Failed for the 2nd time

forevergrateful · Sep 4, 2014

Hi Lkay26. I'm sorry to hear about that. Have you tried Saunders for content review? It really helped me because personally, I had a hard time with the Kaplan questions at first. So I decided to brush up on my content. After reading the book, the questions seemed more understandable to me.

Lkay26 · Sep 4, 2014

Well this time I watched all the content videos with Kaplan and then answered 100 questions over that topic and if I scored less than 60% I went over it again. I have the Saunders yellow book and I have the nclex-RN 4000 that I used a few times. I also had that 35 pages study guide that I used this time also that it really helped. So idk what I did wrong.

RN_Incredible · Sep 4, 2014

Could you describe your study routine for me?

Lkay26 · Sep 4, 2014

So i would watch a content review video and then answer 100 questions over it on kaplans Qbank. and then i would move on. But during this round of studying i went out of town for 17 days but i tried to study as much as i could when i was out of town. When i watched the videos i took notes. so i would also go over the notes i took and read the 35 page study guide i printed off of allnurses.com. I have really bad test anxiety, but this time i felt relaxed and confident walking in. I dont know what happened.

MissMoo25, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN, NP · Sep 4, 2014

During my second testing, I immediately went out of town for 5 days on vacation after not passing but once I returned I took at most 7 days off after that in the total 46 days between testing. Everyday I was reading Saunders and doing questions. From morning until night.

During that time I read the entire Saunders book (6th edition) doing at least 90 questions from Kaplan Focused Content Review before reading each content section to warm up then following up with some questions (around 50) from Saunders 5th Edition CD-ROM (same as 6th just not online).

I never completed the trainers which I should have but I mainly used the Focused Content questions and when I wanted a general exam I would do a 100 question mix from Saunders. Prepare to focus on: herbal supplements, positioning for procedures and to better patient breathing/circulation, PPE to wear based on certain diseases (airborne, droplet, contact), and prioritization: who do you see first, who is in greater peril because of ABC, and consider best risk of survival in emergency cases.

Failed the first time at 148 and passed the second time at 205.

That was my experience and I thought it may help.

RN_Incredible · Sep 5, 2014

It could most likely be test anxiety. Do you second guess too much when you approach an answer to a question?

When I was taking kaplan I had a summary of my cumulative performance. I had a habit of second guessing too much and decided to read the question carefully and ask myself: what are they asking me? And once I chose an answer I would not change it. I also kept the Kaplan decision tree in mind when I was going over practice questions for every single question I approached.

On my exam, I had about 140 questions and I passed. Just a little insight of how I approach the questions

JayjoMine · Sep 5, 2014

I just got my result today! After waiting for 3weeks and 1day! I live in California. Yes I PASSED! New and old trick work for me!

Anyways heres what i did! I only studied saunders 4th edition the cd only and the exam cram 1000question. Thats it! I do atleast 200 a day not consistently, sometimes i would do like 100 or 50. I just make sure that ill be done with all my question a week before my exam! Then during the week before my exam i just went over through sata,meds,drag and drop, picture and math on saunders CD and went over my lab values. Thats it! Dont give up! You will pass just be positive and pray to GOD!