Hey guess what.. 2nd NCLEX-RN attempt was a success!!

Published

First off let me say AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

I got the official results this morning! Thank you God!!

Now I'm gonna rant and tell you how I studied.... (:

(feel free to skip parts, i won't be hurt hehe)

So, this was my 2nd attempt. I took the test Oct 2012. I did Kaplan. My scores weren't very hot. I had heard that Kaplan was "easier" than the NCLEX, so with low scores I tried to pass for the first time. *TERRIBLE MISTAKE* I cried.. it's very discouraging.. But my parents believed in me so much that they did everything to help me try again. I did a local review that had a 98% passing rate. She works esp with multiple-time test takers. She was mostly content. I swear I learned more physiology with her than I did in nursing school! I did her review for two months... then relaxed for Christmas break. Come January, i resumed studying. Not hardcore tho.. I was still kinda taking it easy. I had a date in my head but I didn't wanna push it. Around mid-Feb I started being serious. I got sick along the way and didn't feel like studying for a week, but I resumed back as soon as I got the strength back.

My study schedule: Like I said, I took did a local review that was mostly content. i understand physiology a lot more now. They gave me another book to read and I read it once through and then bits and pieces coming back to review what I didn't understand initially. I had Kaplan access to the QBank questions, Saunders yellow book, Mosby comprehensive review, Lippincott Q&A 10th Ed, NCLEX-RN Cram, and the PDA kindle version. I never picked up Saunders or the Lippincott book. I thumbed through Mosby's and did the question cd once in a while. I read half of the NCLEX-RN Cram 3rd Ed book. That really helped! And I had all my notes from school. My MedSurge teacher was so generous with handouts omg my drawer is just full of it! haha oh and I had PrepU access.. idk if any of you have done that, but my class had it. It was mostly content and i only knocked out 1200 questions. I mostly did QBank and I finished all the questions by the day of my test.

PDA... omg killed me. I was so worried. my scores ranged from 30-70. but Qbank my avg was 61%, QT6 was 58% and QT7 was 61%. I didn't do the Diagnostic, QT1-5, or the Readiness. Pretty much bc I didn't have time. plus QT1-5 is below passing questions. I wanted to focus all my attention on passing level questions.

Things that were therapeutic for me to calm down and look to for motivation was my boyfriend.. who is just amazing! i love music.. so if i got stressed and discouraged from low practice test scores, i just blasted music through my ears. "The Living Proof" by Mary J. Blige was my anthem. the lyric "my best days are right in front me and im almost there..." played over and over again.

Also this video

was motivational. check it out if you get the chance! it's a clip from the movie, "Facing Giants." it's about giving your all till you got nothing left. and that;s exactly what i did with my study.

It's the day before my test... I know everyone says not to study the day before the test, but I didn't listen. I REALLY did not want to fail. I did 100Q till 10pm. my test wasn't till 11:30AM so I woke up at 530 and used that time to relax. I just listened to music to calm myself down. Got in.. i only brought a wristlet with a granola bar and chopstick and eye drops for my contacts. oh and a bottled water. it was also "that time of the month" which sucked! but at least it was a light day.

So I got the first question and I was like.. let's go!

I had about 20 SATA, one SATA had an exhibit/pic; 1 Math; 1 Drag&drop; 2 EKG pic questions;

I took the 2 hour break.. came back and it shut off at 86. I was like OMG. omg. omg. I signed out, the lady said good luck. I was like thanks -__-

That night after the test i was like a zombie. i was exhausted! I didn't tell anyone when my test day was. Bc just hearing everyone ask "when's your test? how was it? did you pass?" was too stressful. I just took it easy, watched American Idol and went to bed. I woke up the next more like.. just scared i wonder how I did. I wanted to do the PVT but was too scared to see unwanted results. St_Claire thank you for being awesome.. you told me it is what it is at this point. Just do the PVT and let go of this misery. So I did. I went to pearsonvue, put in my info... *im shaking as im writing this hhahaha i guess cuz im reliving the moment or maybe cuz it's cold here in starbucks xD so yea, before i pressed submit, i quickly covered the screen with a piece of paper! LOL. and slowly lifted it up.. I SAW THE GOOD POP UP!!!! i backed away from the computer like omg omg omg is this formal?! omg thank you God!! omg omg! at this point im on the floor in fetal position CRYING! I tried again later that evening and the same pop up happened! I checked the official results next morning and it is official...IM A NURSE!! :D

