The results of the Philippine (NLE) Nursing Licensure (Board) Examination, which was held in Manila & all Regional Offices on November 29 & 30, 2009 as released by the PRC showed that a total of 37,527 out of 94,462 (39.73%) nursing graduates has passed the November 2009 licensure examination. Compared to the NLE results in the last three years, the overall national passing in the recent exam was the lowest.

Meanwhile, USM-College of Nursing passing rate which is way above the national passing had 120 passers out of 199 takers or a passing rate of 60.30%, a lower performance of the USM CN graduates as compared last year at 72%. The results further showed that the USM-CN overall performance this year was affected by the poor performance (only a good third made it to the exam) of the repeaters as shown in the following table.