NCLEX-RN Management of Care
15–21% of the NCLEX-RN · Safe and Effective Care Environment
85 questions weighted to every client-needs category, three case studies, and a score for Management of Care so you know where you stand.
Free Management of Care drillA client who signed a consent form for elective knee surgery this morning tells the nurse, 'I am not sure I want this surgery anymore.' Which action should the nurse take?
Management of Care on the 2026 test plan
Management of Care is the largest category on the exam: 15–21% of your scored items. It tests whether you can run a safe assignment, not whether you know a disease. Expect questions on who to see first, what to delegate, when to question an order and how to protect a client’s rights.
- Share of the exam
- 15–21% of scored stand-alone items (we weight our mock exams at 18%)
- Client Needs category
- Safe and Effective Care Environment
- Our drill
- 10 questions, untimed, a rationale for every option; one free attempt, unlimited with a pass
What Management of Care questions test
- Prioritizing care by acuity: which client the nurse assesses first, and which finding needs the health care provider now
- Delegation and supervision: what an LPN/VN or assistive personnel may do, and what stays with the RN (assessment, teaching, evaluation, unstable clients)
- Admission, transfer, discharge and handoff of care (report)
- Receiving, verifying and implementing orders, and questioning an unclear or unsafe order
- Informed consent, advance directives and the client’s right to refuse
- Confidentiality and privacy, including social media and disclosure to family
- Advocacy, ethical dilemmas (autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice, fidelity, veracity) and the nurses’ code of ethics
- Legal scope of practice: negligence, malpractice, assault, battery, false imprisonment and mandatory reporting
- Referrals and collaboration with the interdisciplinary team; initiating, evaluating and updating the plan of care
- Quality improvement, incident reports, approved documentation terminology and cost-effective care
Sit the full exam under the real clock
85 questions weighted to every client-needs category, three case studies, and a score for Management of Care so you know where you stand.
Free Management of Care drillHow to study it
- Apply one framework at a time: ABCs, then Maslow, then the nursing process. Acute and unexpected findings outrank chronic and expected ones.
- For delegation, ask: is the client stable, is the task routine, does it need nursing judgment? Teaching, assessment and evaluation are never delegated.
- Read every option as a nurse, not a manager. The best answer protects the client first, then the staff, then the institution.
- Practice the drill until you can explain why each wrong option is wrong; Management of Care questions are decided by the distractors.
Common questions
Why is Management of Care such a large part of the NCLEX?
The test plan is built from a practice analysis of what newly licensed nurses actually do. Prioritizing, delegating, coordinating care and protecting client rights fill a new graduate’s shift, so the category gets 15–21% of the scored items, more than any other.
What tasks can an RN delegate to assistive personnel?
Routine, predictable tasks on stable clients: vital signs, hygiene, feeding a client without swallowing problems, ambulation and intake and output. Assessment, planning, teaching, evaluation and any task on an unstable client stay with the RN. An LPN/VN may also give scheduled oral medications and reinforce teaching.
How do I pick who to see first?
Start with threats to airway, breathing and circulation, then new or worsening findings over expected ones, then actual problems over potential ones. A client whose condition has changed from the last report comes before a client who is uncomfortable but stable.
85 questions weighted to every client-needs category, three case studies, and a score for Management of Care so you know where you stand.
Free Management of Care drillMore NCLEX-RN guides
- NCLEX-RN Safety and Infection Prevention and Control
- NCLEX-RN Health Promotion and Maintenance
- 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.