Beat all Odds, inspired and motivated.. (foreign nurse grad).LONG NCLEX STORY, pls bear

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Hello to all, Im so HAPPY at this very moment in time! The reason for this is that I just did the quick results this VAlentines Day and im pleased to say that I PASSED the NCLEX-RN! Yeeehhheeyyy!! took exam 2/12- passed 2/14

For the longest time like many others I came on this board for encouragement and mainly to see how others cope with their grief of not passing the 1st or 2nd time. What I sought for on this form was "hope" and "motivation" that others gave me when I saw they succeeded in their quest to conquer the NCLEX. So thank you all for giving me the courage I put together to finally succeed in what I wished for the most.

Just a little about myself, I was born and raised in California but in between I would go on yearly trips with my grandmother in the Philippines. There I became familiar with two languages, learned to ride a bike, had my 1st dog, my 1st kiss and my 1st love. Thats why the Philippines never grew away from me as I grew up .Elementary came, Middle School passed, and High school ended for me so fast that by the time I graduated I did not know what I wanted to do with my life then and there. But one thing I did know was that all I wanted to do was help people because I was what you would call a "grandma's boy". I would always be her "human crutch" because she practically raised me and gave me morals and virtues that a grandmother did in which it became my nature to practice what I preached and likewise to act unselfish to everyone and everything. So one day she told me that nursing fits me and from then on I made it define me because from the beginning thats what I guess I was doing.

After Highschool i went to a junior college to get some prerec's done for my chose major of "nursing" but it seemed that I had a long way to go since the wait list of my chosen college was long and even worse by lottery. There were a couple hundred before me but I still stuck with that goal for a year and a half. Life happened and my grandma had to go live in the Philippines because my grandpa had a stroke, so I decided to take a bold step and tell my parents that I wanted to go too because my grandpa and grandma raised me and I felt that it would be my turn to take care of them as long as I have breath in my lungs. So sure enough they decided it would be a good route as well because the Philippines offered to me nursing and I could care for my grandpa as well.

1st year came as fast as 2nd and 3rd and by the time I knew it a couple of months I would be a 4th year graduate nurse. I was happy and sad at the same time because I knew that sure I would go back home to California but I would leave my friends/family and the memories that made me. My grandpa and grandma were excited everyday they had long talks and planning for my party and how my parents and several relatives from California would fly to see me claim my diploma; but a week before graduation I was thrown a curve ball in which my grandpa got struck with a subdural hematoma and he was slipping away. Just three days away from my graduation, I lost him and I spent my graduation mourning the loss of the person who I cared for who likewise cared for me. That's a perfect example of the life cycle in my guess. I wanted to run away from my grief so just a few days later I decided to leave the Philippines behind because it reminded me of one of the biggest loss I ever had. It even brings up drops of tears just as im composing this.

I finally returned home and went to Kubler Ross's stage of grief in which I felt

"D-A-B-D-A". After I decided that life goes on, I started my application for the Nclex. I got my documents ready and sent all the requirements that all in all took roughly 2 months to get approved. And once I got my clearance did I begin to review for my Nclex.

I did not even know what a "SATA" question looked like before and I had to overcome the different formats and set my mind in a different state. I was frustrated that I had to learn completely different ways to approach questions and mold my mind in a different perspective from that of what I learned before in the Philippines. I was so used to memorizing each and every little detail there that it led me not to build a great deal of conceptualizing a good background for critical thinking. In perspective I was given tools and some material and a blue-print but I was not given measurements and angles to build .My world of studying was in constant motion because I did not know where to begin, I was lost and no one knew how challenging this test was for me. I had to dig deep and grind hard to motivate me to learn as much nursing as I did and it took me 10 months to finally taste the sweet taste of success. I fell twice and finished strong and hard the third time.

