The National Council of State Boards of Nursing, NCSBN research states the gap between international students and US educated students passing the NCLEX RN is diminishing.

In 2000 there were a total of 71,475 US educated students and 7,506 internationally educated students taking the NCLEX RN. About 88.5% of students taking the NCLEX were educated in the US

The demands for nurses is outpacing the number of nurses who are entering nursing schools. An aging population, growing population, and increased number of nurses used in place of doctors is causing a serious demand for nurses.

The demand for nurses in the US is being answered by students in abroad. Many US Citizens are arguing that there are citizens with skills and experience who want a job in the computer science field and issuing more work visas will only increase unemployment in the US. Will this be the same for the nursing industry? In 2007 there were 119,579 US educated students and 33,768 internationally educated pupils sitting for the NCLEX RN exam. This is a bit more than 28% of all nursing students taking this exam.

The dramatic increase is quite possibly the result of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing opening three exam centers abroad. In just seven years the percentage of international students has risen 17.5%

Students educated outside the US are keen to the demand for nurses in North America and know that educating themselves may be their opportunity to obtain a work visa and possible permanent residency in the US and may garner them a life of a greater quality of living and freedom from oppression.

Students Educated in the United States are still out performing international students, but international students are gaining on them.Last year, there were 119,579 US educated nursing students taking the NCLEX RN. 85.5% of them passed. Only 52% of the 33,768 students educated outside the US nursing students passed the first time.

How about those students who had to repeat the test? Last yearthere were a total of 26,411 students retaking the exam These were US educated students retaking the exam. Simple math indicates that a portion of the nursing students are repeating the test multiple times Only 52.4% of these repeat test takers passed. The pass rate for Students educated outside the US dropped to 25.7%

Many students are looking for study aids to help them getting better test results and have turned to NCLEX NCLEX Study Audioson CDs and MP3 downloads. Since the audios are available online they are accessible to anyone in the world.

Many students use the audios to study for the test, but some students have thought ahead and use it to become familiar with the class material prior to starting the class.

Most students attribute poor test results to the lack of time they have to study. Audio study materials for the NCLEX exam make it easy to learn while doing other tasks.