AWC Nursing graduates achieve 100-percent pass rate on NCLEX-RN exam
June 6, 2018Class of 30 becomes first known cohort from AWC to all earn nursing license on first attempt
Yuma, AZ (June 6, 2018)- A cohort of students from the Arizona Western College Nursing program recently achieved a 100-percent pass rate on the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) exam.
Thirty students who graduated with their Associate of Applied Science degree in Nursing in December passed the nationwide test for licensing nurses on the first try. This is the first group of nursing students to achieve such an accomplishment in known AWC history.
“It hasn’t occurred in the 15 years I’ve been here, although we have been close, and our records don’t go back far enough to determine whether this has ever happened before,” said David Sylvester, AWC Director of Nursing and Allied Health.
“It’s an exciting thing for us, it’s kind of satisfying to be able to say this whole cohort went out and they nailed it their first time through.”
While this is a goal he has for every cohort of students, he shared that it’s an uncommon occurrence given the number of difficulties students may have with test taking, not necessarily because they don’t understand the information.
“The faculty worked really hard, and in this particular case a lot of the students were putting in extra time and remediating to really get prepared to take the test,” said Sylvester.
AWC has maintained an 85-percent pass rate or higher on the exam in recent years, but over time the test has increased in difficulty. It measures a student’s ability to apply what they’ve learned through a variety of scenario-based questions.
“It’s very much application and analysis, it’s not memorization. It’s more like, what are you going to do when you’re standing at the bedside and the patient has a problem? Or what indicates to you that a patient is having a problem? It’s pretty intense, but we try to emulate those types of questions with our exams too, they’re all application.”
While a student could pass the computerized exam in as little as 75 questions, Sylvester added that there are over 250 questions in the test bank. Students are given five hours to complete the test.
“We have had a couple of students that took every question in the test bank and still passed, but it was a long day for them,” he said.
The AWC Nursing program has been part of the community since 1967 and has held national accreditation for over 45 years. In addition to a two-year associate degree program, AWC has educational partnerships that provide seamless articulation to RN-BSN programs as well.
Contact:
David Sylvester
Director of Nursing and Allied Health
Arizona Western College
david.sylvester@azwestern.edu
(928) 317-6081