Failed NCLEX: My Story

Published

This is just my experience, I really feel the need to share and I know it's pretty lengthy. I truly appreciate anyone who reads and responds. I tried my best to keep it interesting for anyone willing to read, sorry.

I graduated from my ADN program just this past May. My school worked with ATI through the entire program and at the end of our program we had to take an ATI predictor that would give us its prediction on how we would do on NCLEX. It was a 175 question test and I ended up getting a 71% which translated into a 91% passer chance on first attempt. Even though I was predicted high to pass I still felt that I should take a course to help better prepare myself up until the test date. So I purchased the ATI online NCLEX review course. I followed the study plan well, I didn't even work from the time I graduated until test date. The way ATI works is that they will give you another predictor exam and depending on how you do they will give you the "green light" to take boards which is active for 2 weeks. If you fail to take the exam within' those 2 weeks then you need to retake it. I ended up with a 65%, which translated into 90% passing chance on NCLEX first attempt (I know, a significant drop from the first time I took and only a 1% prediction difference). For practice, my online instructor gave me an additional two predictors for more exposure, which I got 64% twice on those then and again translated to 90%. I felt pretty confident having being told on 4 separate occasions I would pass NCLEX.

The day before the test my mind started to race and I would think of every question I've ever missed and trying to recall the rationales. I scheduled my test for 8 a.m. in the morning (my nursing program was evenings), which is not when I'm used to taking tests. I had a breakfast pre-made and was ready to go. I laid down at about 11 p.m. the night before and literally tossed and turned the entire night and probably got about 1-2 hours of sleep. Oddly enough, my nerves have yet to kick in. Was surprisingly calm for what is going to be the biggest test of my life. I could contribute my lack of sleep to the reason I felt this way, but, that would be me just making excuses.

Upon arrival of the test taking center, still not feeling nervous. I took a break at question 50, I didn't want to exhaust myself because I can get flustered from tedious questions back to back. This may have been a mistake because I wasn't bored, I just went in with the mind set to pace myself. Slow and steady wins the race, right? Well, on my break I thought to myself, "This doesn't seem to be very difficult, or at least, the questions aren't hard enough to where I don't think I'm making good educated guesses". Scratch that, I have a surgical procedure next week to remove my foot from my mouth. The questions just kept coming one after another. I took the scheduled break and as I was getting up from my cubicle I noticed I was the last of all of the students who were testing that still had to finish. Hello nerves, I was wondering where you have been all morning. This is when I started thinking, this cannot be happening to me. I ended up going all the way to question 265 before NCLEX shut off.

Once I got home, I struggled back and forth on whether I should try the pearson vue trick or not. I wanted to know to if I passed, but, at the same time I didn't want to see the credit card information. Well, I tried the trick and go, there was the credit card information. Let the 5 stages of the grieving process begin. Like many who fail, I'm sure they are in denial as I was. "There's no way this pearson vue trick can be right all the time, SOMEONE has to have had the bad pop up and passed on this forum", is what my mindset was. Couldn't find a single person. My family, bless their hearts, still continued to hold on to hope. This Friday, I paid for the quick results and sure enough as soon as the loading screen finished, "Fail" was there to greet me.

I am in the anger phase currently. I don't understand how I could get through nursing school, take 4 different predictor tests that all say I have a 90% or better passing rate of boards and still not pass.. not to mention the countless assessments to give me even MORE exposure. I feel like my family is judging me without them even having to say a word. It's impossible to not feel like a failure. After speaking with my online instructor, I'm paraphrasing here, she hasn't heard of anyone who has passed NCLEX if they missed question 265 and essentially that one question determined whether I passed or failed. If that's true or not, that would have been something pretty important to know going into this. Sure that's on me, not doing the research to find out how every little step of NCLEX works.

So here I stand, having to wait 45 extremely long days until I can even pick a time to sit and try again. I wouldn't be so angry if I could just take the test again next week or even two weeks, but the length between attempts is what is killing me most. I have to go to bed every night and wake up the next morning knowing that I couldn't deliver on the most important test of my life. I'm going to keep working with ATI until my next test date. I understand going into NCLEX with confidence is important for passing but at this moment I have none.

Just for anyone curious, I know I am going out of sequence at this point. My test was made up of a lot of prioritization questions, SATA questions, and drugs I never heard of. When I see SATA, doubt creeps into my mind before I even read the question.

That's my story, now my question to the people of this forum is: How likely is it for someone to pass the second attempt at NCLEX when failing at 265 questions? I know there isn't any set in stone statistics, but just from everyone's experience from reading around on these forums over their time here.

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Thanks for posting your experience. Remember to study as if you had never tested before when you prepare for your retake. Do not waste any time mulling over the past. Put it behind you. Good luck.

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Specializes in orthopedic & HDU.

