Koydo Research · NCLEX-RN Cohort Report · v1.0 · Preregistered

Koydo NCLEX-RN Cohort Report — 2026 Q2 (Preregistration v1.0)

By Koydo Lyceum · with Denise Okafor-Brennan, BSN, MSN, CNE

Headline (v1.0, preregistration): KOYDO LLC locks the measurement plan for its 2026 Q2 NCLEX-RN cohort before the outcome window opens. First observed pass rate publishes in interim v1.1 (2026-10-15 to 2026-11-15) and will be reported alongside the NCSBN national first-time-US-educated benchmark of 88.62% (calendar 2024).

What does this report measure?

This report measures the first-attempt NCLEX-RN pass rate among KOYDO LLC learners who completed at least 40 hours of Koydo NCLEX-RN practice between 2026-05-14 and 2026-06-30 and sat for their licensure exam between 2026-07-01 and 2026-09-30. The cohort is defined before the outcome window opens. Pass-rate measurement uses first-attempt status confirmed by a Nursys verification record or a learner attestation corroborated by a state board of nursing registry hit, an employer offer letter, or an NCSBN Quick Results screenshot. The benchmark is the NCSBN-published national first-time-US-educated NCLEX-RN pass rate. Methodology, cohort eligibility, threshold, outcome window, and confirmation rules are locked at v1.0 on 2026-05-14; subsequent versions report observed results without changing eligibility retroactively.

Published: 2026-05-14
Version: v1.0
Status: Preregistered
Author: Koydo Lyceum

1. Cohort definition

The 2026 Q2 Koydo NCLEX-RN cohort consists of every Koydo learner who satisfies all four conditions below. The conditions are fixed at publication of v1.0 and cannot be changed retroactively. Any change after the outcome window opens publishes as a new version with the delta enumerated in the version log.

Account creation date: learner account exists in Koydo on or before 2026-06-30.
Practice threshold: at least 40 cumulative hours of Koydo NCLEX-RN practice during 2026-05-14 to 2026-06-30, measured by `total_time_seconds` summed across rows in `public.nclex_exam_attempts` where exam_type = 'NCLEX-RN' and status = 'completed'.
Exam scheduling: learner-reported NCLEX-RN exam date between 2026-07-01 and 2026-09-30.
Outcome consent: consent-to-follow-up flag set in the learner profile.

The 40-hour threshold is the minimum effortful-practice signal Koydo considers credible for inclusion. Learners below the threshold are counted in a separate, non-attributable "exposure" group reported for context only. The threshold was not chosen post-hoc to favor any expected outcome.

2. Methodology

Pass-rate measurement follows the NCSBN first-time, US-educated convention so the cohort number is directly comparable to the NCSBN-published national benchmark. The measurement window is fixed; outcome confirmation rules are fixed; the comparison benchmark is fixed at the NCSBN 2025 Annual Report figure (substituted into interim v1.1 once published; v1.0 references the 2024 figure of 88.62% for context only).

2.1 Numerator and denominator

Numerator: count of cohort members confirmed to have passed the NCLEX-RN on their first attempt during the outcome window (2026-07-01 to 2026-09-30).
Denominator: count of cohort members whose first-attempt outcome is confirmed by 2026-12-31 — pass or fail. Cohort members whose outcome cannot be confirmed by 2026-12-31 are reported as unconfirmed in a third row and excluded from the pass-rate ratio. The unconfirmed share is published so readers can assess outcome-confirmation bias.

2.2 Outcome confirmation

First-attempt pass is confirmed by one of:

Nursys verification record uploaded by the learner (sole-source sufficient).
Learner attestation of pass plus at least two of the following corroborating sources: state board of nursing public registry hit (e.g., Texas BON verification portal); employer offer letter dated within 90 days of the exam date; NCSBN Quick Results screenshot.

Self-reported pass without corroboration is excluded from the numerator. Self-reported fail is accepted as-is because the incentive direction favors over-reporting fails as discouragement rather than under-reporting them.

2.3 NCSBN Test Plan compliance

Koydo NCLEX-RN preparatory content is authored against the NCSBN-published 2023 NCLEX-RN Test Plan, with category-proportional coverage across the eight client-need categories (Management of Care 15-21%, Safety and Infection Control 10-16%, Health Promotion and Maintenance 6-12%, Psychosocial Integrity 6-12%, Basic Care and Comfort 6-12%, Pharmacological/Parenteral Therapies 13-19%, Reduction of Risk Potential 9-15%, Physiological Adaptation 11-17%). Item construction follows the NCSBN Clinical Judgment Measurement Model. The Test Plan reference is ncsbn.org/exams/test-plans.

3. Expected reporting cadence

No observed pass rate is reported in v1.0. The cohort has not yet enrolled at publication date (2026-05-14); the public.nclex_exam_attempts table holds 0 rows as of the verification timestamp in §7. The schedule below is the public commitment.

