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Business days and exam results: how the wait is counted

Ten business days across Christmas and New Year's Day is 18 calendar days. The counting rules, the 2026 and 2027 holidays, and three examples.

By , editorReviewed Checked against 7 official sources

Short answer

A business day is a weekday that is not a holiday. Start counting on the first business day after your exam. "Two business days" after a Thursday exam is usually Monday, and a holiday in between pushes it one more day.

Which exams use business days

Several result timelines are written in business days rather than calendar days:

  • NCLEX Quick Results are available two business days after the exam, where your nursing board takes part in the service.
  • FE exam results are typically available within 7 to 10 business days for most US jurisdictions, according to NCEES.
  • PE exam results are typically available within 7 to 10 business days for most exams. PE Structural depth sections are the exception at 10 to 13 weeks.

Other exams count in calendar days or weeks: GRE General scores take 8 to 10 days, MPRE scores typically take up to five weeks, and CFA results take 5 to 9 weeks after the window closes. For those, weekends and holidays count like any other day.

How to count business days

  1. Do not count the exam day itself.
  2. Move forward one day at a time, starting the day after the exam.
  3. Skip Saturdays and Sundays.
  4. Skip federal holidays, using the observed date when a holiday falls on a weekend.
  5. The day your count reaches the number in the rule is the expected date.

Step 4 is an assumption. Neither NCSBN nor NCEES publishes a holiday calendar for result processing, so we use US federal holidays as a reasonable default. We say this wherever our calculators skip a holiday.

Federal holidays in 2026 and 2027

These are the observed dates. When a holiday falls on a Saturday it is observed on the Friday before, and when it falls on a Sunday it is observed on the Monday after.

Holiday20262027
New Year's DayThursday, Jan 1, 2026Friday, Jan 1, 2027
Martin Luther King Jr. DayMonday, Jan 19, 2026Monday, Jan 18, 2027
Washington's BirthdayMonday, Feb 16, 2026Monday, Feb 15, 2027
Memorial DayMonday, May 25, 2026Monday, May 31, 2027
JuneteenthFriday, Jun 19, 2026Friday, Jun 18, 2027
Independence DayFriday, Jul 3, 2026Monday, Jul 5, 2027
Labor DayMonday, Sep 7, 2026Monday, Sep 6, 2027
Columbus DayMonday, Oct 12, 2026Monday, Oct 11, 2027
Veterans DayWednesday, Nov 11, 2026Thursday, Nov 11, 2027
Thanksgiving DayThursday, Nov 26, 2026Thursday, Nov 25, 2027
Christmas DayFriday, Dec 25, 2026Friday, Dec 24, 2027

New Year's Day 2028 falls on a Saturday, so it is observed on Friday, December 31, 2027. That day is also skipped.

Worked examples

NCLEX the day before Thanksgiving

NCLEX Quick Results, exam on Wednesday, Nov 25, 2026. The rule is 2 business days.

  • Expected date: Monday, Nov 30, 2026
  • Holidays skipped: Thanksgiving Day (Nov 26, 2026)
  • That is 5 calendar days after the exam.

FE exam just before the winter holidays

FE exam, most US jurisdictions, exam on Friday, Dec 18, 2026. The rule is 7 to 10 business days.

  • Expected window: Wednesday, Dec 30, 2026 to Tuesday, Jan 5, 2027
  • Holidays skipped: Christmas Day (Dec 25, 2026), New Year's Day (Jan 1, 2027)
  • That is 18 calendar days after the exam at the late end of the window.

NCLEX before the July 4 weekend

NCLEX Quick Results, exam on Friday, Jul 2, 2027. The rule is 2 business days.

  • Expected date: Wednesday, Jul 7, 2027
  • Holidays skipped: Independence Day (Jul 5, 2027)
  • That is 5 calendar days after the exam.

The second example shows how much a holiday season stretches a business-day rule. Ten business days sounds like two weeks, but with Christmas and New Year's Day in the way it runs to 18 calendar days.

What the count cannot tell you

A business-day count gives you the date a rule points to. It does not guarantee a result on that day. NCEES says results are "typically" available in 7 to 10 business days, so some arrive sooner and some later. For NCLEX, official results come from your nursing board, which can take up to six weeks regardless of Quick Results.

Official sources

Every fact in this guide comes from these pages, checked on the update date above.

ScoreCalendar is independent and not affiliated with any testing organization. Rules can change; the organization's own page is always the final word. Spotted something out of date? contact@scorecalendar.com

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