Hi Everybody!
I've been reading everything NCLEX-related for a few weeks now, especially here in this forum. I was beyond nervous for this exam and didn't feel like I could prepare myself enough. I wanted to add my story like so many have before, I enjoyed reading those stories and am so glad to finally have my own to tell!
I completed my PN program in mid-July. My school used ATI. Instead of taking the exams along with my curriculum, I chose to save them for the end and use them as a refresher. For about 2 months I read the books, took notes, and passed all of them on the first try except for Peds, which I had to take twice. My last exam, of course, was The Predictor. I scored an 84% which equaled out to a 99% chance of passing the NCLEX on the first attempt.
I rented the Prioritization, Delegation, and Assignment book by Linda LaCharity from Amazon. That saved me about $10 over purchasing it. It had about 5 pages worth of text and the rest was questions. It's a good book, but I felt that it was geared towards RN's rather than LPNs. I've been a CNA & CMA for 6 years so I felt I already knew "enough" about delegating & the scope of practice for LPNs & CNAs that I didn't really need to spend the time on the book. I don't regret not reading the book, but that's just me.
The only thing I used to study was Uworld. (Plus Google & YouTube! Lol!) I absolutely loved Uworld and don't regret a single penny I spent on it! I know its been said over and over, but the RATIONALES are THE REASON to use it! If you don't read the rationales, you're wasting your money. That's where you are going to learn why your answers are right and why the wrong answers are wrong. I probably learned more from why the wrong are wrong than the other way around. I took extensive notes on the rationales in a MS Word document. It seemed to me that after I answered about 300 questions, I wasn't getting as many "new" topics. It was elaborating on the topics I had already touched on.
One of the things that helped to cement things into my brain was to watch YouTube videos. If I came across a disease or something that I couldn't seem to comprehend, I would go to YouTube and look it up there. On YouTube, you will find people talking about their disease, how it affects them, how they cope with it, what makes it worse/flare up, what makes them feel better, what kind of treatments they are going through... It sort of makes the disease real-life rather than something you just read in a book. Those people want others going through the same thing to not feel alone. After the videos, I would go back to my study source and would be better able to understand why we, as nurses, do this or that for our patients.
My paperwork was mailed off to the BON on a Thursdays and I got my ATT the following Friday. I was obsessively checking my email for about 3 days before it came. I scheduled my NCLEX for August 11th, about 10 days later. I received a "reminder" email from Pearson Vue 2 days before my exam, that I felt was super unnecessary. Did they think I forgot?!? The day before my exam, I received another email informing me that my exam was UNSCHEDULED! I immediately went into panic mode. I was on the phone with Pearson Vue within minutes. I was told that they were having a "technical difficulty" at the testing site and my exam was unscheduled to preserve my ATT. They were able to get me rescheduled at another testing site - out of state - an hour and a half away the following Thursday. I stayed positive and decided that I had an extra week to study and just figured God decided there was something else that I hadn't learned yet that I still needed to. I took a day off from studying, because I had not been wasting a single minute of time, and renewed my Uworld subscription for another week.
The days before my exam, I was constantly nauseated. The only thing that helped with that was studying. I had very little appetite and was not getting much sleep. Once I got tired and went to bed, I couldn't sleep and would continue to answer questions from my phone until 2am. This was horrible! I've never been thru anything like this in my life!
I had put together a playlist on my phone of music that made me feel pumped up that I listened to on my drive there. I have an uncanny ability to make any song (even if it's just the chorus) relate to any situation I'm in. My 2 favorites for that day was Fighter by Christina Aguillera and Hollaback Girl by Gwen Stefani. Don't laugh at me! Lol!
I arrived at the testing site on time. The people at Pearson Vue were very friendly. They scanned my palm vein about 47 times, took my picture, and sent me back to the second check-in where I was scanned again and taken to a computer. At this point, I have to say that the NCLEX was JUST like Uworld. It was blue, SATA square boxes, multiple choice round boxes, fill in the blank dosage calc, the put-the-steps-in-order questions. I really think that because it looked so familiar it helped me to be calm. I got 2 EKG strips, 2 of the put it in order questions, and a LOT of SATA. One of my questions had an image and about 10 or so questions later I got the same image with a different question! I had never heard of that happening!
I got 85 questions and my screen went blue. It took me about 2 hours because I was deliberately trying not to rush. I learned that was a bad habit I had when studying. I read my questions twice, read all the answers and made a choice, then re-read my question and answer again before moving on. Once you click Next and move on, you have to let that question go. It's been submitted and you can't change it.
I finished my exam about 9:40am. I raised my hand for the attendant, got my stuff from my locker and drove an hour and a half back home. I don't recommend testing somewhere that takes a long time to get there! Driving there and back home sucked!
I expected my results to be posted on the BON website by the next morning, Friday, but they weren't. Then I thought maybe Friday evening, but they weren't. I was beginning to wonder if I failed and started looking into the CPR you're supposed to get. I had to keep telling myself that I was getting those harder questions and I was shut out at the minimum so there's no way I failed! I woke up Saturday morning at 5:54am, put my thumbprint on my phone and it opened up to the website and my name was already typed in--because that's how I left it the night before! I pushed "submit" and adjusted my eyes to the light and thought the screen looked different than it had the previous 2,657 times I had checked it before! Bolted up in bed and there was name!!!
That was yesterday. Today I'm still trying to adjust to the fact that I don't have to study anymore and that I am now an ACTUAL NURSE!!! I can't believe this day finally came!
I apologize that my post is so long! I always feel that I have to give all the details. Some appreciate it and some don't.
I really wish the best for all of you that are studying. This exam is a big deal and no matter how much you study for it, you're not going to feel prepared. Remember, that they are testing to make sure you are prepared to be an ENTRY LEVEL nurse, not an experienced one. Read up on some process of elimination techniques, ABCs, prioritization, assess first, etc. because you WILL get questions on things you've never heard of and you need something to help you answer them.
This is possible and you CAN do it!! Good luck!!!
