It took me 3 tries to pass the NCLEX!

After ravenously reading any NCLEX topic on here, I have decided to share my NCLEX story.

First of all, I had my son 20 days after graduation. When NCLEX time rolled around I had mega baby brain. I was overwhelmed, and I failed after having the maximum amount of questions.

Discouraged, I waited a while to start studying and retry. I studied mostly from a NCLEX book we were required to buy in school. On the way to the testing center (my husband drove) my baby threw up. A lot. So I took the NCLEX not smelling my best. Once again I had the max number of questions. Once again I failed.

This time I was motivated. I realized during the exam that it had been a long time since I just answered questions. So I purchased the NCLEX Mastery App (50% off!). Every day I did 100+ questions, and read the info that went with it. If it didn't "click" I made a flash card. I also used the wonderful 35 page study guide on this site and made flash cards from it. Then I made flash cards for labs and for pharm suffixes. On the pharm cards I would write type of drug, ends in ____ , method of action, Adverse Effects, Nursing Implications. I used a similar format with my other flash cards. I also made cards for topics that I remembered being on the NCLEX previously.

Every day, I would quiz myself with the cards. If I got it completely right I would put it in the good pile, wrong went in the bad pile to study again. I always put pharm and labs back in the pile because that's my weak points. Once I knew a card I didnt waste time on it anymore.

On test day, I took my son to his Nana and had my husband drive me to the testing center. We stopped and had breakfast on the way. I got there rested, fed, and extremely nervous. This time I didn't smell like vomit. Yay! While I waited to be processed l, I prayed.

When I sat in front of the computer, I told God that I was praying one last time about this, until the test was over.

Typically I'm a fast test taker. I usually don't have to write anything down. This time I made an exception. I wrote down any word I didn't recognize, to try and break it down.

For questions I wasnt 100% of, I wrote 1234. If I knew it wasnt a choice, I marked it out. If I still didn't know, I focused on what would benefit the patient. That may not be foolproof, but it kept me calm. At 75 questions the machine didn't cut off, and I didn't expect it too. At 101 it cut off after answering a question I was 80% about. It scared me at first, because I was expecting the full amount again. I had 101 questions and 11 of them were SATA.

I took it on a Saturday and had to wait until Monday before quick results were available. It was torture, the more I thought about it, the more I was sure I had failed. Monday came and my hands were shaking so hard I could barely punch in my credit card info. Finally I had PASSED!! The next day it was officially on the TN BON website.

I graduated May 2014 and finally passed Jan 2016. Don't lose faith! I hope this is helpful to someone.