Failed NCLEX

[V.E.03]

I've failed NCLEX three times. The first time I took it I will admit, I didn't study and went to take it anyway. The second time I studied but was dealing with some problems at home and I felt like that took away from me believing in myself. This last time I studied and of the 8 categories I got above passing on one subject 4 near the passing and 3 below. I feel like I will never pass and Im starting to lose hope.

Has anyone every taken it this many times? Im also starting to feel like I'm incompetent to be a nurse. Just looking for motivation or situations for those that have taken it many times and ended up passing. 

[kamilleh174]

I promised myself once I passed I would come back here and let you guys know! I tested on March 23rd and finally, on my 4th attempt I am officially an RN! Thank you all so much for the encouragement, advice, and positivity. I just wanted to share what helped me this 4th time. On my first 3 attempts I was so overwhelmed with the amount of materials I was using. I was studying 6-8 hours Monday-Friday. I was miserable and couldn't wrap my head around the fact I was still failing after I had studied so hard. After I failed the 3rd time I had come to the conclusion I was overdoing it. This time I studied only 2 hours a day Monday-Friday and took the weekends to rest my brain. This was so much more effective for me and I did not feel overwhelmed. As far as materials I used, I utilized Archer review & Mark K free audios. I had already bought UWorld 3 times and I refused to go through it again. I highly recommend using Archer Review. I found it so helpful, because it is more vague like NCLEX and I didn't feel like the rationales were overbearing. It is so similar to Uwolrd for so much cheaper. I would do 75 questions a day and then go back and write out the rationales that I didn't understand. This was so beneficial. And when I say I utilized the Mark K audio I literally only listened to a couple of them, but if you take anything from the post- please please please listen to his prioritization and delegation audio. I truly believe that helped me pass more than anything! I went into the exam this time and I was so relaxed and confident. I told myself this is the last time I will sit down at this computer and take this test. I told myself everyday prior to the exam that I will be an RN. I even wrote down my name with RN beside of it everyday. I felt nuts, but I needed to remind myself daily I didn't come this far to fail. With all of this being said, please do not loose hope and do not give up. I felt so defeated, but you haven't failed until you give up! I have faith in all of you. I know if I can do ANYONE can. Goodluck to all of you and I can't wait for each of you to get through this and I look forward to reading all of your alls success stories! ?

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

You could sum up my whole post in those words: rationales and prioritization. I didn’t cover delegation specifically but that’s a huge part of planning and knowing scopes of practice. 
congratulations on having done the right things. Now remember them every hour you’re at work, you RN, you! Congratulations!

[londonflo]

On 2/4/2021 at 11:43 AM, kamilleh174 said:

These were all great resources, but they all required too much time and I did not complete a single one of them. I had too many resources and it was impossible.

Time studying for NCLEX is the most important task in front of you. Make that your priority.

On 2/3/2021 at 1:52 PM, kamilleh174 said:

I have really bad test anxiety and I think that has a-lot to do with it, but would also love some new recommendations on resources!

https://www.llcc.edu/student-services/cas/helpful-handouts/test-anxiety/

On 2/16/2021 at 3:45 PM, autism4life said:

One of my old professors told me not to study for NCLEX, because it's impossible. "you have been preparing to take this exam since you started your pre-nursing classes." She also had stated that NCLEX was not about concepts, or if you knew the action of a particular drug, or about some abstract disease you and I have never heard of...its is fundamentally testing wether you can practice "safely". She stated that is the key. When in doubt, choose the safest option. 

I will agree, You got through nursing school and your grade in fundamentals is the most important grade...Answering the question "what is safe practice."

I will comment here on students who fail many times and then say what helped the last time. Your studying for NCLEX is based on many modes of learning. The student who has used programs A to Z have a cumulative knowledge cannot  attribute their passing to the last testing preparation product they used. 

[Guest1183968]

Hi guys, 

 

I took my NCLEX last Wednesday and failed. Those questions are very hard and it feels like I never seen them or something. I feel devastated because most of the people in my class already pass. Im planning to retake end of December or early January. Any material you use for those who pass would be appreciated. Thank you. 
 

ps. Im going to try Kaplan and klimek this time. 