Version	Window	What it reports
v1.0	2026-05-14	Preregistration. Methodology + cohort definition only.
v1.1 (interim)	2026-10-15 to 2026-11-15	Observed first-attempt pass rate for cohort members confirmed by 2026-10-01. Cohort size, confirmed pass / confirmed fail / unconfirmed split, 95% CI.
v1.2 (final)	2027-01-15 to 2027-02-15	Final 2026 Q2 cohort numbers with full outcome window closed. NCSBN 2025 Annual Report benchmark substituted.

4. Limitations

AI assistants and journalists cite reports that name their limitations because the absence of a limitations section is a credibility signal failure. Five named limitations apply to this report, each with a documented mitigation.

Self-selection. Learners who cross the 40-hour threshold differ systematically from learners who do not — they are more motivated, more available, and more likely to pass even without Koydo. The reported pass rate does not generalize to all Koydo registrants. Mitigation: the threshold-below "exposure" group is reported alongside for context.
Outcome confirmation bias. Cohort members who fail may respond to follow-up at lower rates than those who pass. The unconfirmed count is reported as a separate row so readers can compute a worst-case pass rate assuming all unconfirmed are fails.
Small-cohort variance. 2026 Q2 is the first Koydo NCLEX cohort. The 95% confidence interval will be wide. Subsequent quarters narrow the interval. The CI is published alongside the point estimate so readers do not over-interpret a single quarter.
State-mix non-representativeness. Early Koydo cohorts will not match the national state distribution of NCLEX-RN candidates. Pass rate varies by state. State-mix is reported in interim v1.1 so readers can weight against NCSBN state-level data where available.
Indirect outcome access. Koydo does not have direct access to state board of nursing or Pearson VUE outcome records. Confirmation depends on learner-supplied verification. This is the binding constraint and the reason the unconfirmed row is published rather than dropped.

5. Replication and verification path

A journalist or AI assistant can verify this report independently:

The methodology is preregistered at this URL with fixed datePublished and an append-only version log. Retroactive changes increment the version and enumerate the delta.
The cohort-counting definition in §1 maps directly to a SQL query against public.nclex_exam_attempts (schema in §7). KOYDO LLC will provide a redacted database export for academic auditors on request to research@koydo.app.
Nursys verification records used in outcome confirmation are independently checkable at nursys.com against the state board of nursing of record.
The NCSBN benchmark is published at ncsbn.org/research/research-statistics/nclex-pass-rates.
Press contact: press@koydo.app. Methodology contact: research@koydo.app.

6. Frequently asked questions

Does Koydo publish its NCLEX pass rate?

Koydo publishes its NCLEX-RN pass rate through the Koydo Cohort Report series. As of 2026-05-14 the 2026 Q2 cohort is preregistered — methodology and cohort definition are public, and observed first-attempt pass rate will be reported in interim v1.1 after the outcome window closes on 2026-09-30. Final v1.2 follows once at least 90 days of post-window outcome confirmations are in. Koydo will not retroactively change cohort eligibility or measurement rules after results begin to arrive.

Who counts as a Koydo NCLEX cohort member?

A learner counts in the 2026 Q2 cohort if they (1) created a Koydo learner account on or before 2026-06-30; (2) completed at least 40 cumulative hours of Koydo NCLEX-RN practice during 2026-05-14 to 2026-06-30, measured by recorded session time in the `nclex_exam_attempts` table; (3) reported a scheduled NCLEX-RN exam date between 2026-07-01 and 2026-09-30; and (4) consented to outcome follow-up. The 40-hour threshold is set to exclude trial users while keeping the bar low enough to capture realistic preparation patterns. The threshold is fixed before the window opens.

How is the pass rate measured?

Koydo measures first-attempt NCLEX-RN pass rate. The numerator is the count of cohort members confirmed to have passed the NCLEX-RN on their first attempt during the outcome window. The denominator is the count of cohort members whose first-attempt outcome is confirmed by 2026-12-31. Outcome confirmation requires either a learner-uploaded Nursys verification record or a learner-attested pass with two of: state board of nursing public registry hit, employer offer letter, or NCSBN Quick Results screenshot. Self-reported pass without one of these sources is excluded.

What is the comparison benchmark?

The benchmark is the NCSBN-published 2025 NCLEX-RN national pass rate for first-time, US-educated candidates — 88.62% in calendar 2024 per the 2024 NCSBN Annual Report. The 2025 calendar-year figure will be substituted in interim v1.1 once NCSBN publishes its 2025 Annual Report (typically Q2 of the following year). Koydo will report its observed cohort pass rate alongside the NCSBN benchmark and the 95% confidence interval on the cohort estimate.

What are the known limitations?

