Passing Nclex 7 years after Graduating and 3 tries later.

[smellycat, BSN, LVN, RN]

I had so many things going against me when I started my nursing journey. Because yes, every NCLEX test taker has their own story to tell. Mine was: Foreign BSN degree, took the test on 2010 and majestically failed. You know that magic #75? Oh I got that, only I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum, I did so bad that the computer shut down at 75. I figured, well brush yourself and get ready for round 2. Many foreign graduates will know what the significance of the year 2010. It is the year of concurrency issues and I was denied by CA BRN to retake, I had to take some classes in order to qualify to seat for the NCLEX boards.I looked everywhere in the Bay Area and found it was virtually impossible to get a class let alone 2 classes. Most of the schools that I was calling and emailing didn't understand what a concurrency issue was and the ones that did had a 2 year waiting list. I looked as far as South California and even went to Las Vegas just to see what's out there. The private ones that did offer were too prohibitively expensive.

Fast forward 2014 and I stumbled on a school in San Rafael that just started offering classes I needed. While doing this I sat for the LVN boards and passed. I finally took the NCLEX RN test in 2016. At this point I have accumulated Saunders, Kaplan, exam Cram and La Charity book and was lurking and looking through discussion boards here on AN. I even downloaded the notes that's going around. I also had Kaplan QBank, Uworld etc. I even attended a review course. I was studying, reviewing, breathing NCLEX . I didn't have a job at this time and was lucky enough to focus on just studying. I took the test in late 2016 and I thought I did good. The time ran out. I fought for every answer in that test, I know I did. So getting on Pearson Vue and doing the PVT trick and getting the bad pop-up was devastating. When I finally got my results, everything was nearly passing except for 2 that were above passing. I couldn't look at any books after that and decided to start working as an LVN and taking a break from studying. I would still browse here from time to time.

After feeling defeated and depressed I now have to face reality as my ATT is expiring in 9/2017. By July 2017 I was browsing and casually studying. I could not get into the same level of intense studying that I did before. The key thing that I did though is go through my test results and wrote down the areas that I needed to work on and figured out a game plan but figured that one and half month is not enough to make it work. I started asking around people I know that took the test recently and that have failed before what did they do differently?? One told me that she used UWorld and Q Bank and exercised in the morning drank gingko biloba supplements. At this point I am financially devastated after paying for the books, the review classes and subscriptions on Qbanks and have to do this on my own and figured out the ff:

1 ) I can't stand Saunders nor Kaplan books. There was just too many information in it that it was bogging me down.

2 ) Since I am broke at this point I used a free trial of Uworld. IMHO, Uworld and Kaplan are the closest thing to the NCLEX questions. Out of the two Uworld works better for me, because of the more descriptive rationales.

3 ) I busted out my Linda LaCharity Prioritization book. Every free time I had I would read a case study and tried to see the patients in the book like they were in front of me.

4 ) I paid close attention to all the meds at work that I wasn't familiar with. I also casually browsed Kaplan med pocketbook.

5 ) I memorized the mnemonics on infectious diseases. Airborne, Droplet etc. I found a helpful guide on here about someone reviewing for the NCLEX and found it really helpful.

6 ) I scheduled my time at a later hour, I scheduled the previous two exams early in the morning bc they said you feel refreshed. If you're a morning person maybe. I scheduled mine at 11am and had my hubby drive me. We had a nice breakfast before the exam and we agreed that there are no expectations. I will go in, do my best and get out. If I pass, I pass if I fail, then back to the drawing board. TBH I was actually mentally preparing myself for the next exam, in my mind this exam didn't count because there was no way in heck I was going to pass with my laid back reviewing and casual reading.

7 ) I also followed a friend's recommendation on drinking Ginko biloba supplements. I don't know if they helped but I did feel like I was retaining things better.

8 ) I prayed just before the exam, and basically nobody knew that I was taking an exam with the exception of my husband and a coworker at work. That took off a lot of pressure from me and made me focused on the questions in front of me.

9 ) I didn't overthink the questions. All I remember thinking is, you always have a doctor's order. What is the one thing that you can do to help this patient? Know your normal lab values, ABG gases and ABCs, CABs .

10 ) There will be some questions that will make you scratch your head and no matter how you break it down , you don't know the answer. That's okay, I REPEAT, that is OKAY. You move on and answer the next one correctly and then the next one after that. Rinse, Repeat.Don't get hang up on this questions. You can worry later and look up the answer but in that instant, in that moment...get over it and move to the next one.

I stopped at 90 questions. I was pretty sure that I didn't pass because I noticed the questions kept getting easier at this point. Well, in fact I did PASS and there is one thing that I can tell you.

The KNOWLEDGE is in your head already. Repeat that after me. It is there. Remember nursing school and after that the intense studying and review that I did? Yes I failed that 2nd time but it doesnt mean that everything you have learned in nursing school and hours of reviewing and studying goes away. It is ALREADY IN YOU! You have the fount of knowledge that you already need. You just need to recall it. So after 7 years and failing twice I PASSED! So can you! I hope my story inspires you just like someone's story on here served as an inspiration. I will try and find that article and provide the link. At age 42, I finally passed NCLEX RN and if I can do it, so can you!!