The NMC CBT is set against UK documents, not general nursing knowledge. The core set is The Code, the Standards of proficiency for registered nurses, the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and its Code of Practice, the Mental Health Act 1983, the Care Act 2014, the Equality Act 2010, NEWS2, NICE guidelines and the BNF, Resuscitation Council UK guidance, the UKHSA immunisation schedule and Royal Pharmaceutical Society medicines guidance. This guide says what each one is for, which exam blocks it feeds and how UK conventions on drug names and units appear in questions.
Why local guidance decides marks
The NMC test specification describes a test of competence against UK standards. Part B is organised by the NMC Standards of proficiency, and the Code is the professional standard for every registered nurse in the UK. A nurse who answers from another country's policy can choose a reasonable clinical action that is still not the UK answer. Typical examples are a different early warning score, a different resuscitation sequence or a different view of when a relative can consent for an adult.
You do not need to read each document end to end. You need to know what each does, learn its headline rules and be able to apply them to a scenario. The sections below are ordered by exam weight, starting with the sources behind Platform 1, the largest Part B block.
Professional standards
The Code
The Code (NMC, 2018) has four themes and 25 numbered standards: prioritise people, practise effectively, preserve safety, and promote professionalism and trust. Know the standards that most often drive answers: record keeping (10), delegation (11), working within competence (13), duty of candour (14), emergencies (15), acting on risk (16), raising concerns (17) and medicines (18). Tie each to a behaviour. When an option protects the person, tells the truth and escalates early, it is usually the Code-aligned answer.
Standards of proficiency for registered nurses
This is the blueprint document: seven platforms (accountable professional; promoting health; assessing needs and planning care; providing and evaluating care; leading and managing; improving safety and quality; coordinating care), plus Annexe A on communication and relationship management skills and Annexe B on nursing procedures. Use it as the table of contents for your revision. The hub blueprint shows how the 100 clinical questions divide across it.
Law
- Mental Capacity Act 2005. Five principles: presume capacity, take all practicable steps to help the person decide, an unwise decision does not show lack of capacity, act in best interests, and choose the least restrictive option. A two-stage test: an impairment of the mind or brain, and, because of it, inability to understand, retain, use or weigh, or communicate a decision. Capacity is decision-specific and time-specific. The burden of proof lies with whoever claims lack of capacity.
- Deprivation of liberty safeguards. Know the idea: protecting people who lack capacity from unlawful restriction of liberty in care settings, with the Liberty Protection Safeguards planned as the successor. Do not answer from policy detail you have not read.
- Mental Health Act 1983. Sections 2, 3, 5(2), 5(4) and 136 are the usual points for adult nurses. The Act is under reform, so do not rely on reform provisions. Confirm durations at the source.
- Care Act 2014. Adult safeguarding principles and the local authority's duty to make enquiries when abuse or neglect is suspected.
- Equality Act 2010 and Human Rights Act 1998. Protected characteristics, reasonable adjustments and the right to dignity and private life.
- UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018. Confidentiality and lawful information sharing, including sharing to protect someone from harm.
- Health and safety law. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and RIDDOR for reportable incidents.
Clinical guidance
NEWS2 (Royal College of Physicians)
The national early warning score for adults. Know each parameter, its bands and the response to the aggregate: 0 monitor at least every 12 hours; 1 to 4 every 4 to 6 hours with a registered nurse decision; any single parameter scoring 3 triggers urgent clinician review; 5 to 6 urgent review with at least hourly monitoring; 7 or more emergency assessment by a critical care team with continuous monitoring. Clinical concern overrides the score, and SpO2 scale 2 (target 88% to 92%) is used only on a qualified clinician's instruction. The exam uses NEWS2, not MEWS or other scores.
NICE guidelines and the BNF
NICE guidelines set national clinical standards, with Clinical Knowledge Summaries for primary care. For example, NG136 defines hypertension: clinic readings of 140/90 mmHg or higher confirmed by ambulatory or home monitoring averages of 135/85 or higher. The British National Formulary is the source for UK drug names and doses. Use UK names: paracetamol, adrenaline, salbutamol, glyceryl trinitrate, furosemide.
Resuscitation Council UK
The 2025 guidelines set adult basic life support: compressions at 100 to 120 per minute, depth of at least 5 cm and not more than 6 cm, 30 compressions to 2 breaths, call 999 for an unresponsive person and use an AED as soon as available. The anaphylaxis document sets intramuscular adrenaline 1 mg/mL (1 in 1,000) doses by age, such as 500 micrograms (0.5 mL) for an adult.
