Confidence???

I had the same problem as you.

If you still don't feel confident, then you obviously need to study more. Sounds harsh, but in my experience, to be confident, you have to be confident about SOMETHING.

Everytime I felt like I lacked at a certain area, I would study that area thoroughly until I KNOW it, not just read through it once and go past it.

Don't lose hope. It might feel impossible, especially since you don't know how the test is gonna be OR if you're even going to be able to pass it, but just know that THIS IS POSSIBLE, IT IS IN YOUR CAPABILITY TO GO THROUGH THIS. Any person can pass ANY test as long as they're PREPARED for it, and that's exactly what you need to do!

PREPARE, KNOW THAT YOU'RE PREPARED, and the confidence just comes out by itself.

Oh I know I need to study more... I just started studying for NCLEX. My confidence issue has been the same since I started nursing school. sigh

Maybe you should give yourself more credit. You should be proud and say to yourself you're gonna go kick some NCLEX butt!!!! Good luck, you can do it!!!

Time for some behavior modification here, and you have already defined what needs to be modified. Specifically: When you find your brain has started perseverating on the failure indicators, stop it immediately and replace it with something that makes you feel happy or amused. It doesn't have to be seeing that 95% on your exit exam (though it could be-- devalue yourself much? :) ) but could be something as simple as a stupid cat trick one of your pets does, or the drop-dead gorgeous dress you wore for junior prom, or the perfection of the biggest, sweetest-smelling rose in your beloved grandmother's garden. Whatever. Give it some thought, and then you get to pick one.

The INSTANT you notice bad thoughts (and you know what they are) immediately pull out your replacement thought. You will find yourself better and better at doing this more and more promptly, thus decreasing the amount of time your brain is wasting on them, and eventually the distressing or counterproductive thoughts will become half-hearted about coming out to bother you at all and will drift off to bug someone else.

Remember the rose, the cat, or whatever, though, because this is a technique you can use for the rest of your life, whenever you find yourself with intrusive thoughts that need displacing.

Bump: Think, behavior mod for anxiety.