I said that I would post here if I passed nclex. well I took the nclex RN 5/16/2015. After 75 questions the screen went blank! I was like holly S@#$ I did not even get my first break yet! I turned off my question counter and did not realize I answered that many questions. So, I gathered my self and cried like a baby in my car. My first attempt, march 25 shut off at 75 so I was devastated when it happened again. I started blaming myself and questioning my ability to become a nurse. Therefore, all weekend, to scared to do the pvt trick which works, tried it the first time and it took my money $200 bucks that I did not have at that time it was my freaking rent money ugh! anyways, I waited all weekend, longest 48 hrs of my life, because I would contemplate doing the trick but I was just to freaking nervous. Going over different scenarios in my head about questions I could have missed and how many, just was a terrible weekend. Therefore, after the long wait paid for the quick results which our state (Michigan) participates in, and it read status PASS! I screamed to the top of my lungs and said thank god you helped me pull that off, I am a RN now....
Those of you getting prepared to take nclex these forums are great but you have to find your on path what worked for me may not work for you. My first attempt I used Hurst and Kaplan which are good review courses, however, it just wasn't enough for me. It could have been I did not put enough time and effort in to it, I mean you spend 2 long years in school and pass, you should be able to pass nclex right? wrong not me. My second attempt and this is what I did to get me over the hump and pass in 75 questions. And if your not ready to put yourself out there and pass this exam I do not even want you to waste your time reading this, because my study preparation the 2nd time was like a marathon race, no joke! Ready here we go.
I had to revamp my way of studying and thinking. I have children 3 boys and work full time as a cashier a wall mart, so if I can do this anyone can I mean anyone. 1st, I used NCSBN this time, 5 week course! must have because they right the exam and no you will not see any of there questions on your exam. However, the format of the question are the same. Your nclex will sound like NCSBN.... and Kaplan to you can tell they collaborate this questions together not Saunders to easy. IF your getting 60's on saunders you need a content review course like NCSBN OR HURST NOT KAPLAN (DESCISON TREE SUCKS) you are getting 60 and 70 on kaplans questions and 70-80 on NCSBN your doing great and will pass no problem there questions are far more difficult than Saunders. I went from studying 3x a week 3hrs a day, to 7 days a week 5-7hrs a day, and I have kids you study at the peak of your learning ability, I have no peak I got to work to put food on the table got to study when I can, MIDNIGHTS! with my favorite CNS stimulant red bull! I went through the entire content review every single word every last question. about 1400 questions. I struggled with safety and infection control and Management of care so I read it twice and re took the quizzes and post tests. I am happy I did the bulk of my test was on those two categories. I watched all the hurst videos for clarifications on diseases I had trouble remembering like ESRD end stage renal disease or ADDisons or Cushings all three were on my nclex by the way. everytime I complete a section of NCSBN I would do there quiz and post test and correlate using Kaplan q bank question for the category I just read up on. 50 questions each time. Until I completed the entire q bank with rationals, you must not just read the rational you must understand why they came up with that answer and do not move on until you get it, you have plenty of time don't schedule your nclex unless you have done this. I reference saunders for more clarification on certain things like breaking down cirrhosis and jaundice or sickle cell anemia, Acute pancreatitis or GERD hurst does over them but not much detail that I needed. This is a must Have book, PDA 3rd edition, I completed all 18 chapter and two of the case studies. One chapter a day no matter what. Its cool because its only about 25 questions per chapter, So get this book I barrowed mine from the library for 3 weeks. Nclex mastery app on my I phone, when your at the doctors off at church! lord you know I have to study. do questions, I finished about half of those just doing everyday activities (daily bathroom run if you know what I mean). Exam cram questions on my break at work. This is a great book because it comes with a CD and it mimics CAT testing and shows if your above the passing line or below just like the real nclex 24 dollars amazon. Lastly, pharmacology, my 1st attempt I felt like I did not know any of the meds on there. This time I used NCSBN flash card med app for my phone and no matter what like clockwork I pick a drug classification like anti diabetics and it gives you like 10 drugs to choose from, No kidding I did a classification every single day no matter what. Doing this I was able to recognize every drug I was asked, no kidding, I had maybe 10 or 11. All in all, I completed 4875 questions and read a mile of literature. So unless you a super smart, which I am definitely not, you must put yourself out there if you want to pass this exam and become and RN its not about test taking strategies and all of that crap, Know you content and eliminate answers that are wrong giving you a percentage chance to guess the answer if you don't know it. Like, a 12 year old with sickle cell anemia is being assessed by the nurse, which finding might the nurse see in this patient? Jaundice, Increase BUN and Creatinine, Vomiting or acromegaly. These are upper level questions that you can possibly see and must be able to answer. At first I was like what the f^%K, then I took a deep breath relaxed, eliminated answers 2 and 4 they have noting to do with my red blood cells, so I crossed them out, so whats the best answer between Jaundice or vomiting hum!! I thought anemia breaking down my red cells liver is very vascular organ causing bleeding or just vomiting which I can give some fluids and he will be alright I am going with the killer answer the one that putting my patient in the most danger. I am picking Jaundice. And that ultimately is the answer, So even though my analogy of the question was way off the real reason jaundice was the answer, I was able to breakdown that question using simple content and eliminating wrong answers. My first thought was where the Pain, so I can hydrate this person. You will not get a license if you cant breakdown a question and you cant know that with out and excellent content review. NCSBN helped the most. But hurst and Saunders breaks down the diseases processes better and Kaplan has the best overall difficult questions so when you get to nclex it doesn't seem that hard. And I prayed every single day and I still crammed the night before only going over the points to remembers inside NCSBN. Thank you for reading this post, If I can pass with a c average in nursing school and after a 1st failure anyone can, even the person on here who has like 6 attempts stay strong you can do this you all are capable, god bless you all from me and the good lord above. Thank you.
