ANCC Nurse Executive Certification (NE-BC®)
Exam
2025-Aligned Practice Exam — 250 Original Questions with Answers &
Rationales
Question 1
On a high-acuity unit, a nurse executive wants to reduce turnover among experienced
bedside nurses. Which first action is most useful?
• Mandate overtime for all units
☑ Analyze turnover patterns and conduct structured stay interviews
• Freeze hiring for six months
• Replace annual evaluations with written warnings
Rationale: The executive should first identify patterns and modifiable causes. Turnover data and stay interviews
provide actionable information.
Illustrative clinical/leadership photograph. Used as a visual study aid.
Question 2
On a high-acuity unit, a newly promoted nurse manager struggles to give feedback.
Which intervention best develops the manager?
• Remove all supervisory duties
☑ Provide coaching with practice, observation, and feedback
• Require the manager to read the policy manual only
• Transfer difficult employees to another unit
Rationale: Coaching with observation and feedback builds the interpersonal and performance-management skills
needed by a new leader.
NE-BC® 2025-Aligned Original Practice Questions Page 1
, Illustrative clinical/leadership photograph. Used as a visual study aid.
Question 3
On a high-acuity unit, a unit has frequent call-outs clustered on weekends. What
should the nurse executive do first?
• Discipline every employee who called out
☑ Review staffing, scheduling, overtime, and absenteeism patterns
• Close the unit on weekends
• Offer a permanent differential without analysis
Rationale: Pattern analysis helps distinguish scheduling or workload problems from individual attendance issues.
Illustrative clinical/leadership photograph. Used as a visual study aid.
Question 4
On a high-acuity unit, during recruitment, which approach best supports equitable
hiring?
• Use informal referrals only
☑ Use consistent job-related criteria and structured interviews
• Ask applicants about family plans
• Select candidates based on cultural similarity to the manager
Rationale: Structured, job-related criteria improve consistency and reduce bias in selection.
Question 5
NE-BC® 2025-Aligned Original Practice Questions Page 2
, On a high-acuity unit, a high-performing nurse asks for more responsibility. Which
response best supports development?
• Keep the nurse in the same role to avoid disruption
☑ Create a development plan with measurable stretch opportunities
• Promise a promotion immediately
• Assign extra work without coaching
Rationale: A development plan links aspirations with measurable opportunities, support, and evaluation.
Question 6
On a high-acuity unit, a nurse repeatedly misses a documented competency
requirement. What is the best leadership response?
• Ignore the issue if patient outcomes have been good
☑ Use a fair process to assess the gap, provide remediation, and reevaluate competency
• Publicly discuss the nurse at staff meeting
• Immediately terminate without review
Rationale: A fair performance process identifies the gap, provides appropriate remediation, and reassesses
competency.
Question 7
On a high-acuity unit, a manager wants to improve psychological safety. Which
behavior is most important?
• Discourage reporting of near misses
☑ Thank staff for speaking up and respond without retaliation
• Limit safety discussions to executives
• Publish the names of staff involved in errors
Rationale: Psychological safety grows when staff can raise concerns without fear of retaliation and leaders
respond constructively.
Question 8
On a high-acuity unit, a unit's workload has increased substantially. Which staffing
decision is most defensible?
• Use a fixed nurse-to-patient ratio regardless of patient needs
☑ Base staffing on patient acuity, workload, competencies, and available resources
• Staff only according to the previous year's census
• Reduce skill mix to the lowest-cost option
Rationale: Safe staffing considers workload and patient needs as well as staff competencies and resources.
Question 9
On a high-acuity unit, a nurse manager is dealing with conflict between two
experienced nurses. Which approach is best?
• Avoid the conflict until one nurse resigns
☑ Facilitate a direct, respectful discussion focused on interests and patient care
• Choose the nurse with longer tenure
• Discuss the conflict publicly
Rationale: Interest-based conflict management addresses the underlying issues while keeping patient care and
respectful communication central.
