How to pass NCLEX, cause I've done it twice.

[Dudestudent]

I wanted to write a bit about my opinions on NCLEX. Some background. Nursing is a second career for me and before going into it, it had not been a life long dream. I'm a married guy with a kid so it's not something that I've ever been encouraged to do. But I digress. I went to LPN school in 2012 and took NCLEX-PN in January 2013. I immediately started taking classes and working full time as an LPN. I graduated with my nursing degree in May of this year, took NCLEX RN and am now employed, full time, as an RN. There are a lot of videos and comments online, the gist of which is, " STUDY TO DEATH AND TAKE QUESTIONS UNTIL YOUR FINGERS BLEED". Also, buy every book and immerse yourself in an NCLEX bath.

I think this is fundamentally wrong. I'll try to explain a somewhat different strategy.

1. CALM THE HELL DOWN!!! I know, I know, easier said than done. You've just spent between 1-4 years, tens of thousands of dollars, and countless hours preparing for this one test. From day one, you've been told about the importance of this test. Without a license, your degree is useless. You need to actively work to let that go. Read the stories about the people that failed. They invariably speak of fear and panic. Stress that builds and drowns out the one part of your brain that you actually need to pass. Your rational, critical thinking.

2. This ain't your normal test. Every test that you have ever taken has been finite. That is to say, a known number of preselected questions. If you've taken computer tests, those questions may have been randomized, but they were the same questions. NCLEX is not like that. Every question answered, changes the next question asked. If you get it right, it then gives you a question that it thinks you have a 50/50 chance of getting. One implication of this is that you could pass while getting ALMOST HALF THE QUESTIONS WRONG. Think about that. How many tests in nursing school did you get a 60% or less on, I'm gonna guess, none.The other implication is that by doing great, you're gonna get questions that you are very unlikely to get right. This leads to the inevitable feeling of "What the hell is that".

3. Stop reading every book in existence. Stop memorizing every type of cancer. Stop thinking that filling your head with the most obscure facts, is going to help you pass. It won't. The NCLEX is designed to establish the fact that you, as a new nurse, seem like you won't kill someone on day one. It doesn't indicate that you are a repository of all nursing knowledge. You can't be that, nobody is. Remember when you met your first OB nurse? She's been doing it for years. Can tell when a baby is gonna be born by listening to the screams. Take her and put her in oncology. She would be lost. Her expertise was gained through experience, not books. You have none of that experience and NCLEX knows this.

4. It's about thinking and analyzing, that's what we're paid for. I could teach anyone how to put in a catheter or an NG tube, probably fairly quickly. We are not employed for the skills we know or for the facts we learned, we are employed to think and respond. We are needed to be the one who says "something is wrong with this situation, I'm calling the doctor at 3 am, and I don't care if he's pissed." Here's and interesting stat: the pass rate for NCLEX with and associates degree is about 83%, the pass rate with a bachelor's, is about 85%. Two whole extra years gets you only a 2% higher pass rate. That is proof that knowing more, is not what it's about.

5.Slow down and read the damned answers. Since you've been drilled in those damned questions from day one, you've become too used to them. It's like driving. You can drive to work and have no memory of actually doing it. This will happen on NCLEX. You'll be chugging along and BAM, you're at question 50. You need to stop, reset, and bring that higher brain function back online. I think people either don't read the questions, or they panic. That's how they fail. They do the thing that you don't want a nurse doing, they stop thinking.

6. Give yourself some credit. The one thing that you've consistently sucked at, is predicting your own failure. You thought you wouldn't get into nursing school. You did. You thought you would suck at clinicals. You didn't. You thought you wouldn't survive one more day of nursing school, and yet, here you are.

During LPN school, our class used Kaplan. During RN school, we used ATI. When school was over. I'm gonna admit it....I didn't study at all. I'm just not a big studier, never have been. If I have a focused section, I'll go over it, but not for hours. I just don't work that way.

It's not about studying, it's about thinking.

Now go pass NCLEX. Truly believe that you can and you will.

Best of luck.