i have recently been active on this lovely supportive site,, after passing nclex, and i want to share the following experience with everyone to learn and take notes and be able to work on weaknesses ,,
my personal NCLEX experience,, and tips/advice, please read carefully, and apply,, these work,, guarranteed :) good luck everyone
I had taken the NClEX 4 times, first time, i had no clue what i was doing, lol they told me it wasnt too bad,, so i underestimated it.. second, i thought i was prepared,, but i was wrong,, although i had kaplan,, but i didnt use decision tree well,, third time,, i failed at 85 questions,,, still no good,, until i woke up and decided to change my old ways/habits,, I seeked a tutor, who helped me,, and showed me where my weaknesses and what i was doing wrong,, the following was what i was going wrong,,
1. spending too much time analyzing and adding info to the questions
2. not using strategies or reading questions carefully and paying attention to keywords,,
3. not treating every question as priority,, remember,, it is still a priority when there is one and only action the nurse has to do.. so make sure,, that action provides the most physical needs , then worry about psychosocial needs
YOU CAN CHANGE TOO ........
i understand what you are going through.. as hard as it may sound,,, with the right preparation you can make it.. iam sure you will,, first.., you must know what you are lacking,, or doing wrong,,, in other words.. you need to get rid of the old habits... i can be, either spending too much time with questions,, or adding info.. these are extremly important ,,, then,, you must know the strategy,, or what i call the "trick" to answering the questions.. the trick consists of reading the question very carefully,, pay attention to keywords,,, childs age,, gestational week,, how long before and after surgery,, etc.. the answers are based on the questions,,, and keywords... do not over analyze and add info,, if you read the question carefully, then see that a question sounds correct "your gut" then confirm it,, by reading other answers and eliminating,, if you cant find a better answer, then go with your first,, do not change answers.. pay attention to words such as most,, first, and please make sure you practice lots of priority,, and delegation,,, there will be a big chunk of that on the test, the sata on the nclex are not hard though.. but practice those so they don't seem scary,, please see attached and let me know about your progress ,, i attached 2 files
You can still pass,, I really think that it matters a lot doing the strategy and reading the question carefully,, follow the following steps,, from my personal experience,
1. know your contents,, if you don't know them by now,, not necesarly very specific details but enough to be able to answer questions, in addition to lab values, and symptoms,, diseases, etc..
2. Read the question very carefully, pay attention to keywords,, ex. Childs age,, toddler, preschoolers,, etc,, preop, how long,, or postop,, ,, and then pay attention to what they are asking,, the stem of the question,,
3. Red answer choices carefully, you will automatically have your gut on one question,, read other choices while you eliminate if possible,,
4. Go back to the question,, and read again, if you need more clarification,, then if you see that the first answer you picked is verifiable or no other answer beats it, then go for the first one,,
5. Remember,, every question is priority,, when they say most important,, they are saying there is one thing you have to so,, so think physical needs and ABC,
6. Please do not spend more than 1.5 min per question or even less unless you get sata question,, the n you can spend a little more,, but learn to be time efficient as it will eliminate errors, make sure you utilize 1 hr for each 50 questions,, so you have ample time to use on NCLEX, use it wisely,, spend sometime on the higher level questions,,
7. Do not add info,, and make assumptions,, work with what you have only,, I used to Make this mistake a lot
8. make sure you study very well, the management part of the test,, ( new test plans includes 23 % on management), know about delegations, and prioritizations,, room assignments,, proper documentations,, ( ive had about 12 of those) remember, you use facts,, and no judgemental info,, or subjective,,
9. Be strong,, remain positive and focused,, remember you are going to beat this test,, which was made by humans not alians
if anyone needs additional help,, email me on here, i can share my number .. :)
Best wishes
