Fail w/ 75 Qs first time, Passed w/ 76. License posted on Thanksgiving Day!

[jiwonkim89]

Hi everyone,

These past months flew by but were also quite tough after losing a job offer due to failing the nclex....after 75 questions. Yes, 75. This meant I BOMBED it, which totally makes sense because I took a break from school and pretty much forgot a lot of med-surg stuff!

Anyway, I cried for a week and went back to studying. I took the exam this past Friday, results were on hold due to my cold hands not being able to be detected by the palm machine, and at 6 AM this thanksgiving morning...my license was posted on the CA Board of Nursing website.

Here are some study tips. This post is long btw!

Failing at 75 questions: All my nursing friends who already passed told me to do a bunch of questions and don't waste time reviewing content. I read some of the chapters on Saunders and decided to just do lots of questions. My thought process was, "C'mon how bad can it be? I just graduated from a nursing school with a 95% pass rate. How can I not pass?" So I rushed and set my exam date. I took the nclex and it was nothing like I thought it would be. I left the test center feeling like I didn't do superb, but not so bad that I failed it in 75 questions.

Then I went home and did the PVT trick with a card with no money, lo and behold, I get the insufficient funds page--> Fail. The trick worked for me, although I have read it doesn't for some people.

Studying second time:

I read and created study guides on Word doc for every chapter for Saunders, condensing/summarizing the important points. This is how I studied through out nursing school. I have no idea why I changed my method when it came to taking the first NCLEX...probably out of haste and being overwhelmed. Do what works for you. I took my time (about 2 chapters a day) for 3 weeks to review content and do some Saunders (easy) questions. If you failed before, focus even more on the sections you were below passing on your CPR.

Pharmacology: I watched the Pharmacology video on Kaplan on demand and practically memorized everything that was said.There is no other way out of it... I knew almost every drug on my exam. I got a huge poster board and divided into individual boxes labeled with drug class name. Then I got small flash cards with each drug name. I would radomly pick out a drug card, place it on the correct drug class box, and recite the important facts regarding it.

Practice Questions: After reviewing content, I did 50-100 questions/day for about 3 weeks from the Kaplan Qbank, Lippincott Q&A, and PDA. My Qbank scores on my first try ranged from 40's to 60's. After a thorough content review, my scores were consistently above 60's. I read all the rationales behind right and wrong answers, and wrote the important ones in a notebook. While doing questions, I revisited my study guides mentioned above..a few each day.

Topics to review:

I can't reveal specifics about my exam because it's illegal, but please make sure you know the basics of some topics that are often only glanced over such as: Nursing ethics terminology, Psych defense mechanisms, Meds (Digoxin, Phenytoin, Lithium, Insulin, all antihypertensives, all bronchodilators, steroids, anticoagulants, thrombolytics, blood products, and IV fluids), Fluid and electrolyte balance, routine procedures (Blood glucose check, stool sample, NG tube feeding/medication/insertion/removal, transfusions, incentive spirometer, MDI, IM/SC injection, chest tube maintenance), traction and cast care, crutch/cane/walker, pediatric conditions (hip dysplasia, von-willebrand, B-thalassemia, fifth's disease, PKU,etc), OB (ectopic pregnancy, fetal alcohol withdrawal syndrome, etc) immunization schedule, lab values...

Of course there is so so much more to that list. Basically what I'm saying is...there is rote memorization that is required to pass this exam, on top of the critical thinking skills. Make a list of topics you need to review and attack each section slowly and consistently.

Gauging whether I passed or not:

Many people say they had a bunch of medications and diseases that they have NEVER heard of. Well, I had one drug I've never heard of and a few answer choices with disease processes I wasn't too familiar with. Other than that, I was very familiar or at least somewhat familiar with everything on my exam. Because of these "easy questions" I was very convinced that I failed again. Everyone's experience with the nclex is so different. It's really hard to gauge whether a question is above or below passing level. My last question (76th) was a content regurgitation SATA.

I left the test center feeling like I didn't get a chance to prove myself by answering many higher level questions. Btw, I had less than 10 SATA questions

My test results were on hold so I couldn't even try the pop up trick, leaving me very stressed out. Then it suddenly changed to the good pop up 62-ish hours later! And 48 hours after my pop up changed, my license was posted!

I can't leave out the fact that I am a Christian. My faith is my life. So there was a lot of meditating and prayer throughout this process. I know this is just the beginning of my career and I'm so blessed and excited for the challenges and blessings ahead. This is hands down the most memorable Thanksgiving day ever! Please feel free to PM me with any questions you have. God Bless!

[hellosmile]

congrats congrats! now enjoy your thanksgiving because you totally ended it

[hm1987]

Congrats and happy for you yayy! My second attempt next week! My scores improved from 40% to 60 and 70% in Qbanks and Qtrainers average in high 50 and 60's compare to 30 and 40%!!! PDA my average from 50% to 80%.. I didn't focus much in meds went over the important ones!