I just took the NCLEX - PN, my thoughts.

Nursing Students NCLEX

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I feel like burning most the LVN review books I bought as they did me no good what-so-ever on the NCLEX. The questions I got came out of left field. Stuff that wasn't taught in school like post mordum care for jewish men and questions about the Buhdist faith. I couldn't believe the questions I got. It felt like I guessed at half the questions. What a terrible feeling I have now. I have went threw the ENTIRE Saunders LNV review book and cd TWICE, that's 6,000 questions, as well as the kaplan review book, "lvn made easy", and the mosby cd. Total review questions and rationales done exceeded 8,000. Yet it didn't help me at all. Yes I read the rationales for ALL the questions/ answers. The NCSBN.ORG review was the only thing that helped me as the questions were similar to the NCLEX.

The VAST majority of question were priority questions. I had learned all the tricks to answer these in the Kaplan book. Only one big problem....the priority questions in kaplan are a complete joke (very easy) compared to the actual NCLEX ones which were brutal.

My computer shut off at 85 and I am positive I got the 85th question wrong because I looked it up when I got home. I hear if the computer stops at 85 and you miss the last question ...you most likely failed if you weren't doing so hot. I wanted to throw up when I left the testing center.

So hear I sit and have to wait 3 weeks to get result in CA. I will start checking the LVN board website next week, but I have a bad feeling my name won't be up there and I will have to take the NCLEX again.

O.K.- about an hour after my last post I checked my mail, and the letter was there. I can't believe I passed! I really thought I failed. and I got it in 16 days! No more waiting!!!!!!! I truly hope for the same for all of you- may your letter come fast and be filled with good news!

:balloons:

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Specializes in Knuckle Dragging Nurse aka MTA.
O.K.- about an hour after my last post I checked my mail, and the letter was there. I can't believe I passed! I really thought I failed. and I got it in 16 days! No more waiting!!!!!!! I truly hope for the same for all of you- may your letter come fast and be filled with good news!

:balloons:

nice , thats wonderful!!! I sure hope I get the same result.

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Specializes in LTC.

Way to go, pine!!! Keep hanging in there, Big B.

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wow thanks so much for your support and congrads to pine who passed!:balloons: ..well im gonna just have to count down..16 days it is..hopefully...and good luck BigB...i feel the same way i ended up guessing alot as well..but we will see what happens keep me in touch.

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Specializes in Knuckle Dragging Nurse aka MTA.
wow thanks so much for your support and congrads to pine who passed!:balloons: ..well im gonna just have to count down..16 days it is..hopefully...and good luck BigB...i feel the same way i ended up guessing alot as well..but we will see what happens keep me in touch.

Yes, let the count down begin. I should get somethingin the mail between dec. 15 - 22. I hear big envelope = BAD, small envelope from the boards = good. I guess the big envelope will have a new aplication and paper work. While the smaller evelope from the boards contains the short but sweet "you passed" letter.

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Specializes in LTC.

Makes me think of when I got my CNA license. In CO you have to pass both a written and practical exam (thank GOD we don't have to do that as nurses!!!). During the practical, you have to pass four skills that are randomly selected from a list of 16, plus handwashing. You have 25 minutes to complete all four, and if you forget to do certain critical components or fail to complete the tasks in the 25 minutes, you automatically fail. Most tasks are performed on actors playing elderly patients and an evaluator follows you around making notes on a clipboard. I took my test a couple of days before Christmas.

The written part of the test was so easy that I think anybody coming in off the street could have passed, but I was sweating bullets when the time came for the practical...we all know about performance anxiety from having to pass labs! :uhoh21: I did the tasks which were pretty easy ones, but I felt like I could have done better. I was just about done with the last task when the evaluator told me time was up; I assumed I had automatically failed because I ran out of time and expressed something to that effect to the evaluator. She just smiled and said "Maybe you did better than you thought..." I didn't take much stock in what she said, though.

