Effective October 1, 2012, any Registered Nurse (RN) or Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) applying for licensure and living in a member state of the Multistate Licensure Compact must take the NCLEX exam in their home state. The Maryland Board of Nursing is required by the Nurse Practice Act (Health Occupations, Title 8, Annotated Code of Maryland), to abide by the below regulations:
- § 8-301(d) - A Registered Nurse (RN) or Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) can hold a license in only one party state at a time and that license has to be issued from the home state of the licensee;
- § 8-304(2)(iv)- An applicant for licensure by examination in Maryland must submit satisfactory evidence to the Board that the applicant’s primary state of residence is Maryland or a state that is not a party to the compact; and
- § 8-305(b) An applicant whose primary state of residence is a party state, other than Maryland, is not entitled to be examined for a license as an RN or LPN in Maryland.
Please understand that if the Board receives your application and you live in a Compact State, your application WILL NOT be processed and WILL BE returned to you.
Preceptorship for Nursing Programs - Clinical Rotation
Effective September 22, 2008, COMAR 10.27.01.01.C has been amended to allow out-of-state programs which are substantially equivalent to the Maryland program to conduct their direct patient care clinical learning experiences either concurrently with or after the theoretical learning experience. Arranging clinical preceptorships must be approved by the Maryland Board of Nursing prior to implementation. *
Clinical experience includes, but is not limited to:
- Nursing care of families and clients throughout the life span in a variety of care settings that require nursing measures appropriate for either the maintenance or restoration of mental and physical health.
- The following nursing foci: Medical, Gerontologic, Surgical, Psychiatric, Pediatric, and Obstetrical contact mdbon.nbexam@maryland.gov for questions and concerns
General Licensure Information
Licensure By Exam (NCLEX)
Candidates for licensure who have been unsuccessful with the NCLEX licensure examination can schedule to re-take the examination in 45 days. If you need a reschedule form, email the exam department at
mdbon.nbexam@maryland.gov. A reschedule application is sent with all NCLEX failure results.
For security reasons, the Examination Unit accepts only original documents from primary sources. The Examination Unit cannot use copies of documents for licensure.
Graduates of nursing schools in Puerto Rico or outside the United States must meet the Spoken English requirement. The Board of Nursing does not accept invalid Spoken English scores. The Educational Testing Service (ETS) has advised the Board that Test of Spoken English (TSE) scores are not valid after two years. ETS will send valid TSE scores to the Board upon the applicant’s request.
Nurses Educated WITHIN the United States
Nurses Educated OUTSIDE the United States
E-Mail Us With Questions
Click on the e-mail address to send a message. If you use a web-based e-mail provider (i.e. Hotmail, Yahoo, Juno Webmail, etc.), copy and paste the e-mail address into the 'TO:' field of your service.
Questions about licensure by exam or to request application materials to take the NCLEX
mdbon.nbexam@maryland.gov
updated 8/28/2024
