Passed Finally!

Hi Everyone,

The allnurses forums have been so encouraging and helpful through my process in taking this exam and I thought I would share my thoughts and help those in the process of studying for this exam.

I currently live in Canada and am looking for licensure in the states. I graduated about two years ago and did my first attempt in April 2015. I studied mainly by reading the Saunders Comprehensive Review book and completing the NCSBN online course. I thought the Saunders book was very helpful with content. It was thorough but just reading was not interactive enough in helping me learn. I thought the NCSBN online course was also quite a nice review but I found the questions a little harder than the exam. Also, the questions are structured differently so it was not much help to me when the exam came.

Coming out of the exam, it felt silly going through so much content in Saunders. The questions they asked, I didn't feel like I could've studied too much for. (don't get me wrong, you still need to know your content) But answering the multiple questions and SATA's definitely take some strategy.

My April 2015 attempt was unsuccessful and I decided to rewrite again in August. I was quite discouraged following my first attempt. The exam had stopped at 77 questions.

Following my 1st attempt, I changed my study plan and paid for the Kaplan Qbank (just the qbank) The lesson was too pricey for me. I did about 100 questions a day. 20 questions at a time and really took my time. If I didn't understand the question, I supported the rationales with the Saunders Comprehensive Review book. I continued with this back and forth complemented with some practice with the LeCharity Book for about 3 months (about 4-5 hours a day, since I work full time..Re-doing the questions I got wrong. On top of this, I had familiarized myself with the 35 page study guide (thank you!) and had memorized lab values and such.

The night before the exam, I was nervous, unsure whether what I knew and had practiced was enough. On the day of, I read each question carefully, and I received 16 SATA's, no drag and drop, 2 calculation questions and a handful of maternity. The exam stopped at 87 questions and I just found out today that I PASSED!! I am so happy!!!!

All I can say is .. find a study technique that works for you, but definitely invest in something that helps you practice questions. I cannot stress this enough. I agree that saunders questions are too simple. I can personally vouch and say that the Kaplan qbank really worked for me. The program is made to look like the NCLEX and the questions are very similar. Understand the rationales and make sure you know your content. The studying is all worth it in the end.

Thank you for all your help and tips! It really helped me through all of this!