Associate's-degree candidates in nursing will typically complete at least 60 semester hours of college credit to complete a two-year program. The nursing curriculum covers a wide variety of topics including anatomy and physiology, nutrition, safety and security, and geriatric care. Nursing students round out their education with liberal arts coursework, such as English, psychology and sociology. Grades of "C" or higher are needed on all required courses, although some programs require a "B" or higher on all nursing courses in order to graduate.
The theories that nursing students learn in the classroom are put into practice by way of the clinical requirements. Before graduating, prospective nurses will spend a set number of hours (usually one or two days per week) at a hospital, nursing home or other health-care facility, working under the supervision of registered nurses. Clinical work gives nursing students the opportunity to collaborate with a health-care team to perform patient assessments, implement care plans and learn how to act as patient advocates.
The licensing component of the degree program is the NCLEX-RN (National Council Licensure Examination). This computer-based exam is taken once the curriculum and course-work requirements have been completed and tests a candidate's knowledge in areas including safety and infection control, basic patient care and comfort, and medication administration. It is a computer-adaptive test (CAT), meaning that the difficulty of future questions is automatically adjusted based on the test taker's answers to prior questions. Students must answer at least 75 questions before a pass or fail determination is made. According to the 2010 NCLEX Test Plan, up to 265 questions may have to be answered before a student knows if she has passed the exam or not.