Failed 3x. Tried everything. What to do now?

[Kalibear17]

Well just found I failed again on my 3rd try. I have used everything from saunders, uworld, kaplan, Lacharity, etc you name it. I feel like maybe it's my job that has gotten in the way. Right now I work as a pharmacy technician at least 32 to up 39 hours a week. I believe I needed to be more consistent on studying in a more organized fashion. I studied for 2 months. I know what you're saying...well quit your job. I'm married, husband works but doesn't make enough to keep us a float. We just have new house. Bad thing is to make a long story short ....I have found my long lost mom who left me with my grandparents to raise me 20 years ago.for 20 years I didn't know her and she never had contact with me. I have forgiven this lady and even let her live with me when she had nothing and I found out she has stage 3 colon cancer with a permanent sigmoid colostomy . Bad thing is she is very hard to live with and my husband and her don't like each other. She doesn't always clean up herself all the way and leaves waste around the bathroom and smells up the house. She tries to be controlling and very needy beyond compare. She seems like she is very irresponsible and stubborn. Her credit is shot to hell (400 credit) so I can't find her a place plus she uses her illness as an excuse for everything. I feel like I am at the end of my rope. I feel like I work too much but can't afford not to and theres too much tension at my house between my husband and mom. What do u need to do in order to focus around working so much and this chaos?

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

Wow.

Here's the first thing:

The issue may not necessarily the source of the review, but how one approaches the NCLEX itself: understanding the four concepts of becoming a competent, entry-level nurse:

1. Safe, effective care;

2.Health promotion;

3.Physiological Integrity;

4.Psychosocial integrity

Will determine WHAT the question is asking you; the question may be Respiratory related-but is it a Health Promotion or a Safety, or a Physiological or a Psychosocial one? Would you know the difference and choose the BEST answer?

Once one understands the concepts of NCLEX, they can do so successfully.

When practicing the questions, prepare the questions like a mock NCLEX exam, review the minimum and then work up to the maximum for endurance purposes.

After looking at your report, focus on the weakness and review questions and rationales; make mock NCLEX tests and start with the minimum and gradually until the maximum; you have to have an endurance in answering application questions.

After each "exam", make sure you are reviewing the rationales; any rationales you are not clear on THEN look up content for reference.

As far as your home life, you are going to have to put your foot down; you are going to either have to leave home to study, or have a meeting and tell your husband and mother for the the next two months you need time to study and make plans where they do not bother you; as far as your work-I worked 30 plus hours and still found time to study and passed the first time with 75 questions. You may need portable NCLEX review apps to study questions and brush up on your resources as needed; if you need time off from work, see if you can get paid time for and study strongly for at least a week; on your days off, study for 4-6 hours with breaks-it needs to be like a second job to study.

Best wishes.

[SanManDan]

I understand 'exactly' how you feel. I sat for NCLEX three times and just found out that I passed on my 3rd attempt. This last time I worked 36hr a week, got a new puppy, have a marriage, and went through very stressful situations with family. I studies for about 5 weeks for at least 4 hrs about 4 days a week. That's all I could do. I learned that how you practice questions is much more important than how many you practice. I'll tell you what I did to prepare and maybe it will help you. The first 2 - 3 weeks I practiced using good quality nclex questions ONLY in practice mode (one question at a time). I only did about 10 - 20 questions at a time for up to 4 hrs with breaks in between. For the next 2 weeks I added longer exams between 75 and 150 questions to work on stamina in case I got a longer exam. I only did about 2 - 3 of these a week and this was in addition to the practice mode questions. 1 week before the exam I reviewed important things like pharm, lab values and some weak content areas in addition to the practice questions. I took the exam and passed in 80 questions. I found that using the practice mode and taking my time on each question helped me understand how to answer them even better. I also did this on the exam, took my time on questions I wasn't sure about. I took a little longer to answer them, but I was getting correct answers and had less questions. You can do this, even with a stressful home life. Be confident in what you learned in school, you probably know a lot more than you think. For me it was just a matter of finding a quiet place and focusing all my attention on every question I worked on - no matter if it was 5 questions or 100. If I can do this, anyone can.. Good luck!