Research title: Examining the Personal Factors Affecting Licensure Examination Preparation of

Graduating Nursing Students of PCC A.Y 2022-2023

Introduction:

Due to the pandemic outbreak a lot of medical professionals are affected and a lot of health facilities are
experiencing shortage of medical professionals. And one of the most in demand professions today are
nurses, but to become a nurse the graduate nursing students must take the Philippine Nursing Licensure
Exam (PNLE) a mandatory test for a graduate of BS nursing for registration as professional nurses
according to RA 9173.

According Briones & Romero (2020) the Students high performance, if not 100% passing rate, in
taking the Nursing Licensure Examination (NLE) is the ultimate goal of every Nursing Institution.
Hence, it requires all necessary preparations not only for what the school can provide but also with the
examinees; personal accountability.

Moreover, according to Wilson (2014) success on the NCLEX-RN is important to both the nursing
student and to the nursing school for this will served as a judging tool to the abilities of the nursing
graduates. In addition, nursing graduates must pass the licensure examination before they can enter
professional practice as registered nurses.

In preparation, taking the board examinations must be given careful attention. Hence, there are several
“factors” that were seen as influential and assumed to have been existing and practiced but not totally
developed among students or exam takers. It involves their readiness along with personal motivations,
study skills and habits, and time management, which are the focused on this study.

Factors affecting the performance in the board exam:

According to Dayaday (2018), there are several factors that affect the performance of the examinee in
the board examination. However, in this study, the following literature are focused on the three factors
presented by the researcher, which are:

First, according to Cherry (2022) motivation is the process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-
oriented behaviors. It is what helps you lose extra weight, for instance, or pushes you to get that
promotion at work. In short, motivation causes you to act in a way that gets you closer to your goals.
Motivation is influenced by both internal and external factors that serves as a guiding force for all
human behavior. So, understanding how motivation works and the factors that may impact it can be
important for several reasons. Understanding motivation can: Increase efficiency toward goals, drive to
take action, encourage to engage in health-oriented behaviors, help to avoid unhealthy or maladaptive
behaviors, such as risk-taking and addiction, help to feel more in control of your life, & improve overall
well-being and happiness (Cherry, 2022).

Second, according to Crede & Kuncel (2008) study skills refers to the student’s knowledge of
appropriate study strategies and methods and the ability to manage time and other resources to meet the
demands of the academic tasks. While study habits, typically denote the degree to which the student
engages in regular acts of studying that are characterized by appropriate studying routines (e.g., reviews
of material) occurring in an environment that is conducive to studying. In addition, study attitude is
usually used to refer to a student’s positive attitude toward the specific act of studying and the student’s
acceptance and approval of the broader goals of a college education.

Finally, time management is very important and it may actually affect individual’s overall performance
and achievements. Students nowadays always commented that they do not have enough time to
complete all the tasks assigned to them. In addition, a university environment’s flexibility and freedom
can derail students who have not mastered time management skills (Razali et al., 2018).

Utilizing the Self-Efficacy Theory by Bandura (1997) which refers to an individual’s belief in his or
her capacity to execute behaviors necessary to produce specific performance attainments. Self-efficacy
reflects confidence in the ability to exert control over one’s motivation, behavior, and social
environment. These cognitive self-evaluations influence all manner of human experience, including the
goals which people strive, the amount of energy expended towards goal achievement, and the likelihood
of attaining particular levels of behavioral performance (Carey & Forsyth, 2009). This theory will
assist the researchers in understanding the nature of the respondent’s preparation for their licensure
examination.

Bautista & Ho (2015) concluded that the level of performance in nursing school (LP) is crucial to
achieve a high Pre-Board Examination, sustaining learning motivations (LM) during the review period is
also important especially when teaching challenging nursing concepts (e.g. nursing research), and NRCs
are recommended to assess their student’s LP and LM at the beginning of each review period in order to
identify students that may need more help in the review.

According to ABBA (2022) a total of 9,729 aspiring nurses took the exam last May 29 and 302022,
about 6,616 of which have successfully passed. This is equivalent to a 68.00% passing rate, which is a
3.35 percentage point increase versus last year’s first semester passing rate. In addition, the 2021’s first
semester, NLE saw a mere 7,746 takers on July 3 and 4, about 5,008 of which have passed the exam
which is equivalent to a 64.65% passing rate, unlike since 1996, an average of 42.58% would usually
pass the exam. Though the July 2021 result initially beat it with a high 64.65% passing rate, this record
was quickly broken by May 2022, but factors could’ve influenced this back-to-back record-breaking
result. This is because the suspension of the 2020 NLEs may have given many nurses more time to
prepare, thus better chances of passing the exam and many of the takers in 2021 and 2022 were among
the first graduates of the new K-12 academic curriculum. Moreover, a growing body of literature
suggests that the licensure examination performance of graduates in allied health courses such as nursing
and physical therapy depends on multiple academic and nonacademic factors (Oducado et al., 2019).

This study aims to evaluate the factors affecting the preparation of graduating student nurses specifically
in motivation, time management, study skills and habits. Moreover, to the researchers’ knowledge, no
study has tried to evaluate the personal factors affecting the preparation of graduating student nurses of
Pines City Colleges on taking the nurse licensure examination.

References:
Briones & Romero (2020). EXAMINING THE PERSONAL FACTORS AFFECTING LICENSURE
EXAMINATION PREPARATION. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/jen/Downloads/52-Article-Text-
1132-2-10-20210308.pdf

Wilson, D. J. (2014)"Relationship between perceived academic self-efficacy, remediation, and academic

Dayaday, M.G. (2018). FACTORS AFFECTING THE PERFORMANCE IN THE BOARD

Cherry, K. (2022). What Is Motivation? The Driving Force Behind Human Actions. Retrieved from
https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-motivation-2795378

Credé M & Kuncel N.R (2008). Study Habits, Skills, and Attitudes: The Third Pillar Supporting
Collegiate Academic Performance. Perspect Psychol Sci. 3(6):425-53. doi: 10.1111/j.1745-
6924.2008.00089. x. PMID: 26158971.

Razali et al. (2018). The Impact of Time Management on Students’ Academic Achievement. Journal of
Physics: Conference Series, Volume 995, Issue 1, article id. 012042. DOI: 10.1088/1742-
6596/995/1/012042 

Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological

Carey & Forsyth (2009). Teaching Tip Sheet: Self-Efficacy. American Psychological Association.
Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/pi/aids/resources/education/self-efficacy#:~:text=Self%2Defficacy
%20refers%20to%20an,%2C%20behavior%2C%20and%20social%20environment.

ABBA (2022). NLE May 2022 Results: Highest Passing Rate Since 1996. Retrieved from
https://www.abba.ph/post/nle-may-2022-results-highest-passing-rate-since-1996#:~:text= Appendix
%20I%3A%20NLE%20Pass%20Rates%2C%201996%20%2D%202022&text=Since%201996%2C
%20an%20average%20of,would%20usually%20pass%20the%20exam.

Oducado et al. (2019). Institutional Competency Assessment and Other Factors Influencing the Nurse
Licensure Examination. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC & TECHNOLOGY
RESEARCH VOLUME 8, ISSUE 12. ISSN 2277-8616 Retrieved from
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED603045.pdf

Bautista, J. R. & Ho, H. (2015). Factors Influencing Pre-Board Examination Scores among Students
Enrolled in a Nursing Review Center in the Philippines. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281273431_Factors_Influencing_Pre-
Board_Examination_Scores_among_Students_Enrolled_in_a_Nursing_Review_Center_in_the_Philippi
nes/citation/download