There is a light at the end of every Tunnel.

I was always looking for advice on these websites and google when my situation came up so ill give a little story on the horrible time i have had the past 5 months!

I graduated from RN school May 2014 after completing the bridge program. I have been an LVN for 3 years and wanted to further my career. When i originally did my LVN application i had to file a declaratory order due to a misdemeanor at the age of 16. No problem because i knew my record was clean at that point. I was cleared to test and passed my boards 2 months after graduation.

When you do an application for bridge LVN to RN in state of Texas i was told that you have to send in a paper application along with a letter stating there are no new changes to your declaratory status and a money order for the app fee. Done. No problem.

A month goes by after graduation around the 12th of June and i realize all of my friends are getting their ATT and i still didnt even have a affidavit of graduation on record with BON. Not only that i realized i couldnt register with Pearson because they had my maiden name on file not my married name. Called the BON only to find out my school conveiniently "forgot" to send my affidavit. On top of that it took the BON 7 days to get my name changed in the system at Pearson. FINALLY, i could register...

I registered for Pearson on June 19. I was told to expect to recieve an ATT within 10 days. Great! Because i already had been hired on as a GN intern. You can not practivce as a GN without an ATT because you are still considered a UAP without it and my state does not recognize LVN's in the hospital anymore really. Well, 10 days rolled around and i didnt have anything so i called the BON. I was then informed that my application had been sent to the enforcement department due to a false statement on my application. ( i found out i checked "no" box where it ask if you have any misdemeaners or prior convictions because my records had then been sealed and expunged and you are not required to disclose them according to the application. The problem was i checked no but sent in the letter stating that i had no changes to my previous declaratory status indicating i had a conviction at one point so it appeared to them that i was lieing on my application.) I was devastated! They then told me it would be possibly be 90 days before i heard anything from them regarding my NCLEX!!! I had this great job i was at and i was in jeapordy of losing it.

To sum up that issue, no surprise to anyone, they love to take their time!!! It literally took every bit of all 90 days for me to get an answer. I was on the phone with them at 8 am on day 90 which was Tuesday September 23 to get an anwer. OF COURSE, they realized it was a mistake on my application and there was no reason to hold it any longer. Okay, Awesome! So when can i expect to recieve my ATT? .... ANOTHER 20 DAYS!!! I was told "it is a process to get it to where it needs to be!" I'm sorry what! I was so fed up at this point and DEFINITELY expected nothing less than the 20 days to see any papers from them! The only thing i had going for me is the hospital kept me in my internship and allowed me to just follow a nurse the whole time and learn all of the things i would need to know! However, that got old. I tried not to be sour about it but it was really hard to going from being an independent LVN in my previous position to not being able to do anything at all in my current one because i wasnt technically considered a nurse without the ATT.

TO MY SURPRISE, i woke up 1 week later on Wednesday to get ready for work (night shift) and my ATT was in my email!! THANK YOU GOD! i finally was able to do things and schedule my test! I wasnt waiting any longer! It had already been 5 months! I scheduled it for the first availbale date, October 9.

I took my test on Thursday the 9. It was not AS bad as i expected it to be because i heard absolutely horrible things about the new format. I had low level questions at first, after about #20 i started getting the SOA and priority questions. Those kept increasing in quantity as the test went on. I felt okay about it throughout. There wasnt anything that i had never seen before. Things i didnt know? yes. of course. You wont remember everything. But nothing that was complete foreign language to me. FYI, yes the medication questions are only generic names now! No trade names so study that way. The SOA seemed easier to me than they were in school. And i have always done well with prioritize. I did have more questions that i assumed i would. I had 160 but that never means anything! I was told, with each question you get, your still in the game! So when it cut off and i got that heart dropping blue screen i couldnt wait to get home and try the "pearson vue trick" right!!

Well nothing about this process has been easy so why make this easy! When i took my LVN boards and when all my classmates took their RN boards the trick was still the old method where if you got to the credit card page that was the devastating you fail page! So i completely logged in, went through everything as normal and put in my CC information and verified address and clicked next ( mind you this is where the brown box use to come up saying "our records indidcate you have arecently scheduled this exam. Another registration can not be made at this time.") OH MY GOD! WHY AM I ON A PAGE THAT IS ASKING ME TO VERIFY IF THIS IS WHAT I REALLY WANT TO REGISTER FOR! My heart dropped. I have never felt that kind of defeat in my whole life. I have gone through all of this in the last 5 months and the process is still not over... i felt better about that test.... i cant believe i failed. I couldnt cry, i couldnt do anything but kiss and hold my daughter and just lay in bed. I told my mom, my husband, mother in law and best friend because of course they were all asking! I finally was able to cry and did for almost an hour and a half. Finally i decided i was going to google if anyone had ever got the "bad pop up" and passed.

I started seeing where people had posted that the trick had changed as of August 23. I saw where people were saying it doesnt work anymore. Or i thought i failed for sure! So i started reading them all. Apparently, THEY ADDED AN EXTRA STEP IN THE PROCESS. ugh!! i did not want to get my hopes up. I planned for the worst but hoped for the best! It couldnt get worse than it was at the moment. I went through all the steps according to google, by the grace of GOD!!!! I CLICKED SUBMIT AND GOT THAT BEAUTIFUL POP UP SAYING " Our records indicate you have previously scheduled this exam. Another registration can not be made at this time." ....

Was this real life??? did i really just tell 5 people that i failed and cried for an hour and a half only to get the good pop up becuase i wasnt aware they changed the process!! yes! i did. Because today i got my quick results with big bold letters saying 'PASS'!!! My wait and journey was finally over! It is still a huge shock and one of the biggest reliefs i have probably ever felt. It is unexplainable.

The point of all of that is, no matter the situation, dont give up and keep pushing. It will all eventually work out it just may be a hard road. It only made seeing those beautiful "pass" letters that much sweeter in the end!

The new way the trick works BTW!!

STEP 1: Start the registration process again. You have to click through to register for RN and no you havent taken NCLEX before and what school you graduated from blah blah blah. Click Next.

STEP 2: verify the order is correct and click next.

STEP 3: Enter CC information and verify address. click next.

STEP 4: Here is where you get the verification where i freaked out. Its okay to be on this page! You have to click SUBMIT ORDER! to get a pop up. But be aware that if you did indeed fail, it will charge your card once you click submit order. That is why people are hesitant to do it now. I took my chances. Once you hit Submit order, if you passed there will be a tiny red triangle in the top of the screen with that wondering message! YOU PASSED!

I hope this helped some of you and encourage people! I just know i couldnt find some of the answers i was looking for in those 5 months and it also helped TREMENDOUSLY when i realized i did the PVT wrong!