Taiwan Registered Nurse Licensing Examination

Every item is a single-answer multiple-choice question; there are no essays, oral stations or practical tests. The paper is divided into the six nursing subject areas, and each subject is scored separately as well as contributing to the overall result, so a weak subject cannot be fully hidden by a strong one.

Items are written at the level of a new graduate rather than a specialist, but they test application rather than recall. Expect scenario stems describing a patient, with options that all sound plausible. Students who memorised lists in school often find this harder than they expect; practising judgement on clinical vignettes closes the gap.

Yes, the examination is held on a regular schedule and candidates may sit it again in a later administration. The Ministry of Examination publishes the current rules on eligibility, any subject-specific retention of scores, and the number of sittings permitted, so check its official announcements rather than relying on what senior students tell you.

Most candidates who are still studying begin structured review three to six months out, and repeat sitters often need less because the content is familiar. The variable that matters more than total hours is spacing: short daily sessions across all six subjects beat occasional long blocks, because the examination rewards retrieval under time pressure.

Start with basic nursing science and medical-surgical nursing, since they supply vocabulary and pathophysiology that the other four subjects reuse. Then rotate through pediatric, obstetric and gynecologic, psychiatric, and community nursing in shorter cycles. Return to medical-surgical nursing near the end, because it carries the heaviest weighting and is easy to forget under a pile of newer material.

Practise with a clock from the start. Answer in two passes: take the straightforward items quickly, flag anything requiring calculation or long reasoning, and return to those with the time you have saved. Never leave an item blank, since there is no penalty for guessing and a considered guess beats an empty answer.

Three patterns dominate: neglecting the lower-weighted subjects until too late, reading textbooks passively without testing recall, and misreading stems that ask for what is wrong, first, or contraindicated. A fourth is panicking over unfamiliar drug names instead of reasoning from the pharmacology you already know. All four are fixable with practice items.

The Ministry of Examination publishes the current examination schedule, registration fees, item counts and the passing standard on its official website, and updates them for each administration. Because these details change between sittings, confirm them there rather than from this page, from forums, or from older candidates' recollection.

They can help with stamina and timing, but treat them as a supplement, not the syllabus. Work first from your own course notes and a current nursing textbook, then use practice items to expose gaps. When an item surprises you, trace the underlying concept back to the textbook rather than memorising the answer.