Failed NCLEX 5 Times! Am I The Only One Who . . .

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Am I the only one who is concerned about someone who has failed multiple times, finally passes and then wants to share their experience with everyone else? Am I the only one who is concerned about working with nurses who finally pass on their eighth try? Granted, I'm so experienced that I took my licensing exam on paper eons ago when it was offered only twice a year, everyone answered all the questions over a two day period and it took six weeks to get the results. In those days, you only got two tries. That was it. So I could be someone biased and/or out of touch. I just wonder, though, about the knowledge base and learning capacity of a nurse that took the exam eight times to pass. Although perserverence is a virtue, and those folks obviously have plenty of that. Is nursing so different now that it's OK to take eight tries to get your license? Or is this a development of the "everyone gets a trophy" mentality? Keep trying and everyone gets a license?

Perhaps each license should also state how many times the person had to take the test to pass it -- so that employers would have that information as they make hiring decisions.

Best suggestion yet. If the board thinks it is important to publically announce disciplinary actions against a nurse's license, then why not also post, and thereby warn everyone that it took SusieQ 5 attempts to pass.

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Im sorry, but isn't this website supposed to be a place where people can come to hear support instead of having an "older" nurse put them even lower? I just found out today I passed my nclex, 1st time, with 75 ?s ( SOO EXCITED!). but if i had not passed and read this post, it would make me more depressed, geesh!!

For those who had to take it more than once, I BELIEVE in YOU, don't listen to those who don't believe you should be a nurse, keep trying for it!! You just may be a better nurse than those who passed 1st time around or are "older" than you. Young, old, 1st time passer or 5th time passer, that doesnt determine how good of a nurse you will be! Always remember that. Good luck to you all!!! God Bless!

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Im sorry, but isn't this website supposed to be a place where people can come to hear support instead of having an "older" nurse put them even lower?...

Um no.

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
Im sorry, but isn't this website supposed to be a place where people can come to hear support instead of having an "older" nurse put them even lower? I just found out today I passed my nclex, 1st time, with 75 ?s ( SOO EXCITED!). but if i had not passed and read this post, it would make me more depressed, geesh!!

For those who had to take it more than once, I BELIEVE in YOU, don't listen to those who don't believe you should be a nurse, keep trying for it!! You just may be a better nurse than those who passed 1st time around or are "older" than you. Young, old, 1st time passer or 5th time passer, that doesnt determine how good of a nurse you will be! Always remember that. Good luck to you all!!! God Bless!

This thread had nothing to do with age until now. Our job is not to go around patting everyone on the head and saying "good job!" no matter what they're saying. That would be a disservice to people come here to get honest answers when they have no experience, rather than to announce how things ought to be when they have no experience.

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Im sorry, but isn't this website supposed to be a place where people can come to hear support instead of having an "older" nurse put them even lower? I just found out today I passed my nclex, 1st time, with 75 ?s ( SOO EXCITED!). but if i had not passed and read this post, it would make me more depressed, geesh!!

For those who had to take it more than once, I BELIEVE in YOU, don't listen to those who don't believe you should be a nurse, keep trying for it!! You just may be a better nurse than those who passed 1st time around or are "older" than you. Young, old, 1st time passer or 5th time passer, that doesnt determine how good of a nurse you will be! Always remember that. Good luck to you all!!! God Bless!

I passed in 75 questions, too. In and out in under 2 hours, including a 10 minute break. My issue with NCLEX is that it is already not a good standard for entry level nursing. But, it is the only standard we have. If we allow multiples of attempts for passing than we are severely watering down the talent pool of available nurses.

I read a few years ago on allnurses the thrill of someone who finnaly passed the test on the tenth attempt. Ten times? Oh lawd, she'll do great on a code.

If the time is ever going to come that this profession is taken seriously as a stand alone discipline, than the standards we set have got to be raised.

Nursing is not all about cooing newborn babies and wearing designer scrubs. It is a stressful, demanding, and often brutal job that leaves sporifice time for hugs and kisses.

Shouting out,"I BELIEVE in YOU" works in the movies and love songs. This business is neither. Sorry about the rebuttal but, nursing school is hard, NCLEX can be difficult but, the job itself is in another league altogether.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
Im sorry, but isn't this website supposed to be a place where people can come to hear support instead of having an "older" nurse put them even lower?

