The NCLEX Candidate Performance Report: what it shows and how to use it

How you get the CPR

You do not request the CPR from Pearson or NCSBN. The 2026 NCLEX Candidate Bulletin says that when a candidate fails, the nursing regulatory body (your state board) sends the candidate the CPR. It arrives with your official result, which the bulletin says boards send within six weeks of the exam, with the exact timing varying by board.

If you passed, there is no CPR. If six weeks have passed and you have neither a result nor a report, the bulletin tells you to contact your board, not Pearson, the test center, or NCSBN, because only boards release NCLEX results.

What the report shows, line by line

NCSBN publishes a sample RN report (file dated March 2026). The cover page names your board, your test date, your program code and the number of items you were administered, for example 85, and states that you have not passed. The performance pages list each test plan area, such as Management of Care, Safety and Infection Prevention and Control, and Pharmacological and Parenteral Therapies.

Below the content areas sits a Clinical Judgment rating plus one line for each step of the clinical judgment model: Recognize Cues, Analyze Cues, Prioritize Hypotheses, Generate Solutions, Take Actions and Evaluate Outcomes. Each line carries one of three labels: above, near, or below the passing standard. There is no percentage, no raw score and no list of the questions you missed.

Two misreadings the report itself warns about

First, near does not mean almost passed. The sample report says near the passing standard does not imply you performed at or above it, only close to it. The sample itself notes that a candidate could be rated near in every area and still not pass.

Second, the areas are not added up. NCSBN states the NCLEX is not graded in sections and the overall performance on the exam decides pass or fail. Each area label is based only on your answers to items from that area, so it is a guide to study, not a breakdown of the final decision.

Turning your CPR into a retake study order

NCSBN advises starting with the areas listed below the passing standard, then working up to those listed near it. A worked example: if Pharmacological and Parenteral Therapies and Recognize Cues are below, and Management of Care is near, spend the first block on medication classes and on spotting abnormal data in case studies, then add prioritization and delegation practice.

Do not drop the areas rated above the standard. The exam is adaptive and draws from the whole test plan again, so keep short mixed review sets running in strong areas while weak areas get most of your hours. NCSBN's retake policy allows up to eight attempts a year with at least 45 test-free days between attempts, unless your jurisdiction limits exams per year, so plan your weeks around that gap and your board's rules.

Sources

NCSBN, 2026 NCLEX Examination Candidate Bulletin (April 2026). Board sends the CPR to failing candidates; what it contains; six-week official results; retake policy of eight times a year with 45 test-free days.

NCSBN, Candidate Performance Report. Report for failing candidates; three performance levels; exam not graded in sections; study below areas first, then near.

NCSBN, Sample NCLEX-RN Candidate Performance Report (March 2026). Exact layout: items administered, test plan areas, clinical judgment steps, and the note that near does not mean at or above the standard.