What I did for my 1st try was I bought almost every nclex thing on ebay. You name it I bought it! But I didnt have time to do all because it was more tiring to even think that I had to read and digest all of these 20+ book and guides that I bought. So what I did was I searched on this form and saw a post of the most used resources and I began to take a tally and search for the top 5 resources that are used. So for my 1st attempt of self study I used. Studied roughly 12 hours a day, making notes, summarizing, reading, doing questions and writing down each rationale in a binder folder. The most time consuming portion was the writing. Tell me about being drained and being zombie for this long, things didnt stick that great, i guess i should have got some glue. :)

  1. Maryanne Hogan's Comp Review
  2. Saunder's 5th edition with CD
  3. Ncsbn subscription
  4. 35 page guide
  5. Kaplan -RN 2014-2015 Strageties, Practice and Review

For my second try I deicided to read the Saunders book while take notes . I also purchased Kaplan On-demand,Mosby's flash cards, and Lippincotts alternative format book. And to top it off I did 2 weeks of PDA before my exam. The second time, decided to break things into concepts instead of memorizing each and every detail. I shifted my train of thought to focus on the bigger picture and incorporated it in developing what it is I am supposed to do to become a safe nurse! Well I did and I kind of got it because I was getting decent scores in Kaplan. But 230 question later guess the computer decided to shut off. Long story short didnt make it again. Spent about 8 hours, read the sauders again and did questions regarding on what system or concept i learned. So if you had to do it my advice would be to incorporate what you just learned and apply it and digest it.

  • Diagnostic Test- 62
  • Q trainer 1- 57
  • Q trainer 2-61
  • Q trainer 3-64
  • Q trainer 4-63
  • Q tranier 5-60
  • Q trainer 6-59
  • Q trainer 7-57

Third times the charm, what I learned from the rigorous 10 months of study is to give yourself some slack. Before I studied head on, M-F ,to the point of more than 10+ hours in a day. Please dont do that like me. I learned from that mistake the 3rd time because I talked to someone saying that in their opinion the brain works in short burst and through repetition. So what I did was follow his advice and take it easy maybe 6 hours or so in which I would wake up in the morning, make breakfast, reflection/prayer time, study through lunch, eat , 3pm at the gym, 4 prayer, 5 study, and by 10 sleep. That was my golden routine. What I did differently this time:

  1. Hurst review and hurst questions
  2. Make my own flash cards
  3. Nclex mastery app
  4. and write down in bold on a big piece of paper (your name, RN)
  5. listened to youtube inspirational videos - search "motivational videos"
  6. prayer

What I learned though my Nclex journey is that be patient with yourself. Do not ever give up even when the odds seems slim because failure is what feeds success. Motivating myself was hard each day so I stuck on prayer and believing in something more greater than myself. In the end I learned to believe in myself and trust my instinct in answering questions. I made Nclex a daily part of my routine that it became my second nature to feed my mind and keep it busy. Though this journey I faced the obstacle that I made for myself because I built a block on focusing on my previous failures that I lost sight of the future. My friends, "Carpe Diem"; translated to "seize the day" is what you should focus on to get the measurements in that given master plan of yours. From what I learned in this process is priceless and has humbled me. Sorry for the long post but I hope to share my story with anyone willing to read food for thought. Invest in yourself because ultimately you will reap all that you will sow. Peace, Love and JOy to you all my friends. I pray for all our success.

Prayer's I said on a daily basis:

  1. miracle prayer- search youtube
  2. novena
  3. prayer to St. Joseph of Cupertino- * when you pass (please pass it on, to make known of St. Joseph Cupertino as a promise)

O St. Joseph of Cupertino who by your prayer obtained from God to be asked at your examination, the only preposition you knew. Grant that I may like you succeed in the (here mention the name of Examination eg. History paper I ) examination. In return I promise to make you known and cause you to be invoked.

O St. Joseph of Cupertino pray for me

O Holy Ghost enlighten me

Our Lady of Good Studies pray for me

Sacred Head of Jesus, Seat of divine wisdom, enlighten me.

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Guess I get no love from allnurses community, no congratz.... So many readers but not many like's.. hahahahaa. thats life

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Congratulations!!!!

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@ FaithinJesus!!! Thank you my friend, God Bless you! I appreciate it, 1st person to take a minute out of their time to appreciate other's sucess out of 322 others.. I still have faith in humanity :)

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That's so awesome! Congrats!!! :)

I take my NCLEX in two weeks and I've used the Kaplan QBank and QTrainers for practice questions and Hurst for content. I graduated from my BSN program back in December 2014 and I've been preparing since the middle of January of this year. It will be my first time taking the NCLEX-RN and I must admit, although I'm a bit nervous for it, God is surely keeping me calm and helping me keep it together. :up:

I was wondering how you studied the Hurst material? And did you find it helpful when you took the NCLEX? Thanks so much!

