I don't understand the CPR report

Question

I reviewed my Candidate Performance Report after failing the NCLEX, but it’s not very helpful. It doesn’t tell me if I struggled with specific areas like cardiovascular or pediatrics—just these broad categories like “management of care.” What does that even mean? Which care? Which disease?

Answer 1

Although the Candidate Performance Report (CPR) does not identify the specific questions missed on the NCLEX, it does indicate whether performance in each Client Needs category was above, near, or below the passing standard. Students can make these results more meaningful and actionable by aligning weaker Client Needs areas with the activity statements outlined in the NCLEX test plan. Cross-referencing CPR results with the test plan allows students to identify more specific content areas, clinical skills, and nursing responsibilities requiring additional review. This approach helps create a more focused and strategic study plan by targeting weaker areas rather than reviewing content randomly.

I think the challenge for the NCSBN is to give the test-taker enough information to be fair, without giving too much information to compromise their assessment’s security.

Answer 2

Great question! The NCLEX and nursing education as a whole have shifted from a medical-diagnosis focus (like cardiovascular or pediatrics) to a more holistic, functional approach called the Client Needs Framework. This focuses on how nurses provide care across various settings and situations, rather than specific diseases or specialties.

Each category on your Candidate Performance Report (CPR) represents a broader area of nursing practice. For example, Management of Care focuses on how you prioritize, delegate, and coordinate care as the nurse managing the patient’s overall needs.

Here’s an example: If a question asks what labs or assessments you should review before giving furosemide (Lasix) intravenously, that could fall into several categories:

1. Management of Care (coordinating the plan for safe medication administration).
2. Pharmacological and Parenteral Therapies (understanding how the medication works).
3. Reduction of Risk Potential (watching for complications like low potassium or low blood pressure).
4. It could also be tied to the Clinical Judgment Measurement Model (CJMM), which guides how nurses make decisions—for example, recognizing and analyzing cues like lab results.

Unfortunately, the CPR doesn’t break things down into specific topics, so it can be tricky to figure out what to focus on. My best advice is to think back on the areas you struggled with in nursing school and use NCLEX practice questions, along with your textbooks, to build up your knowledge. Working with a tutor can also help you connect these broader concepts to real-world scenarios so you feel more confident next time!