Can’t pass the NCLEX

[Kmmamea]

Hey y’all!

I recent graduated nursing school In January and I have taken the NCLEX once in February and again in April. I failed both at 75 questions. I studied with ATI that my school swore by.

I have a nursing job waiting for me to get my license but ever since I failed in April.... I haven’t studied consistently and have lost all motivation.

I do want to be a nurse but XX this is hard! Idk what I’m doing wrong with the NCLEX or even how to build up the courage to take the NCLEX again. Any advice?

[Purplemim, BSN]

Hi. So I also just graduated in May this year. I am sorry that you haven't been able to pass the NCLEX but do not give up. I passed my NCLEX exam on first try in July. Do not know why you have not passed but all I can give you is what I did to pass mine:

So my school also offered us ATI. I went to the 3 day review. Actually it was one day because we had some issues with ATI(long story!) and ATI had refund us our money because they were being unfair. So we got the book and the online resources for free due to their mistake. I took a month off studying, some part of May to June to relax and celebrate my graduation. Then started watching the videos and reading the book. I also used UWorld as a learning tool. I did not watch all the videos and read the whole book but I tried to focus on my weakest area following the ATI predictor exam I took. My predictor exam results were borderline so I was nervous a little. I did some ATI with UWorld qs then signed up for another ATI predictor exam my school offered voluntarily in June. This time my results were good. I stopped ATI qs and used UWorld questions as a LEARNING TOOL and not to determine how well I am going to do in nclex. I did about 2000 qs on UWorld then I wrote one UWorld assessment exam and had a high chance of passing. Took two days off doing qs. The day before my exam, I went over the ATI videos in my weakest areas and took it the next day.

UWorld RATIONALES! UWorld RATIONALES! UWorld RATIONALES! Read them very well!!! It is worth the money you spend on it. I found the questions much harder than NCLEX, they were getting ridiculous at a point. My average was 48% and I was scared. But UWorld is a learning tool, so does not determine how good or bad you will do on NCLEX.

I also suggest drinking a lot of water starting from 2 days before the test, eating a lot of blueberries and/or walnuts at least a week before the exam(It helps with brain power and memory! It really works). Also I know this sounds ridiculous but try to relax and unwind. When I started studying, I used to spend 5-10 hours a day just because of how long the UWorld rationales were and it was wearing me out. I reduced it to at 2-6 hours and it helped. You got this! Don't give up!

[Christina_, BSN, RN]

hello! My school also used ati. We had to do the ATI live review, but because the instructor lost her voice we did not get the full review. They gave us a code for online resources, but I didn't use that. I didn't use the comprehensive ati book that was given either. ATI said I had a low chance of passing. The UWORLD comp test also told me I was borderline. So, don't pay too much attention to that. I passed on my first try with 75 questions. All I did was UWORLD and read every single rationale. I made sure I understood the questions I got wrong too.

I actually did all the questions on UWORLD. But I went back and focused on my weak points/ made sure I knew the basics of fundamentals and priority questions.

Since you took it twice, look at both of them to see where your weak points are. I believe they email or mail you what your weaknesses are when you took the exam. I don't really think you can "study" for NCLEX. I think its best to just do questions and questions and questions.

[medic 2 RN, ASN, RN, EMT-P]

My school used ATI and Passpoint, and we had the 3 day live review. We also had to get the ATI greenlight. I graduated May 10th and tested May 29th, passing with 75 questions. I only used ATI and Passpoint to prepare after graduation. I had several SATA questions, probably around 30, and a couple of drag and drop. In my opinion the NCLEX was easier than the tests on ATI and Passpoint.

You have to remember when answering the NCLEX questions that you have to assess your pt if there is an answer that mentions assessment, always remember the ABCs when prioritizing and delegating, you have orders for everything, and you do have access to all necessary supplies and equipment. Especially remember to treat in the order of least invasive to most invasive interventions. Good luck on your next attempt.

[EaglesRN856, ADN, RN]

Hi! I know exactly how it feels to fail NCLEX.y first time I sat for it I only used ATI that was included with my school program. It did not help me at all. I sat for all 265q and was devastated when I confirmed the fail. I heard all about uworld and just as other stated, I read the rationales. Whether it right or wrong, I studied to remember why. I focused most of my studying on prioritization and management of care. I’d do 25-50q a day in increments of 10-15q. Enough to not overwhelm myself and enough to remember why it was right/wrong. 46 days later I went for my re-exam and passed at 75q in a little over 1hr.

With that being said, don’t give up. You completed nursing school. You know the information, just figure out how to apply it to the question. It doesn’t matter if you get 75 or 265, passing is passing. Good luck!

