I PASSED NCLEX with 265 Questions!!

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I've used this website religiously and I'm paying it forward now as many previous students/nurses has done.

A brief history about myself and the program (skip if you would like to get to the main part about the NCLEX): I went to a community college for my ADN which consisted of 4 semester (2 fall and 2 springs). I unfortunately didn't pass my 3rd semester by 6 points on my finals so I had to retake it again but first I had to go through a remediation program which consist of me making notes of all the chapters that we learned in 3rd. Roughly a year later, I was called back to see if I was interested in their first ever Summer Accelerated Intersession - I said YES and I started in the next few weeks. we re-did 3rd semester, passed, had 2 weeks of break before starting my last semester, 4th. I passed 4th with a good cushion and graduated on Dec, 2014 with my ADN. Unfortunately, I was told that although I passed the Nursing Program...I'm unable to graduate from my community college because I was missing one Physical Education class.

While everyone started to submit their papers to Sacramento to the board in January and started to take their NCLEX in Feb/March...I was taking my cycling class until May. After I completed the course, I submitted my papers in June, paid all my fees and received my ATT at the end of August...here comes my study session

NCLEX Prep Portion: I made my appointment in October giving me a good month and a half to focus on my study. I study best at libraries versus coffee shops due to noise distractions. I was able to borrow my friend's account on Kaplan and used the practice questions. I also went on UWORLD.COM and used their 14 day trial for more questions. My friend lend me her Kaplan books "Strategies, Practice and Review", "NCLEX-RN Premier 2014-2015" and "Mary Ann Hogan's Reviews and Rationales" I had more resources than I could use.

I found what worked best for me personally was doing questions and reading the rationales. I wrote down any questions or anything that stood out to me on a notepad and referred to it every time (I will list down anything I found important in a bit). I did roughly 75 questions a day and worked up to about 100-150 a day making sure to take breaks. You never know what the NCLEX will give you so do your best and study what you feel is important or anything that stands out.

TEST DAY: My appointment was on a Wednesday at 8am. I did what everyone else said to do...eat well and get a good night sleep. Instead of studying the whole day as I normally did, I reviewed my notes on Tuesday and ended up going to the gym, chose healthier options to eat (fruits, oatmeal, drink lots of water) and ended up going to sleep an hr or two earlier than I normally do. I woke up at 6am, gave myself plenty of time to get ready, ate 4 boiled eggs and got to the testing center at 7:30. I started testing at 8am.

The questions were really basic and easily put. It's not trying to trick you. It wasn't until later when I was down to 2 answer choices because they both sounded good. Make sure you remember safety first and your ABCs. Before starting the test, I wrote down the lab values on a dry erase paper they give you so I can refer to it during the test - or else you will start second guessing yourself if sodium was 135-145 or 1.35 - 1.45..write it down while it's fresh!! I was hoping I would end at 75 but it kept going...135...170...200...240...265. Before I know it, I've done all the questions with 1 restroom break, 36 Select all that applies, no dosage calculations, nothing with hearing or pictures. I walked out of the center stressed and I was already anticipating on failing because once I hit 200, I felt like I didn't know anything.

I went home and didn't bother doing the PVT trick because they've fixed the glitch and some people were charged $200 trying to do the trick. I waited 48 hours, checked breeze.ca.gov and found my name with my licensed number! It goes to show you that even at 265, you can either pass or not pass, have hope and if you need to retake it again...no biggie!!

My NCLEX Notes and Must-Knows:

- Positions post-op, DRUGS DRUGS DRUGS!! The NCLEX gives you generics but know both to be sure (digoxin, lithium, therapeutic levels, etc) LAB VALUES are a must know especially BUN, Cr, RBC, WBC, Cholesterol LDL HDL, CBC Platelets, PTT, APTT, INR, Heparin, Coumadin..know your labs!! Which infections/disease are airborne, droplets, contact, TB. I had several PEDS/OBs so make sure you know your APGAR, GTPALM (pregnancy) Pregnancy Induced Hypertension and Gestational Diabetes. I hope I wouldn't get any PEDS/OB but I did, make sure you study them regardless. I focused my study on hyper/hypo thyroidism and hyper/hypo cortisolism because they both confused me and I noticed they were everywhere on my review questions; it turns out i'm glad I did because I had a few questions on those. Multiple Sclerosis, Myasthenia gravias, Guillian-barre Syndrome.

I hope this was helpful! I tried to keep it short and to the point without leaving out any important details. If you have any questions please feel free to comment and I'll do my best to answer them.

For those wondering what life is like now with the whole job hunting...I'll touch more on that base later as I have crucial information on how to find a job.