I've now failed NCLEX-RN twice.... - Page 3

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  1. Dec 29, '10 by
    Yeah for you! I am happy for you, congrats!
  2. Mar 1, '11 by
    i prayed for all of us whos retakers to have to blessing from God with his guidance we can overcome the anxiety and pass this exam,,goodluck and we can do this!!!!!!!!!!
  3. Mar 2, '11 by
    Quote from Aspiringnurse_1111
    i prayed for all of us whos retakers to have to blessing from God with his guidance we can overcome the anxiety and pass this exam,,goodluck and we can do this!!!!!!!!!!
    hi aspiringnurse, when are you going to take your nclex? i am from the philippines too.
  4. Mar 2, '11 by
    yay for you purple!!!

    Everyone else: Try not to sulk too much. It happens. and it's happened to some of the best nurses.

    I'm currently waiting for my results (tomorrow is the day!) but I did get the "good pop up" on the pearson trick.

    I studied hurst. But I STUDIED it. I did exactly what she said. Lectured to myself, and looked at questions. If nothing poped up in my head when I saw certain key words I studied that information more.

    It is NOT about memorizing. if you do not understand the material and know how to apply it then you're not doing yourself any favors.

    KNOW THE MED SURGE CONTENT. I'd recommend hurst again in a heartbeat, but you've got to do what she says. And you need to wipe all that I was on the deans list etc out. It doesn't apply. NCLEX wipes the slate clean for everyone. it doesn't care what your gpa was, you have to be able to recognize when something is going wrong.

    STUDY. I work full time so I studied 1 sat, monday, wednesday, friday and half a day sunday. prior to me taking those full days I had listened to about half of the hurst lectures. I finished up sat and hit it hard with questions and just KNOWING the material.

    hope it all works like pearson says!

    also, I do workout AND I did go into the NCLEX as if it was just another nursing exam. Because at the end of the day it is. it's another test. no need for me to stress because we did the hard part: GRADUATED lol
    Last edit by FA2Nurse on Mar 2, '11
  5. Mar 2, '11 by
    Wow! I have failed the NCLEX-RN 3 times now and planning to retake it end of this month. I took the Kaplan review class before the 3rd exam and FAILED! Its really hard for me to push myself and it is really quite depressing. Oh well! Keep going guys! If you really believe this path is for you then dont give up.
  6. Mar 3, '11 by
    I also just found out that I failed NCLEX for the second time! Its extrememly depressing! I feel like such a failure, and noone else understands. The first time I failed I thought it was because I had so much going on. I was in a wedding the weekend before I took the exam and Christmas and New Years was the week before that. My fiance and I are also planning our own wedding for July and had just started building a house. So when I found out I failed the first time, I wasn't too worried because most of that stuff was over. When I studied for my first attempt, I used the Kaplan book and disk. I read and studied the entire book but was not very dedicated to doing questions. When I found out I failed for the second time, I was destroyed! I am so nervous that Im just not supposed to be a nurse. I feel extrememly stupid and I also try avoiding people I know are going to ask about my exam. What should I do to study this time? I own the Davis Book and Kaplan book along with the Kaplan medication cards. But I feel like I have looked at them so much already. I also made notecards to learn medications, lab values, and diseases (and their patho)... what next? I feel like it would really benefit me to take a class but I haven't found any in my area. So I started looking for online courses and those are looking promising. I am trying to decide between Kaplan NCLEX on Demand, Hurst online review, and virtual-ATI package. Any suggestions? I avoided these classes the first two times because they were so much money but now I have spent far more than if I would have taken one the first time around. Help PLEASE! I would really like to register for one tonight, and I would like to retake NCLEX in early April. Is that enough time?
  7. Mar 3, '11 by
    hi annie,

    i failed two time already. i used kaplan book and mosby before and ncsbn. but i did not make it. this time, i tried to read the comprehensive review book of saunders (5th ed) for the whole content. i am reading it page to page and understand the disease process. after each chapter i did the questions on the book and cd, and also do the questions on the same topic on nclex 4000. I also have LaCharity book with me.

    i guess, we need to go back to the content study and do lots of questions before going to another exam. I will be taking again this april. and more prayers too this time.

    there are lots of people who failed not only once but many times, but we will try not to be bothered but keep on our toes again. We can make it the next time. We will just give more time, more effort and more focus..

    I know your feelings.... take care and i am sorry to hear that.
  8. Mar 4, '11 by
    Annie,

    I'm sorry for your disappointment through your journey toward beating NCLEX. I'd recommend looking at my schpiel I posted a few weeks ago...I believe it's under "longtime lurker, first time poster." I conquered NCLEX 2 years outta school on the 3rd try with 75 questions. If you read my post you'll see that I didn't change up much...aside from praying. My post has several prayers that I'M convinced allowed me to pass...that and the knowledge that I graduated from school and thus knew what I needed to know. So do YOU! Please try the prayers, continue your studying, and get this darned test-that-doesn't-have-ANY-bearing-on-the-stellar-nurse-you'll-be outta the way!
    BSNRNJo likes this.
  9. Mar 4, '11 by
    Quote from purple nurple
    I just graduated this past May of 2010. I'm a 34yo guy and this is my second bachelors degree. My nursing school GPA was a 3.67. I made the Dean's List twice, the President's Honor List once, inducted into STTI, and I would have graduated with honors if my GPA from my first undergrad wasn't calculated, which brought my overall GPA down a bit.

    About two weeks after graduation, I took Hurst Review and then used a friend's Kaplan account to use Kaplan's Q Bank, scoring each test in the mid-60's. I walked into the NCLEX cautiously confident....

