NCLEX Score Report Reader

How to read your NCLEX candidate performance report

When a candidate does not pass, the results come with a candidate performance report, usually called the CPR. It rates each Client Needs area and each clinical judgment step against the passing standard. Each rating comes only from your answers to the questions in that area.

Each line shows one of the three performance levels. The report gives no score and no count of questions right, and this reader does not make one up.

What near the passing standard means

NCSBN is direct about this. Near means you performed close to the passing standard. It does not show that you performed at or above it.

The pass decision is also not the sum of your area ratings. NCSBN points out that you could be near in every area and still have been below the standard each time.

How this reader orders your study

Areas rated below come first, then areas rated near. Inside each group, the area that carries more questions on the exam comes first. The reader takes the midpoint of its range on the 2026 test plan. Areas rated above stay at the end of the list for review.

The clinical judgment steps have no weight of their own on the test plan. NCSBN measures them with three case studies of six items each plus stand-alone items, so the reader lists them in report order.

Reports from before April 2026

The 2026 test plans took effect in April 2026. Both renamed Safety and Infection Control to Safety and Infection Prevention and Control. If your report shows the old name, rate the same row. Your retake follows the 2026 plan, so the weights here are the ones that apply to it.

Both exams give you 85 to 150 items in up to five hours. Fifteen of them are unscored pretest items.