My Experience with Pre and Post NCLEX: Tricks, Tips, and Anxiety

This article outlines my experience pre and post the NCLEX. I did my research regarding all of the theories and ideas revolving around whether I passed the NCLEX because my results were taking too long to post. The purpose of this article is to give some hope and to also help alleviate anxiety.... Enjoy Nurses Announcements Archive Article

My Experience with Pre and Post NCLEX: Tricks, Tips, and Anxiety

In early December 2010, I finished nursing school. I opted to take the NCLEX right away because I had new years eve on the horizon quickly followed by a snowboarding trip to whistler. Needless to say, I was about to lose a whole lot of brain cells, so I wanted to get the exam in before that mess.

From the time I registered to take the NCLEX to the actual time that I took it, I had 5 days. So I only had 5 days to prepare for the NCLEX starting from scratch. Now, all through nursing school, I worked in an ER as an EMT. You may be thinking, "this guy had it made, I'm sure school was cake for him..." I heard this all the time, and you would think so right? WRONG!!! Actually, clinical was easy, but exams were pretty difficult. There is the real world way to do things, and then there is the text book way. Because I worked in the field so long prior to the NCLEX, my brain was stuck in the "real world" way... This worked against me greatly and I had double the prep to get done before taking the NCLEX. I needed to leave the mind-set of the "real world" way. I made sure not to work at all in the five days leading up to the NCLEX so that I wouldn't taint my new mindset.

I enrolled in the "On Demand" Kaplan prep course and began right away... I watched some of the movies and found the following to be helpful: The Strategy Seminar and The test taking workshop. Thats it... I personally am not a fan of the "Decision Tree" because I already take a test a certain way, and to readjust with 5 days pending the NCLEX, I wasn't about to learn another strategy. The decision tree takes too long too; so many damn rules. Also, I didn't watch any of the material videos because I feel that you learn that stuff in Nursing School... Just learn how to take the test and KNOW the RULES!!!! The rules help eliminate a lot of incorrect answers. If you do study anything though, study drugs.

The five days before NCLEX, I took the following Kaplan Prep Exams:

Diagnostic Exam: Skipped
Question Trainer 1: 65.7%
Question Trainer 2: 57.3%
Question Trainer 3: 54%
Question Trainer 4: Skipped
Question Trainer 5: 54%
Question Trainer 6: Skipped
Question Trainer 7: Skipped
Readiness Exam: 56.6%
Kaplan Q bank: I took 350 questions and my average score was 52%

As you will note, I skipped quite a few exams, but that was due to the limited amount of time that I had. Those are my Kaplan statistics that you can compare yourself to. There are a bunch of postings on this site... allnurses.com, about people's statistics that I compared myself to. According to what I saw, I was well off going into the NCLEX.

The NCLEX: I am a resident of California, took my exam in Anaheim on a gloomy rainy morning. I answered 75 questions and the exam shut off. It took me about 2 hours. Of course, I walked out of the exam feeling like I failed. I know that everyone feels like that when they leave, thats just how the exam is designed. So that did not bug me. The exam is good at picking out your weak points and grilling you on them. I thought my weak point was OB, but turns out that it's Drugs. I got all sorts of questions about drugs I never even heard of before. Also, I got a ton of select more than one answer questions, probably like 10. Those are painful because in my practice exams, I never got one right. So I thought the computer was being a bit unfair. I soon came to the assumption that most of them were the 15 pilot questions that everyone gets (check out the rules of NCLEX, everyone gets 15 pilot questions worth nothing).

So at that point, I felt like I failed. I expected my results to be posted within the next few days just as I've heard everyone else's being posted so soon. But like I mentioned, I took it right before the holidays. After about a week, I thought the holidays were slowing down my results. But as more time went by, I started to worry. The only thing holding me together was the fact that my IP was still valid... That meant that I didnt fail. If my IP disappeared and my license did not appear, that meant I failed, but my IP was active, so I knew something was going a little slow. I called the BRN after 2 weeks to find out the reason for the delay. Turns out, my school lagged on sending my transcripts!!! Though, they did end up sending them about 2 weeks after I took the NCLEX, yet it would take another 2 weeks for the BRN to process them. The BRN will not post your results until all paperwork is turned in. They will not even hint at what your results are. I know that I am a good shmoozer and I tried to shmooze the BRN operator into giving me my results... It was a NO GO!! So my anxiety was extremely high at that point.

I started to research all of the tricks that I heard through word of mouth, but the ultimate is The Pearson Vue Trick: After you take the NCLEX, you go back to pearson vue and try to register for the exam again. If you cannot get to the pay screen and a message box pops up and says something along the lines of, "our record indicate that you have recently scheduled an exam and another cannot be made at this time, please contact your board for further info," it means you passed. If you can pay for the exam, you failed. At first I thought that this was total BS, but come to find out after much much much much more research, it is 100% accurate. If you're wondering, I could not pay and I did receive that message. I believe that this trick is great for calming the nerves. It doesn't satisfy you completely, but my anxiety dropped 100 notches.

To this day, it has officially been 4 weeks since I took the NCLEX. I usually work splits (2p-2a) so I was asleep at 630 this morning when my phone started blowing up. Call after call after text after text came in. When I finally decided to open my eyes, turns out that I passed the NCLEX!!!!! Though, I didn't know that so many of my friends and family were keeping track... They were logging on for me everyday, and as soon as they found out, they starting blowing up my phone. Anyways, that was the only thing that could wake me up at 630 and not put me in a bad mood!!!

