Hello friends, I just returned home after taking the NCLEX-RN for the second time. I got the 'good pop up' so I am hopeful. FYI...I got the 'bad pop up' the first time..
Anyways, just wanted to share a few things.
I was totally cocky the first time, very little studying, memorized a few lab values, did a few Kaplan question trainers etc. When I left the testing center the first time....I felt great! That was soooooo easy.....LOL of course it was easy, I was only answering the low level questions!! Needless to say, failing that test, was REALLY humbling!
It took me a few months to get back at it and when I did.....I was on FIRE!!!
I learn and retain information best when I read it in a book and write it down, I never go back and read what was written, just the act of writing it once works for me. I have a whole bunch of books and at first I was keen on going thru chapters and chapters of content. I quickly realized, there was NO way I was going to get through all of it. I took the Kaplan diagnostic test and then focused on each area that I was weak in. I did almost all of the Q bank, not great scores, mostly 50-60's. I started to freak out when I got 54% on QT 7 and 61% on the Readiness. I went back and really, really looked at the rationales. I noticed what one of my books calls 'distracters' . I noticed that I was falling for the 'distraction' answer EVERY SINGLE TIME!!! I would narrow down to 2 choices and always pick the wrong one!! UGH !!!
A light went on!!! I also have a HUGE problem with taking my time, carefully reading questions and reading EACH and EVERY answer! I forced myself to take my time, read the question, write down on a piece of paper what the topic was and then read EVERY answer, eliminating clearly wrong answers. It sounds so simple, but it truly made all the difference. I know you are supposed to move quickly through the questions, I just knew for myself.......take each question one at a time, think about everything I know about the topic, really understand the consequences of each answer. I was taking up to 6-7 minutes for EACH question.....truly a first for me! I had 75 questions and it took 2+ hours.
I just wanted to offer some encouragement for anyone that is taking on this beast for the 1st the 2nd the 3rd the 4th the 5th time......YOU WILL SUCCEED!!!
I'm happy to answer any questions! Best of luck my fellow and future nursing friends!
