Boy, oh boy! I am scheduled to take the NCLEX-PN this Monday (27th). I have been reading and doing the practice exams on the Saunders CD. I graduated top of my class but feel like I do not know diddly squat right now. Everything seems to be running together. Gee, what drug has a side effect of nausea and vomiting....they almost ALL do. It's very hard to keep all of the signs and symptoms of these disorders in my brain. Anyway, I am panicking and doubting myself. I almost feel like not studying anymore and just taking the test. Either I know it or I don't. Any advice out there?

Oh my gosh, I totally feel the same way. I graduated in February and have been studying ever since. I have my test scheduled for the 28th but totally feel unprepared. At times I feel ready, but most of the time I feel scared out of my mind. The stress is really getting to me. I have already rescheduled once before because of the self-doubt and I'm considering rescheduling again, but then I think, will I ever feel prepared? I am glad I'm not alone.

oh snap i felt that too! i took my boards on tuesday. yknow what, if youre blanking out, just rest for a bit. drink water and freshen up! i think it means your brain is getting fried so dont over study. good luck and god bless!

Two days to go. I am going to read up on neuro and muskuloskeletal today. I only briefly reviewed any pediatric stuff, watch me get a whole bunch of peds questions! I decided not to even waste my time studying drugs. I mean I know cardiac drugs and digoxin toxicity, stuff like that, but that's about all. I just don't think there is any way to know all of the drugs and their side effects, isn't that what a drug book is for anyway? I just don't know what to study anymore. There is soooooooooooooo much. I originally had my test scheduled for May 4th, but I figured it's now or never....the more I study, the more I realize how much I still don't know!!!!

That's exactly how I feel. But you know what, that should just motivate us to study, study, study more!

I feel exactly the same way. I have done 2000+ questions...keep getting high 60s...I don't even know if thats good enough. Btw...the questions I did are from Lippincott, Saunders, LaCharity & Kaplan....This is my second time taking NCLEX RN exam..I am REALLY SCARED. Everytime I think about the exam start tearing. I don't want to fail again. I feel like delaying but everyone keeps telling me to be confident and just do it.....Even if I delay I don't know if I'll ever regain my confidence. Well the exam is on Tuesday April 28...and until then it just gonna be more questions

no matter how much u study u still feel like u failed, but most likely u passed. i am waiting on my results and have no idea how 2 feel. i studied and got 70-90% on tests, but i walked out of the test feeling like i was gonna puke. u'll be fine a little stress is good for test taking. u can always narrow it down to 2 answers just think hard about which is the best. fyi, study ur cultures.

I keep reading a lot of the threads on this website and most of them state to study Kaplan and Saunders. My school included Saunders 3rd edition (orange) with their books/courses, I just don't have the money for Kaplan. I just hope that this Saunders book and CD is going to be good enough. Does anyone know if the NCLEX asks questions that go into detail about certain disease processes or is it just basic stuff? Do I have to know off the wall lab values, like for ANA (antinuclear antibody) titers? So much info, so little time!

One more thing, I am getting so confused on signs and symptoms of hyper/hypokalemia, hyper/hypocalcemia, hyper/hyponatremia, etc. Anybody know of an easier way to remember that stuff?

If anyone says they know everything about nursing....they are lying or delusional. It's ok that you don't know everything. You aren't supposed to. NCLEX doesn't expect it, nor does nursing school or your future employer. That's why you'll go through an orientation period with EVERY employer you are hired by. Doesn't matter if you've been a nurse for 30 years--you're still going to be oriented. When you get to the point where you think you know everything about nursing--it's time to quit because that kind of cocky thinking is going to lead to some major mistakes. We get dangerous when we think we know it all.

I felt the same way when I was studying for the test; like I didn't know ANYTHING. The goal of the NCLEX isn't to measure weather or not you know everything...it's to make sure you aren't going to hit the floor and kill someone. Just basic stuff. The more difficult the questions you get, the better you're doing on the test since it adapts to your previous responses. You want the SATA's, fill in the blanks, priority and delegation questions because these are considered to be high level questions.