    ....and then I failed the damn thing with all 265 questions, using 5 of the 6 available hours. I was crushed, to say the least. I moped around for a couple of weeks, beating myself up and generally feeling quite sorry for myself. Then I got back in the saddle and started studying again. I took NCLEX-RN for the second time the day before yesterday and I didn't fare any better: 203 questions and I ran out of time. I just got the results minutes ago: failed again.

    Two themes were common on both of my exams: Many drugs I hadn't heard of and lots of questions with answers I couldn't make any sense of, which I of course find baffling for an exam that is supposed to test for minimum competency.

    I keep asking myself how I can do so well and apparently not retain what I need to retain. I've always been a good-to-great student, yet I've always struggled with standardized tests, going back to the PSAT in Jr High. Does this make sense to anyone? Can anyone relate to this?

    Anyway, moving on....

    Things I've done and the resources I have available to me:
    ATI - I took this in nursing school, but didn't take it too seriously because our ATI's didn't count for or against us, and we had to focus on the 'real' exams. The ATI NCLEX Predictor Test said I had a 91% chance of passing NCLEX on my first attempt. Har har.

    Hurst Review - I took the live Hurst Review after graduation. I liked it. I also have their lecture videos saved on my computer. Before I took NCLEX the first time, I attended the live Hurst lectures and then I did the Kaplan Q Bank the following week. I didn't really study the Hurst content beyond what I did in the Hurst classes. As I mentioned earlier, I was doing well on the Kaplan Q Bank, scoring in the mid-60's on each of the tests. This is not to say that I didn't look things up in areas where I felt I was weak (looking at you, Labor and Delivery....I'm a guy, what can I say). For this second time around, I focused mainly on studying the content and re-doing the Hurst Review via my computer. This obviously didn't work out either.

    I have a Kaplan book, my ATI books, a Saunders book, another Hurst Review book, and a handful of others that were given to me.

    I want to take this in the next 45-50 days, and any suggestions would be very much appreciated --
    - Should I take the Kaplan Review? I've heard Kaplan is question-focused, but I haven't gotten a satisfactory explanation at to what this means, really. Thoughts? I do feel that I need (and want) content....
    - Should I start over with ATI? I'd need longer than 45 days to do this as this is a series of books, rather than one (albeit huge) book like Saunders, Kaplan, etc.
    - Should I ignore Hurst completely, since that obviously didn't work, and only use another source?
    - If so, what sources? I feel that I need the content, so I don't want to only do questions.
    - In another thread, someone recommended The Illustrated Study Guide for the NCLEX-RN Exam, by JoAnn Zerwekh and Jo Carol Claborn. I'm more of a visual/tactile learner....I learn things better by seeing and doing rather than just reading, so this sounds intriguing.

    I'm embarrassed beyond belief. I've been ignoring my nursing school friends (I went to school out-of-state) and wow is it rough facing my family and friends here at home. I'm pretty freakin' low right now....

    Ugh. I feel like such a dumbass.

    I guess I just needed to vent, so thanks for listening to me/reading my sorry tale. As is stands now, giving up isn't an option and I beat myself up enough after the first failure, so I don't think I'll be doing much more of that, either. I want to get this over with and get on with life!

    Any and all thoughts and comments are appreciated, but please be gentle! My self-esteem isn't doing so hot at the moment....

    And sorry to add another NCLEX-RN failure freak-out....

    Thanks to all in advance.
    1. Ditch the ATI books...seriously, they will not help you pass anything, but ATI tests and are NOT a proven method of review.

    2. Hurst...heard mixed reviews on that program.

    3. Saunders...probably more nurses on this board passed with Saunders, using nothing else.

    4. Kaplan...I have heard great reviews about their live reviews...at this point, it cannot hurt...may give you different insight.

    My advice:

    1. If you are running out of time, you are spending too much time on the questions and most likely are talking yourself out of right answers...testing standard is 1 minute per question and when you time yourself, you should be WELL under that.

    2. Nobody walks out of the NCLEX thinking, "Wow, I NAILED it!"...seriously..nobody..probably the only thread you won't find on this board.

    3. By getting fewer questions and running out of time, not to sound negative, but you are backsliding. Take a few days for yourself, regroup, then refocus.

    4. You MUST read the rationales of WHY you got a question right...hardly anyone does this and it is KEY to successful testing. If you do not know why you got a question right, then if it is presented in a different way or with different choices, then it means you will not get the right answer the next time. I was always surprised on how often my right answers were correct using the WRONG rationale.

    6. DRUGS...learn them by classes..you cannot memorize every drug out there...it is impossible. Usually there is something on the NCLEX that will clue you into which class the drug is from. Ditch the nasea/vomiting/diarrhea side effects...they never ask you that...focus on what is different.

    Without a doubt, prioritizing, safety and infection control dominates the NCLEX..moreso than the drug/disease specific questions. You have to thoroughly know these concepts.
  10. Mar 4, '11 by
    Quote from uaefan
    Annie,

    I'm sorry for your disappointment through your journey toward beating NCLEX. I'd recommend looking at my schpiel I posted a few weeks ago...I believe it's under "longtime lurker, first time poster." I conquered NCLEX 2 years outta school on the 3rd try with 75 questions. If you read my post you'll see that I didn't change up much...aside from praying. My post has several prayers that I'M convinced allowed me to pass...that and the knowledge that I graduated from school and thus knew what I needed to know. So do YOU! Please try the prayers, continue your studying, and get this darned test-that-doesn't-have-ANY-bearing-on-the-stellar-nurse-you'll-be outta the way!
    thank you uaefan.... i hope i can browse what you have posted before. but i do pray a lot too.. include me in your prayers too.