[NurseMotivator, ASN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN]

Uworld has helped my pass the NCLEX. I recommend it.

[car48]

I don't mean this to sound condescending or arrogant.

However...

Before you went to nursing school did you look at the NCLEX pass rate for your school? The 2 factors I used in determining what school I went to was cost and pass rate. Hind sight being 20/20 I wish I had gone to an 'easier' school because my grades felt more determined by my ability to read the prof's mind and giving the answer they wanted rather than knowledge or judgement decisions. NCLEX was easy for me, and I passed it in 75, because the test asked me relatively straight forward questions.

I personally feel cheated out of not getting better grades than what I did. During nursing school when I had a beef with the way a question I got wrong, the response was always "This is what it is like on NCLEX". So I put up with it. If I had to develop psychic powers to read a prof.'s mind than so be it. While psychic powers always eluded me, hours and hours of studying benefited me greatly. I bludgeoned my way through nursing school by sheer weight of effort. I was not a straight 'A' student (or even close). But there were some that were, and many who were had to go the whole distance once NCLEX came around because while they had better psychic abilities than me to read a prof.'s mind, they did not have the knowledge that I had.

The best example of a B.S. question that I got on a nursing school test was on liver function and the color of stool. The prof. said what clay colored stool meant, the power points stated what clay colored stool meant, the book read what clay colored stool meant. When the question came up on the test it was phrased as "The patient has grayish/clay colored stool". Why would you throw 'grey' in there? I don't want to hear any BS about 'well, that can happen'. The 'right' answer was determined by whatever the prof wanted the right answer to be. And 'that can happen' is not an excuse to ask deliberately vague questions. Half of nursing school felt like the question of 'what color is this dress'

I was about 30 questions into NCLEX when I figured out that I was going to finish in 75. The test was kind of a joke to me to be honest, and because of that I am a bit bitter about nursing school. Whether you are an 'A' student or a 'C' student we all have RN after our names so in the end I guess it doesn't really matter. Still based off of the premise given to me that nursing school was meant to prepare me to pass NCLEX and become a nurse I feel my grades do not reflect on my ability or knowledge.

[mindofmidwifery, ADN]

Try UWorld. That's the only resource I used to pass in 75q.

[labordude, BSN, RN]

There's a lot of feedback about WHAT to use to study and not enough on understanding where you went wrong. Failing twice at 75 questions says content knowledge is an issue. When you do your practice, how are you reviewing the material behind the wrong answers? If you aren't doing this, you should be. It isn't good enough to know the right answer, you have to have some kind of understanding as to why it's the right answer because if I rephrase the question in a way you aren't expecting, it makes it much harder to answer. Practice questions and tools are useful ONCE you know the content and your weak areas. Focus on those and also simulate real-life testing situations for practice.

[Snatchedwig, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN]

First do an assessment with saunders. I'm sure you got that book with your tuition. There's an application online that comes with the book code, do the assessment. Post your results here and we can work with you to build a custom tailored system for you.

[Natasha A., CNA, LVN]

I can not agree more with labordude.

Have you did an assessment on why most nursing students fail the nclex? Its usually

.Not knowing pathophysiology/physiology

.Not knowing how to breakdown nursing questions

.Anxiety

[cabrerakm, BSN, RN]

8 hours ago, E-commerce said:

I can not agree more with labordude.

Have you did an assessment on why most nursing students fail the nclex? Its usually

.Not knowing pathophysiology/physiology

.Not knowing how to breakdown nursing questions

.Anxiety

I have to also agree here. I was not a strong student through nursing school simply because I couldn't grasp HOW to take the tests. I understood the content to a point but would get too hung up on the facts and not what it was actually asking for. OVERTHINKING. When I was preparing for the NCLEX, I felt overwhelmed with the scores I kept getting back and would put myself down for not picking what should have been the obvious answer. When I realized that the problem wasn't mainly with my core knowledge, I 100% put my focus on testing strategies instead that allowed me to break down each and every question. It helped me learn what to listen for and what to throw out completely regardless of whatever med or disease it was asking about. I then started doing 75 questions a day for 2 weeks. I would take them in study mode at first so I could read the rationales immediately. Then after a few days, I switched to test mode so that it would be more realistic for me and help with my anxiety. If I didn't know the answer with 200% confidence, I stopped what I was doing and immediately went through the strategies of breaking the questions down. My scores on UWorld jumped from the 40s to the high 60s. I started really grasping what the NCLEX was looking for and because of the strategies and how I practiced, my anxiety was under control and I went into the test with a clear head.