How I passed and what worked for me

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Disclaimer: These are the methods I used to pass the NCLEX. This may or may not work for you because everyone is different with different education background.

I'm a U.S born and raised citizen who studied nursing in the Philippines. It took me a full year to process my papers once I graduated so it was easy for me to slack off while I was waiting. When I was finally able to register for my ATT, reality hit me. I picked up a book, downloaded UWorld which is what everyone recommended and went to studying only to figure out I had holes in my knowledge everywhere. I didn't know where to start and what to study.

Come time for my first NCLEX exam I failed at 75 and was very disheartened but felt that I deserved to fail since I didn't study hard enough. Between my first and second test I did more UWorld questions, failed but at 87. Realized that I was atleast getting somewhere.

In between my second and third take, I had finished all of the Uworld Qbank and had done the predictor test and got a very high chance to pass. I failed for a third time and at 75. I didn't know what to do at that point but I knew I couldn't give up. People also mentioned something about Kaplan review. I had a few friends that took it but half of the things I heard about Kaplan were mixed.

At this point I wanted to just use anything that could help me. So i subscribed to the Online course with with live classes and content reviews. I watched all 322 content videos, took the 7 day live courses, watched the live recording of different topics, took most of their tests and finished more than half their Qbank. I was getting 50s roughly 60s on the Qbank tests and 50s on the Practice tests and I felt like I was doing OK.

Three months have passed since the third time I took it so I felt like it was about time to try my hand again. Took it my fourth time and PASSED at 101. This time I felt like I earned it. Kaplan helped me pass the NCLEX however Uworld did slightly help with the more basic questions. The main thing I want to point out is the amount of failures that help me realize that I wasn't studying hard enough. Failure is what kept me going and is what humbled me throughout the studying process.

For all of my fellow international graduates, a high percentage of you will fail the first time. Just don't give up and study. Eventually you WILL PASS be it your first time, fourth time, or even your 20th time.

John Paul Barasona, BSN RN

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Congratulations! I’m also an international graduate. I failed more times than you did.? I took a chance again yesterday and now waiting for the result. I agree about Kaplan though. It helped me how to answer questions, specially those topics I’m not familiar with.

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i would like to know about NCLEX exams and the kaplan , UWould, its my first time to hear such. thanks.

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Just failed the NCLEX on February 1st with my first try. Had 265 questions and was there for the entire 6 hours. It was both mentally and physically exhausting, to say the least.

I used UWorld and Mark Klimek to study. I felt like I was prepared; however, when I got in there, some of the content were diseases I hadn’t even heard of. I was shocked...how could this be??

I feel like I don’t even know where to begin in order to improve. And I don’t know when I will even get the report from NCSBN that shows where you are as far as near passing, etc. Their website said it could be up to 6 weeks!!

So, I am now looking at several different NCLEX reviews like Kaplan, ReMar, Hurst, etc. What are your recommendations? Which one has the “full package” that will help me to succeed?? Thanks in advance.

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On 1/16/2019 at 3:38 AM, barasonajohnpaul said:

Disclaimer: These are the methods I used to pass the NCLEX. This may or may not work for you because everyone is different with different education background.

I'm a U.S born and raised citizen who studied nursing in the Philippines. It took me a full year to process my papers once I graduated so it was easy for me to slack off while I was waiting. When I was finally able to register for my ATT, reality hit me. I picked up a book, downloaded UWorld which is what everyone recommended and went to studying only to figure out I had holes in my knowledge everywhere. I didn't know where to start and what to study.

Come time for my first NCLEX exam I failed at 75 and was very disheartened but felt that I deserved to fail since I didn't study hard enough. Between my first and second test I did more UWorld questions, failed but at 87. Realized that I was atleast getting somewhere.

In between my second and third take, I had finished all of the Uworld Qbank and had done the predictor test and got a very high chance to pass. I failed for a third time and at 75. I didn't know what to do at that point but I knew I couldn't give up. People also mentioned something about Kaplan review. I had a few friends that took it but half of the things I heard about Kaplan were mixed.

At this point I wanted to just use anything that could help me. So i subscribed to the Online course with with live classes and content reviews. I watched all 322 content videos, took the 7 day live courses, watched the live recording of different topics, took most of their tests and finished more than half their Qbank. I was getting 50s roughly 60s on the Qbank tests and 50s on the Practice tests and I felt like I was doing OK.

Three months have passed since the third time I took it so I felt like it was about time to try my hand again. Took it my fourth time and PASSED at 101. This time I felt like I earned it. Kaplan helped me pass the NCLEX however Uworld did slightly help with the more basic questions. The main thing I want to point out is the amount of failures that help me realize that I wasn't studying hard enough. Failure is what kept me going and is what humbled me throughout the studying process.

For all of my fellow international graduates, a high percentage of you will fail the first time. Just don't give up and study. Eventually you WILL PASS be it your first time, fourth time, or even your 20th time.

John Paul Barasona, BSN RN

Thanks for posting this! Very inspiring. I'm like you, US born and raised but studied nursing in England. The CGFNS process about did my head in. Now I'm gearing up to take the NCLEX for the second time in a week. I'm using Kaplan review too. Although, working as a nurse and raising a family has made studying very difficult. So at this point I am barely through Phase 1. But I hope to stick with it and preserver! And congrats to you!

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