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

jbluehorseh · Feb 9, 2012

i think it is important to say the nclex is not a reflection on ones passion for people, but rather a minimum standard of ones knowledge. to me becoming a nurse is not a right, but a privilege. i agree with leslie we need to demand the highest standards.

kids · Feb 9, 2012

I don't have any idea what the old tests were like, I would hope they went deeply into pathophys and also critical thinking in response to a scenario.
I have to say, I passed with 75. No I didn't think I had the right answers to the nutty questions posed in the current adaptive version, as most were nonsensical. I was glad to have passed, but also depressed at how the test did not test one iota of the knowledge I had gained and the work I did to be sure I could correctly apply this knowledge. I wanted to pass a "shake down" type of test. A real marathon. Proof that I knew my stuff inside and out, kind of test. So, I've always wondered if back in the day the tests were like I had wished mine was...

The old NCLEX did required a strong knowledge of patho-phys and more questions than not required critical thinking. We didn't get to listen to heart or lung sounds or have diagrams, we answered questions based on the written descriptions. The test also covered legal and ethical issues.

With the old test you could answer all the 'hard' questions correctly but still fail if you got the answers wrong on the basics. Thats the biggest problem I have with adaptive testing, if you do well on progressively more complex questions it doesn't even check that the testee actually grasps basic concepts.

I think it's all part of the watering down of nursing education as a whole and it's damaging the profession. Nurses are demanding to be treated more like professionals while the minimum requirements to practice are being lowered.

The whole think just upsets the hell out of me. I'm going to stop now and just copy and paste something I've written about this before:

Many of us who graduated from degreed programs (not diploma programs) didn't get to graduate unless we demonstrated proficiency in actually doing the nursing tasks
that students now get by with knowing how to do "in theory" or on a dummy.
Before we graduated we darn well better have been able to look at an order, gather the materials, explain it to the patient and perform the task.
If we couldn't demonstrate proficiency at sinking a tube, starting an IV, inserting a foley, etc we got remediated until we could do it. Or we didn't get to graduate.
New grads got maybe 4 weeks of orientation in med-surg, and that was primarily orientation to the unit or facility, because they already knew how to think like nurses, how to perform the nursing tasks and how to spot a patient going down the tubes (and what to do about it).

rntim49 · Feb 9, 2012

all these bleeding hearts on this site claiming failing the nclex multible times has nothing to do with being a good nurse should wake up. I sure as heck do not want that person caring for myself or a family member of mine trying to remember a drip rate or cracking under pressure bursing into tears because the stress is just too much. I will come out and say it. If you need more than twice to pass nclex, go back to doing what you did before nursing before you hurt someone.Nclex is critical thinking skills, choosing the best answer for the best outcome. Please don't play that test anxiety card either. That is just another excuse.

Editorial Team / Admin · Feb 9, 2012

I passed NCLEX on the first try with 75 questions. I do not feel like that was enough to evaluate my knowledge of nursing basics, let alone specifics. I would rather have taken the two-day marathon event, because I think that would have given the "graders" a much better feel for whether I would be safe taking care of patients over a computer that determined I had the minimum proficiency required. Minimum proficiency does not always equal good or safe nurse.

As for a limit to taking NCLEX multiple times, I can see giving one the benefit of the doubt on the first failure. Maybe you psyched yourself out too much. Maybe you let anxiety run amok. However, after the second failure remediation should be required, something along the lines of the refresher courses. Three strikes and you're out. Nursing schools these days are simply teaching students to pass NCLEX, and not worrying about teaching them to be nurses. And I'm not so sure I want many of those who are graduating working with me.

OCNRN63, RN · Feb 9, 2012

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?

No, you're not. I mentioned it on another thread. (I think it was the "Older nurses..." thread you started.)

What I posted was my feeling that after two failed attempts, the prospective nurse needs to complete a refresher course. If the student fails a third time, it's time to get another career. You shouldn't have unlimited bites at the apple.

And no, the reason graduates fail NCLEX isn't because nursing is sooo much harder than it was in "the olden days," aka the time you and I took it. Some manage to squeak through school, but are winnowed out by the test. Some can't hack the pressure of the test. (And yet they think they'll handle life and death situations. Mmm'kay.) Some were poorly prepared by their nursing programs. The reasons are legion.

