BACKGROUND: The transition from nursing student to practitioner can be a difficult and stressful period marked by a lack of confidence and practical skills. To bridge this theory-practice gap and ensure successful integration into the workforce, preceptorship programs are essential. By providing experienced mentors and role models, preceptors can equip new nurses with the necessary skills, boost their confidence, and ultimately contribute to a smoother transition and a more prepared nursing workforce. AIM: Examine the relationship between practical skills confidence and readiness for transition to practice among nursing internship students through exploring the mediating role of preceptorship. DESIGN: This was a descriptive correlational study. PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample of 100 internship nursing students from College of Nursing at a selected governmental University in Riyadh were included in the study. METHODS: The study participants responded to an electronic Casey-Fink Graduate Nurse Experience Survey validated survey. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to explore results and examine the relationships between study variables. RESULTS: About half of the study sample (53 %) had low level of perception regarding the role transition experience with a mean score of 3.01 ± 0.39. As well as more than two thirds of the participated internship nursing students (62 %) had a moderate level of perception regarding the preceptorship role with a mean score of 3.13 ± 0.57. Furthermore, more than half of the study participants (57 %) had high confidence in their practical skills with a mean score of 2.12 ± 0.48. In addition, the study results verified that there was a highly significant correlation between the internship nursing students' practical skills confidence, their readiness for transition to practice and role of preceptorship (P <
0.002). According to the SEM, internship nursing students' perception regarding preceptorship role accounted for 98 % of the variance in internship nursing students transition to practice and 88 % of the variance in their confidence level of their practical skills. CONCLUSION: Internship nursing students' perception regarding the role of preceptorship regarding is an important predictor of the success of their transition to practice and it affect on improving their confidence level of their practical skills.