Free Nursing Council NZ State Final Exam Practice Test 2026
200 original questions for the registered nurse State Final Examination: Te Tiriti and cultural safety, the Code of Rights, assessment, medicines and calculations, acute care, mental health and whānau health. Tuned for mobile. No account needed.
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The NZ State Final exam at a glance
The State Final Examination is the examination the Nursing Council of New Zealand (Te Kaunihera Tapuhi o Aotearoa) sets for graduates of approved nursing programmes before it registers them as registered or enrolled nurses. A New Zealand graduate applying for registration as a registered nurse supplies their State Final Examination results, support from the head of their school of nursing and two referees, and the Council registers successful applicants as soon as practicable after they pass. The Council's public website does not set out the number of questions, time or pass standard; candidates should ask their school of nursing or the Council for the current exam details.
Tigertest has 200 NZ State Final practice questions with explanations, all free with no account required.
- Run by
- Nursing Council of New Zealand (Te Kaunihera Tapuhi o Aotearoa)
- Who sits it
- Graduates of approved NZ nursing programmes, before registration
- Standards
- Standards of competence for registered nurses 2025 (six pou), in force for all purposes from 1 January 2026
- Questions and time
- Not published on the Council's website; ask your school of nursing
- Pass standard
- Not published on the Council's website
- After passing
- Registration, then an annual practising certificate
Updated by the Tigertest team. Practice questions follow Nursing Council of New Zealand: Register as a nurse, Registered nurse scope of practice (January 2025) and Standards of competence for registered nurses (2025), checked November 2026. Exam rules change, so confirm current details with Nursing Council of New Zealand: Register as a nurse.
How It Works
Train, Then Test
Four training sets, one per mock test: Set 1 holds exactly the 50 questions of Test 1, and so on. Master Set 1, take Test 1, then move on. Questions you miss come back until you have mastered them.
Mock Tests
Four 50-question mock tests that mix every topic, with a 70 percent readiness line and an explanation on every question. The length and the line are Tigertest's; ask your school of nursing or the Council for the real exam's format.
The Six Pou of the 2025 Standards
The Nursing Council's standards of competence for registered nurses describe safe practice in six pou, in force for all purposes from 1 January 2026. Every question here maps to one of them.
| Pou | Standard |
|---|---|
| Pou one | Māori health |
| Pou two | Cultural safety |
| Pou three | Whanaungatanga and communication |
| Pou four | Pūkengatanga and evidence-informed nursing practice |
| Pou five | Manaakitanga and people-centred care |
| Pou six | Rangatiratanga and leadership |
Source: Nursing Council of New Zealand, Standards of competence for registered nurses (2025). Checked November 2026. Tigertest is not affiliated with the Nursing Council of New Zealand.
Built for Nursing in Aotearoa
The Council publishes no topic weights, so each mock test spreads its 50 questions across the areas a New Zealand Bachelor of Nursing prepares you for. Every question follows New Zealand practice: Te Tiriti o Waitangi and kawa whakaruruhau, the Code of Rights, the HPCA Act, the Medicines Act and Misuse of Drugs Act, New Zealand drug names in mmol/L and micrograms, and whānau-centred care. Schools of nursing can set Tigertest as revision for a class at tigertest.io/teach and see which topics the class misses most.
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Share FeedbackHow to Prepare for State Finals
1. Know Te Tiriti and cultural safety, not just definitions
Learn the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Te Whare Tapa Whā and other models, and what cultural safety asks of you in practice: whānau at the bedside, tikanga around tapu and noa, and who decides whether care was safe.
2. Learn the law you practise under
The HPCA Act, the ten rights of the Code of Rights, informed consent and refusal, privacy, enduring powers of attorney, medicines classes and controlled drugs, and direction and delegation come up again and again.
3. Practise drug calculations every day
Tablets and liquids, mg per kg for children, units of heparin, micrograms, pump rates in mL per hour and drip rates in drops per minute. Write the formula, put in the numbers, and check the answer makes sense before you choose.
4. Fix your misses, then retest
Tigertest tracks your accuracy by topic. Aim for 35 or more out of 50 on all four mock tests before your exam. After each test, drill the questions you missed and retrain that test's set.
State Final Exam Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Nursing Council of New Zealand State Final Examination?
It is the examination the Nursing Council of New Zealand (Te Kaunihera Tapuhi o Aotearoa) sets for graduates of approved nursing programmes before it registers them. New Zealand graduates applying for registration as a registered nurse supply their State Final Examination results, support from the head of their school of nursing and two referees. The Council registers successful applicants as soon as practicable after they pass, and they then apply for an annual practising certificate.
How many questions are in the State Final Examination and what is the pass mark?
The Council's public website does not set out the number of questions, the time allowed or the pass standard, so ask your school of nursing or the Council for the current exam details. The mock tests here are 50 multiple-choice questions each, and 70 percent is Tigertest's readiness target, not a Nursing Council figure.
What do the 2025 standards of competence mean for the exam?
The Council's standards of competence for registered nurses were rewritten around six pou: Māori health, cultural safety, whanaungatanga and communication, pūkengatanga and evidence-informed nursing practice, manaakitanga and people-centred care, and rangatiratanga and leadership. They apply for all purposes from 1 January 2026. The practice here follows them, with more weight on Te Tiriti, cultural safety, clinical reasoning and leadership.
What topics should I revise for State Finals?
Revise the law that governs your practice (the HPCA Act, the Code of Rights, privacy, consent and medicines law), Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Māori health models, clinical assessment and deterioration, medicines and drug calculations, acute medical and surgical care, long-term conditions, mental health and addiction, child and maternal health, and delegation and safety. The Council publishes no topic weights, so the split here is Tigertest's.
Are these the real State Final Examination questions?
No. Tigertest is independent and not affiliated with the Nursing Council of New Zealand or any school of nursing. Every question is original, written from New Zealand law, the Council's standards and New Zealand clinical guidance. It is free practice, not past papers and not a guarantee of a result.
I teach a nursing school class. Can my students use Tigertest?
Yes, for free. Make a class at tigertest.io/teach, post one link, and students join with just their name. You see who practiced, their test scores and the topics your class misses most.
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Free to start. No account required. 200 questions on registered nurse practice in Aotearoa New Zealand.
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