All I know is, for as complex as nursing has supposedly gotten, it sure seems to have been dumbed down a lot. Look at how many people who post here are incapable of writing a coherent thought, with proper spelling. My instructors would have had their Clinics on my orifice for writing poorly. My program could, and did, fail people on writing skills.

I blame the internet, where everything can be answered in the bat of an eye. People don't research and exhaust all avenues of fact-finding anymore. They just come to sites like this one and say, "Write my care plan for me plz I need it by tomorrow morning!!!!!!!!!!" Then you're a "young-eater" if you suggest the student do his/her own work.

OCNRN63, RN · Feb 9, 2012

I totally agree Ruby. There should be a limit at which you are required to retake some of the course or a remedial course of some sort. Of course, being one of those oldies who did the "two days at the convention center" testing I'm still baffled that anyone thinks 75 questions could cover the breadth of knowledge one needs to begin a nursing career

But they've got algorithms and computer programs that prove it, so it must be true!

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Feb 9, 2012

I have no issue with how many times a person may need to take the test. I do think that after the 2nd failure, the applicant should be required to complete a mandatory review course at their own expense...and have to repeat this review course every time they continue to fail.

Fiona59 · Feb 9, 2012

Here in Canada, we get three tries and it's done. Yes, three tries for CRNE or if you are a PN, three tries at CPNRE.

In the last few years, in our forums, there has been a huge increase in the number of posters complaining that three tries aren't enough, that the wait for marks is too long. (we still do the paper and pencil and wait six weeks for results and can only be tested at three specific dates during the year). I don't know if it's because of the recent increase in IENs who claim to be USRNs or if it's an age thing.

One demand that keeps popping up is "well, I've used all my CRNE attempts, can I try to be an PN?" Uhm, you've got a degree in nursing.

Until recently I'd only ever met one locally trained PN who failed all three attempts and had to go back to school for remedial ed. One RN who failed once (and it was no big surprise to those that knew her, the failure made her smarten up her outlook on nursing quickly). Over the last few years we've had overseas hires who have failed CRNE x3 and then for some unknown reason been given permisson to write CPNRE x3 fail out totally. We've heard they've been escorted out of ORs and off units.

I really don't think the public wants someone who has failed multiple times caring for them. They don't care about your test taking anxiety. They want qualified staff.

Nursein2011 · Feb 9, 2012

I have a few thoughts on this topic. Yes, I think there should be a max put on the number of times one can take the NCLEX without having to take a class of some sort. But, with that being said, I know of some people who passed their first time that I wouldn't exactly want to care for me or my family members. Also, I don't like people lumping together all nursing education of today. My school held extremely high standards. Over half of our class failed out throughout the semesters for things like not demonstrating proficiency of skills on actual patients. So, no Kids, I did not only have to prove proficiency on dummies. My professors didn't hesitate for a minute to fail students for mistakes or lack of knowledge. So, again, please don't lump everyone together. My school's standards must have worked pretty well as 100% of our graduating class passed the NCLEX on the first try!

OCNRN63, RN · Feb 9, 2012

I agree. I was reading a nlcex book from the 80's and the questions were pretty basic. Now days we have to listen to heart sounds, read ekgs, locate organs and things like the macula lens on diagrams. Its' a computer adaptive test, therefore not everyone passes with 75 questions. Some people should really do some research about the new nclex before passing judgement.

OMG. In almost 27y, I never had to listen to heart/lung/bowel sounds, never had to know how to read an EKG. The heart...let me think..."smoke over fire," no wait, that's something else. Oh yeah! EKG! I just heard the other day there are lobes of lung tissue, and one side has more than the other. Awww, heck, why don't bodies come with maps? Can I google this stuff?

Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN · Feb 9, 2012

I was going to post something similar Fiona - you beat me to it!

I agree with those that say "test anxiety" is not a reason - by the time you have gone through elementary school, high school and then college or university, this is something you should know how to deal with.

I have known a few people who failed the CRNE on the first attempt, but passed on the second. One person I know failed simply because somewhere along the line she missed a question, and put the answer to the next question in the previous question's spot. ie - answer to number 50 was put in slot 49. The CNO could tell her that they knew this is why she failed, but as there was no way to determin where she went wrong, she could have to re-write.

I maintain that if you can't pass after 3 attempts there is something you are missing and you are in serious need of a refresher course!

FlyingScot, RN · Feb 9, 2012

Now days we have to listen to heart sounds, read ekgs, locate organs and things like the macula lens on diagrams. .

What are these organs you speak of? Are they important?