Passed NCLEX October 2015

Hello from Southern California!

I am so happy! I have been working towards this since I was laid off from my previous office job back in 2008.

I passed with 75 questions and prepared for about a month.

For those interested:

• Program: LVN to ADN, I was accepted into the second semester rather than third semester. In restrospect, I am thankful for this.
  
• Graduation date: June, 2015
  
• Test Date: October 7, 2015 (my ATT was delayed)
  
• Academic: B-student. So, during my LVN adult school program I was top of the class and I attribute that to being dedicated 100% to school. During my ADN program, I managed to work 3-4 days per week except during the preceptorship portion (I worked 0 days for 1 month)
  
• Preparation: Kaplan, full bundle (in-class and all online tests, books, flyers) -Kaplan Class was held during late June after my graduation as I expected to take the NCLEX sometime in August (did NOT expect my ATT to be delayed). - Our Kaplan instructor had us complete Readiness exam, Trainer 1,2,3 all during that first week of class. I am not sure if this is the way all instructors lead their class. - From late June until late August I did not touch Kaplan. - Got Saunder's 6th edition, thanks to the many suggestions found here! - From August 31 until October 6, I completed Trainers 4,5,6 one per week, reviewing all rationales. I proceeded to Sample Test 1,2,3,4 all in one week as they are short. During this week, I also began "creating" my own tests in the Q Bank. I "created" tests with "unused" questions. - One week prior to my exam, I took Trainer 7. Not happy with my 55%!!! - So, I did not panic. I had 700 unused questions remaining. I did them all.
  
• Kaplan Scores: Trainer tests and Readiness exam average 56%; Q Bank test average 63%. Sample tests 1-4 were 54%, 62%, 73%, 26% (argh, Select all that apply!!!).
  
• Saunder's 6th ed.: Whnever a rationale in Kaplan did not satisfy my curiosity, I followed up with Saunder's. Psych, patient rights, nursing management were all explored thoroughly. L&D and pediatrics got a decent review as well. Labs. Meds, meds, meds.
  

Day of the test:

I was scheduled at 1:15pm. From the time that I woke up, I was looking through different threads. I came accross the "35 page review". I looked it up, I glimpsed through it for a few hours... I KNOW!

I arrived at 12:50, was taken in and I estimate I began my exam right on time at 1:15 after doing the tutorial. I took my time with the tutorial to help calm my nerves and get into the zone. I left the test center and upon getting into my car, the time was 2:57pm.

Post-Test: Did the PV trick that night. Got the "good" pop-up (not really a pop up, but rather a message at the top of the page). After 24 hours, I began checking for my name under the license verification option in the Board website. The following morning (today), I finally got definite confirmation.

I understand that the Pearson Vue "trick" is somewhat controversial. I have seen a few posts where the nurses ahead of us newbies indicate to not do the PVT as it is not accurate, to wait for the official BRN results and to not stress because it is "just a test". Well, just remember how important your results were to you back when you were at this point. If you are taking your test or waiting for results, stay positive.

TIPS: Please look through some of the mnemonics in the 35 page review. However, know that the 35 pages are a compilation of study material so a lot of subjects are repeated and do contain some mistakes. Mnemonics are neat and I found to be helpful for my test were "spiderman" and "my chicken hez TB" ... silliness. Oh and both can be verified with Saunder's.

Please review your meds(generic names). Can't say it any other way.

Why did the medical world ever get way from generic medication names? Generic names make the most sense. Generic names tell you about the medication!!!

Oh, but yeah, they have to be sold on national TV so they gotta make them "household names"...

Keep going, stay focused.