Actually, this is a discussion board where nurses can support each other, but they can also vent, ask questions, be corrected on something they got wrong, the list goes on. It isn't all sunshine and puppies, and it shouldn't be either. The person who comes here and says that they never want to work a weekend or night shift may get sympathy, but they're also going to get a reality check- most nursing jobs require at least some holidays/weekends, and most of the positions open will probably be night shift. That's the way it should be- not making false promises or saying that no matter what, everything is going to be okay.

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this must be the lamest post I have read in months. I wonder why do I even bother with this website that turned into comedy and a bad one too!

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.
Im sorry, but isn't this website supposed to be a place where people can come to hear support !

No. This is a site where nurses come to discuss the issues of the profession -- and some of those have to do with issues of competence. Not everyone who wants to be a nurse has what it takes to be a good one. Some people flunk out of school -- justifiably. And other people can't master the knowledge and critical thinking skills to pass the NCLEX.

Part of our responsibility as professionals is to police ourselves and protect the public by preventing some people from being nurses.

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When I was a fresh nurse (I can't say young, because I was mature when I became a nurse), every interview asked me "you passed CPNRE first attempt?" in a tstatement one that basically left no room for denial. They didn't want failures.

Like others have said, you don't get many chances to second guess yourself when you are at work. It's make a decision and do it. And have enough intelligence and critical thinking skills to figure out when you are in over your head and need help.

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rant alert.

let us also not lose sight of the fact that passing nclex is a minimum standard. read that word again: minimum. nobody expects to see a nurse with five years' experience --or two-- still practicing at the new grad level. yet a lot of this discussion sounds like nclex passage is it, the be-all, end-all, the passport to a career as a great nurse with a dreeeeeeaaammmm. it's not. the conditions that you had to meet to learn in nursing school do not change when you graduate. if you do not continue to learn and grow-- without the handholding that a lot of students here seem to expect as their due (because they have a dreeeaaammm, see)-- then you will not be any kind of nurse at all. you will lose your job.

and therefore, for my money, anyone who takes more than a minimum number of tries (that means, one) to cross that professional threshold is already starting behind the eight ball. so no, you do not get my unending praise for having finally mastered the minimum qualification for your job. and this slavish, baseless gushing about how someone can be a great nurse even if they can't pass the minimum standard to enter the profession without multiple attempts is just.....pathetic. you have to show me more than that and excuses why it is sooooo haaaarrrrd.

test anxiety, you say? heads up! stat admission! two pages of barely legible orders, mostly stats and urgents! sink that ng tube...whoops, coffee grounds emesis...come on, step on it! did you pass your noon meds yet? your postop is back. the doc is here to pull the chest tube on your lady in 113. how much drainage is in that jp drain in 115? hey, where's that stat iv? dear, that is a test that you will not get extra time and tutoring to pass.

med math difficulties? oops, you just gave somebody 88,000 units of heparin per hour....since 0700.

dyslexia? ooops, you gave a patient in 321 somebody else's bowel prep-- he was in 312. no, i will not go and explain to him that it was because the numbers were so similar.

i love students as much as anyone, maybe more, and spend a lot of my time and energy tutoring and supporting and opening eyes and widening horizons. i love seeing the eyes sparkle and the "i got it!" whoop. i will always do my level best for someone who wants to improve. but i will not stand for lowered standards or people who make excuses why they're really ok, because, like, they have this dreeeaaammm, and it doesn't really matter it took them 4 tries to be the least they should be able to be.

off soapbox.

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I currently have an RN license. I passed the NCLEX first go. My question is: Can I re-take the NCLEX again in order to apply for licensure in another state?? Has anyone of you ever done this?? The particular state in question only allows one to apply for licensure by endorsement if you have 500 hours of work for compensation as an RN-which I don't possess. I've tried calling the BON there, but no luck yet. I'll be trying again VERY SOON.

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I currently have an RN license. I passed the NCLEX first go. My question is: Can I re-take the NCLEX again in order to apply for licensure in another state?? Has anyone of you ever done this?? The particular state in question only allows one to apply for licensure by endorsement if you have 500 hours of work for compensation as an RN-which I don't possess. I've tried calling the BON there, but no luck yet. I'll be trying again VERY SOON.

Since your question has very little to do with the thread it is in, why not start your own thread to ask the question?

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