Completely Terrified...

Rita1015 · Nov 18, 2011

Does anyone ever feel "ready" to take this test?? I"m supposed to go in on Wednesday to take it and I feel like rescheduling once again..

cloudwatcher · Nov 20, 2011

hi Rita, I just want to encourage you and tell you that I sent up a prayer for you. I have passed my exam already and it was tough, you have a lot of courage to try it over and over. I don't know if I would have been strong enough to do it again.

I don't think anybody ever feel completely ready for the exam, I think you have done your preparation very well.

I wish you all of the best and hope that your Thanksgiving will be more blessed than ever with VERY good news!

littleone17 · Nov 20, 2011

you can do it:) don't give up.. the NCLEX is a part of all nursing students' lives, something that can be overcome. God Bless

DennRN · Nov 20, 2011

The following is my opinion, my intention is not to hurt feelings, or belittle. If you can see a shred of truth in this, my hope is that it will put you on a path to success, whatever direction you choose to take.

The NCLEX RN is a MINIMUM safety test, if you have to claw tooth and nail to climb up to passing someone did you a disservice. It takes knowledge to pass sure, but your ability to use your nursing judgement and critical thinking skills is where the science of nursing meets the art of nursing. It is my belief that your frustration with trying to cram with practice questions is not helping you in the way that you require. The purpose of these questions is to gain familiarity with the format of the NCLEX, clearly you are familiar with what you will be seeing, having done it 6 times previously.

It appears to me that you lost your path somewhere along the line, does your problem go all the way back to the principles/fundimentals of nursing, or tying together your pathophysiology/pharmacology with these principles? I can't tell you. What I do know is that there are no do overs in the real world. I wish I could be less harsh, but the reality is that making decisions as an RN can have serious consequences to people that are trusting you to heal them or ease their suffering. I urge you to consider that being close to the minimum safety threshold is just not good enough. There are no second chances or do-overs when you have someone's well being to account for. Maybe you need to examine what your options are at this point and see if "close enough" is good enough.

As a nurse, you will be the last line of safety for your patients. It's not enough to simply follow orders and complete tasks, that is what unlicensed healthworkers do. Ask any nurses you know, nurses question orders and withhold treatments all the time based on new information and sound clinical reasoning. To not do so could cost you your job, license, and even worse.

It truly pains me to write this, but I feel you could benefit much more from an honest call to concern than a "you can do it". I hope that you can recognize that you are missing a critical part of your nursing toolkit, and either work to correct that or figure out another path for yourself. Either way an honest examination and some soul searching will be the first steps toward healing and getting past your worries and troubles.

I wish you nothing but the best and success in whatever path you choose to follow.

Sincerely,

Dennis

Rita1015 · Nov 20, 2011

Thank you cloudwatcher for your prayers. I've been praying every night as well, something I honestly haven't done in a while. Even though I've been doing really good with my practice questions I decided to reschedule to the 1st week in December, just I can truly enjoy Thanksgiving.

Thank you jujhen06 for your words. I know I can overcome this, some days it doesn't feel like it, but I know that everything happens for a reason and that my time will come.

DennRN, first off, nursing is my path and I will never follow another one. I do appreciate you being honest, sometimes you need that kind of "slap in the face" almost to make you realize what your doing wrong. I did good in nursing school and all through out nursing school I worked as a certified nursing assistant in the Pediatric Intensive Care unit. I am very confident in my base of knowledge and my critical thinking. My problem comes down to test taking. I have never been a good test taker. As much as I try to be calm and read questions slowly, I always rush, change my answers, think too much into things and so on. It's a horrible thing that I am trying to over come because this test is the one thing standing in the rest of my future of being a great nurse. I've been trying to do a million practice questions to get a feel for what they are asking and just trying to take my time reading them. I've always been great at hands on and being there for pts as an aide and can't wait to continue doing it as a nurse. I definitely believe a lot of people who say that this test does not define the kind of nurse that you will be. Again, I do appreciate the honesty. Thanks again.