The NMC Lets You Combine Two Test Sittings

Most regulators in this series want one performance on one day. Several say so in three words: at one sitting.

The nursing regulator does the opposite. You can build a pass out of two tests, and the conditions are more interesting than the permission.

SpeakShark is free for the domain you cannot resit on its own, three AI conversation sessions a day with no card.

In this guide: the permission · the pass scores · the floor · worked examples · not a retake · against the others · what to do · limits · method · FAQ

Key takeaways

• Scores can be combined across two sittings, within 12 months of each other.
• Pass scores: 7 reading, 7 listening, 7 speaking, 6.5 writing, from either test.
• A floor applies to both tests: 6.5, 6.5, 6.5 and 6 in writing.
• All four domains must be sat together each time. No single skill retake.
• Same test type only. IELTS with IELTS, OET with OET.

You can combine two sittings

The NMC's wording is plain. If you do not manage to achieve all of your required test scores in a single test, you have the option to take the test again, one or more times, and to combine your scores across two test sittings.

The five conditions it attaches:

• Sit the tests within 12 months of each other, and complete both no more than two years before the date the NMC assesses your complete application. It specifies that these are test dates, not certificate dates.
• Be tested in all four domains at the same time. You cannot take or retake individual domains separately.
• Gain one required pass score in each of the four domains, across the two sittings.
• Meet the minimum test scores across all domains in both test sittings.
• Combine tests of the same type. You cannot combine an IELTS test with an OET test.

The NMC also publishes a test combining calculator so applicants can check a pair of results before applying.

What you need across the two

The required pass scores are the same as for a single sitting, and each can come from either test.

So a candidate who scored 7 in listening and speaking in the first test, and 7 in reading and 6.5 in writing in the second, has all four.

The floor that applies to both

Here is the condition that decides most cases, and it is the one people miss.

Every score in both sittings must be at or above:

Read that carefully. It is not enough to have the pass scores somewhere. The scores you are not using still have to clear the floor.

That turns what looks like a generous provision into a controlled one. A candidate cannot sit a test badly, ignore it, and sit another one. Both performances are inspected.

The NMC's own worked examples

The regulator publishes two, which is the same instinct we found at the veterinary regulator, covered in the RCVS worked examples.

Accepted

The pass scores are all present across the two: listening 7 and speaking 7 from the first, reading 7 and writing 7.5 from the second. And every score in both tests clears the floor, including the 6 in writing in test 1, because the writing floor is 6.

Not accepted

Two problems, and the NMC names both. The listening score of 6 in test 2 is below the 6.5 floor for that domain. And there is no listening score of 7 anywhere across the two sittings.

Notice what the second example is really showing. The candidate's best listening result, 6.5, is not the problem on its own. The 6 in the other sitting is what breaks it, and that is a score they would happily never have mentioned.

Combining is not a single skill retake

These two get confused constantly, and the NMC allows one and refuses the other.

The NMC's reason for refusing the One Skill Retake is the same rule that makes combining work: every sitting must cover all four domains. That is what produces the floor, because a full test always generates four scores, and all of them are then visible.

A single skill retake would produce one number with no context around it, and the NMC's design depends on the context.

Other regulators split differently. The HCPC accepts the One Skill Retake within six months and refuses combined scores and superscores. The GDC accepts the One Skill Retake. The GPhC requires one sitting and neither. We work through that split in which regulators let you retake one component.

Against the one sitting bodies

The GMC's rule is the harshest version of the opposite position. Only your most recent sitting counts, so a good result can be replaced by a worse one, which we set out in the GMC requirement for doctors.

Compare the two designs from a candidate's chair. Under the GMC, sitting again is a risk: the new result supersedes the old. Under the NMC, sitting again is an opportunity with a condition: the new result adds to the old, and the old is still inspected.

Neither is obviously more demanding. They are different theories of what a test result is evidence of, and a candidate who assumes one while applying to the other will make an expensive mistake.

What to do with this

• Check the floor before you book a second test. A weak domain in either sitting can end it.
• Sit within 12 months. Test dates, not certificate dates.
• Do not switch test types between attempts if you intend to combine.
• Do not book the One Skill Retake. It is not accepted here.
• Use the combining calculator before assembling an application.
• Remember the two years runs to assessment, not to submission.

