NCLEX® Fundamentals
Practice Questions
Try NCLEX® Fundamentals Practice Questions
Test your fundamentals knowledge with this Fundamentals of Nursing quiz to experience UWorld’s official questions, with clinical scenarios, detailed visual rationales, and explanations for every answer choice.
See our full library of free NCLEX® practice questions.
Plan of care question - Neutropenic precautions
The nurse is caring for a client who requires neutropenic precautions.
Which of the following actions should the nurse take? Select all that apply.
| 1. Request a prescription for the intranasal influenza vaccine for the client. | |
| 2. Place a surgical mask on the client during transport. | |
| 3. Remove fresh flowers from the client’s room. | |
| 4. Assign the client to a private room. | |
| 5. Instruct the client to bathe daily. |
Teaching question - Crutches
The nurse is teaching a client who has a fractured right femur and is ambulating with crutches.
Which of the following information should the nurse include?
| 1. “Place the crutches 12 to 18 inches in front of your foot when walking.” | |
| 2. “Ask your caregiver to stand on your unaffected side when you are walking.” | |
| 3. “Move your unaffected leg to the next step first when descending stairs.” | |
| 4. “Adjust the height of the crutches so the crutch pads are 2 to 3 finger widths below your axillae.” |
Plan of care question - Foley
The nurse is planning care for a client who has an indwelling urinary catheter.
Which of the following interventions should the nurse include in the client’s plan of care?
| 1. Apply tension when securing the catheter tubing to the client’s inner thigh. | |
| 2. Maintain the urinary drainage bag above the level of the client’s bladder. | |
| 3. Empty the client’s urinary drainage bag once it is completely full. | |
| 4. Cleanse the client’s perineal area with soap and water. |
Medication/Risk factor/Manifestation question - Pressure Injury
The nurse is screening clients for those at risk for developing pressure injuries.
The nurse should recognize the client at highest risk for developing a pressure injury is the client who
| 1. frequently slides down in the bed | |
| 2. is experiencing constipation | |
| 3. has an indwelling urinary catheter | |
| 4. ambulates with a walker |
Teaching question - Ostomies
The nurse is talking with a client who has a colostomy.
Which of the following statements by the client would require follow-up?
| 1. “I should avoid drinking coffee and alcoholic beverages.” | |
| 2. “I need to chew my food completely before swallowing.” | |
| 3. “I can continue to swim in the pool every morning.” | |
| 4. “I will wait until my pouch is full before emptying it.” |
Priority question - Things needed for a verbal order (Potter Perry 602) (Andrew)
The nurse is preparing a staff education program about verbal medication orders.
Which of the following information should the nurse include? Select all that apply.
| 1. “Repeat the verbal order back to the health care provider.” | |
| 2. “Daily medications should be documented using the abbreviation Q.D.” | |
| 3. “Include a ‘0’ before decimals when writing the dosage of a medication.” | |
| 4. “Verbal orders should be documented by the nurse that receives the order.” | |
| 5. “Orders received via voicemail should be verified with another staff member.” |
Intervene question - hyperoxygenation of copd client (valerie)
The nurse is observing a staff member caring for a client with COPD.
The nurse should intervene if the staff member is observed
| 1. demonstrating pursed-lip breathing for the client | |
| 2. providing the client with information about smoking cessation | |
| 3. administering albuterol to the client before meals | |
| 4. hyperoxygenating the client before assisting the client to ambulate |
Plan of care question - Orthostatic hypotension - Holly C.
The nurse is planning care for a client with orthostatic hypotension.
Which of the following interventions should the nurse include in the client’s plan of care? Select all that apply.
| 1. Administer fludrocortisone. | |
| 2. Perform carotid artery massage. | |
| 3. Apply graduated compression stockings. | |
| 4. Decrease dietary sodium intake. | |
| 5. Implement a fluid restriction. |
Intervene question - Eye drops and eye care (how to put them in and how to clean the eye) - (Potter & Perry 645) Jackie
The nurse is observing a staff member administering eye drops to a client.
Which of the following actions by a staff member would require the nurse to intervene?
| 1. Positions the client in the supine position before administering eye drops. | |
| 2. Cleans the eye from the outer canthus to inner canthus before administering eye drops. | |
| 3. Repeats administration if the eye drop lands on the client’s outer eyelid. | |
| 4. Pulls down on the conjunctival sac with the nondominant hand and instills eye drops with the dominant hand. |
Medication/Risk factor/Manifestation question - Insulin question - (Potter & Perry 147) Jackie
The nurse is preparing to administer insulin to a client.
Which of the following actions should the nurse take?
| 1. Draw up regular insulin into the syringe before drawing up NPH insulin. | |
| 2. Hold the insulin syringe with the nondominant hand and pinch periumbilical skin with the dominant hand. | |
| 3. Inject air into the NPH insulin vial after injecting air into the regular insulin vial. | |
| 4. Aspirate for blood return immediately after inserting the needle. |
Watch Expert NCLEX Fundamentals Question Breakdowns
Watch our expert nursing educators break down high-yield fundamentals NCLEX questions step by step. Learn how to prioritize care, identify safety concerns, and apply core nursing principles in exam-style scenarios.