NE-BC® 2025-Aligned Original Practice Questions Page 3
, Question 10
On a high-acuity unit, which action best supports succession planning?
☑ Identify critical roles and develop internal talent for future leadership
• Wait until a leader resigns
• Promote only based on seniority
• Keep potential successors confidential from development opportunities
Rationale: Succession planning identifies key roles and deliberately develops a pipeline of capable leaders.
Question 11
During a system-wide change, a nurse executive wants to reduce turnover among
experienced bedside nurses. Which first action is most useful?
• Mandate overtime for all units
☑ Analyze turnover patterns and conduct structured stay interviews
• Freeze hiring for six months
• Replace annual evaluations with written warnings
Rationale: The executive should first identify patterns and modifiable causes. Turnover data and stay interviews
provide actionable information.
Question 12
During a system-wide change, a newly promoted nurse manager struggles to give
feedback. Which intervention best develops the manager?
• Remove all supervisory duties
☑ Provide coaching with practice, observation, and feedback
• Require the manager to read the policy manual only
• Transfer difficult employees to another unit
Rationale: Coaching with observation and feedback builds the interpersonal and performance-management skills
needed by a new leader.
Question 13
During a system-wide change, a unit has frequent call-outs clustered on weekends.
What should the nurse executive do first?
• Discipline every employee who called out
☑ Review staffing, scheduling, overtime, and absenteeism patterns
• Close the unit on weekends
• Offer a permanent differential without analysis
Rationale: Pattern analysis helps distinguish scheduling or workload problems from individual attendance issues.
Question 14
During a system-wide change, during recruitment, which approach best supports
equitable hiring?
• Use informal referrals only
☑ Use consistent job-related criteria and structured interviews
• Ask applicants about family plans
• Select candidates based on cultural similarity to the manager
Rationale: Structured, job-related criteria improve consistency and reduce bias in selection.
Question 15
NE-BC® 2025-Aligned Original Practice Questions Page 4
Exam
2025-Aligned Practice Exam — 250 Original Questions with Answers &
Rationales
Question 1
On a high-acuity unit, a nurse executive wants to reduce turnover among experienced
bedside nurses. Which first action is most useful?
• Mandate overtime for all units
☑ Analyze turnover patterns and conduct structured stay interviews
• Freeze hiring for six months
• Replace annual evaluations with written warnings
Rationale: The executive should first identify patterns and modifiable causes. Turnover data and stay interviews
provide actionable information.
Illustrative clinical/leadership photograph. Used as a visual study aid.
Question 2
On a high-acuity unit, a newly promoted nurse manager struggles to give feedback.
Which intervention best develops the manager?
• Remove all supervisory duties
☑ Provide coaching with practice, observation, and feedback
• Require the manager to read the policy manual only
• Transfer difficult employees to another unit
Rationale: Coaching with observation and feedback builds the interpersonal and performance-management skills
needed by a new leader.
NE-BC® 2025-Aligned Original Practice Questions Page 1
, Illustrative clinical/leadership photograph. Used as a visual study aid.
Question 3
On a high-acuity unit, a unit has frequent call-outs clustered on weekends. What
should the nurse executive do first?
• Discipline every employee who called out
☑ Review staffing, scheduling, overtime, and absenteeism patterns
• Close the unit on weekends
• Offer a permanent differential without analysis
Rationale: Pattern analysis helps distinguish scheduling or workload problems from individual attendance issues.
Illustrative clinical/leadership photograph. Used as a visual study aid.
Question 4
On a high-acuity unit, during recruitment, which approach best supports equitable
hiring?
• Use informal referrals only
☑ Use consistent job-related criteria and structured interviews
• Ask applicants about family plans
• Select candidates based on cultural similarity to the manager
Rationale: Structured, job-related criteria improve consistency and reduce bias in selection.
