this is my first time posting a thread. i had been just lurking around the forum for information for the past few months. i have read a lot of discussions about how others passed their nclex and some of those tips were helpful to me. now, it's my time to share to you guys how i passed my nclex-rn exam.
first of all, my school really did a great job in preparing us to pass the nclex the first time.. my school has 95-100% rate of students passing the nclex. at the end of every semester, we had to take a hesi exam. we have three tries to pass the exam. if we failed, we'll have to repeat the entire course. i was supposed to graduate last 2010, but i failed my hesi for not having 900. i scored around 860 and had to wait for them to offer the class the next fall. i ended up graduating in 2011 with a score of 1086 on the hesi. this hesi pushed us to do a lot of nclex type questions..
i am such a procrastinator.. i started studying for the nclex 1 month before the exam. i tested last feb 17 and i started my reviews in january.. i would not recommend this though, but this works for some people like me (queen of procrastinating).. lol
these are the materials that i studied.
1. saunders: i had been practicing saunders for my hesi, but for the nclex, i focused more on management/leadership/priority/delegation questions.. cost: around $40-50..
2. nclex rn in a flash: i liked this book because it was so handy.. i can just slip it inside my purse and review it anywhere. i answered 250 out of 350 questions from this book. cost: around $40-50..
3. la charity: this book is helpful when you are not used to priority and delegation questions. i reviewed just a little because i ran out of study time.
cost: free. i found it somewhere in this site.
4. pearson reviews and rationales: this book is what really helped me in my nclex exam. i did some of the questions at the end of the chapter of this book. i half of the questions from their website. they will give you a code that you can use for a year (i think). their style of questions and format is almost the same as the real nclex.
cost: around $40-50..
5. sylvia rayfield review in cooperation of nursing made insanely easy: my school offered all of their students a free review (isn't that nice?).. the sylvia rayfield book has different chapters that correspond to the nclex plan.. ex. safety issue. management and leadership, infection control, pharm, physio, blah blah.. it has exams in every chapters, 1 pretest, and 2 post tests.
6. i had a study partner for one month. we met once a week in the library.
7. i tried to answer 250-300 questions every week for 1 month, for the last week, i did 200 a day.
8. enjoy yourself!! you don't have to go nuts studying.. be yourself.. study.. but have some fun!!
day before the exam: i studied my labs in the morning and some drugs suffixes.. i stopped studying in the afternoon to relax. we went to the church, but then the church was closed!! and mys husband was like "just pray here, outside".. so i prayed and asked god for some guidance, not just for myself, but for all my classmates who are going to take the exam too. my husband took me out to the movie and we went shopping. lol. i also got a nice massage from him. it relieved some of my anxiety, but when i was in bed, i was not able to sleep early because of anxiety. i ended up sleeping at 1am and my exam was at 8am..
during the exam: when i woke up, there was no single nervousness in my body. i just had the feeling that i can do this!!! the people in the testing area were nice. all i was just hoping was that my pregnancy cooperates with me while i am taking my test (i was in my first trimester.. morning sickness, ya know).. fortunately, my baby cooperated with me all through out the exam.
the pearson vue trick worked for me. i checked it 2 hours after my exam and i got a good pop up. after 48 hours, i got my result that i passed.
i hope these materials help you too. good luck to everyone who is going to take the nclex exam!! remember, answering questions > reading and studying a book. answer as much questions as you can.. don't get upset if you get low score in your reviews. i had been making 60-70% with 100 questions. read the rationales, but do not memorize it..
good luck and god bless you all. have faith in yourselves!!
mathew 7:7
ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
