I PASSED YALL!!!! Yaaayyy!!! My experience...

Let me start off by saying, never lose hope in God!!! I took my NCLEX on Friday, walked out confident, then as the day progressed, I felt worse and worse... I just knew that passing was not in my history. Once I got home and woke up from taking a nap, I felt DOOMED! My friends kept encouraging me to do the PVT trick, but I decided not to. Whatever the result may have been, I would have just rathered spared my life and waited the 48 hours out. And I did. I woke up this morning and got my quick results and there it read I had PASSED!!! :yeah:Thank you God.

I encourage you all to never give up!!! This website really helped me get through my experience so I feel like I should put my own up in hopes to help another person. This is my story...

Let me start off with my background: I was never the brightest in nursing school, neither was I the dumbest. I ended up taking the HESI test several (yes I said several) times in order to achieve the passing score in order to get my degree. There was a point in life where I just knew I was a failure. All my friends were moving on with their lives, and here I was still trying to pass the HESI. I was very embarrassed, but I didn't let that test define who I was. I had a great nursing externship so I had a lot of experience under my belt, but still couldn't pass that HESI. Eventually when I passed, I had lost my externship and finally received my degree!

After graduation: Another graduation had came and went for my school and finally it was time to prepare for another challenge (the NCLEX). Between the time of the end of school until the beginning of the Kaplan course I used this time to pretty much relax, honestly.

June 2011: The first of June finally came and the Kaplan course began. My school paid for the course so I had no reason not to attend. It was a two week course and this was my second go around for the course anyways so I knew what to expect (yes, I did Kaplan twice). Of course I was more focused this time because I was preparing for the NCLEX. Once the course was over, the studying began. By the time the Kaplan class course was over, I had already did the Diagnostic test, Readiness test, and question trainers 1, 2, and 3. I was working a PT job and I still had the opportunity to study at work, so that wasn't too bad. I studied something EVERYDAY!!! Whether it was answering 10 questions or 50 questions, I was doing something. Now at this point, my NCLEX wasn't even scheduled. My funds wasn't right at the time so I was unable to pay for it. But, nevertheless, I was still studying. Now I admit, throughout this month, I did a little slacking!! I went out of town over 4 times, hung out with my friends, played with my dog, etc. I had a life, and I wasn't giving it all up yet!!!

July 2011: Money finally became right in order to schedule my test. I decided to give myself a month in between to give myself a full opportunity to study. There were no excuses for me at this point. So I cracked down and began a routine study session, by myself, in my home, and just did it. I was studying no less than 5 to 6 hours a day and maybe taking a day off, particularly on Sundays. I was doing the online course reviews and questions from Kaplan QBank everyday and I made sure to do a Question trainer once a week. I did the 7th QT the last week of July. By the end of July, I had completed all of my question trainers on top of all of questions in the QBank. Scores were as followed:

Diagnostic:61

QT1:56

QT2:53

QT3:51

QT4:58

QT5:62

QT6:64

QT7:58

Readiness:64

Overall QBank: 59

As you can see I wasn't the smartest of the bunch....

August 2011: Time was winding down! At this point, I had finished EVERYTHING in kaplan. For a minute, I was stuck cause the big day was around the corner and I felt like I had completed every single resource I had!! So I pulled out my hurst review resources that I had and went over some of her videos. I had also went over a lot of questions and looked over the rationales and made sure I understood them.

August 11, 2011 (night before the test): My best friend had came in town the day before and I realized I didn't do too much studying and did too much hanging out and began to PANIC!! I did a dry run to the testing site with my boyfriend and cried all the way there. I did a little bit of studying that day and finally put it to a rest around 11:00 that night. I ate two tuna sandwiches, got on my knees and prayed, and went to bed.

August 12, 2011: 5:50 am. I woke up and prayed, and got in the shower. I made sure to eat this morning (a bowl of oatmeal) and drink my protein drink on my way out. I was so calm that it made no sense. I thanked and praised God all the way to the testing site for even giving me the opportunity regardless of what the outcome may be.

113 questions later, jumping in the pool with my clothes on, more prayer, and 48 hours later, I was a Registered Nurse!!! I wouldn't change nothing of how I prepared for this test. I know if I can do it, so can you! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't give up on yourself and don't lose yourself. Stay focused and your dreams WILL come true. God is definitely good to ALL of his children, and if you believe in him, everything will be done...

For YOU can do all things through Christ who strengthens us!!!! Good luck to all future test takers! :redbeathe