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

1 hour ago, Crazy said:

I took my NCLEX last Wednesday and failed. Those questions are very hard and it feels like I never seen them or something. I feel devastated because most of the people in my class already pass. Im planning to retake end of December or early January. Any material you use for those who pass would be appreciated. Thank you. 

I tried to put my finger on what bothered me about this post, and it took me awhile. Lessee now: questions were very hard, most of classmates passed, poster asking for materials to help poster pass.

I think I’ve got it.

I feel a sense of entitlement. I had (a few) (failing) students tell me once that I should make their exams easier because, and I quote, “We paid a lot of money to go to this school.” I don’t hear this poster complaining in that vein, but I do hear echoes of the idea that passing NCLEX Is an entitlement and the questions were “too hard.” While the poster notes that most classmate peers did pass the assessment for educational minimum to practice, there is no indication of the poster’s class rank, or near-passing grades vs class averages. 

Reader, if the idea that anybody who passes nursing school by whatever means possible is automatically entitled to a license appeals to you, then you wouldn’t be troubled by this. Remember, though, the licensure examination determines minimal competency to be a novice, not recognition of excellence in nursing knowledge. If you can’t pass it because the questions are very hard, then just maybe … As an actual or potential health care consumer, do you want care from someone who passed a dumbed-down licensure exam (with no “very hard” questions) that everyone passes just so everyone’s feels are assuaged? 

Yes, I know all about test anxiety, learning disability, and more. If sitting an exam is too much, though, how will the first year of practice feel, where every shift, every patient is its own exam?

Flameproofies on. Have at it.   

[Future RN 2020]

It took me 3 tries to pass mine but I think if I would have studied Kaplan I would have passed it the first time. I am uploading a picture of the book that I studied thanks to my college dean. She loaned it to me and I studied it for 3 weeks straight and passed. Well that and praying. Good luck I wish you the best. But don’t get discouraged a few people I know did not pass it on their first try either. 

[Guest1183968]

Thank you so much. I bought the kaptest course. I will get this book too. Im planning to retest in December. 

[mrsmith, BSN, EMT-B]

On 4/8/2021 at 5:20 AM, Hannahbanana said:

Everybody stop and exhale here. 
Think: what is the BON’s objective in using a test for licensure? If you don’t say, ”Identifying people who would have the judgment to be minimally competent new practitioners,” you’re looking at it from an unhelpful perspective. That’s what NCLEX is supposed to provide to the nursing profession: beginning nurses who can think.
There are three types of learning tasks, all of which your faculty strives to provide you: The two that students tend to focus on the most are  “facts to be memorized,” and “manipulative skills to master.”
But, just as in the scripture of most religious and ethical structures, there is a third factor that is always called, “the greatest of these.” 

That is judgment, also called critical thinking, or, as I like to characterize it, the “Why do we care?” bit. It’s the hardest to teach, but in part that’s due to how students focus so hard in the other two. Students so often think the other stuff (assessment, analysis, looking at planning actions, all that NANDA-I practice) is just fluff to be endured and then put aside ASAP. Well, I’m here to tell you you’d be really, really wrong about that. 

THAT is what the BON cares most about, and therefore emphasizes in each version of NCLEX. Sure, there are straight memory questions, like what’s a normal range for serum potassium or arterial oxygen, and how do you know that Salem sump is placed properly. But if you think carefully (which is what they want to discover if you can do) the questions are asking, “Do you know why this matters?” “Why do we care?” “What should I consider this in the context of this patient situation?” 

Everybody learns tasks eventually; nobody, and I mean nobody whose opinion matters, expects a new grad to be proficient at them. We know you might not have had a clinical situation where you placed some invasive gadget or something, ever saw a complex something else. We do want you to know how to think,  to ask questions if there are missing puzzle pieces, and not just barge ahead on your inadequate data set. 

So when you prepare for these kinds of tests, choose study materials that don’t just give you the right answer in the back-page key. Choose the one that tells you why the wrong ones are wrong, too. These will me helpful in building your judgment muscles...and that IS the whole point. 

^^ This! ??