And now, if you're still reading, im gonna tell you how I told my parents. (:

So, I'm filipino right.. and all you filipinos out there you know how strict asian parents are with school. they were always on my butt making sure im studying. i couldn't take it anymore so my friend gave me the idea to not tell anyone about my test date, esp my parents. When i found out I passed, i needed to tell them somehow! So this is how it went.. I went downstairs. My mom was already up. she asked how ready I was.. cuz she thought I was taking my test today lol. sneaky sneaky. I said im fine, i wanna get this over with. I go to the computer and load my exam results. then I go to a shoe website. My moms birthday was a few weeks ago. I said, "Mom come here. I wanna get you something as a belated birthday present for you. What do you want? Shoes? Purse?" she's like, "why so you can get the buy one get one free?" i laughed and said, "no i wanna get you something." she was confused. then i said, "okay if you don't know what you want then how about this?" and i show her my results. she hugged me and began crying!! (': it was a precious moment. then she said let's tell your dad! he was still asleep. my mom made up some story that i rescheduled my test. i played along and said i wasn't ready. my dad, still sleepy, was disappointed. then my mom said, "she's not taking it bc she PASSED! She took it two days ago and didn't tell us!" Still confused and sleepy, my dad finally said what?! congrats! haha. then of course i told everyone else and facebooked it.

*sigh of relief* omg i can breathe!! (:

all I can say it, slow down. breathe. and think about the question in front of you. in your practice tests, review ALL your answers. if you didn't know the content, look it up right then and there. LOOK UP EVERY MED YOU SEE. even if you got the question right. that's how i memorized meds. the weird thing tho i didn't see them on the actual test. which bummed me out. I did see one that I knew off but like i said, i didn't see what i learned about the med in the answer choices. i freaked out but answered it the best way i did. 86Q and passed for the second time!!! You can do it. We are here to encourage you. Don't give up!!

PS

thank you @St_Claire, @LillyBud, and @PeppermintP for being awesome when i talked to you!! We passed!! aaaahh ^_^

Up Vote Up Vote ×
First off let me say AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

I got the official results this morning! Thank you God!!

Now I'm gonna rant and tell you how I studied.... (:

(feel free to skip parts, i won't be hurt hehe)

So, this was my 2nd attempt. I took the test Oct 2012. I did Kaplan. My scores weren't very hot. I had heard that Kaplan was "easier" than the NCLEX, so with low scores I tried to pass for the first time. *TERRIBLE MISTAKE* I cried.. it's very discouraging.. But my parents believed in me so much that they did everything to help me try again. I did a local review that had a 98% passing rate. She works esp with multiple-time test takers. She was mostly content. I swear I learned more physiology with her than I did in nursing school! I did her review for two months... then relaxed for Christmas break. Come January, i resumed studying. Not hardcore tho.. I was still kinda taking it easy. I had a date in my head but I didn't wanna push it. Around mid-Feb I started being serious. I got sick along the way and didn't feel like studying for a week, but I resumed back as soon as I got the strength back.

My study schedule: Like I said, I took did a local review that was mostly content. i understand physiology a lot more now. They gave me another book to read and I read it once through and then bits and pieces coming back to review what I didn't understand initially. I had Kaplan access to the QBank questions, Saunders yellow book, Mosby comprehensive review, Lippincott Q&A 10th Ed, NCLEX-RN Cram, and the PDA kindle version. I never picked up Saunders or the Lippincott book. I thumbed through Mosby's and did the question cd once in a while. I read half of the NCLEX-RN Cram 3rd Ed book. That really helped! And I had all my notes from school. My MedSurge teacher was so generous with handouts omg my drawer is just full of it! haha oh and I had PrepU access.. idk if any of you have done that, but my class had it. It was mostly content and i only knocked out 1200 questions. I mostly did QBank and I finished all the questions by the day of my test.

PDA… omg killed me. I was so worried. my scores ranged from 30-70. but Qbank my avg was 61%, QT6 was 58% and QT7 was 61%. I didn't do the Diagnostic, QT1-5, or the Readiness. Pretty much bc I didn't have time. plus QT1-5 is below passing questions. I wanted to focus all my attention on passing level questions.

Things that were therapeutic for me to calm down and look to for motivation was my boyfriend.. who is just amazing! i love music.. so if i got stressed and discouraged from low practice test scores, i just blasted music through my ears. "The Living Proof" by Mary J. Blige was my anthem. the lyric "my best days are right in front me and im almost there…" played over and over again.

