Failed my First Attempt, Completely Lost

Nursing Students NCLEX

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So I graduated in June of this year (2015) and studied about 4-5 times a week for 2+hours or so using ATI. I got to a point where I started doing well on all of the practice assessments etc and was ready to take the test.

I failed. I'm lost, overwhelmed, disappointed, and most of all I'm scared. I am looking to you guys and girls for any sense of direction and what to do next. I know this doesn't count for much but I did pretty well in school and there were people that I know I was "smarter" than that took the NCLEX before me and passed so it really boosted my confidence. The majority of them used Kaplan. What is the general consensus on Kaplan? I'm looking at it no and its extremely expensive but if it helps its more than worth it.

Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
Since you have failed, I suggest that you might want to take some time off from studying much. It's OK to study some, but not very intensively. You need to wait for your Candidate Performance Report. The CPR will indicate which area or areas you had trouble reaching a passing standard. It's entirely possible that the majority of the exam is "near passing standard" with one consistent area below standard. About the only way you can be sure you miserably failed is if the computer shut off at 75 questions. If you get 76 or more, then you were close but not quite "there" until your answers match a pass/fail rule and the computer shuts off.

I happened to pass at 75, but since I knew the above, passing well or failing miserably at 75, and the exam was quite difficult, I was very unsure if I'd passed or failed.

Remember that there is a whole second bit of taking the NCLEX - actual test taking skills. You can do great on the test strategies and content preps, but if you have test anxiety or anything like that, you can actually select the wrong answers simply because you misread the questions or answers simply because of your anxiety. I've lost whole letter grades because I misread questions or answers and I'm not prone to test anxiety at all... so if misreads happen to me, they can happen to anyone!!!

This.

To add:

The issue may not necessarily the source of the review, but how one approaches the NCLEX itself: understanding the four concepts of becoming a competent, entry-level nurse:

1. Safe, effective care;

2.Health promotion;

3.Physiological Integrity;

4.Psychosocial integrity

Will determine WHAT the question is asking you; the question may be Respiratory related-but is it a Health Promotion or a Safety, or a Physiological or a Psychosocial one? Would you know the difference and choose the BEST answer?

Once one understands the concepts of NCLEX, they can do so successfully.

Don't look at content; you know most of the material because you passed nursing school; begin to do questions related to each concept; review all questions and rationales; ANY rationale you struggle with, THEN review content. Lather, rinse, repeat.

When practicing the questions, prepare the questions like a mock NCLEX exam, review the minimum and then work up to the maximum for endurance purposes.

After looking at your report, focus on the weakness and review questions and rationales; make mock NCLEX tests and start with the minimum and gradually until the maximum; you have to have an endurance in answering application questions.

After each "exam", make sure you are reviewing the rationales; any rationales you are not clear on THEN

look up the content.

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I feel like I am going to go ahead and purchase Kaplan because several of my fellow classmates have had good results with it. I still have like 8 weeks left on ATI so I may supplement Kaplan with ATI. Any thoughts? And I've been reading everyones great comments and I really appreciate the words of encouragement as well as the tips, thank you so much really! I can't wait to put this all behind me and begin a fulfilling career.

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First of all, don't feel bad about yourself. Anyone can fail a test on any given day.

There are other review courses out there that are far less expensive than Kaplan. I did not use Kaplan, I used Pearson IT Certification Complete NCLEX RN Video Review Course when it was on sale for $125 and the Exam Cram Practice Questions book. I did have seven Kaplan trainers that I used to guage my progress but that is not really necessary if you have Exam Cram questions. Some may say Kaplan is overrated for the price.

The reason I got the review course is I wanted to review content. I needed to review some complicated topics and this got it down to 11 hours of lectures that were very interesting to me. I watched the pharm one about 5 times! I was surprised at how much I remembered. At the same time the course is constantly reminding you of NCLEX tips and tricks for helping you narrow down the right answer. I did not just watch lectures though, I did 100-250 questions per day from other NCLEX prep sources from the library such as Mosby, my android NCLEX app from FA Davis and ALWAYS reviewed the rationales for the questions I wasn't sure of whether I got the answer right or not. I also liked Jon Haws cheat sheets and videos on youtube.

Sometimes it makes sense to stand back and think about what it is you really need to succeed. I think a little of everything made sense for me. Get back in that saddle!

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Get a book by Diana Rupert called NCLEX Alternative Format Questions. I thought this book was helpful with SATA etc... I did take Kaplan and passed on the first try. The whole method is based on using the decision tree, but honestly I was unable to apply it during the exam, however, it made perfect sense during the class? Anyway, I think it was the Kaplan study questions that helped me the most but I paid a pretty price for them. Best of luck to you! You will get it the second time for sure!

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I'm currently preparing for my 2nd attempt after failing on my 1st attempt in August 2015 with 128 questions. For the 1st attempt I did the HURST live review, reviewed content, did questions, and did Lacharity's Prioritization, Delegation, and Assessment questions. When I took the exam I wasn't sure about most of the questions and felt so overwhelmed. Now as I prepare to take it a 2nd time in November I bought a q-bank access to UWorld.com after some classmates took it a 2nd time and highly recommended doing their questions/reviewing rationales.

Did you feel prepared using UWorld.com when you passed? I need to get more focused and motivated to prepare for my 2nd/hoping last attempt.

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Sorry I was replying to the main post reply that was talking about UWorld.com questions and passing in 75 questions. Don't know how to delete this.

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Hey- you are smart, keep your head up. We use kaplan at my school, and our NCLEX pass rates in my program are 100% first time. Hope this helps.

:)

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.

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Thought I should share my expierence, I passsed on my 4th attempt with that dreaded test. Only reason I passed was not based on the number of questions i did during my studies, nor the amount of content I read. It was basically the least amount of content in which I understood and know without hesitation. This is the concept Hurst Review provides. Its basically general concepts of the the NCLEX that will allow you to answer the questions in the Test without literally reading over your med-surg book. Its a short book....like literally short book. I highly recommended Hurst. There are no tricks in which Kaplan suggest to this test. I have met numerous individuals that those who have taken kaplan have failed by utilizing the tricks provided by them. When you take the test, your mind set must be geared to being a "new nurse" with 2 years of vast nursing knowledge only. NCLEX is a safety test that does not require you to know everything, so dont study everything. Its exhausting. (trust me, i tried) Plenty of rest, plenty of rest. Exercise the day before the test. If your married, have plenty of sex. I am not kidding. These tips helped me passed on my 4th attempt thinking this way. For example: if a questions asks you to clarify a medication, I honestly chose the ones I have never seen before. Because chances are, no one has either. If you dont know the answer to a questions and there are action based selections and you see an option to call the doctor, by all means call the doctor. (I know certain schools have taught you to deviate from this option). But NCLEX wants you to be better to be safe than sorry before you do something that can kill a patient. The NCLEX is a safety test. That is all. Its designed to protect the public. You will do fine if you have the right mind set. Good luck to you and i Hope this helps.

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If you're on Facebook find the group NCLEX Uworld and do the 7 day trial then renew it for 30 days for $40

I looked it up and (unfortunately for me) it's only for RNs not LVNs, oh well...

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