Question 5
NE-BC® 2025-Aligned Original Practice Questions Page 2
, On a high-acuity unit, a high-performing nurse asks for more responsibility. Which
response best supports development?
• Keep the nurse in the same role to avoid disruption
☑ Create a development plan with measurable stretch opportunities
• Promise a promotion immediately
• Assign extra work without coaching
Rationale: A development plan links aspirations with measurable opportunities, support, and evaluation.
Question 6
On a high-acuity unit, a nurse repeatedly misses a documented competency
requirement. What is the best leadership response?
• Ignore the issue if patient outcomes have been good
☑ Use a fair process to assess the gap, provide remediation, and reevaluate competency
• Publicly discuss the nurse at staff meeting
• Immediately terminate without review
Rationale: A fair performance process identifies the gap, provides appropriate remediation, and reassesses
competency.
Question 7
On a high-acuity unit, a manager wants to improve psychological safety. Which
behavior is most important?
• Discourage reporting of near misses
☑ Thank staff for speaking up and respond without retaliation
• Limit safety discussions to executives
• Publish the names of staff involved in errors
Rationale: Psychological safety grows when staff can raise concerns without fear of retaliation and leaders
respond constructively.
Question 8
On a high-acuity unit, a unit's workload has increased substantially. Which staffing
decision is most defensible?
• Use a fixed nurse-to-patient ratio regardless of patient needs
☑ Base staffing on patient acuity, workload, competencies, and available resources
• Staff only according to the previous year's census
• Reduce skill mix to the lowest-cost option
Rationale: Safe staffing considers workload and patient needs as well as staff competencies and resources.
Question 9
On a high-acuity unit, a nurse manager is dealing with conflict between two
experienced nurses. Which approach is best?
• Avoid the conflict until one nurse resigns
☑ Facilitate a direct, respectful discussion focused on interests and patient care
• Choose the nurse with longer tenure
• Discuss the conflict publicly
Rationale: Interest-based conflict management addresses the underlying issues while keeping patient care and
respectful communication central.
NE-BC® 2025-Aligned Original Practice Questions Page 3
, Question 10
On a high-acuity unit, which action best supports succession planning?
☑ Identify critical roles and develop internal talent for future leadership
• Wait until a leader resigns
• Promote only based on seniority
• Keep potential successors confidential from development opportunities
Rationale: Succession planning identifies key roles and deliberately develops a pipeline of capable leaders.
Question 11
During a system-wide change, a nurse executive wants to reduce turnover among
experienced bedside nurses. Which first action is most useful?
• Mandate overtime for all units
☑ Analyze turnover patterns and conduct structured stay interviews
• Freeze hiring for six months
• Replace annual evaluations with written warnings
Rationale: The executive should first identify patterns and modifiable causes. Turnover data and stay interviews
provide actionable information.
Question 12
During a system-wide change, a newly promoted nurse manager struggles to give
feedback. Which intervention best develops the manager?
• Remove all supervisory duties
☑ Provide coaching with practice, observation, and feedback
• Require the manager to read the policy manual only
• Transfer difficult employees to another unit
Rationale: Coaching with observation and feedback builds the interpersonal and performance-management skills
needed by a new leader.
Question 13
During a system-wide change, a unit has frequent call-outs clustered on weekends.
What should the nurse executive do first?
• Discipline every employee who called out
☑ Review staffing, scheduling, overtime, and absenteeism patterns
• Close the unit on weekends
• Offer a permanent differential without analysis
Rationale: Pattern analysis helps distinguish scheduling or workload problems from individual attendance issues.
Question 14
During a system-wide change, during recruitment, which approach best supports
equitable hiring?
• Use informal referrals only
☑ Use consistent job-related criteria and structured interviews
• Ask applicants about family plans
• Select candidates based on cultural similarity to the manager
Rationale: Structured, job-related criteria improve consistency and reduce bias in selection.
Question 15
NE-BC® 2025-Aligned Original Practice Questions Page 4
