Congratulations on working hard to put yourself in position to take the Nursing Acceleration Challenge Exam (NACE) section that covers the Foundations of Nursing. To support your efforts in preparing for a successful testing experience, we’ve assembled a wide range of information that will help you prepare for and take the exam, including details on registration, the cost of the exam, reminders of what to bring and what not to bring on the day of the test, what to expect on the exam itself and more.
Exam Purpose and Background
The NACE Foundations of Nursing exam assesses your knowledge of basic physiological and psychosocial needs of patients. The exam is put forth by the National League for Nursing (NLN) to serve as another way to ensure standardized, top-quality care across the industry. The exam is one of the criteria that individual nursing programs use as they review applications for entry into their programs and consider proper placement.
Registration
You can find complete registration details online at www.NLN.org, or by connecting with your local nursing program.
Costs
The exam fee for the NACE Foundations of Nursing exam is $75.
Times/Locations
You’ll receive more information about available testing times and locations once you complete the online registration process.
Test Duration: The testing period for this exam is four hours.
What to Bring:
- Be sure to bring one form of government-issued identification with you on the day of your exam that shows your name, photo and signature. cceptable types of identification include driver’s license, state ID card with photo, passport, military ID card with photo.
What Not to Bring:
- Any electronic devices, including phones, calculators, tablets, etc.
- Personal items of any kind
- Pens or pencils
- Paper, notes or books
- Any kind of food or drink
- Any weapons
What to Expect During Your Exam
Format/Number of Questions: You’ll take this exam using a computer. It consists of 200 questions.
Exam Content
The NACE Foundations of Nursing test will assess your ability to apply the principles of the nursing process, including:
Assessment — Reviewing and gathering a variety of cultural, emotional and physical data, along with recognizing behaviors, symptoms and other signs.
Analysis — Involves data interpretation, client need identification and nursing diagnosis.
Planning — Includes goal setting, care measurement selection and care technique identification.
Implementation — Covers items such as supplying client information that may be requested, along with possible teaching elements.
Evaluation — Involves acknowledging the types of treatments and measures that may be required during care, including both unintended and intended effects of the care. This stage also includes assessing whether the patient has followed the prescribed treatment plan along with reviewing the patient’s reaction to treatment and measures.
Assessed Conditions
You can expect the test to cover a wide range of possible ailments, including stress, loss of consciousness, preoperative care, incontinence, postoperative care, infectious disease, death and dying, fluid and electrolyte imbalance, chronic illness and pain.
Content Areas
You can expect six primary areas of content on the NACE Foundations of Nursing assessment. Here’s an overview of those six areas:
Content Area 1: Basic Health Needs
Content Area 2: Physiologic Needs — Includes elements such as comfort, hygiene, body alignment, safety, rest and sleep, exercise and ambulation, elimination, nutrition, fluids and electrolyte balance, respiration and circulation, and growth and development.
Content Area 3: Psychosocial — Looks at areas such as security, growth and development, defense mechanisms, self-actualization, stimulation, loss and death, self-esteem, belonging, sexuality and spiritual preference.
Content Area 4: Communication — Reviews knowledge of topics such as non-verbal communication, verbal communication and documentation
Content Area 5: General Principles of Medication Administration
Content Area 6: Moral/Ethical/Legal Issues
Exam Scoring: Exams are scored from 0 to 100 and are intended to add to faculty assessments. With that in mind, there is no single pass or fail determination or score that is established nationwide. Instead, this determination is made by individual nursing programs that each establish their own scores as part of entry into their respective programs. Once you complete the NACE Foundations of Nursing exam, you can expect to learn your score within 24 hours after taking the exam.
How Can I Prepare for the The Nursing Acceleration Challenge Exam?
That’s a great question. We’ve broken down the answer into three parts.
- Do yourself a favor and study. Do not walk in unprepared. We have recommended prep materials below, but that only helps if you actually try. Plus, studying is actually proven to be the best antidote to test anxiety.
- Take care of yourself. Make sure you’re eating well, exercising, and sleeping. All of these things are scientifically linked to brain performance. If you take care of your body, you’ll be helping your grades.
- Get a study guide or set of flashcards. Some people study better a certain way. Find your study strengths and make the most of them. We’ve tried to make it easy for you by tracking down the best study guide and flashcard set for your exam. Below you’ll see links to both!