I passed! Here's what I did

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Hi all!

I passed my NCLEX last week in 75Qs and have been meaning to write a post to help those who were in the same position as I was. I graduated in May and I was so scared to take this test. I studied for 2.5 months before I took the exam. You will never feel prepared to take the test, so don't freak if your test is coming up and you feel like you have been studying and still feel that you have sooo much to study b/c the test is soo vast to cover absolutely EVERYTHINGG in the history of nursing.

Soooo, here is just a list of things I did to study:

  • PDA by Lacharity: I did every single chapter and read the rationales. (I did it in the computer mode on the evolve website to get a feel of how it would be to take a test on a computer).
  • Kaplan Qbank: I did 100% of the Qbank and had an avg of 60%
  • Saunders NCLEX-RN Comprehensive Review: very helpful to brush up on material that you may have forgotten
  • That 35 page study guide that was floating around on the forum
  • NCLEX apps (free apps that you can find my just searching "nclex" on your iPhone
  • I did about 75-100 practice questions a day, and made sure to REVIEW RATIONALES!

The day before my test, I relaxed and went to go see Guardians of the Galaxy. I agree with others that it is definitely important to rest your mind the day before your test. If you don't know something by the day before your exam, chances are you're not going to learn it now!

I know I am writing so much but I just want to make sure you guys feel confident on your test day because you can do it!! I cried when I left the testing center because I felt there was no way in hell that I passed, but I did, and you can too!

Best of luck to all the future nurses taking the NCLEX!! :snurse: :cat:

P.S. The good pop up worked for me!

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First off, congrats on passing!! and thanks for the tips

i've only used kaplan to review - do you think kaplan is a good enough preparation for the nclex? i watched all the content videos and took notes as my review. I just finished all of the qtrainers and qbank as of today and test this friday

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Hey [COLOR=#003366]Kittycat12 ,

I failed Nclex few days ago.. I am going to use the Hurst videos again.. Kaplan I reset it I am going to use it again with Kaplan strategy book I heard its good.. I have done PDA book before I will review that some more... Hope I do better second time I schedule to take it in 45 days... which strategy you used to answer the questions? Tree Decision it doesn't help much?

Thanks

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Hi hmahdoui

I wanted to ask you how did you reset your kaplan scores. I though you could not do that.

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soonnursetobe I called them I told them I failed.. they gave me another 3 months free and I also going to attend online seminars for two hours for people who are retesting. I emailed the nclex expert team their trying to help me...
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Congrats again Kitty, RN!!!! :yes:

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RN-Joy, Thank you!! and no prob :)

I think Kaplan is really good when it comes to practicing NCLEX type Qs, it definitely helped me to critically think and dissect the Qs to find out what they were asking me. How are your scores on the Qbank and Qtrainers?

Good luck on Friday!!

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Hi hmahdoui,

Im sorry to hear that you didn't pass but best of luck the second time around!! The PDA book really helped me with prioritizing, so thats good that you are using that book. As far as using a strategy to answer the questions, I didn't really have one. Using Kaplan Qbank helped me to understand how to really read and understand nclex type Qs. Doing them in test mode helped and going over rationales helped as well. I did try to use the Kaplan Decision Tree but honestly, I could not follow it. It works for some! But it did not work for me

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Graduatenurse14, Thank you !! And again congrats to you too!! RN!! ;)

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Kitty - thank you!! im really nervous but i don't want to push it back anymore. i was doing bad on the first 4 qtrainers only got a 52 highest and 2 47s. i stopped and started doing content review. finished 100% of qbank w overall 60. my last three qtrainers were 65, 67, and 61. i really dont feel prepared im just basing it off of my last three scores that im ready, hoping it's enough!

how similar to nclex was kaplan for you? im most worried about SATA, i always get those wrong!

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yea, and did you feel like any of the kaplan qbank questions repeated on the nclex?? what about the meds? were they familiar meds like beta blockers, Ace inhibitors etc or were they stuff that you have never heard of and using the suffix didnt help..lol.

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RN-Joy, I'm sure you are more prepared than you think! You're Qbank avg is the same as mine was. People say that Kaplan recommends that you get a 60% or higher on its Qbanks and over 65 on the trainers. I didn't do the trainers, but the fact that you are getting over 65 on the trainers is great! As long as you have been getting progressively better, I would say that's a great sign that you are retaining info and learning how to critically think. People have gotten scores in the 40s-50s, and still passed NCLEX. I thought Kaplan had similar NLCEX like Qs, and i was very worried about SATA as well! I always got those wrong too when I practiced. I did Saunders CD to prac the SATA Qs. I would definitely recommend approaching each potential answer as a T/F situation. That helped me. And once you have determined an answer is either true or false, don't go back! Chances are you thought it was true or false for a reason so don't second guess yourself

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