Failed NCLEX on first attempt

[MetalheadRN]

It's not a great feeling to fail. I took my NCLEX on 4/9/16. I completed 252 questions before I ran out of time, yes, ran out of time. I totaled approx. 27 SATA Q's and tons of prioritization Q's. I did 200 questions on Prep U daily leading up to using the NCSBN review for 3 weeks before sitting to take my test. I take pride in the fact that I'm no slacker, I do my best to work hard. I'm really disappointed with my results.

Honestly, it's been 2 weeks and I am lost now with how I should go about approaching studying for the retake. I thought that I had hit gold with the NCSBN, but that didn't help at all. Please, for those of you that have also failed the NCLEX the first time, what did you do to get back into the race? How did you change your methods of study and planning?

[Little_Bear2013]

I'm sorry but at least now you have a general idea of what NCLEX expects!

I'm not sure of the exact rules of what happens when you run out of time but last I heard and someone correct me if I'm wrong I believe it tallies up your last 60 questions or so but if I may ask, do you have a general idea on how long / how many minutes you were spending per question? If it's more than one usually or at least in my cases those were the type of questions I would be second guessing myself on and while it's hard to not do that but it truly does help if you go with your gut instinct or usually I went with the option that would most likely either keep the patient safe or harm them.

I also had NCSBN but I hardly used it as I also had virtual ATI, Kaplan, and amongst a few other resources so it's hard to say as were all different learners but the best advice I can recommend is stick to either one or two study strategies and really focus in on your rationales whether right or wrong as it does help and at least did for me as well.

[MetalheadRN]

I was definitely taking too long to answer each question, especially with the first 75 Q's. I was intimidated by the test for sure, which also didn't help me focus.

I have to wait 45 days before I can retake my test, so I have 2 months to try and figure this new study schedule out. I want to stay sharp with what I learned in school, I don't want it to fade away with all this time! That's my prime concern. All I did was practice questions and read all the rationale; right and wrong, and I still didn't pass. That bums me out. I thought that I'd be set by doing that.

[USMC7011]

I failed my NCLEX the first time on February 23rd of this year. I just took it again on Monday and found out I passed yesterday. I failed the first time in 265 questions and then passed this time in (roughly) 150. The first time I did Kaplan and NCSBN. This time I did UWorld. I absolutely loved UWorld. The rationales were awesome. & lengthy. It tells you why a question is right and wrong. I highly suggest the UWorld NCLEX app. It's not very expensive either.