NCLEX Retake Rules: 45 Days, 8 Tries

You can retake the NCLEX after 45 test-free days, and NCSBN’s policy allows up to 8 attempts in a year. That’s the national rule. Your nursing regulatory body can add a longer wait, a cap on total attempts, or a required remediation course after a certain number of failures, and each retake costs a new registration fee: $200 now, $350 for registrations on or after February 1, 2027.

What is NCSBN’s retake policy?

Two numbers matter, and both come from NCSBN.

Rule	NCSBN policy	What your board can add
Wait between attempts	45 test-free days	A longer wait
Attempts per year	Up to 8	A lower annual limit
Lifetime attempts	No NCSBN cap	A lifetime cap, sometimes with remediation after a set number of fails
Registration	New registration and fee for every attempt	A separate re-application or re-exam fee
Eligibility	Board must approve each attempt	Additional coursework or a refresher before re-approval

The 45 days are “test-free,” meaning the clock runs from your last exam date, not from the day you got your result. If you tested on the first of the month, the earliest you could sit again is the 15th or 16th of the following month, assuming your board has re-approved you by then. The state exam pages we’ve verified repeat the same 45-day, 8-per-year language, because it’s NCSBN’s rule rather than a state one.

Can your state board impose stricter rules?

Yes, and this is the part candidates miss. NCSBN sets the floor, but the board that licenses you decides whether you’re eligible for each attempt. Some boards require a longer gap than 45 days. Some cap total attempts, and some require a board-approved remediation or refresher course after a set number of failures before they’ll authorize you again.

We haven’t verified each board’s cap for this post, so we won’t name states here. What we can say is that the rules live on the board’s exam or licensure page, usually under something like “NCLEX eligibility” or “re-examination.” Read that page before you re-register, because a board that hasn’t re-approved you won’t trigger a new Authorization to Test no matter how many times you pay Pearson VUE.

The other thing boards control is the ATT window. Every attempt gets its own Authorization to Test with its own validity period, and if you miss it, you forfeit the fee and start over.

What does each retake cost?

More than most people budget for, and it’s going up.

Cost	Now	From Feb 1, 2027
NCSBN registration fee (per attempt)	$200	$350
Board re-application or re-exam fee	Varies by board; some charge nothing	Varies by board
Refund if you cancel or fail	None	None

The NCSBN fee is charged every time you register. A candidate who fails once and passes on the second try in early 2027 will have paid $200 plus $350 in registration fees alone. Details on the increase, including who’s affected and how registration timing works, are in our post on the NCLEX fee rising to $350 in 2027.

We can’t give you a single figure for board re-application fees. Some boards charge a re-exam fee, some only charge if your original application has expired, and the amounts change. Check your board’s fee schedule before you plan a retake budget.

What does the Candidate Performance Report tell you?

If you fail, the board’s process delivers a Candidate Performance Report (CPR). It doesn’t give you a score, because the NCLEX doesn’t produce one. What it does show is how you performed in each content area of the test plan relative to the passing standard, along with how many items you answered. The format has changed over the years, so read the explanation that ships with yours rather than a forum summary.

The CPR is the most useful document you’ll get. A candidate who was near the standard in most areas has a very different 45 days ahead than one who was below in pharmacology and physiological adaptation. Use it to decide where the time goes, not just how much time you spend.

Two things it won’t tell you: which specific questions you missed, and whether you were “close.” Near the passing standard means near, not almost passed.

How should you use the 45 days?

The worst plan is to keep doing what you did before, only harder. Most candidates who fail didn’t fail because of effort; they failed because their practice didn’t match the exam’s question style, or because they knew content but froze on priority and delegation items.

Concretely:

• Read the CPR first, then build your study time around the areas marked below or near the standard.
• Change your question source. If you burned through one question bank, buy a different one so you’re not re-seeing items you half remember. Our NCLEX prep course comparison lays out what $139 to $699 buys from each vendor. Pricing changes often, so check the vendor before buying.
• Take at least one readiness assessment in the final week and don’t schedule until it says you’re ready.
• Get re-approved by your board early. The 45-day clock and the board’s paperwork run in parallel; start the board side on day one.

Our failed NCLEX recovery guide goes deeper on rebuilding a study plan around the CPR. One honest caveat: no plan guarantees a pass, and the repeat-candidate pass rates NCSBN publishes each year run well below first-attempt rates, which is exactly why the second attempt deserves a different approach.

Key takeaways

• NCSBN: 45 test-free days between attempts, up to 8 attempts per year.
• Your board can require a longer wait, cap attempts, or require remediation. Check its exam page.
• Every retake is a new registration: $200 now, $350 from February 1, 2027, non-refundable, plus any board fee.
• The Candidate Performance Report is your study plan. Read it before you buy anything.

Common questions about licensing after a retake, temporary permits, and application expiration are answered in our RN FAQ, and the full registration and results process is on the NCLEX hub.