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@ CSULB_RN_GRAD, BSN, i appreciate it!:nurse: .. I wish good thoughts your way and I will be praying for you success. Glad I could be of help. I asked alot of people for help and wisdom and now it's my turn..:).. This is what I did for the last 3 weeks before the nclex study plan for me:

1st). listen to all the hurst videos at least 3 time around until I could recall the focused diseases, for instance think about nephrotic syndrome, i would then try to recall the important facts about it like the main signs and symptoms that hurst wants you to think about like proteinuria, hypoalbumina, edema,etc.. then treatment for it..do that for about a week for each concept and feel comfortable about seeing the bigger picture.

2). last two weeks i drilled myself with the Hurst qbank, i set my schedule for the last two weeks because our hurst instructor said for us to do these until we mastered the concepts. It made sense and I advise if you havent done the hurst qbanks then try:

on monday- hurst exam 1,

tuesday- review rationale for test 1

wed-hurst exam 2

thurs- review rationales for test 2

friday-hurst exam 3

saturday- review rationale for test 3

sunday - break/ mini day-off

monday-hurst review 4

tuesday- rationale for test 4

wed=hurst review 5

thursday- rationale for test 5

friday - hurst review 6

saturday-rationale for test 6

the week before my exam was critical for me because I would always stress and not get enough sleep that week. What I did was to cut down to of studying in 3 parts and off to bed at 10pm:

(mornings) doing 25-30q's in kaplan qbanks or in nclex mastery app..

(lunch) reviewing- labs, such as blood counts, abg's, v/s etc.

(afternoons) doing another set of 25-30q's from kaplan or nclex mastery app..

Hope this helps, wish you the best.. Hurst rocks! I tried almost everything but Hurst by far fit my study style. Stick to their program, it's almost bullet proof, you will feel like superman/superwoman when you come to master it.;) I did Kaplan and I scored decent but I didnt make it for the 2nd attempt. Best decision of my life, was to stick with Hurst. Pray and pray and pray and you'll be fine.

The prayer I mentioned in my main post by St. Joseph of Cupertino played a big part of my success, please give this prayer a try, it does miracles. So far of all 3 of my friends who took nursing with me, all 3 passed so far with sharing this prayer. Good luck, I wish you the best!

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Specializes in MICU, SICU, CICU.

What a beautiful and inspiring post. Congratulations on passing NCLEX and best wishes. Maggie

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.

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Congratulations.

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@ icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN, thank you! God Bless and Happy Sunday! :nurse:

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@ OCNRN63 ,thanks I appreciate it, Have a Blessed Sunday!:)

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Hope this helps, wish you the best.. Hurst rocks! I tried almost everything but Hurst by far fit my study style. Stick to their program, it's almost bullet proof, you will feel like superman/superwoman when you come to master it.;) I did Kaplan and I scored decent but I didnt make it for the 2nd attempt. Best decision of my life, was to stick with Hurst. Pray and pray and pray and you'll be fine.

Thanks a bunch FilAm! I appreciate you laying it all out for me. I've got two weeks left and I've literally watched all the Hurst videos at least 3 times. I've also filled out the worksheets that went along with it and I've read that a bunch of times as well. May I ask how you used the 5th day resources? I know the NCLEX is heavy with PPE and infection control so I will study that rigorously. I'm also fairly weak with meds and I'm not sure how to tackle that area. Any tips/tricks would be greatly appreciated!

Also, I've finished Kaplan's Qbank and I'd have to say that a couple of the questions and rationales were a bit confusing to me. I'm saving the Hurst QReview questions for my last week and half of studying and I'm planning on doing one QReview every day and reviewing the rationales. What do you think?

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Congratulations!!!! Your journey is inspiring and motivating. I am taking my NCLEX this week and I'm nervous. I've been using Hurst, Kaplan, and Saunders (I just watched the Hurst videos once and haven't really studied the material) but I've been mainly focusing on Kaplan questions and the rationales. If there's something I don't understand, I go back and review.

Again, thank you for your post. You'll be a great nurse!!!

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