Anyone walked out of the test center feeling like they bombed?

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Jun 9, 2015

MOST people fail like they bombed it, even if they obviously aced it with having only 75 questions. Normal feeling.

Your teacher did you no favors by telling you that you need to get the first one right or it "sets the standard for the whole test". Seriously....pressure much?? Besides, it's not right anyway: if you get the question wrong, you get another question. Get that one right, then you get a harder question. Etc...etc...etc.

Good luck!

springchick1, ADN, RN · Jun 9, 2015

My teacher told me that it is super important to get the first question right because that sets the standard for the test but my first question was a drag and drop that I am absolutely sure I missed .
but walked out of the testing center yesterday feeling like I don't know jack!
Anyone else?

First of all, your teacher shouldn't have said that. Secondly, yes. I felt the exact same way. When that screen went blank, I think I had a small panic attack (ok, not really but still). And then it makes you take a survey. I didn't want to take a survey. I wanted to get to the privacy of my car and bawl my eyes out (which I did by the way). It's a completely normal feeling. Keep us posted.

s.lever92 · Jun 9, 2015

Yes! I took the exam last Friday and passed.

I didn't think I did though. I honestly had to fight the urge to puke most of the test because I knew there was no way I was getting the answers right. I had a ton of alternate format questions and at least 30% of the content I had never even heard of.

I also did Hurst and felt like the information I studied wasn't what was on my NCLEX.

I cried just walking to my car after the test and couldn't eat for 2 days until I got my results.

I'm so happy I never have to go through it again. It was a really miserable experience for me, but I also had a ton of pressure to pass.

Anyway, I hope to hear good news from you!

Qteapi · Jun 9, 2015

I was so "crazy"after my test I forgot to give the lady the bag to get my cell phone....had to turn around and go back to the facility in the snow....was not a happy camper...I passed in 75 and thought for sure I had failed that is why I was so out of my mind and didn't get my phone from the security bag....did I say that the testing center was about a 50 min drive in good weather from my house And when I realized I had not had the lady to cut bag open I was like a 3 miles away from my home! I was not a happy camper driving back to the facility in Friday evening traffic and snow!

**NICU Guy, BSN, RN** · Jun 9, 2015

I made A's and B's in NS and was in the honor society

Here is my advice to another member with the same issue.

75 questions is the minimum number of questions that the computer give you. At that point it determines one of three things:
1. With a 95% certainty, you are minimally competent to be a nurse, so it shuts off- PASSED
2. With a 95% certainty, you will not be minimally competent no matter how many questions you get, so it shuts off- FAILED
3. Undetermined, so it continues to give you questions.
There are only two reasons that it shuts off at 75 questions. You either did very well or very poorly. It would be extremely unlikely that a mediocre student in nursing school would pass at 75 questions. So, the question for yourself is: Did you do very well in nursing school (at a school with a high NCLEX pass rate) or did you barely pass nursing school? If you did very well, then you passed.

NomadNurse_ · Jun 10, 2015

Here is my advice to another member with the same issue.

That makes me feel better! I did really well in nursing school but keep getting super anxious when studying. Thanks for the advice!

scaredsilly, BSN, RN · Jun 10, 2015

I was SO sure I failed that I got up the next morning, went to the library and started studying again. And the morning after that as well! When the quick results came that afternoon and I passed, I was so stunned I walked out of the library and left all my study materials behind. Never did go back to get them.....Hope they helped someone else!

LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN · Jun 10, 2015

MOST people fail like they bombed it, even if they obviously aced it with having only 75 questions. Normal feeling.

This.

For my NCLEX-PN: absolutely.

For my NCLEX-RN: not so much,

Passed both on the first try.

JMB612 · Jun 10, 2015

Thanks all for sharing advice, encouragement and similar feelings that you experienced. I am feeling better after reading these posts and knowing I am not the only one who felt defeated like this after taking NCLEX.

I'm glad to know that first question doesn't mess you up like one of my teachers suggested. Now that I think about it, I don't understand why she would say that and put so much pressure on getting it right... It definitely stressed me out!

Happy to have this message board to come to for sharing stuff like this :)

I will definitely update with my results tomorrow.

blah_blah_blah · Jun 10, 2015

I'd be shocked to hear about someone who DIDN'T feel like they bombed it.

I took my test late last August. I went home to try the PVT and to my horror I made it to the credit card page and I was inconsolable. I later found out that DAYS before I took my test, Pearson Vue fixed the PVT glitch and it no longer worked the way it used to (just a tip - don't bother with the PVT. There are many threads on here explaining why it no longer works).

I was able to buy my quick results while I was at work 2 days later. I couldn't eat all day because I knew my results where coming out that day (and anyone who knows me knows that there is NEVER a time where I can't eat.. Even when I'm sick I still have an appetite). I checked my phone all day that day and when I saw that link to buy my results, I threw my phone back into my purse and went back to work. I told myself I would check when I got home because I didn't want to cry at work if I failed. Well not even 5 minutes later, I was in the employee bathroom handicap stall sitting on a chair with my wallet buying my results. I passed and still cried, haha.

Good luck!

turtlesRcool · Jun 10, 2015

Here's the thing to remember: it's a computer adaptive test. If you're doing well, it's giving you crazy-hard questions on things you've probably never heard of. It's designed to take you past the level where you are confident with your answers. And when it shuts off, all you can think about is the way you got question after question where you struggled.

So, basically, when you leave the test, just about everyone feels like the test was impossible and they bombed it. Either you failed because you were struggling on questions you should have known the answers to. Or you passed because you were struggling on questions that were so difficult the algorithm doesn't expect you to get them all right.

I passed in 75, but so many of the questions had me thinking "*****" that I mentally prepared myself for the test to go on and on because there was no way I was doing well. When the computer shut off, I honestly thought there was something wrong with the system, and it took me a moment to process what was happening. During my wait for quick results, what kept me going was thinking about the questions themselves. When I tried to recall the questions, I realized they were incredibly difficult questions that required me to put together a lot of different kinds of information. So I had hope of passing, not because I was confident in my answers, but because of the complexity of the questions.