New Year's Eve I came home from my friend's house at 1:00 am and there was a letter from the CO BON. I was almost too afraid to open it, but when I did, it said I passed. I literally fell to the floor in relief...I had convinced myself THAT MUCH that I was going to have to re-take the practical part of the test. To this day I still don't know how I managed to pass.

So there ya go...not that I think you need a miracle, Big B; you are obviously intelligent and put the work into preparing for the NCLEX. But just keep the faith and all will go well for you and remember to enjoy the season!

:Holly3:

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Yes, I received a plain white business envelope from Ca Consumer affairs- BOVN. I thought it was too early to get my results, so I figured they were telling me something was wrong with my fingerprints, or some other problem had come up. If I had thought it was my test results, I would have been too nervous to open it!

I used my waiting time to decide which jobs to apply for and work hard on my resume and cover letter, and studied the mission statement of the hospital I want to work for. I even had a backup plan to work as an ER tech or other tech/ unit clerk type job if I failed, because at least I knew what the test was like now, and could maybe study more effectively the next time. On the other hand, I knew that everyone else from my program had passed so far, so my ego was gonna be crushed if I was the one of the group who didn't pass. When I found out that the two people in our program who barely made it through, they practically flunked every test, actually passed the nclex, I relaxed alot. If they could pass it, it can't be as hard as it seemed to me. Our program was a small rural one- we started out with 24 students, ended with 13 surviving the course. We never did any kind of pre-tests, or much of anything to study or prepare for the nclex. We were all really scared, because we thought we were so unprepared. Right now we have a 100% pass rate, with 2 students left who have not taken the test.

I used a Springhouse Publishing Nclex study guide with CD that I got on sale, and started occassionally hitting it about once a week, about 8 months before graduation. About two months before graduation, I got another CD from a friend, Lippencott, that had an additional 2000 questions on it. I used both of those for hours each day after I graduated, leading up to the test. My best buddy from school got a Saunders study guide, and we would get together each weekend and do about 3 hours of questions from that. It sounds like alot writing it, but at the time it didn't seem like it, we took it pretty casual. When we would try to answer the questions from Saunders, we barely knew the answer to 1 out of ten questions, and started getting a sinking feeling that there was no way we were going to pass the test. But we kept doing it, and looked up all the answers for each question, and I think the Saunders guide was the best of the bunch. Even just looking up the answers helped alot. I do know that a couple of the questions I got on the nclex were exactly the same as questions I had on one of my practice cd's, but I have no idea which it was, and I do not want to go back and look for them, or ever touch those things again!

When I got home from the test, a one hour drive during which I cried off and on, I wrote down every question I could remember, to help me study for the next test. I was that sure I had choked. For the last two weeks I had been trying to decide which lower level job to apply for, and trying to figure out how I was gonna say in my interviews that I graduated an LVN program, but failed the test, and needed a job to sustain me while I kept trying to pass. Ugh.

So now I'm wondering which jobs to apply for- I am going on next year to an RN step up program, and I would like to end up either in the ER or OR. So do I go for the LVN job, ortho, nights, $23.00 an hour!, to get the standard floor experience, or do I take try for the lower paid jobs in the areas where I want to end up to get the specialty lined up for later. hmmm. I figure if I work in the ER or OR, it will not help me much in preparing for RN clinicals, but trying to get to a specialty from standard floor jobs is hard too. The floor job would definitely help with RN clinicals. :uhoh21: This just keeps swirling around my head, and I can't make up my mind.

Sorry about the long post- I'm trying to put the study thoughts out there for people about to test, and got carried away. Anyway, my feeling has always been I'm going to be a nurse no matter what, and failing the nclex would suck, but in the long run it's just an expensive bump in the road, because I'm doin this nurse thing no matter what! I just wish they could find a way to make the test less expensive; at the point where nursing school has completely drained your bank account, and most people are between jobs, is not a good time to ream you for money like this. Ours costs about $466.00. That is insane! I am flat broke now, and I would have to find a job and save for a couple of months to retake the test. I say flunkers should get a giant discount on a retake!

