NMCMATE

Failed NMC CBT Part A: what happens next

Written and checked against the NMC’s published sources by The NMCMATE editorial team.Last checked .

You resit Part A only. The clinical part you passed is banked and you do not sit those hundred questions again, which is worth knowing before you spend a week revising material you have already proved you know. What follows is what the attempt rules actually are, and what the gap before the next attempt is best spent on.

  • Why a Part A fail does not mean resitting Part B
  • The three-attempt rule, the ten-day gap and the six-month wait
  • How to find which kind of calculation actually went wrong
  • Numeracy practice you can start on now
Try a free question Create a free account

Start with a few numeracy questions

0 of 6 answered

Answer each one and the explanation opens up. These particular questions are held out of the mock papers, so working through them here does not use anything up.

  1. Question 1 of 6

    CBT PA010

    Convert 1500 micrograms to milligrams. What is the value in mg?

    Give your answer in mg.

  2. Question 2 of 6

    CBT PA074

    Child 22 kg prescribed 5 mg/kg. Available: 250 mg/5 mL. What volume?

    Give your answer in mL.

  3. Question 3 of 6

    CBT PA063

    A patient is prescribed paracetamol 1 g four times a day. The tablets available are 500 mg. How many tablets will they take in 24 hours?

    Give your answer in tablets.

  4. Question 4 of 6

    CBT PA040

    A patient is prescribed 450 mg of cefuroxime IV. The vial contains 750 mg of cefuroxime powder. After reconstitution with 6 mL water for injection, what volume in mL should be drawn up? (Give answer to one decimal place.)

    Give your answer in mL.

  5. Question 5 of 6

    CBT PA072

    500 mL via micro-drip set (60 drops/mL) over 6 hours. Drip rate in drops/min, to the nearest whole number?

    Give your answer in drops/min.

  6. Question 6 of 6

    CBT PA060

    Intake: IV 800 mL, oral 600 mL. Output: urine 1000 mL, drain 100 mL, insensible 400 mL. Balance in mL?

    Give your answer in mL.

Where the exam facts come from

Practise numeracy free

A free account gives 10 new questions a day, and you can spend all of them on numeracy.

Practise numeracy free What the CBT involves

Every account gets 10 new questions a day without a card.

Questions people ask

Do I have to resit the whole CBT?
No. The two parts are marked separately, so a fail on numeracy leaves the clinical part passed. You resit Part A on its own.
How long do I have to wait?
At least ten days between attempts. That is a minimum and not a recommendation: if you need three weeks, take three weeks, because the thing to be careful about is the six-month wait behind a third failure, not the ten-day floor in front of the second.
How many attempts do I get?
Up to three on one application, with a different version of the paper each time. If the third does not go your way the application closes and there is a six-month wait before reapplying.
What should I do differently this time?
Work out which kind of calculation went wrong rather than revising numeracy as a whole. Unit conversion, weight-based dosing, infusion rates and fluid balance all look like numeracy from the outside and are different skills, and most people who fail the part are not weak at all of them. A general sweep of everything is what most second attempts are, and it is why some go the same way as the first.
Does a resit count against me professionally?
No. The Test of Competence is a standard to be met rather than a competition, and nothing about your registration records how many attempts it took. Employers who sponsor overseas nurses are used to it.

This page is one part of the exam. Work through the whole thing with the NMC CBT study guide.