Thanks for sharing ur story. I know how u feel now. It takes me 3+ yrs to get over my depression after failing 2x. Way back 2008. In my case I was super confident that nclex was a piece of cake. Not knowing how it works and not reviewing ( I just did ncsbn Qbanks )after failing 1st , I rushed booking 2nd attempt 2months after , again I failed. That just telling me that despite my massive exp as an RN internationally(Asia & uk)15 yrs. My downfall was answering Q base on my exp , not from the book. My suggestion is take a break and try again. I myself will try to take I'm hoping before the end of this year. Dnt be hard on urself coz it will destroy ur confidence (trust me I did that to myself , it destroy me) go out have fun and relax , go back to review mode and schedule ur test again with a big advantage of knowing what to expect this time. U are young and I'm sure u are bright, I'm turning 40 this year ,, with 2 kids (5&6 ) and a full time RN job in a big ortho Hosp here in uk. Is bloody difficult to review. Trust urself , pray, pray and pray. Good luck and keep in touch. God bless Joe.

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Take a few days off to get your mind off it and hit the review books hard. You have the knowledge it's just a matter of accessing it during test day. Have you considered taking Kaplan? Keep you chin up, the NCLEX is not easy and others, family, cannot comprehend the pressure on our shoulders.

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

Thanks for sharing. I am sure it must be hard, but please don't be too down on yourself. You made it all the way through nursing school, which is an accomplishment that not many people can boast. Try to pick yourself up and renew your commitment to studying for and passing the NCLEX. I would like to echo the suggestion about trying kaplan. The program is not cheap, but it is worth every penny, as it is closest to the actual NCLEX of all the review materials I have seen. I wish you all the best on your next test date.

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Thank You for sharing. Your story sounds just like mine. It really does hurt, but God will help us find a way.

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Specializes in pediatrics.

I am sorry to hear you did not pass, but don't give up. I did not fail my nclex but I thought I was. I started out confident knowing the computer will cut of on 75. I was cruising through the whole test and when I look there was question #82,83, 84 etc. I said:" what is going on". So it prompt me to take a break. I member in the Kaplan it says if it tells you to take break,take a break, so I did. I went in the restroom and prayed and I gave my self a pep talk. I said what am I doing wrong? I told my self I need to stop cruising because there is no way I could be getting these answered wrong. I felt maybe the test feel I am taking to long with my answer's. So I had 2 hours and 29mins left. And was on question #111. I went back and started speeding up. I looked it cut off on quequestion 170 in 45 min. I went home did Pearson cue trick with a big clump in my throat. I got the good pop up. So I guess its not only how many questions you got right it's about how long it took you to answer the question.? I am only assuming. Keep your had up and look at the link that's on here it is called SPIDER IT HELPS WITH DATA QUESTION it helped me.

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Specializes in ER, Med/Surg, LTC.

Ablnrp, well I certainly know where you are coming from, I took the NCLEX for the 3rd time yesterday, and I finally got the GOOD POP UP. However, it was over a year since I had last attempted to take the test, as after what I thought was good preparation. The last time I was so down, but eventually, you have to gather your thoughts and push on through.

Pointer, once the test took you past 75, and your school or ATI should have advised you on this, the computer was still deciding if you were passing confidently. So you probably got 2 or 3 right, then one wrong and then you had to start the ascending again to above passing. You can pass at 75 or you can fail at 75.....the same with 265 you can pass or fail with that number too. You can pass or fail at any number after 75.

The time you spent on questions are irrelevant, unless you finish your whole test under 45mins, then your test gets flagged. Yesterday it took me 2hrs and 30mins to get through 75 questions. I made sure I read the questions, review the answers, back to the questions and back to the answer. I picked an answer and went back to the question.

I would suggest you give yourself a variety of styles of questions to prepare yourself. Answer questions from Saunders, Kaplan, and wherever or whatever book you can get the disc from and practice. Make sure you know your CORE CONTENT, if you know that, trust me, you can answer any question. If you have a laptop, I would suggest you go to the library and and get the nursing books and download the disc to your computer.

I can not recommend the LaCharity P/D/A book enough also, if you could afford the Hurst Review, you will not be disappointed. When I got that package, that is when it all made sense, Hurst was able to pull everything into perspective.

On that note, I say dont wait, get back on that horse and ride it out.......maybe next time dont say anything to anyone, that is what I did this last time and it really took the pressure off. I am usually a morning person, but I booked my test for the afternoon, because lets face it, who can sleep the night before.

I know I will read your success story in 45 days.......all the best:)

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Specializes in Cardiology, NCLEX instructor.

Hey try to change the way you study or the resource that you use. If you were getting those scores I believe you have the core content down. Your problem may be critical thinking.

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This is just my experience, I really feel the need to share and I know it's pretty lengthy. I truly appreciate anyone who reads and responds. I tried my best to keep it interesting for anyone willing to read, sorry.

