If You Fail to Plan; Then Plan to Fail

Usually this forum has thread of either great joys of passing or great sorrow of failure. I'd like to take a step back before both you and my own future turns into the nightmare that some have feared for years...failing the NCLEX exam. Nurses Announcements Archive Article

It's been a while since I've written anything lengthy. I'm nearing the end nursing school, and on top of family and school, I've added a job to my life because I got to pay for this somehow.

I got about 4 months before I graduate and I want to ensure success. I keep reading post after post that some people just do 2 or 3 weeks of "whatever review plan" after they graduate and BAM! they are surprised that they have failed the NCLEX.

Honestly, I don't think any particular review plan leads to success. There are people who passed with Review X and people who failed with Review X. So what exactly is the difference? It's your own planning and commitment to passing the NCLEX.

As with anything, the more you practice and the more you study, the better you become at it. A lot of this knowledge takes time to accumulate and although I've been in nursing school forever, so it seems, a good plan at the end of the road is the only way to ensure success.

The other thing one has to remember is that it makes no sense making a plan and having no accountability. If you create an awesome timetable but during your study time you are up watching Scandal...well that scandal is not going to help you much is it?

Too many times browsing these NCLEX forums, I read of people begging for help, yelling they have done everything in the world and they still could not pass. Have you really done everything?

Can you list your plan of accountability? Let's look at your plan as opposed to what you actually did.

THE well-intended PLAN

  • 7am-8am breakfast
  • 8am-12pm study
  • 12pm-1pm break
  • 1pm-5pm study
  • 5pm-6pm break
  • 6pm-9pm study
  • 9pm-7pm sleep

THE anything goes Plan

  • 10 am wake up
  • 11 am breakfast
  • 12pm-1pm watch daytime soap
  • 1pm-2pm sorta study
  • 2pm-3pm Ellen dance break
  • 3pm-5pm Facebook break
  • 5pm-7pm browsing allnurses for more help to study
  • 7pm-9pm recheck Facebook updates
  • 9pm-10pm watch the latest gossip girl
  • 10pm-11pm watch the all-new Scandal
  • 11pm-1130pm study sorta
  • 1130 - 10 am sleep

Please pardon my sense of humor because this is not true for some. Some people really do study and put their all into it and stick to the well-intended plan. They do the hard time and still fail and those are the ones I admire because they dust themselves off and go right at it again. If that's you then this thread is not for you.

My hope is that for those who are taking the NCLEX for the first time that we really put it the time. Not 1 or 2 weeks before the test, but 3 to 4 months ahead of the game.

It beings now, while you are in nursing school.

It is not my plan to offend or hurt anyone who has honestly done their best and put their heart and soul into this because they really want it. My point is to encourage those who say they want it, but their actions prove otherwise. They waver in making the real sacrifice and commitment that passing this test needs. If you really want to be an RN then make a commitment to ensure your success. Make a plan that you can live with and follow. So at the end of it all, you can honestly say I did it all, I put everything I got into this test and into being a nurse.

Let's continue to be successful in nursing school and make a Plan to Succeed.

Just ask yourself, Do you have a calendar or plan of accountability for passing the NCLEX?

Who is keeping you accountable?

List it here and help others formulate their own plan. Let's help each other succeed.

I agree that having good planning and study habits are very essential to passing the NCLEX. I finished RN school March 2014 and took the NCLEX May 12 and passed the first time with 75 questions. Our school prepared us along the way and it also is incumbent upon the individual to maintain these study habits outside of class. The NCLEX is unlike any exam. Reviewing weak areas and unfamiliar areas will help you prepare. My class had access to Kaplan and the review and Kaplan was awesome and their strategy called the "decision tree" is very helpful in answering the questions. Carefully reading the questions and answers is important. Just like someone else on here just said, each word has to be paid attention to because it can mean the difference between getting that question wrong or right. Good luck to you all that are still in school or about to test.

I've been out of school for awhile but thought I'd say something on this topic. I really suck at testing always have. Books are great but I am one of those folks that need hands on to really remember.

In Va we could practice as an applicant for something like 90 days I think it was...

After graduation I ran out found a job in a nursing home , I knew I'd get to use A LOT of my skills, waited till the last minute to test...

Passed it.... Sometimes the hands on sticks better! Best of luck to all of you!

Specializes in Med Surg, PCU, Travel.
I've been out of school for awhile but thought I'd say something on this topic. I really suck at testing always have. Books are great but I am one of those folks that need hands on to really remember.

In Va we could practice as an applicant for something like 90 days I think it was...

After graduation I ran out found a job in a nursing home , I knew I'd get to use A LOT of my skills, waited till the last minute to test...

Passed it.... Sometimes the hands on sticks better! Best of luck to all of you!

I got a PCT job in hospital now and I agree, I a lot of stuff is so much easier to remember by doing and seeing. Even though I'm not doing RN work, I can still observe them and ask questions, then I'd be like, yeah I remember reading that in the book. Making those connections are really helping me.

Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

I started studying for NCLEX midway through medsurg class. I did this by using the Saunders NCLEX book to study for exams with the intention that it would help me for NCLEX. The last semester of nursing school was leadership and management class. In this class we learned about prioritization and delegation. I borrowed the book by LaCharity from the school library and read the whole book and answered 75% of the questions and read all rationales to help me with delegation on tests. It also helped me with the Exit Hesi. My school had a 3 day Hurst review. I can't say it was so helpful. I signed up for the Live Kaplan review to start at the beginning of January (I was a December grad). Our graduation ceremony was at the beginning of January, so it took til mid January to get my ATT. As soon as I got my ATT, I signed up to take NCLEX. I switched my location around a couple times as new spots became available. I didn't want a time too early in the morning. I found a spot at 1 pm at a location 45 minutes away on January 30th. My study plan was the Well Intended Plan, but only for 3 weeks. After I finished the live review, I really started buckling down. I would wake up at 10 am (again, not a morning person), eat a good breakfast and study straight. No computer, no cell phone, nothing. I didn't leave my house. In the morning I would read the Kaplan course book. I had already started reading it during the live Kaplan review. I worked through the q trainers and after q trainer 4, started on the q bank. Pretty much, I was practicing questions for a good portion of the day. I watched all the pharmacology videos through kaplan online resources, because pharmacology was weak point for me in nursing school. I also used review materials from my pharmacology book and memorized the drug categories. I watched videos on any topic I needed more help with. I re-read chapters in the Saunders book and went back to my medsurg book for topics I was very unclear on. I used skillstat.com to study EKGs, because I thought the Saunders book and the Kaplan review did not prepare me well enough for EKG. I'm glad I did, because I had 5-6 rhythm questions, and I felt I knew the answers. I studied from 11 am til 11 pm every day, only stopping for meals. When I was driving to take my NCLEX, I remember feeling so weird driving because I hadn't driven for the past 3 weeks.