows a decline compared to the pass rates in the same period in 2024.
Key findings include:
- 88.37% of first-time, U.S.-educated RN candidates passed the 2025 NCLEX examination in Q1, down from 94.15% in 2024.
- 86.28% of first-time, U.S.-educated PN candidates passed the 2025 NCLEX examination in Q1, down from 91.09% in 2024.
There are a few factors that could explain the decline, including the 2023 introduction of the Next Generation NCLEX (NGN) exam, which focuses on assessing clinical judgement, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills in nursing candidates, and the adoption of partial scoring.
Despite the comparative decline in NCLEX passing rates, this data alone does not tell the whole story about the state of nursing education, and trends will need to continue to be monitored. Given the Q1 passing rates from 2023 before the NGN and its partial scoring were launched – 80.48% for RN candidates and 79.56% for PN candidates – it is equally possible that this year’s passing rates are a stabilizing number as compared to abnormally inflated scores in 2024.
The latest report from NCSBN should underscore for policymakers the importance of advancing solutions that strengthen the nursing pipeline and our healthcare workforce.
To view the full NCSBN report, CLICK HERE.