So- hang in there. Your gonna pass. Just know it. If something else happens, you will deal with it and come out a winner in the end. Spend this time making backup plans, and getting everything in order for either ending. You will be a nurse- You have graduated your program, so nothing more can stop you- Congratulations! You have already accomplished so much!

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Specializes in Knuckle Dragging Nurse aka MTA.

I liked the long post hehe. Right now I am feeling better about my chances of passing. I felt ok after the test, it wasn't until I got hom and had time to think about the test that I realized "oh my , I might not have past." I think the problem stemed from me remebering all the questions I missed , and not the ones I got right.

I just don't know how I would deal with failing the test and having to face people at work (they all know I took the ncelx). But I do have a plan B, C and D actually. LOL. I have always looked been the type of guy to plan for the future so I am not in shock if bad news comes. It just gets stressful when you have a good job lined up and all you need is your LVN to get it.

I actually read something in the NCLEX booklet that I got that really made me feel better. It stated that people that pass and fail the nclex get about 50% of the questions right. This is soo reasuring as I thought I had to answer 75% of the questions correctly to pass the NCLEX.

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Specializes in Knuckle Dragging Nurse aka MTA.

It's getting hard to sleep at night not knowing if I passed the NCLEX. I have so much on my mind now , it's unfortunate that in california we have to wait 2 - 4 weeks to get our results. It really slows things down as far as lifes plans. I want to know if I failed so I can start studying agin, or if I passed so I can start persuing my new job.

Popcorn, how are you holding up?

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I just took my NCLEX today, I almost pass out. I stop at 160 something. Mostly priority and fallow up ? I'm very nervous now that I know for sure I have to wait 4 weeks to get the result since I'm in CA. I just can't get over it. :confused: Hopefully, I can sleep tonite. I feel exactly like BigB. The NCLEX Saunders book didn't help and same as DelMar's.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

My NCLEX-PN exam is scheduled for December 28. I don't feel that I am completely ready, but this is the second time I rescheduled it. I have also been studying an average of 2 to 4 hours per day, which may seem like overkill. I know I can't keep putting this test off.

I pray that you all pass so that the anxiety will turn to joy. I pray that I pass, too. :confused:

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Specializes in Knuckle Dragging Nurse aka MTA.
My NCLEX-PN exam is scheduled for December 28. I don't feel that I am completely ready, but this is the second time I rescheduled it. I have also been studying an average of 2 to 4 hours per day, which may seem like overkill. I know I can't keep putting this test off.

I pray that you all pass so that the anxiety will turn to joy. I pray that I pass, too. :confused:

Thanks commuter,

I recommend you take it on december 28 for a couple of reasons. First, the longer a person waits after graduating to take the NCLEX, the lower the pass rate is. I believe the stats are 80% pass rate if taken before 4 months of graduating, 70% after 6 months and 40% after 1 year. Second, we tend to forget nursing things after being out of school for awhile.

I studied for 3-4 hours a day myself. I did about 8,000 review questions before taking the NCLEX. I took the test 4 months after graduating from LVN school, but started reviewing very lightly 10 months before the my NCLEX. By very lightly I mean doing 20 questions from the Suanders review book/ cd a day.

During the month before my test date I was doing 200 review questions a DAY!! from 4 review books. To be honest, waiting another month to take mine wouldn't of helped. Saunders didn't help me much at all. It didn't help because it didn't adress priority-type questions. Which patient to see first. What is the most immportant to report.. etc etc. I had about 50 questions like this.

I highly recommend kaplan and the ncsbn.org online review. They are the closest to the actual NCLEX, and helped me the most. Even if I didn't pass, I will do the online review again. I still have to wait at least 8 more days to get results.

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