Thank you to all of the wonderful people who replied to that crazy post of mine. You guys are the true force and reason why I was able to pass on my 2nd attempt. I hope my post has inspired others to work hard to achieve there goals and not just nursing, but life itself...God bless you all!
Please do not schedule your exam unless you are ready. The nclex is tricky but doable. ATI is a great course, you should do just fine. I did about the same amount of questions per day, all above passing questions. With those questions make sure your understanding the rationals because the writers of the nclex get there info from all the resources that we are using they just re-word the hell out of the question, but if you know your material they can't trip you up on distractors that they put in place to make you use nursing judgement. Every one who takes this exam will get 50% wrong, that was a tough pill to swallow for me, but if you get 1/2 of the difficult questions correct you're ok. Think higher level. And utilize the dry erase board they give you to breakdown you analysis or application questions these are the difficult ones...Good luck!
Thank you so much!!! I was worried that I only have ATI as my primary resource because I see on here a lot of people do the Kaplan Q bank but I don't have the money to spend on Kaplan I have a lippincott book, the nclex mastery and ATI. I have also been doing the La Charity questions I completed all the delegation my next goal is to do the Prioritization which is about 385 questions I think. My problem is feeling sleepy whenever I start doing questions lol I guess nursing school has drained me. I am not allowed to schedule a date for the NCLEX until I get the green light from my Virtual ATI coach (a rule stipulated by my school).
Your post gave me hope. I took m NCLEX on 5/15/15 and just walked for graduation on the 17th. I still haven't gotten my results, and my friends that took it on the 14th, and 18th had their names show on the CA breeze website. I'm certain I failed. I went up to 223 questions and had a bunch of SATA's and so on. My school used ATI, and we had to pass our ATI exit exam to graduate. I passed my exit exam back on March 27th, and was enrolled in virtual ATI. I pretty much hit benchmark on all the categories, but didn't pass the final predictor which we needed a 72% on. I got a 65% and didn't want to wait two weeks to take the predictor again since I already scheduled my NCLEX between that time. So I just read all the rationales and retook all the assessments on ATI, and did about 1000+ questions on NCSBN's question banks on my friend's account. I also retouched on some stuff on the Saunder's book, and did a bunch of questions from there. I'm pretty devastated, but all I can do now is just laugh it off and work harder next time. No excuses. Good luck on your future career, you're going to be a great nurse. Reading your post just gives me motivation for next time. Thank You
You may have passed, 223 doesn't mean that you failed it just means that the writers of the test needed a little more information from you. Think positive, Know that you did your best and whatever happens, happens. Your study regimen was great, you did what you could do. With that being said, I have a couple of friends who had that exact same number of questions, no kidding, I am not trying to make you feel better or build up your confidence, two friends, one timed out at 223 and passed and the other 223 and the computer shut off to find out they passed also. Hey, have you try the PVT trick?....I did on my 1st attempt, but not on my second I waited for the quick results.
don't worry please!!! when you worry that's when you start to second guess yourself and your scores with ati are impressive. If you have time while your waiting for the green light. Lippincott has a free trial for two weeks called Passpoint and its computer adaptive as well, It also is a great indicator of where you are currently. I wasn't able to do many questions, but I passed, so I did not mention that one in my post. I only achieved Mastery level 4 in about 2 days due to my exam. They say if you have achieved level 8 you will pass. However, I think you are ready, claim that RN status, you got this and keep that same confident attitude while taking the exam and be prepared to take the entire 265, so if you get less you will feel better.
MegGusta
65 Posts
BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! *does the cabbage patch in your honor*