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NCLEX Candidate Performance Report Decoder

If you did not pass the NCLEX, your board of nursing sends a Candidate Performance Report. It labels each of the eight Client Needs content areas and each of the six clinical-judgment steps as Below, Near, or Above the Passing Standard. Mark each one here the way your report does.

The decoder ranks the areas by how much each one counts on the exam, suggests how to split your study time, and links every area to the Learning Center domains that teach it. It is for repeat candidates planning the weeks before a retake.

CPR decoder

Mark each area the way your report does

The decoder weights every area by how much of the exam it is, so a Near in a big area can outrank a Below in a small one.

Client Needs content areas

  • Management of Care

    15–21% of the exam

  • Safety and Infection Control

    10–16% of the exam

  • Health Promotion and Maintenance

    6–12% of the exam

  • Psychosocial Integrity

    6–12% of the exam

  • Basic Care and Comfort

    6–12% of the exam

  • Pharmacological and Parenteral Therapies

    13–19% of the exam

  • Reduction of Risk Potential

    9–15% of the exam

  • Physiological Adaptation

    11–17% of the exam

Clinical judgment steps

  • Recognize Cues

  • Analyze Cues

  • Prioritize Hypotheses

  • Generate Solutions

  • Take Action

  • Evaluate Outcomes

Your plan

Then

Near the standard is not passing. Close these after the Below list, and drill them in mixed sets.

  • Management of Care

    15–21% of the exam · ~18% of your study time

    Prioritization, delegation, assignment, advocacy, legal and ethical calls.

    Teach it: Leadership & Professional Practice · NCLEX Test Strategy

  • Pharmacological and Parenteral Therapies

    13–19% of the exam · ~16% of your study time

    Adverse effects, interactions, dosage calculation, IV therapy, blood products.

    Teach it: Pharmacology · Dosage Calculation

  • Physiological Adaptation

    11–17% of the exam · ~14% of your study time

    Acute and chronic illness, hemodynamics, medical emergencies, pathophysiology.

    Teach it: Cardiovascular · Respiratory · Endocrine · Neurological

  • Safety and Infection Control

    10–16% of the exam · ~13% of your study time

    Precautions, isolation, restraints, error prevention, emergency response.

    Teach it: Communicable & Infectious Disease · Fundamentals

  • Reduction of Risk Potential

    9–15% of the exam · ~12% of your study time

    Lab values, diagnostic tests, vital-sign changes, complications of procedures.

    Teach it: Fluid, Electrolyte & Acid–Base · Fundamentals

  • Health Promotion and Maintenance

    6–12% of the exam · ~9% of your study time

    Lifespan development, prenatal and newborn care, screening, immunizations.

    Teach it: Maternal & Newborn · Pediatrics · Community & Public Health

  • Psychosocial Integrity

    6–12% of the exam · ~9% of your study time

    Therapeutic communication, crisis, abuse, substance use, mental-health disorders.

    Teach it: Mental Health

  • Basic Care and Comfort

    6–12% of the exam · ~9% of your study time

    Mobility, nutrition, elimination, rest, hygiene, non-pharmacologic comfort.

    Teach it: Fundamentals · Nutrition

Clinical judgment

Weakest steps (Near): Recognize Cues, Analyze Cues, Prioritize Hypotheses, Generate Solutions, Take Action, Evaluate Outcomes. NurseSavvy learning flows practice every fact on the rung that matches: Recognize/Analyze Cues and Take Action and Evaluate Outcomes. Aim your sessions at those rungs in the areas above.

The report stops at the area. The topic inside it is what you actually have to fix, and a free CAT readiness exam names those topics.

How the decoder ranks your areas

  • Each label becomes a gap value that is fixed in the tool: Below counts 3, Near counts 1.5, and Above counts 0.5. The small value for Above keeps a maintenance share for areas you already cleared.
  • The gap is multiplied by the area’s exam weight, which is the midpoint of the published NCSBN RN test plan range for that area. The ranges shown beside each area come from the same blueprint data NurseSavvy’s practice test is built from.
  • Your plan lists Below areas first, then Near, then Above, and sorts each group by that score. The study-time percentage beside an area is its score divided by the total of all eight scores, rounded. It is a suggested split, not a schedule.
  • Because exam weight is part of the score, a Near in a large area can earn more study time than a Below in a small one.
  • Clinical-judgment steps are not weighted and do not change the area ranking. The tool lists the steps you marked Below (or, if there are none, the ones you marked Near) and names the matching learning-flow rung to aim at: Recognize/Analyze Cues, Take Action, or Evaluate Outcomes.
  • Every row starts at Near until you change it. Your marks live only in the page, reset when you reload, and need no account. The decoder works only from the labels you enter, so like the report itself it stops at the content area and cannot name the topics inside it.

The reasoning behind it

Questions people ask

What does Near the Passing Standard mean on the NCLEX Candidate Performance Report?
It does not mean at or slightly above the standard. It means close to it, and that includes just under. Near is not passing. A report that is all Near describes someone who failed by a little in several places at once, which is the most common way to fail.
Does the Candidate Performance Report show a score or percentages?
No. The NCLEX is scored on overall ability, with no passing score per section, so the report gives only one of three labels for each content area and each clinical-judgment step: Below, Near, or Above the Passing Standard.
Which area of my report should I study first?
Start with the areas marked Below and work up to the Near areas, which is also NCSBN’s own advice. Within each group, the decoder puts the areas that make up more of the exam first.
Why does the decoder give a Below area less study time than a Near area?
Study time follows the gap multiplied by the area’s share of the exam. The areas are not equal in size, so a Near in one of the largest areas can outweigh a Below in one of the smallest.
Can the report tell me which topics I missed?
No. The report, and this decoder, stop at the content area. An area holds many topics, so a full-length practice test that reports the specific topics you missed is the second diagnostic to pair with it.

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