My Nclex Timeline in California

Hello my Fellow Nursing Students & Graduates:

So this is just a timeline of my experience so far taking NCLEX-PN in California:

Graduated - 5.21.14

Received letter to test from BVNPT- 8.07.14

Registered with Pearson Vue + paid the $200 fee- 8.14.14

Received ATT - 8.15.14

Took NCLEX-PN Exam- 8.26.14 @ 8:00am ( Which was also my Birthday... Not a great Idea..lol)

Got home after the test by 11:45am (which by the way was a few days after they updated the website - unbeknownst to me!!) and tried the PVT.... I almost fainted!! Took me right to the CC page... I just knew I failed and my birthday was now going to be the worst day of my life!!lol So after a few days passed I was starting to accept the fact that I had failed and would need to continue studying when I decided to troll through the AllNurses.com forums and see what everyone else's experience was like. So I found a few threads about how the PV website had changed and that you now needed to input the CC info and submit to get any kind of pop-up. So i tried it! One member posted she had used a pre-paid card with no available funds just to see if it worked. So I did the same.. Used my new Google Pre-paid MasterCard with $20 bucks on it and what do ya know.... "Our records indicate that you have recently scheduled this exam. Another registration cannot be made at this time." That gave me hope temporarily.. Then I also tried it with my bank card that had available the funds and still the same message... I'm hoping I passed but since I'm in CA I have to wait on the official results! Booo CA!! As of today it has been exactly 3 weeks and 2 days since I tested and still no results. Spoke with a classmate of mine last night who tested on 8.26.14 as well and she received her letter yesterday 9.17.14- She passed!! I'm hoping I get my letter today or tomorrow! I will update once I get any news...

About the Exam:

Computer shut off at 110 questions

Received mostly prioritizing patients, a few SATA like 5 or so, 1 calculation where i had to convert units, and one drag and drop, and I received one image where i had to identify what type of precaution the patient would need to be under.

I used Exam Cram and the Kaplan review book ($20 on Amazon), i also have the Saunders Review but didn't really use it. Mostly used the exam cram.. Did all the questions and read the whole Kaplan review and took the practice test in the back which told me I was likely to pass my exam based on my result.

My best advice is to do ALOT of practice questions!! That's the only way to prepare yourself and know your lab values because ALOT of priority questions gave me the labs of the patients + their Dx then asked who would you see first? So that can really hurt you if you don't know them. Also just try not to stress to hard.. You made it through nursing school for a reason.. you ROCK #1 and #2 your instructors felt you grasped enough of the content to send you out into the world!! So go have a nice dinner or workout or just relax the night before.. And DO NOT SCHEDULE the exam on your birthday like I did.. lol ( I was thinking I was going to come home do the PVT get the good pop-up and have one more thing to celebrate but it just stressed me out more!! I was holding back tears until my Mom brought to Benihanna and ordered me a Fish Bowl drink to drown my sorrows in.. :) )

Anyway that's my story so far... I will update once I get my results!

Good Luck To Everyone.. Congrats to those who've passed!! Nurses Rock!!