NAVLE Passing Score Explained: What Score Do You Need to Pass?

One of the most frequently asked questions about the NAVLE is also one of the most misunderstood: what score do you need to pass? The answer is more nuanced than a simple number because the NAVLE uses a scaled scoring system rather than a fixed percentage cutoff. This guide explains how NAVLE scoring works, what the passing standard means, and how to interpret your results.

How the NAVLE Is Scored

The NAVLE uses scaled scoring, not raw percentage scoring. This means your score is not simply "number of correct answers ÷ total questions × 100." Instead, your raw performance is converted to a scaled score that accounts for variation in question difficulty across different exam forms.

The purpose of scaled scoring is to ensure fairness across different administrations of the NAVLE. If one administration happened to include slightly harder questions than another, a candidate who saw the harder questions would be at a disadvantage if scored only on raw percentage correct. Scaled scoring corrects for this by adjusting scores relative to question difficulty.