First I want to start off by saying how relieved I am that I never have to take the NCLEX again. And a little about my background I went to an accelerated college, (don't really recommend) nursing is way too hard to cram in 18 months honestly. But regardless I pushed thru and got my ASN! I graduated December 15th 2017 and received my sit pass around January 8th and I bought UWORLD January 9th.
Now, a little about UWORLD. I've heard many great things from nurses that I've shadowed during clinicals mention UWORLD, some have said Kaplan but let's be real I'm a broke nursing student and do not have $300-400 for Kaplan so I took my chance and bought UWORLD $139 for 60 days and 1 Predictor test and I was fortunate enough my school had purchased us HURST and I completed the book and all the video content.
So my life starting January 9th until February 19th was Eat, Sleep, Study, Repeat. Mind you I do have a full-time job so if I wasn't working I was either sleeping or studying. I studied every day for at least 3 hours doing 75-100 questions a day and would watch at least 2 videos of HURST to refresh my mind on content. But let me tell you the rationales on UWORLD are AMAZING. I felt like I have learned things on there that I never learned in school or maybe forgot.
I'm also a flashcard freak so I made flashcards on everything that I wasn't too sure about and studied that. I actually ended up completing all 2,024 questions and had only gotten 769 incorrect I was truly amazed but not convinced, so finally I took my predictor test and I was ranked in the 98th percentile and I had a VERY HIGH chance of passing. I was happy, but still nervous.
Now, I tested on the 20th of February and did not study ANYTHING the day before because if I didn't know it by now I wasn't going to know it. Testing day came I had a healthy breakfast and headed to my testing site, the process was super smooth and once I sat in my chair and finished the tutorial I thought "wow this is it". Remember that you can fail at 75 or you can pass at 75 and that 15 questions are thrown out but you don't know which ones so treat every question like it's your last.
Comparing UWORLD & NCLEX:
Now, I have to admit I did not think NCLEX was easier than UWORLD I truly thought they were the same style and level of questions, the colors they use are even the same. I did see a lot of content that I studied from UWORLD on NCLEX and I was actually very surprised. I did not get any math (thank God because I am awful) no hotspot and no drag and drop. This is why I thought I failed because it was too easy, I did get around 20 SATA, a few peds, a few maternity, priority and a lot of therapeutic communication. All I remember was being at question number 75 and telling myself this could be your last question so you have to answer it right. I answered my question then clicked next and my test was over. I was panicking, I raced home and did the PEARSON TRICK, and got the "Good Pop Up" and I tried it ALL day until 24hours I saw that I had a license number on MQA!!!
ADVICE:
The biggest advice I can give anyone is buy an NCLEX prep, you need to study seeing NCLEX style questions and truly understand what they're asking for and how to choose the BEST answer.
And lastly, always ABC, Safety and go with your gut don't change your answer unless you're 100% sure that's not it. Don't think this is too easy I must be failing, maybe you just really know you stuff! But good luck, and I hope this helped
I haven't had any luck with UWorld. I've taken the test 3 times. I've studied UWorld so much I have all the questions memorized, so it tells me I have a really good chance.
it is not about memorizing the questions from UWORLD but did you understand the why that was correct answer and why others are wrong. Understanding the rationals is very important while preparing fro UWORLD/HURST.
Thanks so much for detailing your study plan and habits. If possible, I would really appreciate it if you could share your Mark Klemick audio and handouts. I was hoping to attend one of his sessions in person, but don't think I'll be able to. My email is [email protected]. Thanks in advance!
K9lover, ASN, RN
507 Posts
Congrats! I just took it ASAP after graduation with no study. I surmised I wanted that two years of RN program fresh in my mind.
I am glad the study worded for you but have seen many for whom the information gets more vague with time and confidence wanes.