If speaking is the domain you are chasing to 7, it is also the one you cannot resit alone here, so both attempts have to include it. Speaking is the skill that does not improve by reading quietly. Role play scenarios and a daily speaking partner are the practical routes, speaking practice for nurses covers the clinical register, and testing your speaking level free shows the gap. CEFR levels for speaking explains the scale, the NMC's human marking rule covers who listens to it, and IELTS for UKVI by CEFR level maps bands to levels. For how examiners mark spoken English, Cambridge speaking criteria by level works from real scored candidates.

What we could not verify

We did not use the combining calculator. We have read what the NMC says it does.

We did not check the OET combining rules in the same detail. The NMC publishes a separate OET page with its own minimums.

We did not establish what happens with three or more sittings. The rule is written for combining across two.

The pages carry a last updated date of 8 March 2024 for the accepted tests page. Positions change.

We did not verify the two year anchor in practice. The NMC measures to the date it assesses your complete application, which is not a date the applicant controls.

This is not registration advice. It is a reading of published pages, all linked below.

How we researched this guide

We came to this page for a score table and found a rule that inverts the one we had already read four times.

At one sitting is a phrase that appears at the GPhC, and versions of the same instinct appear at the GDC, the HCPC and the GMC. By the fifth regulator it starts to read like a principle of the field. The NMC does the opposite, which is the useful reminder that there is no field-wide principle, only bodies making choices.

The finding is not the permission though, it is the floor. A generous provision with an unstated catch would be a bad guide, and the catch here is explicit: every score in both sittings is inspected, including the ones you are not using.

The rejected worked example is what makes that concrete, and it is the reason to read regulator examples rather than only their rules. The candidate in it fails partly on a listening score of 6 in a test whose other results they were not relying on.

We then checked why the NMC refuses the One Skill Retake, because a body that allows combining refusing a single domain resit looks inconsistent until you read the reason. It requires all four domains in every sitting, and that requirement is exactly what generates the floor. The two rules are the same rule.

Practise speaking, from SpeakShark

SpeakShark is an AI English speaking practice app, and the NMC's design has one clear implication for how to prepare.

You cannot resit speaking on its own here. Every attempt is a full test, and every attempt is inspected. So the useful thing is not a rescue plan, it is arriving at the first sitting with speaking already at 7.

You talk, the AI answers what you actually said, and you get speaking feedback while the conversation is still running. The free tier gives basic feedback; the detailed pronunciation and grammar breakdown is on Premium.

Being straight about the limits: a free session runs five minutes with four turns, we issue no certificates, and nothing here counts as a sitting of anything.

Start free with three sessions a day and no card. Paid sessions run ten minutes with unlimited turns. Limits are on the pricing page, and how it works walks through a session. Sign up here if you would rather not need a second sitting at all.

We are a speaking improvement tool. We are not an exam preparation provider, and we are not affiliated with Cambridge English, the IELTS partners, Pearson or any exam board. For test format, booking and official practice material, go to the exam body directly. Use SpeakShark to make your spoken English stronger, and use official material to learn the test.

• Site: speakshark.com
• Support: speaksharksupport@gmail.com
• Free tier: 3 AI conversation sessions per day, no card

Sources

• NMC, accepted English language tests: the option to combine scores across two test sittings, the five conditions including the 12 month gap measured on test dates, the requirement to be tested in all four domains at the same time, the same test type rule, the two year validity measured to the date the NMC assesses the complete application, and the test combining calculator
• NMC, IELTS Academic: the combining pass scores of 7 in reading, listening and speaking and 6.5 in writing, the minimum scores of 6.5 in listening, reading and speaking and 6 in writing applying to all scores in both sittings, the accepted and not accepted worked examples, and the refusal of IELTS Online and the One Skill Retake
• HCPC, certificate of English language proficiency: the refusal of combined scores, superscores and MyBest results, used for comparison
• General Medical Council, using your IELTS certificate: the rule that only the most recent sitting counts, used as the contrasting design

FAQ