first, let me preface this by saying that it was not an easy task. i graduated in late april and took two weeks off to prepare for the birth of my baby, so i did not study at all during that time.
i signed up for hurst online the third day home from the hospital. i really enjoyed the online review and materials provided by hurst. i initially signed up to test on june 9th, but my baby had other intentions.
i simply did not feel as prepared as i should've, so i pushed the test date back to the 25th of june. this gave me plenty of time to go through the entire review and 5th day materials. this past week i browsed this forum for any helpful tips to prepare for nclex and came across the infection mnemonic as well as the random fact throwing thread. the infection mnemonic is invaluable and really came in handy during testing i also used saunders 4th edition. i did about 600 practice questions this week, and took one practice test the day before the test and scored a 68%.
the test itself was very straight forward. the test questions were short compared to saunders. i still left feeling like i failed though. the computer shut off after 105 questions. i tried to keep telling myself that there were 15 pilot questions and that i stood a good chance of passing. regardless of what anyone tells you, you still feel pretty crappy.
i went straight home and tried the pvt. i got the first pop-up that indicated 'the candidate currently has test results that are on hold. a new registration cannot be created at this time.' i started panicking, so i called my friend from nursing school for guidance. she told me to chill and try it again. i finally tried again and got the "good pop-up," 'our records indicate that you have recently scheduled this exam. please contact your member board for further assistance. another registration cannot be made at this time.' i was ecstatic, yet i still checked that damn pvt every hour on the hour! i couldn't be convinced.
i finally received my 48 hour quick results exactly 48 hours after the time i signed up to test-i passed!!!! it still feels surreal.
it has been a long, strenuous journey, but it is possible! good luck to all of you!
i also used saunders 4th edition. i did about 600 practice questions this week, and took one practice test the day before the test and scored a 68%. 
dream& achieve
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