NCLEX-RN Health Promotion and Maintenance
6–12% of the NCLEX-RN · Health Promotion and Maintenance
85 questions weighted to every client-needs category, three case studies, and a score for Health Promotion so you know where you stand.
Free Health Promotion drillA 24-year-old client with a cervix asks how often she should be screened for cervical cancer. Which response by the nurse is consistent with USPSTF guidance?
Health Promotion and Maintenance on the 2026 test plan
Health Promotion and Maintenance is 6–12% of the exam and covers the whole lifespan: pregnancy, birth, the newborn, children, adults and older adults. Questions test expected findings, screening and prevention, and teaching that fits the client’s age and readiness to learn.
- Share of the exam
- 6–12% of scored stand-alone items (we weight our mock exams at 9%)
- Client Needs category
- Health Promotion and Maintenance
- Our drill
- 10 questions, untimed, a rationale for every option; one free attempt, unlimited with a pass
What Health Promotion questions test
- Prenatal care and education: expected changes, warning signs, nutrition and fetal movement
- Labor and birth: stages of labor, fetal heart rate patterns and comfort measures
- Postpartum care: fundus, lochia, breastfeeding, warning signs and mood
- Newborn care: Apgar, reflexes, safe sleep, car seats, feeding and the first immunizations
- Growth and development from infancy through adolescence: milestones, Erikson’s stages and anticipatory guidance
- Adult and older-adult screening and immunizations, and expected changes of aging versus disease
- Health assessment techniques and the order of the abdominal examination
- Readiness to learn, learning barriers, interpreters and communication aids
- High-risk behaviors and community health education
Sit the full exam under the real clock
85 questions weighted to every client-needs category, three case studies, and a score for Health Promotion so you know where you stand.
Free Health Promotion drillHow to study it
- Know a milestone for each age band (2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 18 months; 2, 3, 4, 5 years) and the next step a parent should expect.
- Postpartum findings follow a timeline: lochia rubra, serosa then alba; the fundus descends about one fingerbreadth a day.
- Screening questions follow current U.S. guidance; learn the starting ages and intervals rather than exceptions.
- Teaching questions reward assessing readiness and preferences before giving information.
Common questions
What does an Apgar score measure?
Heart rate, respiratory effort, muscle tone, reflex irritability and color, each scored 0 to 2 at one and five minutes after birth. A score of 7 to 10 is normal; a low five-minute score calls for continued resuscitation and reassessment.
When do infant reflexes disappear?
The Moro and rooting reflexes fade by about 4 months, the palmar grasp by about 6 months and the Babinski response by about 12 months. A reflex that persists well past its age is a developmental concern.
What is normal postpartum lochia?
Rubra (dark red) for the first three or so days, serosa (pinkish brown) until about day 10, then alba (yellowish white) for up to several weeks. Saturating a pad in an hour, large clots or a return to bright red bleeding is reported.
85 questions weighted to every client-needs category, three case studies, and a score for Health Promotion so you know where you stand.
Free Health Promotion drillMore NCLEX-RN guides
- NCLEX-RN Management of Care
- NCLEX-RN Safety and Infection Prevention and Control
- NCLEX-RN Psychosocial Integrity
- NCLEX-RN Basic Care and Comfort
- NCLEX-RN Pharmacological and Parenteral Therapies
- NCLEX-RN Reduction of Risk Potential
- NCLEX-RN Physiological Adaptation
- NCLEX-RN for internationally educated nurses
- Retaking the NCLEX-RN
- NCLEX-RN practice exam (85 items)
Sources
- NCSBN: 2026 NCLEX-RN Test Plan (effective April 1, 2026)
- NCLEX.com: Test plans
- NCSBN: NCLEX Candidate Bulletin (October 2025): fees, retake policy, exam length and time
- NCSBN: NCLEX registration fee change effective February 1, 2027
- NCSBN: 2025 NCLEX Examination Statistics (volumes and pass rates)
- NCLEX.com FAQs: partial-credit scoring (plus/minus, zero/one, rationale)
- NCSBN: Candidate Performance Report
Original practice questions for exam preparation, written to the 2026 NCLEX-RN Test Plan. Independent practice, not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) or Pearson VUE. NCLEX and NCLEX-RN are registered trademarks of NCSBN.