Getting Past the NCLEX RN

8 Posts

I took the exam just last week on Tuesday April 28^th in California. I had all 265 questions and I was pretty bummed out that my last question was just identifying a disease's feature characteristic because it was SO basic to me. Overall, I felt okay after the exam. I did not feel like crying or feel confident that I passed, but I did feel relieved that it was all over! I remember thinking that if the computer gave me all 265 questions and hadn't shut off on its own, it meant that I was putting up a good fight and that it was still deciding.

I did not do the Pearson trick at all, not even after the 24 hour mark. I know there are a lot of discrepancies about that, especially for those who took 265 questions, so I settled in finding out later. I tried to stay calm and collected, key word tried! Since there's no Quick Results here, I started checking CA Board of Nursing's Breeze website after 48 hours. Thursday and Friday passed and nothing. I remember last checking around 5pm on Friday and my name wasn't listed, but I kept praying and hoping. I was also preparing myself to restart studying on Monday and trying to think what I could do differently the next time around. So you could definitely imagine how freaked out I was when I checked Breeze around 3am early Saturday morning and my license was posted! I was so happy I woke up everyone in the house and told my Mom first. I couldn't sleep afterwards because I was smiling and all giddy throughout the night :laugh:

To be clear from my friends and classmates' experiences, some people have their Breeze license posted here in California within 48 hours or even less than, all depending if their school sent in all the paperwork or if there are any holds from the testing site. I was really disheartened when my name wasn't posted after 48 hours because it made me think I failed. But I tried to be hopeful so bad! I also remember after graduation some people in my cohort and from other CA nursing schools had to wait a few days to weeks because their files weren't put together because of missing or misplaced transcript issues. And CA Breeze apparently does post licenses on weekends, which has happened to my friends and myself now included. Personally, I think I took one too many snack and bathroom breaks, which I'm still wondering could have been a reason why I probably had a delay in my Breeze results. Or there could have just been a lag on Breeze. But who knows, the past is past â€“ regardless, I'm so happy with the outcome!

Also 265 questions does not mean you automatically pass or fail. From what you can gather from this forum alone, there are plenty of people on both spectrums who do pass or unfortunately fail at 265. I just know for sure that means the computer has not come to a complete decision. It could have cut you off at any time, but since it hasn't, pay attention to your questions and answer to the best of your ability. That is my best advice. Don't guess or start clicking away because you're getting freaked out that you keep on getting questions. It really helps to take deep breaths and pray in between or even take a break and walk around! Just be mindful of your time of course.

What ultimately helped me prepare:

NCSBN's learning extension - I chose the 3 week option. I finished doing the entire 1500 question bank. I set a full week dedicated to answering just the practice banks and believe me you can learn a lot.
LaCharity's Priority, Delegation, and Assignment Online Resource - It is just all the same questions and case studies as the PDA book but it gives you the ease of answering on a computer and even has a scoring feature. I bought it for 20 bucks from the Evolve website. I didn't do the case studies but I did do all the lessons which helped me with figuring out and understanding those pesky delegation and UAP/LVN assignment questions.
Yellow Saunders book - I just used this for reference. I tried to read it cover to cover but I just couldn't. I know it works for some people though
Hurst notes, and did all 6 Q reviews with 150 questions each â€“ They have lots of SATA, isolation precautions, and priority questions to practice on. I feel like this and NCSBN helped me a lot. I had done the live review at my school and thought the videos were very humorous and helpful too.
Kaplan Nclex-RN mini Qbank phone app - This was free and came with a bunch of questions to practice on. I thought the questions were a bit hard and some rationales weren't so helpful at explaining why it's right but it's a good way to pass up time if you're waiting for someone or in a long line.
Lastly, Google is really your best friend â€“ Cannot stress this enough! Especially when it comes to diseases, diagnostic tests, and patient positioning questions, I'd Google while answering the practice questions to learn more about the things and sometimes just look at images.

I also want to stress that it really helped to do lots of practice questions and to read the rationales for questions regardless of whether I got them wrong or right. I also took brief notes from the rationales to review for later. It just helps to understand the difference between left and right heart failure or knowing the symptoms of antipsychotic med overdose or even just knowing your basic isolation precautions. I honestly found it easier to answer priority questions and choosing which patient to see first rather than knowing the factual knowledge questions, if you know what I mean. Also, eating a good breakfast, bringing food, and staying positive are good things to do. I also took NCSBN's forum advice of eating a banana right before the exam to lessen my anxiety and I think it helped. I was surprisingly calm and focused and my heart wasn't beating out of my chest until the last few questions thankfully.

One last advice: Don't get too caught up on what kind of questions you're getting during the exam. I remember having to remind myself to not read too much into the difficulty of the question. Having too much or too little of a type of question may also not mean anything. Personally, I had a handful of Select all that Apply (sometimes in a row too), tons of priority like who do I see first, what do I do first, and who is first to discharge and etc., drag and drop, exhibits, isolation precautions, and just basic knowledge questions that you either know or you don't. I had no math or hot spots thankfully, but I did have a lot of medications I never heard of and a couple of EKG questions. I think mine was all over the place, but that is expected because well I had to sit for 265!

I hope my story helps someone one way or another and I just truly want to wish a good luck to those taking the NCLEX soon, motivate those repeat test-takers that they can do it, and send a big congrats to all of you who just recently passed on here!