Time Allotted for Examination Item Types in Nursing Education.

Examinations are used widely in nursing education to evaluate knowledge attainment. New item types were initiated in April 2023 by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) for use on the Next Generation National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NGN NCLEX-RN). Little evidence exists for how much time is needed for exams that use the new item types. Item analysis was conducted on 772 questions that were answered by 14,728 nursing students. Seven item types were analyzed, including calculation, cloze, matrix, ordered response, hot spot, multiple choice, and multiple response. Calculation questions required additional time. Multiple choice items required 1 minute per question. Questions that were more difficult required more time. Exams administered early in the nursing curriculum need more time allocated. Nursing educators should focus on time allotment for examinations based on the item types and difficulty.