Written and checked against the NMC’s published sources by The NMCMATE editorial team.Last checked .
14 marks of the 100 in Part B, which runs for 150 minutes.
Platform 3 is about noticing. The questions give you a set of observations, a score, a result or a description, and ask what it means and what happens next. This is where the scored tools live, so the arithmetic in Part B is here too.
What this section asks about
Structured assessment, including A to E and person-centred assessment
NEWS2, recognising deterioration and when to escalate
Assessing capacity, and the law that governs decisions when it is absent
Recognising people at risk of harm, self-harm and suicidal ideation
Undertaking and interpreting routine investigations
Co-morbidity, frailty and end of life needs, and when to refer on
Where the marks go
14 marks of the 100 in Part B, which runs for 150 minutes. The NMC splits this section across the levels of Bloom's taxonomy:
Remember and understand: 5
Apply and analyse: 5
Evaluate and create: 4
Where candidates lose marks
Scoring a tool from memory of the bands rather than the chart. NEWS2 scores oxygen saturation differently on scale 2.
Assessing without acting. A score is not the answer; what you do about it is.
Missing the safeguarding question inside a clinical one.
Sample questions
From our bank, with the explanation as a student sees it. These particular questions are kept out of the mock papers, so reading them here does not use anything up.
Sample 1 of 2
A 52-year-old man who became profoundly deaf following adult meningitis attends a pre-operative assessment clinic. He communicates exclusively in English, does not use lipreading or sign language, and requests real-time verbatim text displayed on a portable monitor to follow the consultation. Which communication professional represents the appropriate reasonable adjustment under the Equality Act 2010?
Select one answer.
ARegistered deafblind communicator guide
BRegistered British Sign Language interpreter
CRegistered speech-to-text reporterAnswer
DRegistered lipspeaker
Why
A patient who communicates in English without using lipreading or sign language requires a registered speech-to-text reporter for real-time verbatim captioning. A registered lipspeaker would be required if the patient communicated in English through lipreading.
NMC Standards of Proficiency Platform 3
Sample 2 of 2
A 42-year-old man is brought to the emergency department after ingesting an excess of amitriptyline. On initial nursing assessment, he exhibits acute confusion, dilated sluggish pupils, dry flushed skin, reduced bowel sounds, urinary retention, and a heart rate of 128 beats per minute. Which toxidrome do these assessment findings indicate?
Select one answer.
ASympathomimetic toxidrome
BCholinergic toxidrome
COpioid toxidrome
DAnticholinergic toxidromeAnswer
Why
The combination of acute confusion, sluggish mydriasis, dry flushed skin, decreased bowel sounds, urinary retention, and tachycardia following tricyclic antidepressant overdose represents an anticholinergic toxidrome. A cholinergic toxidrome would present with salivation, lacrimation, diarrhoea, and bradycardia.
NMC Standards of Proficiency Platform 3
The proficiency statements behind this section
Questions in this section are written against the NMC's Future Nurse standards. These are the 16 statements it draws from. You are not expected to memorise them, and they are worth reading once so the language on the paper is familiar. The ones marked are patient safety proficiencies, which every paper has to reach a minimum of.
3.1Demonstrate and apply knowledge of human development from conception to death when undertaking full and accurate person-centred nursing assessments and developing appropriate care plans.
3.2Demonstrate and apply knowledge of body systems and homeostasis, human anatomy and physiology, biology, genomics, pharmacology and social and behavioural sciences when undertaking full and accurate person-centred nursing assessments and developing appropriate care plans
3.3Demonstrate and apply knowledge of all commonly encountered mental, physical, behavioural and cognitive health conditions, medication usage and treatments when undertaking full and accurate assessments of nursing care needs and when developing, prioritising and reviewing person centred care planssafety
3.4Understand and apply a person-centred approach to nursing care, demonstrating shared assessment, planning, decision making and goal setting when working with people, their families, communities and populations of all ages
3.5Demonstrate the ability to accurately process all information gathered during the assessment process to identify needs for individualised nursing care and develop person- centred evidence-based plans for nursing interventions with agreed goals
3.6Effectively assess a person’s capacity to make decisions about their own care and to give or withhold consentsafety
3.7Understand and apply the principles and processes for making reasonable adjustments
3.8Understand and apply the relevant laws about mental capacity for the country in which you are practising when making decisions in relation to people who do not have capacity
3.9Recognise and assess people at risk of harm and the situations that may put them at risk, ensuring prompt action is taken to safeguard those who are vulnerablesafety
3.10Demonstrate the skills and abilities required to recognise and assess people who show signs of self-harm and/or suicidal ideationsafety
3.11Undertake routine investigations, interpreting and sharing findings as appropriate
3.12Interpret results from routine investigations, taking prompt action when required by implementing appropriate interventions, requesting additional investigations or escalating to otherssafety
3.13Demonstrate an understanding of co- morbidities and the demands of meeting people’s complex nursing and social care needs when prioritising care plans
3.14Identify and assess the needs of people and families for care at the end of life, including requirements for palliative care and decision making related to their treatment and care preferences
3.15Demonstrate the ability to work in partnership with people, families and carers to continuously monitor, evaluate and reassess the effectiveness of all agreed nursing care plans and care, sharing decision making and readjusting agreed goals, documenting progress and decisions made
3.16Demonstrate knowledge of when and how to refer people safely to other professionals or services for clinical intervention or support
Questions people ask
Do I need to know NEWS2 for the CBT?
You should be able to score the common parameters and say what the total triggers. It is the national early warning score in England and questions about deterioration usually assume it.
Is there arithmetic in Part B?
Some. Scored tools such as NEWS2, GCS and MUST appear, and they are added up rather than calculated. The on-screen calculator belongs to Part A.
Practise this section
Practice is filtered by section, so you can work on this one on its own. Every account gets 10 new questions a day without a card.