Foreign nurse - passed LPN Nclex - my story

Hello everyone,

I graduated nursing school 2011, came to the US, had troubles transferring my diploma, paid a lot of money, lost the paid money, because of certain circumstances (and lack of knowledge - talk about bureaucracy!) studied on and off for the RN Nclex and finally was able to take the LPN Nclex. (I couldn´t take RN Nclex first, because I was lacking mental health practical hours, but was eligible for LPN.)

So I took the test yesterday. It took me about 1 hour 20 minutes, it shut off at 85 questions. I had a feeling I was guessing half the time. But apparently I knew more than I thought! The questions weren´t really "hard" - I just haven´t heard of a lot of those questions they asked yet.

Anyway, when I arrived at the test center I was calm and kind of looking forward to the test (to get it over with I guess haha) I wasn´t really nervous which surprised me, I stayed calm and told myself I can do this! Even in between the test when I wasn´t sure of an answer, I tried to tell myself to have trust in my decision-making.

So after 85 questions, I left the test center. I refused to think that I failed (that was hard!) and I just wanted to pass so bad. I prayed and hoped for a positive result.

I went home and wanted to try the PV-Trick, but the website has had been down for a few days (figures!!). But a few hours later I got through once and I had a pop-up which told me there is an "Open registration... blah blah" - so I wasn´t sure what that meant since it wasn´t the "usual good pop-up". So I kept trying through the afternoon/evening and came through two or three more times and the pop-up changed to "Our records indicate that you have recently scheduled an exam. Please contact....... etc." So I was happy but didn´t dare to accept it for 100% until I saw official test results. haha

Well, today I checked BON and there it was - my license number! :) I couldn´t believe it and still have a hard time believing.

I thank the allnurses.com website for any support of you people. I thank my family and friends for all their support and good advice. I prayed to St. Joseph of Cupertino and promised to make him known to cause him to be invoked. Have faith in God, he is good.

I have to be honest, I felt bad praying for passing a test since so much bad stuff happens in this world - but I needed to know what next has to happen in my life - now I know :)

In case you´d like to know - since I studied on and off for the RN test (where I used Kaplan, Saunders, Kaplan Q bank, this website, Hurst review video clips, PDA LaCharity, etc.), I used the red Saunders LPN book, the Flashcards LPN book for questions, this website and the internet for information I needed. So you see, I didn´t really have much resources for that test. To be honest, I think a little luck goes with the test too

I also had the feeling that, if you have common sense, you can get a lot of questions right (if you think you don´t know the answer). I used elimination a lot as well! That helped me the most I think at the actual test.

Don't give up people! You can do this! Trust me - it´s not easy - I was struggling a lot too. With myself, with the language, with studying, with being homesick. And I´ve been out of nursing school for almost two years now. I am happy for now and can continue to pursue to pass the RN Nclex.