Cut off at 75

[Joe_Vargas]

Hey all, I took my nclex rn yesterday (Friday) and cut off at 75 questions.

I'm very skeptical that I passed, I would be very suprised if I did! The material I was being tested on was mostly diseases I've never even heard of.

The first question was hard, but about 6-7 questions in I recieved a string of about 3 SATA.

I told myself that I'm in good position because of this, but then I'd get a simple question after a SATA, then jump back to priority and infection control, but then i'd instantaneously get switched back to the simple q's.

Anyways, my last question was a knowledge question (the "at or below passing level questions"), it was identifying a symptom of a disease I've never even heard of - and it was question 75, after answering it, my test shut off (i clicked [NEXT], and the computer froze a little, and then a little message told me that I'd finished the exam and should wait for a representative to escort me out.)

In total, I recieved maybe 10 SATA, 15 medications, and the rest were all questions from left field.

I did the PVT and got the good pop up, I will confirm it today if I passed or not.

Anyways, I'll give a heads up on the actual NCLEX experience to those who haven't taken it yet. I don't think I violate any nclex clauses in just going over what to expect- but anyways

At 7:30am (or whenever you test), you'll arive in the lobby and a man/woman will have you empty your pockets, roll up your sleeves, and have you take off any excess jewelry/watches/wallets on you. Your contents will be placed in a locker (12x12in for me) and you'll recieve a key for it, which you can place in your pocket for you to unlock later during a break because you store your food and drink items in the locker too. You will take a seat infront of a camera and they'll take your photo, they will digitally take your fingerprints, and they'll have you read a 3 page document of proper nclex procedures. It basically says "no cheating, no talking to others about the test, basically - don't even make eye contact with people outside and inside the test center)

You'll then proceed to station 2, and a lady will give you instructions on how to adjust your seat, give you a set of ear plugs, and a white/dry erase board thats about 12x8inches. My marker didn't have an eraser on it, and I couldn't erase efficiently, but I was lucky in only recieving about 2 calculation problems.

You will also recieve instructions on nclex break policies, theres an option break 2 hours, and 4 hours in.

The lady/man at station 2 will escort you to a seat in a room with cubicles with computers (there were about 20 of them were I was at). The lady/man will set up the nclex tutorial for you and then you're on your own. (tutorial just basically shows how to perform the different alternative question types on the nclex.)

At anytime during the test you feel you have to go for a walk, take a breather, go to the bathroom, just raise your hand and the lady watching you through a glass wall with security cameras monitoring all test takers will come in and escort you outside the test room.

thats basically the down low for anyone scared of what to expect.

I took the Kaplan course and it didn't prepare me as well as I thought it would content wise, but it helped me tremendously question wise. Nclex is very similar to kaplan. Questions are pretty specific, and the questions that seem to come from left field in the kaplan course happens in the nclex.

well anyways, lol, good luck to all new nclex test takers! I think I can recover from failing, but I already celebrated / told my family that I passed because of the PVT but theres always doubt without having official results in hand. wow i need to stop typing

good luck all!

[kimju]

congrats!

[kimju]

btw what's your secret. i mean if you didnt know the diseases, how would pick the right answer, any tips?

[Joe_Vargas]

well, take this with a grain of salt cuz I don't even know if I passed or not.

but just from my short experience, you'll get a question that will ask you what are the s/s of this dz, or what are complications to look for when a patient takes this medication.

