Failed NCLEX 2nd time

[danielasims]

Hello guys,

So I took my first NCLEX in June of 18 and failed it with report of Near passing for all except pharmacology. So I retook it a couple of days ago and failed it again. Above average in Pharmacology and everything else was worse than the initial test. So I am a bit confused. I probably concentrated on Pharm too much since I thought it was my weakness. I studied NCLEX Mastery PN App and some self studying reviewing ATI.

I was upset since I had a position lined up and these testes cost money. NOW....I purchases the UWorld QBank and it seems to mimic the NCLEX greatly.

Is there anything else you guys would suggest studying besides the QBanks? I have the Saunders book but honestly its a huge book and i don't want to cram.

[Neo Soldier, BSN, RN]

How well did you do practice questions? Did you study the rationales as well? Did you finish the qbank?

I wouldn't recommend you read any books honestly, you did that in nursing school already. Now is the time for application.

I've heard that Mark Klimek NCLEX reviews are really good. Also, give yourself time to study. It's good you know your weakness so you can work on that.

Good luck.

[jtboy29]

I'm sorry to hear about your failure. But trust this is just a set back and you being a nurse is not determined by this test. Saunders is way too much information to handle and you won't need to know everything. Your basic foundation of core content should be your main focus. I used Hurst Review when studying for my third attempt at the NCLEX PN. Now it doesn't give you a comprehensive review of everything but it does hone down on what you need to know in a more condensed format. It taught me to think more NCLEXY and thinking from a student nurse to a brand new nurse actually. I felt I learned a lot and the strategies helped me apply what I actually do know and how to apply it. I didn't know I knew a lot until Hurst. I only used Hurst when studying for my NCLEX PN and passed. I used UWorld for my second attempt and although it looked similar to the NCLEX and had a great rationales when it came to test day I felt like my content knowledge wasn't up to par so that's what I decided to do focus on for the third attempt. My second attempt I had 5 Near Passing and 3 Below compared to my first attempt when I had 2 Near and 6 Below. I ignored the "Near and Below" and just started from scratch and improved my knowledge base. Good luck for your next attempt.

[car48]

My advice is to go for the low hanging fruit. SATA questions are hard to prepare for, and those are the 'hard' ones you get more credit for. So make the non SATA 'hard' questions more of a priority IMO. The order questions are just memory. The placement questions are easier to remember (mark where you would do whatever procedure). ECGs and 'sounds' are easier to learn.

With pharm I think knowing the class of drug is more important than knowing the specific drug. I did not memorize every drug, but I did know that beta blockers end in 'lol' (in general). So if I had no clue what a drug was I could look at the end of it know the class within reason. Trying to remember every detail of specific drugs is not possible. I took Lisinopril for years... until I studied for NCLEX (using Uworld) I never knew that it can cause your lips to swell. But what I did know was to look for the ending being "pril" being an ACE, and I know what ACE's do.

Lastly don't bother trying to memorize the weird stuff. If you are going to use Uworld I did all 2200 questions on it. I now know that if a woman does not want to breast feed she should put cold cabbage on her breasts. I happen to remember that because it is so weird, but there is a lot of stuff like that. If you fixate on the weird stuff you are not managing your time well studying.