How I passed NCLEX on the 4th try

red1991

1 Post

Just wanted to tell everyone who is waiting for their calling to never give up, please keep believing and your time will come. I just found out this morning that I PASSED NCLEX-RN. So, just like a lot of people on here, I have been a silent follower. I still cannot believe that I passed nclex. I guess fourth time can be the charm. God is so so good and nobody can challenge his time. I am sorry for this lengthy post, but I hope I can help at least one person, bc I know how much I wandered on this page feeling lost after every attempt and in between.

First and second attempt: June 2017/August 2017

I used Hurst (that's what my school made us use) and Uworld

I thought Hurst was overwhelming and didn't use Uworld in its entirety. On nclex day, I didn't go at a slow good pace, and swung by the test and failed at 75qs. Second time, I went back and did the Hurst q-reviews and Uworld but ran out of time to finish. I was averaging at 50-80% but ran out of time on nclex at 215 questions and failed.

Third attempt: October 2017

I used Uworld with happynclex by Joan because I thought I probably needed help with understanding what the question is asking, in other words, I had a problem with critical thinking. According to Joan, you don't need content to master the questions, you just need to learn the critical thinking skills and practice, practice, practice. I followed her schedule and did all the questions but I felt short at 124 questions. It didn't work for me but the big take-away was learning the difference between, "first" to "most important" to "best" to "priority" and understanding what the question is asking.

Fourth and final attempt: March 2018

I wanted to start from scratch and do something totally different this time. I used Uworld for 3months, N-Powernment, and the Lacharity Priority and Delegation book. I did my weak areas only on Uworld, and I didn't remember the questions for the most part. Uworld is a must either way because of the formatting similarity and the questions teach you a lot of content along with answering the questions. Reading and understanding the rationales is the cherry on top. The biggest difference this time was N-Powerment which was content focused and the Lacharity book. N-powerment had just enough of important information needed to know for nclex purposes. The nurses on there, Linda and Ashley made little mnemonics and references that help you understand and remember the different diseases and processes. You get a spiral book along with 300 daily/weekly notecards to review important keypoints and you listen to them lecture online. I liked listening to them honestly, and it wasn't lengthy, boring, and overwhelming like Hurst. Also, the plus point, all the pages are in concept maps formatting which are divided in what is the disease, causes, symptoms, related lab values, treatment/teaching by the RN. This also helps if you are a visual learner. I listened to the lectures 3 times and went over the book 4 times in total. Btw this was the only program that taught me EKGs in and out and knew it instantly on nclex bc I had 3 questions on EKG and about treating dysrhythmias, which was a piece of cake for me in my opinion. J

Lacharity, imo, was the bible of nclex for me. I did the entire book and did that last towards my preparing period. Also, I stayed positive every day and caught myself on my low days and re-routed my mindset. It may sound funny, but made a collage of nurses and the specialty I intend to go into, wrote RN behind my name and printed off some quotes in reference to rising up from setbacks. I looked at the collage and read the quotes every morning upon waking up and before I went to bed to keep my focus on my dream. It helped me envision myself someday working as a nurse.

Day of the test:

I was testing on a Saturday at 8am so I was at the center an hour earlier just in case anything popped up suddenly. I prayed and prayed and kept a positive mindset. I turned up my music was listening to Don't You Worry Child by Swedish House Mafia lol, looked at my collage one last time and walked into the building. I got my number, got fingerprinted, put my stuff in the locker and was escorted inside. I started taking my exam and sort of felt that a lot of my questions were easy and was freaking out a little, thinking that I may be doing bad. I promised myself I would take a break at question 45 and did so. I got out, walked to the bathroom and with every step, I said something affirmative- "I can do this" "I earned this" "I deserve this" "I am Possible" "I am Incredible. Say whatever sails your boat and helps you stay calm. Got back, ate a little off my protein bar and got back to the questions. There were a lot of questions I knew instantly and I was confident bc I went over the N-Powerment book so many times. Anyways, I got to question 75 and said to myself "don't worry, you are going to do fine, get ready for 76" and guess what? I see the survey screen pop-up. I didn't bother finishing the survey and walked out having a different feeling. I had about 15 SATA which were mostly delegation to UAP, one math question, one EKG strip, one drag and drop and the rest were between priority, OB and Peds. I did the trick after the email from Pearson and I got the good popup.

Well it was a rough 48 hours b/c I couldn't imagine passing with 75questions. My board of nursing is lagging behind b/c my name is still not posted online until now. K My quick results were available at 8am today and it said a big fat "Pass" and my eyes were just balling but all happy tears. All I can say is don't give even if you don't see the light, the light is coming. Trust in God, or whoever you believe in and keep your head up. Keep praying and stay positive....Happy studying and good luck!