So I hope my experience helps. I feel like we are all going through the same thing and if it weren't for all of you documenting the tricks and your experiences, I would have had so much more anxiety. I feel like I owe this post to you, which is why I wrote it. I suggest when you figure out your results, you should do something similar... It really helps those who are still waiting. If you have any questions at all about my experience, post on this and I'll try to get back to you ASAP... Thanks for reading and wish me luck on finding a job.....

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JSS024

About JSS024, BSN, RN

I am a 25 y/o M that just graduated from the CSUF BSN program. I currently work in a high volume ER as an EMT. Prior to that, I was an EMT in an ambulance, and I volunteered at my local ER. I am hoping to now get a job in an ER somewhere, but we all know the new grad job market... Not even the ER that I've worked at for a while now, will hire me.... NO NEW GRADS!!!

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Thank you for sharing bro. Perhaps you need to relocate out of California to land your ER dream job.

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good day! I am a Filipina and I love reading in your site. I am a Nursing grad here in the phiippines and I've taken the NLE twice and got a FAILED result. :crying2: I am planning to take the exam for the third and this time I want to pass. Please give me some review materials and I my question is that.. can I take NCLEX without passing the Local Boards? Thank you and Best Regards!

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hello. Thank you so much for the reply.. can i ask favour? please share me review materials if you have.:D

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Your story is definately helping calm my nerves (a bit). I got offered a job the day I took the NCLEX (June 17th) and it starts in two weeks (July 12th). I have been waiting for my results for nearly two weeks with nothing. The Pearsonvue trick came out positive. I did email the BRN with yet a reply. Did you call? What number did you use?

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i recently took my nclex pn on july 15 2011 and i havent gotten my results yet.. i tried the trick everyday like five times a day and it shows the good pop up.. but im still ify if i should believe it or not.. i took the nclex may 26 2011 and i got 205 questions the max they can ask..i didnt know about the trick i just waited for my results to come in the mail but i failed.. i took it again for the second time and got 205 questions again but this time i tried the trick and im getting the pop up..does it really work..

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The PearsonVue trick does work. It took two weeks to post because (according to the BRN) my transcripts hadn't been keyed in from my school yet. Have faith and take lots of deep breaths. I'm sure you passed and will find out shortly.

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Specializes in Respiratory/Wounds/Critical Care.

thank you for your post! i am in pure agony :flmngmd:waiting for results of my nclex-rn boards. i received all 265 questions which shocked me since i thought i was doing real well for the first 75. after question 100, i was paralyzed and crying during my test! i got a ton of sata ?'s and hard drug and infectious disease questions that i had never heard of in my 8 years in the medical field and 4 yrs of being an lvn! the only thing i can cling to is that i am getting the "good pop-up" on the pearson site. but today, i am starting to doubt the accuracy of that trick :(

i took boards on august 31st 2011 and it is now september 7th! it is exactly one week since that dreadful day. we did have labor day on monday so i was expecting my posted results to be delayed a little, but today marks the 3rd true business day since my test and "no record found" is still popping up! almost all of my classmates saw their names on the brn after the 3rd day! i graduated in may, finished algebra 2 this summer and my transcripts were sent in 3 1/2 weeks ago, so i don't think that is the problem.

i am going to call the brn today just to confirm that they do have my transcripts. maybe i'll get lucky and some nice person will know my pain and slip me my results. a classmate did that and was told over the phone!

i'll keep you all posted on my result and let you know whether the "trick" worked for me or not...

in torturous pain,

t. renee

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thank you all for the encouraging stories but I am feeling so down right now that nothing seems to work for me. I took my nclex for the second time and found out the same day that I failed when I did the pearson vue trick. I am so discourage and feel that I am a failure. My kids and family think I passed and I really haven't told anyone just some friends. I feel depress to know that after I work so hard during nursing school, I have failed for a second time. I truly believe in God and know that he will guide me but sometimes I ask where was he when I was asking him to help me during my test. I left that testing site crying and hoping for a miracle but a miracle was short of happening. I still believe in my God almighty....don't know why i am going through all this but I just know that one day things will fall in its place....i would really take any kind of advice right now. I been doing the questions in the Kaplan but believe me them questions were so different than the nclex....just feeling like a looser and can't stop crying....

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naydine,

I too took my boards and failed. What I learned the most from it is that people are more accepting then you think. Everything happens for a reason.

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Thanks a lot for writing an article about your experience while taking the nclex. I knew it helped a lot of readers searching for tips on how to pass and patiently wait for the result of the board exam. I took the nclex just this morning and I am anxiously waiting for my results to come up. I wanted to do the PVT but unsure of its accuracy. Actually, as I am replying now, I would say that I am still in a trance. I hope I'll pass the nclex. It was definitely a hard exam to hurdle but I want to think positively. To God be the glory. Again, good luck to those who will still take the exam and congratulations to all who passed! God bless us all... :)

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Good article and offers a glimmer of hope. Took NCLEX yesterday and it sounded like my test was similar to yours. I am going to pay to get the results in a day or so. I studied ATI and Saunders 6 hrs per day for two weeks. When I started taking the test my heart sank. I am pretty sure I did not pass and if I did I will be stunned. Oh well......

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