You'll have 4 options. Without knowing a med/dz, i'd just go straight towards reading the options.

so, for instance, if it asks

1) A patient has started medication X, the nurse knows that med X can cause which of the following s/s

a) nephrotoxicity

b) hypotension

c) akathisia

d) narrow pulse pressure

we all pretty much know the antibiotics/fungals are pretty notorious for causing A, so i just figured if I didn't recognize it, or if it didn't end with mycin, contain the words cef- cefa, cip, ampho, ect, then it probably isn't A

for B, if it didn't look like diuretic/betablock/ace, then it might not be B

for C: if it doesn't sound really end with ine, pine, ene, or sound like antipsychotic, then it prolly isn't C

and D: no idea what causes D, so might as well chose it ( this wasn't a test item :) )

and for diseases, i pretty much did the same

I just think that since we all study the broad, we're able to break down diseases into certain categories (even though nothing really is black and white in nursing).

we just know what could cause heart problems, kidney, stomach, ect, and we've all studied subclassifications within these diseases- so if the name doesn't stand out, it probably isn't associated with it.

I really can't explain it.

Like, when I get a question that asks what diseaes X is, and I get 4 options, and one of them is heart related- then i'll try to remember if the disease in question relates to the heart in anyway. If the option choice was A) hypertension, then i'd just think of all the diseases i know that might increase peripheral resistance, affect the kidney some way, or affect the brain (siadh). i dunno... but you'll get a gut feeling and you will follow it and get it right!

[Starfish1]

well, take this with a grain of salt cuz i don't even know if i passed or not.

but just from my short experience, you'll get a question that will ask you what are the s/s of this dz, or what are complications to look for when a patient takes this medication.

you'll have 4 options. without knowing a med/dz, i'd just go straight towards reading the options.

so, for instance, if it asks

1) a patient has started medication x, the nurse knows that med x can cause which of the following s/s

a) nephrotoxicity

b) hypotension

c) akathisia

d) narrow pulse pressure

we all pretty much know the antibiotics/fungals are pretty notorious for causing a, so i just figured if i didn't recognize it, or if it didn't end with mycin, contain the words cef- cefa, cip, ampho, ect, then it probably isn't a

for b, if it didn't look like diuretic/betablock/ace, then it might not be b

for c: if it doesn't sound really end with ine, pine, ene, or sound like antipsychotic, then it prolly isn't c

and d: no idea what causes d, so might as well chose it ( this wasn't a test item :) )

and for diseases, i pretty much did the same

i just think that since we all study the broad, we're able to break down diseases into certain categories (even though nothing really is black and white in nursing).

we just know what could cause heart problems, kidney, stomach, ect, and we've all studied subclassifications within these diseases- so if the name doesn't stand out, it probably isn't associated with it.

i really can't explain it.

like, when i get a question that asks what diseaes x is, and i get 4 options, and one of them is heart related- then i'll try to remember if the disease in question relates to the heart in anyway. if the option choice was a) hypertension, then i'd just think of all the diseases i know that might increase peripheral resistance, affect the kidney some way, or affect the brain (siadh). i dunno... but you'll get a gut feeling and you will follow it and get it right!

great advice..i did the same thing when it came to any drug or disease i didn't know...best of luck to you...also cut off at 75 and got the good pop up.

not knowing anything about a particular drug on this exam sucked!!!!! i thought it was awful!! but i did what you did regarding the answers!

[Luckylefty87]

Thank you so much for your insight! I'm taking my NCLEX-RN in 9 days. I wanted to know how you prepared yourself for the boards? how much time and since when did you study? I've been studying for a little over a month every day. Your post definitely calmed my nerves a bit. :)

[Goodyear]

I have to agree with the OP. Go with your instinct. I read the question, and if I thought I might not be certain of the answer, I thought for a sec about the disease or s/s, etc. the question was about. After I had a good idea about the item, I then read the answers and was usually able to narrow it to at least 2 immediately, if not answer it right out. For unfamiliar things, I try to relate it to a system or process I know by the info in the question, then try to see if there were similarities in answer options. I got 75 questions in 40 minutes and passed.

[PRN22]

Thank you so much for the specific advise. I'm so happy to hear that NCLEX similar to Kaplan.

[caliotter3]

Good luck.

[Joe_Vargas]

Nclex quick results indicates a pass!

I know you all heard it a thousand times, but the PVT works!

Time to start the job hunt :)