Published Mar 30, 2015
JoseMaria3
12 Posts
Hello. First of all. a Brief introduction. I am a mexican educated RN, I have 2 yrs experience, I studied english on my own since I was 16. I am 26 yrs old now, and I studied for the NCLEX using KAPLAN ( THE BEST), Saunders, and Hurst. Some of Nclex RN 4000 questions too.
I applied for TEXAS BON
Study material:
Kaplan: The best to get used to the exam structure and to learn strategies to answer the Nclex-style questions. If you can't afford the whole Qtrainers and the online course, just buy the QBank, that's enough to pass as lons as you study every rationale, even though you answer it right! They are about 1300 questions, answer them all. I answered them in 10 days. Don't freak out at the beginning from your scores. My worst scores were 24% and 35% at the beginning. After that, my last 6 to 7 scores with the last 400 questions were over 60. You will do great after a couple of days if you study hard!!!!!!! Like 5-8 hours a day or even more if you can. Aim for a 60.
Saunders: I read it but when I was on page 500 I thought it was too much information to memorize so I decided to study only some common subjects and basic stuff. I also answered about 1300 questions from the CD scoring from 50 to 72% at my last practice tests made of 100 questions each one.
Hurst: I did not study the questions, just important stuff from the Book Review. You can get good advices to pick up the right answer when you don't know it, specially at Pharmacology questions. GOSHH!! I got many of them.. I HATED IT!!
Also practiced many questions from the online software called 4000 or 4500 questions, something like that. Very useful too.I think I answered an overall of 3000 or more questions to study for the NCLEX, the more you practice, the better.
NCLEX -RN DAY
As I live in Monterrey, Mexico, I had to travel to Texas by bus (5 hours drive) stayed at a hotel in Harlingen , Tx and then I took the test the next day. I could not sleep a night before. I slept all the afternoon and then woke up at 1:00 am and started studying and practicing like lab values, cranial nerves, basics of nursing, you know, general stuff. If you have just few more hours of study before your test, do not focus on the specific areas, but the most general.
I arrived at the test center at 7:30 after a 30 minutes walk from the hotel, I felt weird walking alone at that hour. My test started at 8:00. You know, the test did not seem to me so difficult as I thought or as most people say. Kaplan seems harder to me. I was almost sure that the computer would shut off at 75 with a passing score, but it didn´t!!!!!!. I was schoked when I saw the number 76 on my screen. I said to myself, This means that the software is not sure that I have the minimIum competency level to be a RN yet. So I decided to FOCUS!!!!! I read every question more than 5 times before answering. I got about 15-20 SATA, 5 drag and drop, order and pictures, 2EKG, about 3 maths and about 14 -15 pharmacology questions, I know, they were a lot, I heard that most of the test takers get no more than 5 pharm questions. I got about 7 priority quest too, no delegation.
And then the moment came, I answered the 82nd questions and the BLUE SCEEN !!!!!! I was finished!!!After 2.5 hours. I was almost sure I passed. I don't know, I felt like I guessed only about 10 -12 questions from all of them. And I was quite sure I got most of the rest of the questions right. But as long as I got home a friend told me what happened to her, that if I left the test center feeling that I had passed it meant that I failed because I never got the hard questions... I started to doubt , then, feeling worse and discouraged. Then I tried the PVT and guess what????? Yesssss, I got the GOOD POOP UP!!!!!!!! 48 hours later I paid 7 dlls for my fast results, and yes, indeed, I PASSED!!!!!! I am just waiting for my License number from the BON, it takes about 3 weeks as I know.
My advice. If you are an american or an international nurse, YOU CAN PASS IT, do not let other posts or people to discourage you because even though you don't get the best practice scores "at the beginning" and if you leave the test center feeling that you did good, it has nothing to do with your chances to PASS of FAIL. Trust yourself and you will get it!
Now I am a RN, I had to learn a language to achieve this goal, you only have to practice on your own language, it is MUCH MORE THAN POSSIBLE as long as you STUDY HARD!!!!!!
God bless you all new RNs. Soon will be going to America.
P.S. I know my english needs improvement, I am typing really fast. LOL. Sorry for that.
ChazzW
161 Posts
congrats to you & welcome to the Registered Nurse community. Make us proud & enjoy the journey.
Stitch3296
104 Posts
Congratulations!!! And thank you for sharing encouragement and how you studied
claire628
16 Posts
Thanks for the encouragement I really needed it right now since i feel bummed with my kaplan scores made me feel discouraged.