UKHSA Green Book and the routine immunisation schedule
The schedule from 1 September 2026 lists, among adult vaccines, pneumococcal at 65, shingles for adults turning 65 and for ages 70 to 79, and RSV at 75 and for care home residents. Pregnancy vaccines include flu at any stage, Tdap from 16 weeks and RSV from 28 weeks. Platform 2 draws on it.
Royal Pharmaceutical Society guidance
The professional guidance on the administration of medicines in healthcare settings underpins the medicines check: right patient, medicine, dose, route, time and documentation, with allergy status and expiry checked. Controlled drugs follow the Misuse of Drugs legislation, with a register entry and, in most settings, a second-person check.
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UK conventions in the questions
The exam uses UK clinical language and units. If you trained elsewhere, practise reading them until they feel normal.
| Area | UK convention |
|---|---|
| Drug names | paracetamol, adrenaline, salbutamol, glyceryl trinitrate, furosemide |
| Small doses | micrograms and nanograms written in full |
| Laboratory and vital sign units | mmol/L, mmHg, g/L |
| Time | 24-hour clock |
| Spelling | anaemia, oedema, paediatric, haemorrhage, diarrhoea, programme, litre |
| Staff | ward manager, sister or charge nurse, healthcare assistant (HCA), GP, A&E or emergency department |
| Abbreviations | NEWS2, SBAR, MUST, ANTT, ReSPECT, DNACPR |
| Practice | nurse prescribers, patient group directions, two-nurse checks for controlled drugs |
How questions use the guidance
Few questions ask you to recite a document. They put you in a ward scenario and ask for the most appropriate action. The guidance decides which option is best.
- Identify the framework. Is this a Code question, a capacity question, a deterioration question or a medicines question?
- Apply its rule. Presume capacity. Escalate with NEWS2. Check six items before giving a medicine.
- Choose the option that follows the rule first. Safety and person-centred communication usually precede paperwork and delegation.
- Reject the home-country option. If an option relies on a different scoring system or a practice not used in UK services, it is a distractor.
A weekly reading routine
Reading primary documents helps only if it is regular and short. A routine that suits a working nurse is two reading sessions of 30 minutes a week, each tied to a practice set.
- Week 1. The Code, theme by theme, followed by 20 Platform 1 questions.
- Week 2. The Mental Capacity Act principles and the two-stage test, followed by capacity and consent scenarios.
- Week 3. The NEWS2 summary, followed by scoring and escalation practice.
- Week 4. The Resuscitation Council UK pages and the NICE hypertension recommendations, followed by medicines and emergency items.
Keep a one-page sheet for each document with the headline rule, the number you must remember and the common misreading. Review the sheets weekly.
Keeping up with changes
Guidance moves. NICE replaced its older sepsis guideline with NG253 in 2025, Resuscitation Council UK published new guidelines in 2025, and the UKHSA schedule was updated for September 2026. When a source changes, learn the current version and keep a note of what changed, because older prep material may still carry the previous rule.
Which documents to read, and which to skim
- Read in full: The Code (it is short), the NEWS2 summary and the MCA principles.
- Read the headline sections: the Standards of proficiency, the Resuscitation Council UK BLS and anaphylaxis pages, the NICE NG136 recommendations.
- Know the outline: Mental Health Act sections, Care Act principles, UKHSA schedule and screening programmes.
- Do not go deep on: reform proposals and local policy. The CBT is national.
Where this guide says "confirm at source", we wrote from established UK practice and did not open the primary page in our October 2026 check. Verify those items before you rely on them. Do not use recalled exam questions in place of the sources.
Use the high-yield topics as a checklist and Platform 1 for the legal and ethical depth. Return to the NMC CBT hub for the format and blueprint.
Sit a timed NMC CBT mock exam
Blueprint-weighted questions under exam timing, then a breakdown of your result by domain.
Frequently asked questions
Which documents should I read for the NMC CBT?
Start with The Code (four themes, 25 standards), the Standards of proficiency for registered nurses, the Mental Capacity Act principles and the NEWS2 summary. Then use NICE, the BNF, Resuscitation Council UK guidance and the UKHSA immunisation schedule as reference.
Does the CBT use NEWS2 or another early warning score?
NEWS2, from the Royal College of Physicians. Learn the parameter bands and the response to each aggregate range. Clinical concern overrides the score.
Which drug names does the exam use?
UK names, such as paracetamol, adrenaline, salbutamol, glyceryl trinitrate and furosemide. Micrograms and nanograms are written in full, and units follow UK convention such as mmol/L and mmHg.
Do I need to know the Mental Health Act sections?
Know the main sections an adult nurse meets: section 2, section 3, section 5(2), section 5(4) and section 136. Confirm durations at the source, and avoid answering from reform proposals.