Ran out of time! PASSED NCLEX-RN 1st attempt

Hey guys,

Recently took the NCLEX RN exam(May 4, 2016). Checked my score 48 hours later and got the "PASS" result. It was my 1st attempt and was the culmination of a 6 hour roller coaster ride that ended with me not finishing the 265 questions. Yes, it's possible to pass with those last 60 questions, the odds may be against you but here's how I did it.

First, I took the Kaplan 3 day on campus course. I had access to the website for 2 months give or take. I won't go into details about my study habits, most of you probably did what I did. Read the book, take the tests, averaged 60 to 70%, etc... Make sure you get a good night's rest the night before your exam! I brought 3 energy bars, bottled water, a Monster energy drink and a bottle of honey. The honey is a great pick me up, and won't result in you having to go to the bathroom a lot like coffee will do.

My exam strategy was simple, crush the first 75 questions so I could get home in less than 3 hours. So I took my time, a lot of time, way more time than I should have to answer those first 75 questions. At the first break I was at question 60. That's 2 minutes per question people. The break screen popped up, so I took a break(please do the same). I took a long, long break; around 10 minutes. Did some exercises, ate some food, drank water, ate a table spoon of honey. I felt pretty good about my exam. Then I went back in, sat down and figured I had 15 more questions to go and I'm out of here right? Wrong! I hit question 75, then 76, then 77, see where this is going? I made a grave mistake thinking I would finish at question 75 with no back up plan. I had around 180 minutes left to answer about 180 questions. Right then and there I extrapolated that if I rushed every question in order to finish the exam, I would make a lot of errors due to panicking. I took the 2nd break, went out for only 5 minutes this time, just to compose myself for the task at hand and went back in. I made the conscious decision to take my time, but not as slow a pace as the first 75 questions, and answer each question in a calm and organized fashion. Not wasting too much time on any questions that I wasn't 100% sure about. Just keep a good flow going till the clock ran out. If I finished the 265 within the time restrains, so be it, if not, at least I could say I answered each question with the best possible response without any psychological duress. The clock ran out, I looked down and saw I was at question 235. Not for nothing, I felt very positive about the last hour or so of the exam. The questions and my responses seem to click, I think I was in the "zone" because I wasn't panicking to finish the exam, just for the sake of finishing the exam. Of course I left the test center feeling that I failed the darn thing, I think most do after such a long day. You know that feeling of being beaten? Anyways, like I mentioned at the beginning, I checked my result and thankfully I passed.

Bottom line, don't rush the exam. Pace yourself well throughout. Take the breaks and stay calm during the exam. If you have an hour left and 100 questions to go, please think twice about trying to finish the exam!