Exam mechanics
How select-all questions are actually scored on the NCLEX
Select-all items are not scored right or wrong. They use a plus-minus rule: every correct option you select earns a point, every incorrect option you select loses one, and the total cannot go below zero. Once you understand what that does arithmetically, the single most common select-all habit stops making sense.
Updated 17 September 2026·6 min read
Most candidates approach a select-all item by asking which options might be correct, and choosing anything plausible. Under plus-minus scoring that strategy is actively harmful, and the arithmetic shows why.
An item with four correct answers among eight options
| What you select | Correct | Incorrect | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| All four correct answers | 4 | 0 | 100% |
| Three correct | 3 | 0 | 75% |
| Three correct, one wrong | 3 | 1 | 50% |
| Two correct, two wrong | 2 | 2 | 0% |
| Everything, all eight options | 4 | 4 | 0% |
Your score is (correct chosen minus incorrect chosen) divided by the number of correct answers, floored at zero.
Look at the last row. Selecting every option guarantees you identify all four correct answers, and it scores zero. That is the rule working as designed: it measures whether you can distinguish, not whether you can recognise.
Now look at the second row. Selecting only three options, all of them right, scores 75%. The candidate who was less certain but more disciplined beat the candidate who hedged.
How to work a select-all item
Treat each option as its own true-or-false question and commit before moving to the next. Do not look at the set as a whole and ask how many feel right.
Resist the urge to hit a number. There is no rule that a select-all item has three correct answers. Some have two, some have five. Candidates who decide in advance that "it's probably three" and pick their three most confident options are guessing with extra steps.
If you truly cannot decide on an option, leave it out. An omitted correct answer costs you one point. An included wrong answer costs you one point and removes a point you had already earned.
Common ways candidates lose marks here
- ·Hedging: including a borderline option "just in case", which is the exact behaviour the rule penalises.
- ·Number targeting: assuming a fixed count of correct answers and selecting to fill it.
- ·Reading as a group: judging options relative to each other rather than each against the stem.
- ·Practising on a bank that marks these items simply right or wrong, so the habit never surfaces.
Common questions
- Is there a penalty for leaving a select-all item blank?
- You score zero for that item, the same as you would for a net-negative selection. There is no additional penalty, but there is also no benefit, so make your best judgement on each option rather than skipping.
- Do all Next Generation item types use plus-minus scoring?
- No. NCSBN uses several scoring models. Matrix and grid items are typically scored row by row, bow-tie items are scored per selection across the zones, and ordering items are scored per position. Select-all is where plus-minus most commonly appears.
- Does partial credit mean these items are easier?
- The opposite, usually. Partial credit means a candidate who half-knows the content gets a score reflecting that, rather than a coin-flip. It removes the upside of guessing.