PASSED NCLEX 2nd try 75questions!

This will be long, but worth the read!

I graduated nursing school in May, 2016. I was not an A student, I got c's and b's with the occasional A. I used Kaplan through my nursing school. Also, I bought Hurst review after I graduated. These are both great reviews, and I cannot say they are the reason I did not pass the first time. They just weren't the key for me. For everyone who has test anxiety or anxiety in general this may give you some reassurance. In July 2016 I was a complete wreck (the first time), I was freaking out the whole time and started rushing once it went past 75 thinking I was in it for the long run I need to hurry up omg!! I'm guessing on EVERY question, what am I doing here?? The computer turned off at 114 and I knew I failed. I left the center crying and found out two days later that I was right, I failed. While my whole class passed. So, I was completely and totally depressed. I took a break(depression) from July-August.

OKAY now the happy part. September 1st 2016 I started NCSBN learning extension. Before I talk about how AMAZING this program was, I need to emphasize the mindset I was now in. The MAIN reason for my turn around was because I now payed more attention to what I was doing. I payed close attension to the questions and rationales(right and wrong). I realized the things I NEEDED to focus on. Some of these things include:

- priority & delegation

- contact precautions

-blood transfusions

I'm going to tell you right now you will have these things on your NCLEX so just know them! Inside & out!

Continuing. I chose NCSBN because it is a review THROUGH THE COMPANY that MAKES the NCLEX. The questions were SO similar to the test and the review was amazing. ALSO, they break up their review into the same sections as the NCLEX (health promotion and maintenance, basic care and comfort, etc.) My advice is to do the questions throughout the review if you do purchase it because it LOOKS like there aren't a lot, but there are ALOT. I regretted not realizing and only doing about not even half. Anyway, I purchased this review, I chose the 5 week plan, for 70$! This is WAY cheaper than Kaplan and hurst. I felt more confident than ever before and I knew that I was more prepared than ever before. I did this review and then I just retested on October 11th, 2016. I went into the test thinking, I failed once and I'm going to give it my all but if I fail again, I'll try again. I went in with the mindset that I knew my ****, because I did! I went in there thinking breathe, take your time, you got this. That is exactly what I did. My first question was a select all that apply. I thought to myself, take as much time as you need. It doesn't matter how many questions you get, it matters how many questions you get right! I took almost 3 hours to complete 75 questions. More questions than not were select all that apply. I began to think to myself "I hope the next one is a select all that apply" because I knew that meant i was doing well. Now, you will read that that is not true. But when LITERALLY your whole test is SATA, there is no possible way that it's not. And in my case it was. So believe what you please.

When my computer turned off at 75 I was confident. I don't know why, but I was! I did the Pearson vue trick and I got the good pop up. Two days later(today) I got my results, I PASSED! Me! The student who never aced nursing exams aced my NCLEX. My point is. If I can do it, you can too. No matter what type of student you are, no matter how many times you failed already. The only thing that can stop you from being successful is giving up!

You need to sit at your computer at the test center and realize that you are not going to know the answers to the questions. That's just the truth. You need to have the practice and the knowledge of the content and skills of choosing the answer to critically think through the information given and choose the correct answer. This sounds ridiculous but it's what it is, and you can do it. Once you think like this, you will be able to not freak out when you don't know the answer to the question in front of you. But you know how to choose the one that looks the most correct. And you go with your GUT and move on to the next one that you ARE NOT SURE about the answer to. It's not going to look like a foreign language don't get me wrong lol you will have the knowledge you have because you are a smart cookie, but the answers you want to be there, will not be there.

The materials I used:

LaCharity prioritization delegation assessment review book. This book is cheap and AMAZING. You NEED to be able to answer these types of questions on the test so why not get it?

NCSBN learning extension 5 week plan.

Pearson review book.

"The moment you are ready to give up is usually right before the miracle happens!"