The NMCN Categories You Cannot Afford to Wing (Backed by Actual Result Numbers) these are the most failed courses, sometimes candidates overlooked these courses only to see it themselves repeating. if you fall under the categories of students that will write these courses, look closely, read in between lines, becauese history can predict the future.
Every sitting, NMCN releases results, and every sitting, the same pattern shows up. Some categories clear 80%+ without much drama. Others get wrecked. If you've been treating your NMCN prep the same way across every subject and every category, the numbers below should change that.
Let's be upfront about something before we get into it: NMCN doesn't publish pass rates paper-by-paper (pharmacology vs anatomy vs community health, for instance). What they do publish, sitting after sitting, is pass rates by category — General Nursing, Post-Basic, Public Health Nursing, Community Nursing, Foreign Trained Nurses, Refresher. And those numbers tell a brutal, consistent story. If you fall into one of the weaker-performing categories, generic prep isn't going to cut it. You need to prepare like the odds are already against you — because, statistically, they are. IN CASE, you are still wondering where to get materials and past questions, check our nmcn question bank for your materials.
most failed courses-from past results
1. Public Health Nursing — the one that should terrify you
November 2025: 179 out of 1,890 candidates passed. That's a 9% pass rate. Not a typo. Nine percent.
This wasn't a one-off blip either — it's consistently the weakest-performing category across recent sittings. If you're a Public Health Nursing candidate, you cannot approach this exam the way a General Nursing candidate does. You need more past questions, more repetition, and honestly, more humility going in. Assume you don't know it as well as you think you do, and prepare accordingly.
2. Foreign Trained Nurses (FTN)
FTN candidates have posted some of the lowest pass rates release after release — 53% in one sitting, dropping as low as 36% in another. If you trained abroad and are sitting NMCN to register in Nigeria, don't assume your foreign training automatically transfers into Nigerian exam readiness. The curriculum alignment, question style, and expected depth can catch people off guard. Get your hands on Nigerian-specific NMCN past questions early — not just your foreign coursework notes.
3. Refresher Programme
Refresher candidates have posted pass rates as low as 44%. This category is often overlooked in prep conversations because it's smaller in candidate numbers, but the risk is real. If you're returning to nursing after time away, the assumption that "I already know this, I just need a refresher" is exactly the trap. Treat it like a fresh exam, not a review.
4. Post-Basic Nursing
Post-Basic candidates have landed in the 62-63% range across recent sittings — respectable, but noticeably behind General Nursing. If you're doing a Post-Basic programme, you're often juggling specialized content on top of general nursing fundamentals, and it's easy to let the fundamentals slip while focused on your specialty. Don't. The exam still tests broadly.
5. Community Nursing
Community Nursing has hovered around 53% in recent sittings — a category candidates sometimes underestimate because "community" sounds softer than clinical specialties. It isn't. Immunization schedules, disease surveillance, primary health care structures, health education — this content is detailed and specific, and it punishes anyone who skimmed it.
What about General Nursing?
Worth noting: General Nursing has consistently posted the strongest numbers — 83% in the most recent sittings we could verify. That's not because it's an easier exam. It's because it has the largest candidate pool, and the sheer volume of past questions, study groups, and shared material circulating for General Nursing dwarfs what's available for the smaller categories. If you're in one of the weaker-performing categories above, that's actually the real lesson: you may have less material floating around, so you need to be more deliberate about tracking it down and drilling it.
So what do you actually do with this?
If you're sitting Public Health Nursing, FTN, Refresher, Post-Basic, or Community Nursing — don't treat your prep as "the same exam, just a different label." Historically, these categories have taken the hardest hits. That means:
- Start earlier than you think you need to.
- Don't rely on generic nursing material — find past questions specific to your category where possible.
- Take the "soft" subjects (community health, public health topics, immunisation, disease surveillance) as seriously as the clinical ones. The numbers show they're where people are actually losing.
- If you failed once already, don't repeat the same prep pattern and expect a different result. Something has to change — usually the amount and consistency of practice.
None of these categories are unpassable. General Nursing candidates prove every sitting that solid, consistent preparation works. The gap isn't talent — it's how seriously the prep is taken, and how early it starts. start practising for you examination today