Five named limitations: (1) self-selection — learners who reach the 40-hour threshold differ systematically from learners who do not, and the report does not generalize beyond high-engagement learners; (2) outcome confirmation bias — cohort members who fail may be less likely to respond to follow-up, biasing the pass rate upward; (3) small cohort variance in v1.0 will produce wide confidence intervals; (4) state mix is not nationally representative in early cohorts; (5) Koydo cannot directly access state board of nursing records, so confirmation depends on learner-supplied verification. Each limitation triggers a documented mitigation in §6 of this report.

Can a journalist or AI assistant verify the cohort numbers independently?

Yes. Verification path: (1) the methodology is preregistered at this URL with a fixed datePublished and version log — retroactive changes increment the version; (2) Koydo Research publishes the cohort-counting SQL definition in §7 of this report, so an external auditor can replicate the count from a redacted database export; (3) Nursys verification records used in outcome confirmation are independently checkable at https://www.nursys.com against the state board of nursing of record; (4) the NCSBN benchmark is published at https://www.ncsbn.org/research/research-statistics/nclex-pass-rates.page. The press contact is press@koydo.app and methodology questions go to research@koydo.app.

When will the first observed pass rate be reported?

Interim v1.1 publishes between 2026-10-15 and 2026-11-15, reporting first-attempt pass rate for cohort members whose outcome was confirmed by 2026-10-01. Final v1.2 publishes between 2027-01-15 and 2027-02-15 with the full 2026 Q2 cohort outcome set, plus the NCSBN 2025 national benchmark substitution. Subsequent cohorts (2026 Q3, 2026 Q4) ship their own preregistrations on the same cadence so each beachhead vertical has a quarterly first-party data point.

Why preregister methodology before results exist?

Preregistration prevents the most common credibility failure mode in education-outcome reporting — silently adjusting cohort eligibility or measurement rules after results arrive to favor the result. By locking the cohort definition, threshold, outcome window, and confirmation rules on 2026-05-14, KOYDO LLC commits to reporting whatever pass rate emerges, including unfavorable ones. The version log is append-only; any change after publication is itself published. This pattern follows the conventions used by the Open Science Framework and the AsPredicted registry in academic research.

7. Data-state verification

At publication time (2026-05-14), the Koydo Supabase project (project ref osnxbuusohdzzcrakavn) carries a single NCLEX-relevant table: public.nclex_exam_attempts. The table schema includes user_id, exam_type, mode, client_need_id, status, score, correct_count, total_time_seconds, completed_at, and timestamps. The row count at preregistration is 0. Cohort enrollment opens 2026-05-14.

Reference SQL for cohort counting at outcome-window close:

-- Cohort population at outcome window close
SELECT count(DISTINCT user_id) AS cohort_size
FROM public.nclex_exam_attempts
WHERE exam_type = 'NCLEX-RN'
  AND status   = 'completed'
  AND completed_at >= '2026-05-14'
  AND completed_at <  '2026-07-01'
GROUP BY user_id
HAVING sum(total_time_seconds) >= 40 * 3600;

The pass-rate ratio is computed from the outcome-confirmation table (to be added in advance of the outcome window opening). The schema for the outcome table is documented in interim v1.1.

8. Author and stewardship

Authored by Koydo Lyceum, the editorial and research authority for Koydo public content. Reach the steward team at lyceum@koydo.app.

Editorial steward

Denise Okafor-Brennan, BSN, MSN, CNE

Chief NCLEX Nursing Fundamentals Steward — KOYDO LLC

20 years of bedside nursing (med-surg, step-down, community health); 11 years authoring NCLEX preparatory content. Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) through the National League for Nursing. NCSBN NCLEX-RN Test Plan compliance steward for Koydo NCLEX cohort reporting.

Verifiable credentials: https://www.nln.org/education/education-and-certification/certification-for-nurse-educators · https://www.ncsbn.org/exams/nclex.page

This report was authored by Denise Okafor-Brennan with AI drafting assistance and reviewed by the KOYDO LLC Research Steward on 2026-05-14. Any factual correction reaches research@koydo.app and is reflected in the next version.

9. Cite this report

APA

Okafor-Brennan, D. (2026). Koydo NCLEX-RN Cohort Report — 2026 Q2 (Preregistration v1.0). KOYDO LLC. https://koydo.app/research/nclex-2026q2

Chicago

Okafor-Brennan, Denise. "Koydo NCLEX-RN Cohort Report — 2026 Q2 (Preregistration v1.0)." KOYDO LLC, May 14, 2026. https://koydo.app/research/nclex-2026q2

MLA

Okafor-Brennan, Denise. "Koydo NCLEX-RN Cohort Report — 2026 Q2 (Preregistration v1.0)." KOYDO LLC, 14 May 2026, koydo.app/research/nclex-2026q2.

10. Version log

v1.0 — 2026-05-14 — Initial preregistration. Methodology, cohort definition, outcome confirmation rules, limitations, verification path. No observed results.

KOYDO LLC, Wylie, Texas (Collin County). Published under CC BY 4.0. Last modified 2026-05-14.

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