Also this video

was motivational. check it out if you get the chance! it's a clip from the movie, "Facing Giants." it's about giving your all till you got nothing left. and that;s exactly what i did with my study.

It's the day before my test… I know everyone says not to study the day before the test, but I didn't listen. I REALLY did not want to fail. I did 100Q till 10pm. my test wasn't till 11:30AM so I woke up at 530 and used that time to relax. I just listened to music to calm myself down. Got in.. i only brought a wristlet with a granola bar and chopstick and eye drops for my contacts. oh and a bottled water. it was also "that time of the month" which sucked! but at least it was a light day.

So I got the first question and I was like.. let's go!

I had about 20 SATA, one SATA had an exhibit/pic; 1 Math; 1 Drag&drop; 2 EKG pic questions;

I took the 2 hour break.. came back and it shut off at 86. I was like OMG. omg. omg. I signed out, the lady said good luck. I was like thanks -__-

That night after the test i was like a zombie. i was exhausted! I didn't tell anyone when my test day was. Bc just hearing everyone ask "when's your test? how was it? did you pass?" was too stressful. I just took it easy, watched American Idol and went to bed. I woke up the next more like.. just scared i wonder how I did. I wanted to do the PVT but was too scared to see unwanted results. St_Claire thank you for being awesome.. you told me it is what it is at this point. Just do the PVT and let go of this misery. So I did. I went to pearsonvue, put in my info… *im shaking as im writing this hhahaha i guess cuz im reliving the moment or maybe cuz it's cold here in starbucks xD so yea, before i pressed submit, i quickly covered the screen with a piece of paper! LOL. and slowly lifted it up.. I SAW THE GOOD POP UP!!!! i backed away from the computer like omg omg omg is this formal?! omg thank you God!! omg omg! at this point im on the floor in fetal position CRYING! I tried again later that evening and the same pop up happened! I checked the official results next morning and it is official…IM A NURSE!! :D

And now, if you're still reading, im gonna tell you how I told my parents. (:

So, I'm filipino right.. and all you filipinos out there you know how strict asian parents are with school. they were always on my butt making sure im studying. i couldn't take it anymore so my friend gave me the idea to not tell anyone about my test date, esp my parents. When i found out I passed, i needed to tell them somehow! So this is how it went.. I went downstairs. My mom was already up. she asked how ready I was.. cuz she thought I was taking my test today lol. sneaky sneaky. I said im fine, i wanna get this over with. I go to the computer and load my exam results. then I go to a shoe website. My moms birthday was a few weeks ago. I said, "Mom come here. I wanna get you something as a belated birthday present for you. What do you want? Shoes? Purse?" she's like, "why so you can get the buy one get one free?" i laughed and said, "no i wanna get you something." she was confused. then i said, "okay if you don't know what you want then how about this?" and i show her my results. she hugged me and began crying!! (': it was a precious moment. then she said let's tell your dad! he was still asleep. my mom made up some story that i rescheduled my test. i played along and said i wasn't ready. my dad, still sleepy, was disappointed. then my mom said, "she's not taking it bc she PASSED! She took it two days ago and didn't tell us!" Still confused and sleepy, my dad finally said what?! congrats! haha. then of course i told everyone else and facebooked it.

*sigh of relief* omg i can breathe!! (:

all I can say it, slow down. breathe. and think about the question in front of you. in your practice tests, review ALL your answers. if you didn't know the content, look it up right then and there. LOOK UP EVERY MED YOU SEE. even if you got the question right. that's how i memorized meds. the weird thing tho i didn't see them on the actual test. which bummed me out. I did see one that I knew off but like i said, i didn't see what i learned about the med in the answer choices. i freaked out but answered it the best way i did. 86Q and passed for the second time!!! You can do it. We are here to encourage you. Don't give up!!

PS

thank you @St_Claire, @LillyBud, and @PeppermintP for being awesome when i talked to you!! We passed!! aaaahh ^_^

Congrats:) I'm so happy for you!! Celebration time and time to relax:)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

congrats!!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Congrats

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Women's Health.

Congratulations!!!! Yay! Well done.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

ohhh .... congratulations !!! :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Congratulations!!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Congrats!!!! I had no doubt in my mind that you would pass

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Yayyyyy! I'm glad you are official!!!! CONGRATULATIONS NURSE!!!!! (My mom cried too)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Congrats....dancing for you...lo:roflmao:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion