FINALLY PASSED Third time taking the Nclex!

Hello all! This site helped me so much so I am going to share my story for all you ladies and gents taking the Nclex! Especially those who have failed it and trying to take it again! So lets get stared!

I graduated nursing school in July. The first time I took the nclex I was unable to take Kaplan with the rest of my classmates so I decided to not do it because I had a lot of books. A lot of my friends seemed to have not studied too much and were passing so I didn't put as much effort as I should have into studying. I failed. After that I enrolled in the online Kaplan course. Kaplan is excellent in teaching you the strategies of the test and how to take it. I studied hard and took it 6 weeks later. My appointment was at 8am. Let it be known that I am not a morning person but it was the only time available for a long time in my area. I took all 265 questions and 3 of my friends passed after taking the whole test so I had hope. I did the pearson vue trick and I did not get the good pop up and it ended up I failed and I was near the passing line for all the sections so it came down tot he last few questions. I was frustrated to say the least. I decided to enroll in the hurst online review because I have been out of school and figured having a content review would be good. I studied really hard using hurst and I also had lippincotts book of alternative questions. I scheduled my test in the afternoon(because I hate mornings) and I FINALLY passed yesterday with 75 questions!!

So to sum it up if you can afford it I would enroll in Kaplan online course, Hurst review online, and the Lippincott book of alternative questions. Hurst was amazing for content I reviewed and learn a lot from them and they had great ways to remember information! Kaplan was excellent for teaching you the strategy of the nclex and how to take the test and their questions were the most similar the the actual nclex! The Lippincott book was great for practicing strictly alternative questions, I finished the small book in 3 days and I did it the three days before my test.

If you can't afford all of that figure out how you study and what you think you need to work on. If you are great with content but need help taking tests do Kaplan. If you really struggle on some of the content do Hurst. And I would get the Lippincott book either way.

Also some other tips...Schedule the exam at a day that works best for you! If you are a morning person an 8am would be good, if you hate mornings like me schedule it later in the afternoon! As for the day before, I did about 50 questions when I woke up and then relaxed and my family went out to dinner that night and we laughed and had fun and it really put me at ease. When I woke up the day of my test I ate some food and did my morning routine, and then I did about 25 questions just to get in the testing state of mind! Then I went to take it. I wrote myself a motivational note on the white board saying "You got this in the bag!" It sounds cheesy but when I was freaking out I looked at that note and took a couple deep breaths and it helped!

I would also recommend not to do the Pearson Vue trick! At least for me. I didn't do it this last time because I figured if I failed again I would rather have that hope that I passed just a little bit longer. And if I passed I knew it would be up on the board of nursing website the next morning. But I passed!!

The test is hard and if you fail it, especially more then once DO NOT GET DISCOURAGED! It doesn't mean you won't be a good nurse! You just need to keep with it and you will get through it!! And once you do it will feel AMAZING!! Good luck to all!!