I graduated from my ADN program just this past May. My school worked with ATI through the entire program and at the end of our program we had to take an ATI predictor that would give us its prediction on how we would do on NCLEX. It was a 175 question test and I ended up getting a 71% which translated into a 91% passer chance on first attempt. Even though I was predicted high to pass I still felt that I should take a course to help better prepare myself up until the test date. So I purchased the ATI online NCLEX review course. I followed the study plan well, I didn't even work from the time I graduated until test date. The way ATI works is that they will give you another predictor exam and depending on how you do they will give you the "green light" to take boards which is active for 2 weeks. If you fail to take the exam within' those 2 weeks then you need to retake it. I ended up with a 65%, which translated into 90% passing chance on NCLEX first attempt (I know, a significant drop from the first time I took and only a 1% prediction difference). For practice, my online instructor gave me an additional two predictors for more exposure, which I got 64% twice on those then and again translated to 90%. I felt pretty confident having being told on 4 separate occasions I would pass NCLEX.

The day before the test my mind started to race and I would think of every question I've ever missed and trying to recall the rationales. I scheduled my test for 8 a.m. in the morning (my nursing program was evenings), which is not when I'm used to taking tests. I had a breakfast pre-made and was ready to go. I laid down at about 11 p.m. the night before and literally tossed and turned the entire night and probably got about 1-2 hours of sleep. Oddly enough, my nerves have yet to kick in. Was surprisingly calm for what is going to be the biggest test of my life. I could contribute my lack of sleep to the reason I felt this way, but, that would be me just making excuses.

Upon arrival of the test taking center, still not feeling nervous. I took a break at question 50, I didn't want to exhaust myself because I can get flustered from tedious questions back to back. This may have been a mistake because I wasn't bored, I just went in with the mind set to pace myself. Slow and steady wins the race, right? Well, on my break I thought to myself, "This doesn't seem to be very difficult, or at least, the questions aren't hard enough to where I don't think I'm making good educated guesses". Scratch that, I have a surgical procedure next week to remove my foot from my mouth. The questions just kept coming one after another. I took the scheduled break and as I was getting up from my cubicle I noticed I was the last of all of the students who were testing that still had to finish. Hello nerves, I was wondering where you have been all morning. This is when I started thinking, this cannot be happening to me. I ended up going all the way to question 265 before NCLEX shut off.

Once I got home, I struggled back and forth on whether I should try the pearson vue trick or not. I wanted to know to if I passed, but, at the same time I didn't want to see the credit card information. Well, I tried the trick and go, there was the credit card information. Let the 5 stages of the grieving process begin. Like many who fail, I'm sure they are in denial as I was. "There's no way this pearson vue trick can be right all the time, SOMEONE has to have had the bad pop up and passed on this forum", is what my mindset was. Couldn't find a single person. My family, bless their hearts, still continued to hold on to hope. This Friday, I paid for the quick results and sure enough as soon as the loading screen finished, "Fail" was there to greet me.

I am in the anger phase currently. I don't understand how I could get through nursing school, take 4 different predictor tests that all say I have a 90% or better passing rate of boards and still not pass.. not to mention the countless assessments to give me even MORE exposure. I feel like my family is judging me without them even having to say a word. It's impossible to not feel like a failure. After speaking with my online instructor, I'm paraphrasing here, she hasn't heard of anyone who has passed NCLEX if they missed question 265 and essentially that one question determined whether I passed or failed. If that's true or not, that would have been something pretty important to know going into this. Sure that's on me, not doing the research to find out how every little step of NCLEX works.

So here I stand, having to wait 45 extremely long days until I can even pick a time to sit and try again. I wouldn't be so angry if I could just take the test again next week or even two weeks, but the length between attempts is what is killing me most. I have to go to bed every night and wake up the next morning knowing that I couldn't deliver on the most important test of my life. I'm going to keep working with ATI until my next test date. I understand going into NCLEX with confidence is important for passing but at this moment I have none.

Just for anyone curious, I know I am going out of sequence at this point. My test was made up of a lot of prioritization questions, SATA questions, and drugs I never heard of. When I see SATA, doubt creeps into my mind before I even read the question.

That's my story, now my question to the people of this forum is: How likely is it for someone to pass the second attempt at NCLEX when failing at 265 questions? I know there isn't any set in stone statistics, but just from everyone's experience from reading around on these forums over their time here.

I am sorry to hear you did not pass, but don't give up. Stay positive.

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Thank You for sharing. Your story sounds just like mine. It really does hurt, but God will help us find a way.

Stay positive and study.

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Specializes in LTC.

I feel for you. I know you can do this. My school also uses the ATI, I just got 74 on my comprehensive predictor which is 95% to pass NCLEX. You've got me worried now. 76% is 99-100 so I hope to improve my score by 2% for the next time I take it.

You CAN do this. Try other preperation sources out there. Enjoy your holiday.

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