Which Actions Should the Nurse Take for Neutropenic Precautions? (SATA)
Which Interventions Belong in an Indwelling Urinary Catheter Care Plan?
Which Client Is at the Highest Risk for Developing a Pressure Injury?
Which Client Statement Indicates a Need for Colostomy Care Follow-Up?
When Should the Nurse Intervene During Eye Drop Administration?
How to Answer NCLEX Fundamentals Questions
Success in fundamentals comes from understanding priorities, safety, delegation, and patient assessment. Learn the patterns behind the questions, and unfamiliar scenarios become easier to solve.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Who writes UWorld’s Fundamentals NCLEX questions?
Every UWorld question is crafted through a rigorous, multi-step authoring process. A dedicated team of over 40+ practicing nurses and nurse educators writes, reviews, and continuously updates each item to ensure it meets strict NCSBN standards and matches the difficulty of the actual exam.
Our clinical team also works alongside professional designers with advanced degrees to create the medical illustrations and visuals that accompany each explanation. The result is a question bank (QBank) that doesn’t just test you, it teaches you the clinical reasoning behind every answer.
How much of the NCLEX is based on Fundamentals of Nursing?
Fundamentals of nursing is not listed as its own category on the official NCLEX test plan, but fundamentals content is heavily tested across Safety and Infection Control, Basic Care and Comfort, Management of Care, and Reduction of Risk Potential, which together account for roughly 40% to 50% of the exam.
However, fundamentals concepts are also integrated into NGN Unfolding Case Studies across every body system, so the actual volume of fundamentals-style questions you’ll face is higher than any single percentage alone suggests.
What are high-priority Fundamentals topics to know for the NCLEX?
Focus on high-yield fundamentals areas that appear across the exam: safety and infection control, basic care and comfort, mobility and positioning, hygiene and activities for daily living (ADLs), pain management, communication, delegation, documentation, patient education, and vital signs monitoring.
Beyond topic lists, learn the patterns NCLEX tests: unsafe vs. safe care, acute vs. chronic priorities, and when to assess, intervene, call for help, or delegate.
What is the best way to study Fundamentals for the NCLEX?
The most effective approach is learning core nursing patterns rather than memorizing isolated facts, then practicing with NCLEX-style questions that force you to apply that knowledge in clinical scenarios. Focus on safety, infection control, prioritization, and when to assess, intervene, call for help, or delegate, mirroring what the NCLEX actually tests.
What makes UWorld’s Fundamentals questions different from other QBanks?
- Every question comes with an in-depth explanation that covers every answer choice, correct and incorrect, so you understand the reasoning, not just the answer.
- Our questions are written to match the difficulty and clinical judgment demands of the actual NCLEX, not simplified recall questions.
- Our explanations include professionally designed medical illustrations that visualize patient safety scenarios, assessment findings, and nursing workflows, the kind of context that makes fundamentals click instead of requiring brute-force memorization.
How many Fundamentals questions does UWorld’s QBank include?
UWorld’s NCLEX QBank includes hundreds of fundamentals questions spanning every major area tested on the boards, including safety, infection control, basic care and comfort, delegation, and vital signs monitoring. You can filter by fundamentals specifically when creating custom practice tests, making it easy to target core nursing concepts as a focused study area or to drill into a specific fundamentals topic you’re struggling with.
Does UWorld cover NCLEX-style question types for Fundamentals?
Yes. Our QBank includes every item type: Unfolding Case Studies, Bow-tie, Matrix, Extended SATA, Drag-and-Drop, Drop-Down, Highlight, and Trend questions, across all subjects including fundamentals. You’ll practice the exact question formats you’ll face on exam day, with the same partial-credit scoring the real exam uses.
How does partial credit work on Fundamentals questions?
The NCLEX uses a plus/minus (+/−) scoring model for Select All That Apply (SATA) and other scored item types. You earn points for correct selections and lose points for incorrect ones. The lowest possible score on any individual item is zero, you cannot receive a negative score.
How do I pass Fundamentals in nursing school?
Master core nursing patterns instead of memorizing isolated facts: safety before comfort, acute before chronic, and unstable before stable. Focus on high-yield topics like safety, infection control, mobility, positioning, vital signs, delegation, and basic care. Combine pattern recognition with NCLEX-style practice questions to build the clinical judgment nursing school and the NCLEX both expect.
Can I use UWorld to focus specifically on Fundamentals?
Yes. UWorld lets you create unlimited custom practice tests filtered by subject, body system, question status, and difficulty level. Select “Fundamentals” to generate a practice test made entirely of core-nursing questions, or combine it with a specific category filter (e.g., Safety + Fundamentals) to drill into the exact intersection you need.
Does UWorld offer a free trial for NCLEX Fundamentals practice?
Yes. UWorld offers a 7-day free trial that includes 50 exam-style NCLEX practice questions with full, in-depth explanations and access to review videos, no credit card required. It’s the fastest way to experience how UWorld teaches fundamentals differently.
*98% of UWorld NCLEX-RN Review users who completed at least 75% of the QBank passed the NCLEX-RN the first time.