After 6 hours and answering 257 questions and running out of time, I succeeded and passed the NCLEX after my 2nd attempt.
It all started in the year 2004, when I decided I wanted to become a nurse. I was well into my business career, and was successful. Making good money, but there was no satisfaction. I began to take my pre-requisite classes for nursing while I was holding on to a full time plus overtime job. It was very difficult to juggle, full time employment, and school but I persevered and continued. After a year and a half of pre-requisites I applied for an ADN program at a community college but couldn't get in even with my 3.9 GPA and 125 NLN score. So I applied to a university. I soon found out the university I applied for had an upcoming accelerated program. I applied for the accelerated 18-month program and surprisingly was accepted. I finished the program graduated and prepared to take the nclex.
Fast forward to my second attempt at the NCLEX....
From the time I started to the time the test shut off, I did not leave that chair. Needless to say, I was fidgety, restless, and nervous while sitting in that chair answering questions. I saw one after the next person leave, and soon before I knew it I was the only one in the testing center. I came out of the testing center with a major headache, sore throat, and a distended bladder.
The test was intense and predominantly consisted of select all that apply, priority, delegation, infection control, and of course content/comprehension based questions. At times, I would receive a barrage of SATA (select all that apply) questions, then following priority, then infection control and then straight into a comprehension question. I even received questions that were sort of dummy questions, as if they wanted me to answer it correctly by giving me choices that were totally off and there was only one logical answer. I also knew which questions were the one that were the experiment questions. I say this because these questions were totally off the wall. I also received 3 medical calculation questions and I am positive I got them correct but the next question was a very easy question. So the myth about answering the question correct and the next question being a harder question is not true at all. In addition, I received many drug related questions. Every time a drug question came up my heart started to palpate irregularly. Drugs are my weakest points. However for some strange reason, the answer came popping out from the choices that were given. All the drug question I had were well known drugs with some I didn't know.
When I compared the first time I took the test to the second time, I realized that I had many more SATA, delegation, priority, infection control questions. The first time I took the test, I noticed I had 2-3 SATA questions, not one infection control, not one delegation and 2 priority questions and the rest were comprehension questions.
So the question is what did you do different from the first time you took the nclex that I was successful in passing the second time around.
Well, after receiving the letter in the mail and it read "HAS NOT PASSED the Nclex exam, I was depressed for about 2 days and the next day I bought the saunders 4th edition nclex review book. I knew that I lack content and it was apparent by my first nclex results. So I developed a plan and set it on paper to study content and know all that I can about the major subject content that I studied throughout nursing school.
Fortunately, saunders had all the content material you need to know. However, after reading the entire book I strongly feel that the saunders book is too detailed.
So after reading the saunders book I did the questions that was provided with the book. The questions were good questions but not nclex type questions. However, I was able to answer many of the nclex questions because I read and did the saunders questions. So don't neglect the saunders questions. Soon after I did the saunders questions, I read the Kaplan blue 535 page book. This book was given to me when I took the Kaplan course for my first attempt at the nclex and I failed miserably. For me Kaplan didn't work because I relied too much on answering the questions instead of reading on content. For my first attempt I didn't read the Kaplan book which was a big mistake. I only did questions and viewed all of the videos online. Needless to say, I didn't pass the first time and I quickly got my $400 back from Kaplan. Fortunately, I still had the book and read that for my second attempt after reading the saunders book. I must say that the Kaplan book is much more easier reading and the Kaplan book gets to the point.
So with reading the entire saunders book, doing the saunders questions, and reading the Kaplan book and answering the Kaplan online question. I passed the nclex. I have to contribute my success to my diligence and not willing to give up. During the time I was reading the saunders book, I wanted to give up because the book is about 1300 pages of detailed material. Interventions after interventions, symptoms after symptoms, it felt like I will never be able to remember everything. However, I prospered and I did the saunder questions and it all came together. After reading the saunders book and doing saunders questions, I decided to use up my Kaplan online questions and attempt to do question trainer 4,5,6 and 7 again.
As I tackled the question trainer questions, I had a good feeling. My previous scores for question trainer 4,5,6 and 7 for my first attempt at the nclex were, 52, 48, 51, and 50. This is was very discouraging and it proved to be right on the dot because I failed my first attempt and looking at my results I was below the passing on everything except for one category and that was only the near passing level. So after reading the saunders book and doing the saunders question, I went ahead and did the Kaplan question trainer. I was surprised on how much improvement I made on the Kaplan question trainer. My scores for question trainer 4,5,6, and 7 were 72, 65, 70, and 75. I was shocked. The Kaplan analysis read that I was above the 70% mark on all the categories, even pharmacology; my weakest subject. Needless to say, I was confident taking the nclex the 2nd time around.
In conclusion, I would say to read up on your content. I felt strongly that I lacked content and that my nursing program didn't provide me with the proper content in infection control, priority, and delegation. I would suggest people study saunders and also if you can get ahold of the blue 535 page Kaplan book. The Kaplan book that Kaplan gives you when you sign up for there online or classroom class is a short but straight to the point version of saunders. The Kaplan book took me about 4-5 days to read, and saunders took me about 3 weeks to read the entire book.
For those who are taking the NCLEX -RN, focus on these categories...
Select all that apply
Priority
Delegation
Infection control
CONTENT
I always wished someone would write a detailed message about what happened during their test and compared it to the first time taking the nclex but no one ever did. So here I am writing about my experience in hopes that my post will answer many of your lingering questions. I had a lot of questions after not passing my first time but no one took the time to write anything useful nor did they answer any of my questions. I will not leave this site and I will stay on here to answer many of your questions if you have any.
I know how it feels when one doesn't pass the nclex -rn exam. I have been through it and experienced it. I had this gloom, haze, cloud over me that I couldn't shake off. My self -esteem, my confidence, my intelligence was shot down. However, I vowed to myself that I will not let this nclex conquer me and I will take control. So with all of my skills, experience, and determination I set a goal and that goal was to pass the nclex-rn. And so I did it...after 2 months of studying almost everyday for 7-9 hours per day, I passed the nclex. And I passed the nclex by answering 257 out of 265 questions and running out of time.
I was not the smartest student in my class. I received B's and C's and the occasional A's. However, I always received compliments from patients, preceptors, nursing manager and teachers that I am a great nurse. So this helped me throughout the nursing program and also it helped me a great deal in having the determination to continue to study for the nclex for the 2nd time.
P.S.
Also I have some notes I can share about infection control, priority, and delegation. If you would like them you can contact me by PM.
:yeah:
It has been 11 days since my test, and I don't know what else to think, other than I failed, again 
wannabeRN2
62 Posts
I would say answer the saunders questions as many as you can. Switch from reading the saunders book and then answering some questions.
I strongly feel there are 2 things why people dont pass the nclex. One issue is lack of nursing content and the other is nerves. However, I feel it is mainly nursing content.
I was lacking nursing content and was nervous and anxious during my test, so naturally I didn't pass.
If you have access to kaplan questions , do those because kaplan question really makes you think. After reading the saunders book I redid my kaplan questions online and I went from getting 50's to 70's which is a huge improvment.