100% of ACC Nursing Graduates Pass State Certification Exam

(September 22, 2023) – Alamance Community College (ACC) has announced that, for the third time in four years, 100 percent of the 2023 Associate Degree in Nursing graduates have passed the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN) to earn their certification as Registered Nurses.

ACC’s three-year average of nursing graduates passing the exam on their first try is 96.7%. Repeat test-takers have been 100 percent, according to Darlene Listopad, Department Head of ACC’s Associate Degree Nursing program.

The NC Board of Nursing monitors colleges’ NCLEX-RN pass rates for first-time test-takers. ACC pass rates on the first try over the past two years were 92.86% in 2022, and 100% in 2021.

NCLEX is used across the country to determine if graduates from RN programs have acquired and retained the necessary knowledge, judgment and critical thinking skills during their nursing training to begin practicing as an entry-level RN. The test is primarily a multiple-choice test, with a minimum of 75 questions that grow progressively more difficult with each correctly answered question. Because it is a pass/fail test, no letter grade or score is earned.

Darlene Listopad, Associate Degree Nursing Department Head

“We are excited that all 36 of our spring 2023 graduates have passed their NCLEX-RN. It’s all the more impressive because this class of nursing students entered the program at the height of the COVID pandemic,” said Listopad.

Between 2017-2019, ACC’s nursing graduates had a passing rate of 90%, higher at the time than the North Carolina average passing rate of 84%.

In 2019, ACC began its unprecedented success on the NCLEX-RN state exam when all 12 nursing graduates in the evening program had a 100% passing rate. This was a landmark accomplishment for the evening program at that time. In spring 2020, all 24 graduates in the day program did the same with a 100% passing mark, and again in 2021 all 20 graduates hit the 100% passing rate. COVID had an effect in 2022 when 39 of 42 graduates passed with a 92.86% mark. Now the program has returned this summer to the 100% passing rate.

“Our students spent additional hours in study and review to prepare for the exam this year,” said Dr. Lisa Johnson, Vice President of Instruction. “Passing the NCLEX so quickly after completing the program has allowed our students to enter the workforce to provide excellent and much-needed health care during the pandemic.”