First time, NCLEX-RN, 265 questions, FAILED

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Well I just got my results in the mail. I don't know how, since the BRN said they needed my transcripts before they can give me my results? Bottom line is I failed. My gut feeling was right, again. I've never felt this way before. I have never prepared more for anything in my life. I felt really prepared. It feels like a big slap in the face. It was about a 3 1/2 week wait and I used that time to relax and devote my time to other things other than nursing stuff. My vacation is over and I am planning to start studying again this week. What hurts the most is that I took everyone's advice, I used all of Kaplan (100% q-bank, all of question trainer), and Saunders questions and learning extention. I don't know where to go from here. I received my performance evaluation with the letter and it stated that I was NEAR THE PASSING STANDARD in EVERY CATEGORY. I don't know what to take out of that? If I was ABOVE or BELOW in some areas, I would know where to begin and what to focus on. But NEAR passing standard in every category? That doesn't really tell me anything. I feel like I have to go back to square one in every area of nursing!!!

For those who would like to know the details of my first NCLEX-RN experience... I used Kaplan, Saunders, and learning extension. Studied about 5-6 hours M-F, within a 3-4 month period. Took the NCLEX-RN with 265, no math, 1 SATA and the rest prioritizing, delegation and meds. I was always torn between 2 really good answers for the majority of the questions. Probably about 30% of the material was unfamiliar to me(including meds). For some reason I wasn't able to apply the Kaplan stategies to most of the questions. I felt like Kaplan likes to beat around the bush with their questions, but the NCLEX-RN was really straight forward with their questions. Not sure if I want to use Kaplan again. The first 75 questions were a blurr to me and after about 150 I started to have a hopeless feeling. Finished at 265 and left the building feeling very numb. I've never felt that way before in my life. Waited 2 weeks only to call the BRN and find out that my file is not complete and they needed my transcript before they can give me my results. My school said they would send my transcripts by the end of January. However, I just check my mail and got my results. Pretty bizarre. Oh well, I hope my experience will shed some light to you all. Other than that, it's back to the drawing board for me. I'm considering Suzanne's plan, then again, I'm willing to use any plan at this point. If anyone has any tips or advice, please I'm all ears. Good luck everyone.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Sorry to hear you failed, definitely consider Suzanne's plan. Take a week off from studying and allow yourself time to grieve and then start her first tip. Start your study as if you haven't studied before

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They need transcripts to issue a license.

Sorry to hear that you did not pass the exam.

Near passing in each area unfortunately means that you did not pass any of them. Also looks like you were spending too much time each day preparing, so much that your brain stops retaining information. And when one uses multiple sources, then there are multiple views on how a question should be answered and this causes more problems as well for many.

You can get thru this exam.

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Sorry to hear about that. You were so close to passing...unlike me (I think)... I took the nclex-rn for the 2nd time last dec 30 '08. My exam stopped at 75. I had 2 satas, no computation, some meds, 50-60% prioritization (i think)... I have ssn but up to now, my name is not on the website. Some say that there may be a glitch on my file...if this is not my 2nd take, i'd probably believe that...but if that will be the case, then they won't give me the result of my 1st take, right? So i'm sure i failed though i don't have the results yet. Today is my 13th day... this week will be one of the most dreadful week for me =( To tell you honestly, I really messed up on my 2nd take. You know why? Because the first time, my exam ended up at 117 (Failed)...then the second one 75 (I'm sure I failed)...As you can see with the numbers, my performance did not improve it is even worse than the first. I am saying my story to let you know that you are not the only one feeling down right now. I know how you feel and I hope and pray that you do get better soon. Don't lose hope. Keep on praying.

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Hi PendingAreEhn, I know exactly what you are going through, did my exam in Sept. 08, and failed after 265Q; I was crushed, I was accessing the quick result and my chest felt as though there was a hugh load pressing down on it, then I read "fail" - I knew that I've never spent so much time preparing for anything in my life as I did for this; Even now I struggle, when I think about doing this exam again; but I'm gonna get it together, like I know you will. Don't loose hope, its the trials that makes us strong. All the best in your studies - you deserve it.

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Yep PendingAreEhn, I too took my Nclex Jan 14th, got all 265 questions and failed. Like you I took the Kaplan review and now I am very hesitant to do it again. I am going to try Suzanne's plan.

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Does anyone know if you have to post 15 messages to a specific topic or how does the 15 postings go to be able to access Suzanne's plan. Going out to purchase the Saunders 4th edition bcuz the one I have is the 2nd edition.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
Does anyone know if you have to post 15 messages to a specific topic or how does the 15 postings go to be able to access Suzanne's plan. Going out to purchase the Saunders 4th edition bcuz the one I have is the 2nd edition.

Answered this in another thread you posted on

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Sorry to hear of your failure and also want to encourage you to consider using Suzanne's plan. Good luck.

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Sorry to hear you didn't make it on the first try..... don't give up the hardest part (school) is already over!

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yah don't give up. its going to be my third time taking the nclex. and i encourage you to keep going. don't give up, you came all the way to this point in nursing. just say to yourself i can do this i can pass. and one day you'll see your name on bon. have faith and always pray

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Hi. I'm so sorry that this happened to you. Is there anyone you think who could help you with exam strategies, etc. I think when I was in Kaplan, they offered a personalized tutoring session if you failed your NCLEX more than once.

Another thing you could try is this book that I personally liked that really helped me with strategy. It's called Comprehensive Review for NCLEX-RN, It's by Mary Ann Hogan and it's part of the Prentice Hall Reviews & Rationales series. This book is based on the April 2007 plan, and it really helped me even before I took the Kaplan online course for the 2nd time.

You see, my situation was a little different. I failed our school's HESI exit exam 3 times before I took the NCLEX, and I was pretty distraught. After failing the first time, I pretty much did 100 questions a day mostly from Saunders, and then when I got better, I did the 25 question quizzes in Study Mode through the Hogan book concentrating on different areas that I stuggled with while at the same time, I used Saunders/Hogan books for content review of questions I got wrong. Of course, you can't avoid looking up your answers in your regular Nursing books, so I made sure I did that as well.

Kaplan is still useful for strategy, don't get me wrong; however, I seriously think that a lot of my friends who passed HESI and the NCLEX the first time really took the time to review OTHER stragtegies and rationale from other other books (including Kaplan) before they passed both of these exams the first time. When I observed the way my tutor friend answered questions I discovered honestly that a majority of time she wasn't really using Kaplan a lot. In fact, she was using a very similar strategy to what the strategies section said after each question in the Hogan book and it's CD.

Seriously though, look into getting that Hogan book. It only costs about 37 dollars.

Oh also, if you feel like you're getting overwhelmed then ease up on the studying. Towards the end of my studying for NCLEX I actually reduced my studying time from 5-6 hours/day to 3-4 hours/day. That's becasue I was getting lower scores on the Kaplan q-trainers vs. the higher scores I was getting. I think this enabled me to pass NCLEX the first time.

Sorry being so long winded, but I hope this helps! Good luck!

P.S. After I really started studying the Hogan book and Saunders, my grade went up 200 points from my first test in HESI in two months, and finally to the passing score I had for HESI the third time. Get that Hogan book, it really helps.

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