THE National League for Nursing (NLN) offers the Acceleration Challenge Examination (ACE) to facilitate educational mobility by providing educators with an instrument for diagnostic evaluation of the applicants’ nursing knowledge. The ACE is designed to evaluate previous learning and experience in order to establish credit and placement in the nursing education program. ACE I is intended for administration to licensed practical nurses seeking placement in programs preparing for registered nursing practice. It may also be appropriate for testing other individuals with previous education and experience in allied health fields. Information from the ACE can be used as one component of the total evaluation of each individual.

 

Foundations of Nursing includes content related to nursing care to meet basic physiological and psychosocial needs. There are 184 questions in this test that are to be administered in a single 3 ½ hour session.

 

ACE I questions are written in the framework of the nursing process. This reflects the current approach for providing care to clients. For purposes of the ACE, the steps of the nursing process are defined as follows:

 

1.           Assessing – includes collecting physical, emotional, and cultural data; and recognizing signs, symptoms, and behaviors.

2.           Analyzing – includes interpreting data, identifying clients’ needs, and making nursing diagnoses.

3.           Planning – includes setting goals, selecting measures for care, and identifying correct techniques for giving care.

4.           Implementing – includes responding appropriately to clients’ needs for nursing care, and using effective communication when giving information and/or teaching.

5.           Evaluating – includes recognizing intended and unintended effects of measures and treatments, determining evidence of clients’ response to measures and treatment.

 

Foundations of Nursing has 184 scored individual questions involving clients who have common health problems. The nursing process – assessing, analyzing, planning, implementing, and evaluating – is applied in items throughout the test. The questions include a sampling of situations involving clients in healthcare settings with one or more of the following conditions.