NMC CBT Pass Rate: How Hard Is the Exam?

NMC Prep Team6 April 20268 min read

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Introduction

"What is the NMC CBT pass rate?" is one of the first things internationally educated nurses ask when they start thinking about the exam. It is a reasonable question: before investing months of preparation time and £83 in exam fees, you want an honest assessment of your chances.

The honest answer requires some nuance. Pass rate statistics for the NMC CBT are not published in the same publicly accessible format as, say, SQE1 or ACCA results. The NMC does not publish annual pass rate breakdowns by sitting. What is available comes from a combination of NMC annual reports, Freedom of Information disclosures, and the experiences reported in nurse preparation communities.

This post pulls together what is known, contextualises it honestly, and explains what the data actually tells us about who passes and why.

What We Know About NMC CBT Pass Rates

The NMC's Published Data

The NMC reports on the Test of Competence in its annual reports and in responses to Freedom of Information requests. Based on data covering multiple years:

Overall pass rates for internationally educated nurses on first attempt have typically been reported in the range of 60–75% for Part B (clinical knowledge).
Part A (numeracy) has generally had higher pass rates — most candidates who have done any numeracy preparation pass Part A. However, Part A is where candidates who have done minimal preparation are most at risk.
Retake rates are significant. A meaningful proportion of candidates sit the CBT more than once. The NMC data shows that some candidates have multiple attempts, and overall eventual pass rates (including resits) are higher than first-attempt pass rates.

It is important to note that these figures are not perfectly comparable from year to year because the candidate pool changes — periods of high NHS international recruitment bring in more first-time candidates with varying levels of preparation, which can affect the headline figure.

What the Data Does Not Tell You

Published pass rate statistics are aggregate figures. They include:

Candidates who sat the exam having done very little preparation
Candidates who used inappropriate preparation materials (such as US NCLEX content)
Candidates who sat the exam before they were ready, to meet an employer deadline
Candidates with strong relevant preparation who passed comfortably

A well-prepared candidate — one who has studied UK-specific nursing standards, the NMC Code, UK legislation, and completed substantial practice question preparation — has a meaningfully higher pass probability than the headline figure suggests.

Why Candidates Fail the NMC CBT

Understanding why the CBT has a significant failure rate helps you avoid the same mistakes.

1. Using the Wrong Preparation Materials

The most common reason experienced nurses fail the NMC CBT is preparing with materials that are not aligned to the exam. Specifically:

NCLEX materials. The US NCLEX and the NMC CBT both test nursing knowledge, but they test different frameworks. NCLEX is based on US healthcare legislation, American clinical guidelines, and the US professional standards framework. The NMC CBT is based on the NMC Code, UK legislation, NHS clinical guidelines, and UK professional standards. If you prepare using NCLEX question banks or study books, you are learning the wrong content.

Informal PDF study guides circulated in WhatsApp groups. These materials are often outdated, contain factual errors, and are not aligned to the current CBT syllabus. They persist because they are free and easy to share — not because they are accurate.

General nursing textbooks from your home country. Textbooks published for nursing students in India, the Philippines, or Nigeria teach nursing according to those countries' standards and legislation. They do not cover the Mental Capacity Act, the NHS early warning score system, or the NMC Code.

2. Underestimating the Professional Practice Questions

Many nurses approach the CBT assuming the hard part is the clinical knowledge — drug doses, anatomy, disease management. In practice, the professional and ethical practice questions are where many candidates drop the most marks.

These questions test the NMC Code, UK legislation, and UK professional standards — areas that internationally educated nurses often have not systematically studied. Questions that look like they should have an obvious answer often catch candidates out because the UK professional standard differs from what they were trained to do.

For example: a question about what to do when you discover a colleague has made a medication error may seem to have an obvious answer based on common sense. But the NMC Code has a specific and precise answer about duty of candour, incident reporting, and disclosure to the patient. If you do not know the Code, you may choose a plausible-but-incorrect option.

3. Neglecting Part A

Nurses who have been in senior clinical roles for many years often feel confident about drug calculations. Some sit Part A without doing any specific preparation. This is a risky approach for two reasons:

First, the CBT drug calculation questions use UK prescribing formats, UK units, and BNF drug names. If you have been practising in a system with different conventions, you may make systematic errors even on calculations you are conceptually comfortable with.

Second, time pressure and exam anxiety can disrupt calculation accuracy even for nurses who perform these calculations routinely in clinical practice. Without practice under exam conditions, familiar calculations can go wrong.

Practise NMC numeracy questions to ensure Part A is a reliable score for you, not an uncertainty.

4. Insufficient Practice Questions

The CBT uses single best answer questions — a format that tests application of knowledge, not recall of facts. Candidates who have read all the right materials but have not practised many questions often struggle with this format because they have not developed the ability to identify the single best answer under time pressure.

Research consistently shows that practice testing is the most effective revision method for this type of exam. Candidates who complete a large number of practice questions and review their explanations carefully perform significantly better than those who focus primarily on reading and note-taking.

Who Passes the CBT?

Based on the patterns in pass rate data and the experiences reported by nurses in preparation communities, candidates who pass consistently share several characteristics:

They prepare for the UK context specifically. They do not assume their existing clinical knowledge is sufficient. They invest time in learning the NMC Code, UK legislation, and UK clinical frameworks.

They use targeted NMC CBT materials. They work with question banks and study materials that are specifically aligned to the NMC CBT syllabus — not NCLEX, not general nursing textbooks.

They do not rush into booking. They allow themselves adequate preparation time before sitting the exam. Booking the CBT before you are ready, to meet an employer deadline or avoid further delay, significantly increases your risk of failure — and failing costs you time (waiting period before resit), money (£83 per attempt), and potentially your UK start date.

They practise enough questions. They work through hundreds of practice questions across all eight topic areas, not just in the areas they find comfortable.

They review wrong answers. They treat every incorrect practice answer as a learning opportunity, reading the explanation and understanding the reasoning behind the correct answer.

The Retake Picture

A significant number of nurses sit the CBT more than once. There is no limit on attempts, and eventual pass rates are substantially higher than first-attempt rates. Many nurses who fail their first attempt pass on the second with more targeted preparation.

If you have failed the CBT, here is what the data and experience of the nurse community suggest:

Identify your weak areas from the results feedback. The NMC provides candidates with information about which topic areas they underperformed in. Use this to focus your resit preparation.
Seek UK-specific preparation materials. If you were using NCLEX or informal guides, switch to NMC-specific resources.
Give yourself adequate time. Do not book your resit before you are confident in your preparation.

Return to your practice questions and focus on the topic areas where you need the most improvement.

Putting the Pass Rate in Context

A first-attempt pass rate in the 60–75% range means that the CBT is challenging but not extreme. Three in four well-prepared candidates pass on their first attempt.

The key insight is that the failure rate is substantially concentrated among candidates who were under-prepared — particularly those who used the wrong materials, did not study UK-specific standards, or sat the exam before they were ready. Candidates who prepare systematically with UK-specific content have a significantly higher pass probability than the headline figure.

The exam fee (£83) makes failure costly. The mandatory waiting period before resitting adds further delay to your UK registration timeline. These factors make thorough preparation before your first sitting a clearly better strategy than a quick attempt and a likely resit.

Start Preparing Now

The NMC CBT is achievable. The nurses who pass are not those with the most years of experience — they are those who prepared specifically for what this exam tests. Invest the time, use the right materials, and the pass rate will take care of itself.