With this article I am not going to focus on past test failures/anxiety in nursing school but focus your energy on positive thinking while preparing for the exam. Also, it's about about learning to be confident in yourself and not to compare yourself to others when studying for the NCLEX exam. Every person should understand they will not know everything on the test and believe they have the knowledge to pass.
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I am going to try to be as brief as possible! I wanted to direct my post to those of you who struggled on exams in school as far as test anxiety is concerned! I came into nursing school with a 3.8 GPA and ended with a 3.49 GPA. I share this with you because I have been on this site and as I was preparing for my exam, I kept comparing myself to other people. I failed my HESI exit 2 and Med-Surge the first times. I passed all other standard exams. I would freak out over something during the exam and then I couldn't concentrate! As I was preparing for NCLEX the thought of failing in the past and doing remediation kept haunting me. I would scroll those threads on here and compare my Kaplan scores with other people. Then finally I said to myself, I don't know their situation....
The moment I realized that it was my confidence and believing I am smart enough to pass this exam was when I was able to focus and DO MY BEST! I definitely lifted up my worries about the exam to the Lord and said it is was in His hands, I had COMPLETE faith that the Lord has called me to be a nurse and I have done EVERYTHING I could do study for this test!
I used Kaplan, my scores ranged from 58-77%. I did the entire Q-bank, watched about 3 Lecture on Demands, Read the Kaplan book with the Lectures on Demand, and completed 100% of the Qbank with 1362 questions finishing at 60%. I was TORN the days I got 42% on a Qbank ! I am sharing this with you because at the end of the day it is YOUR BATTLE! I decided to stay off this page and Facebook and truly focus on studying.
Day of exam:
I got to the testing center, sat down, and said "THIS IS THE DAY!"
You could tell the other nursing students because you could cut the apprehension with a knife!
I sat down at the spot of my choosing and immediately cried my eyes out; I put on my headphones said a LONG prayer and began! I got hung up on vocabulary more than anything on the exam. I was thinking to myself you really CAN'T study for that!
Everything I studied or thought was on the exam wasn't! It was the weirdest thing, I didn't even feel like I was there when I was taking the exam I was so lost
! I had about 15-20 SATAs, 3 pics, 4-5 drag and drops... I got to question 50 and said another prayer! I thought to myself, 15 questions are "test/practice" to see if they will use them in the future, we only need "50%" correct so what does that leave me... I got this... so I just kept going....
The computer stopped at 75q and I went to my car, I cried... I felt like everyone else did on this site that I read... they thought they failed... I did the PVT and got the good pop up! I couldn't drive for a little while because I was in shock and have READ sooo many of these posts with the same feelings... then I thought to myself the WEIGHT is LIFTED!
I just ask that you find confidence in yourself. There WILL NOT be a magic post on here telling you what to study... There are suggestions, but the main thing is to dig deep inside, remember WHY you want to nurse, continue your DRIVE... GIVE YOUR ALL.. and you will succeed!
I just hope to touch one person who struggles with anxiety and self-doubt!!!! Believe in yourself!
