My NCLEX story

After blood, sweat, and tears, I have finally passed the NCLEX 12/17/2014 (best early Christmas present)

I have taken the NCLEX TWICE. The first time I took the NCLEX was about three weeks out of nursing school. Everyone else was doing it, and I felt confident and wanted to do it too. There are also statistics stating that the sooner after nursing school you take it, the more likely it is that you will pass. The first time around I studied from Saunders 6th edition, did Kaplan practice questions, and Hesi's NCLEX review. I will admit, I did underestimate the difficulty of the test. I studied, but not as hard as I should've. I felt confident I knew my material because I was scoring 68%-75% on Kaplan practice questions. (I heard that if you get 70% on study material, you're going to pretty much pass). Then I heard other friends of mine who barely studied the NCLEX...maybe two or so days and all they did was practice questions and they passed. I thought forsure i was going to pass as well.

I got in there and felt really confident and the first half was going smoothly. I was receiving SATA and questions that were....."not in english" so I assumed these were difficult questions. Right at around 75 questions... I panicked because the test did not end for me (most of my friends finished the test at 75 and passed) but I tried to not let it get to me. I took my break that it announced I could half and carried on. Next thing you know I am passed 100 and I am just feeling so burnt out. I raise my hand and ask for another break. I tried to pull myself together but I brought no food, no water, no ADVIL and I was doomed. I continued my test hungry w/ a major headache and the test ended up shutting off at 242. I walked out of that test knowing I failed. I felt I wasn't even reading the questions right anymore and was just clicking away. I just wanted to get out of there. I was there for 5 hours and 30 minutes.

After purchasing quick results and finding out I failed, I was very distraught. I felt like I let everyone around me down (they all knew i was taking it). Friends and family were disappointed, but most of all, my ego was shattered. I couldn't even bare to study after finding out. Eventually though, I knew that maybe I should've studied harder w/ less distractions.

I passed this time around at around 92+ questions. I seriously thought I failed because I only took about 2 hours and a half and the questions really did not seem difficult and I knew for a fact there were easy questions on there. I had maybe 10 SATA, 4 math problems, 1 ECG strip, 4 pharm, and the rest were knowledge based (probably easy questions) and priority based (probably harder questions).

The second time around, I studied from NCLEX 3500 and did a set amount of questions everyday. I also purchased LaCharity's Prioritization, Delegation and Assignment book and worked on that WHOLE BOOK up until my test. I am glad I did because I felt that half of my questions were priority, and delegating.

My advice to those who want tips about the NCLEX:

1) Don't tell ANYONE when your date to take the NCLEX is. It eliminates a ton of pressure off of you.

2) DO PRACTICE QUESTIONS. From any book, it doesn't really matter. Just the fact that you're seeing questions and doing them is like training your brain to think a certain way.

3) Bring food, water, advil, tyelenol (or whatever you use for headaches), and a confident mind. You may be in there for 6 hours. You're gonna get hungry and you're gonna get a headache from staring at the computer for so long...be prepared for anything

4) Do something that will take your mind away for a bit the day before a test and DONT overstudy that day/night. I think cramming will actually make you feel like you are unprepared and will diminish your confidence....

5) Find or create your own mnemonics to help you remember things. (For ex. BUDCAT for s/e of anticholinergics)

6) Dont make the NCLEX (or the failure of your previous attempts) your life. I know it's difficult to to have fun when you know you've gotta take a test, or when you know this is a 2nd, 3rd attempt or whatever. But if you don't rest every so often and have fun, you will end up frying and that information will not be retained. Remember, if you study to the point of pain, your brain will be like, NOPE.

GOOD LUCK!