I passed in 254 Questions first try!

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Specializes in Acute care-Rehab.

I was one of those who were absolutely TERRIFIED of this exam. The month leading up to it, it was a bit surreal, so I basically just paced myself. I tried to do at least 60-120 questions a day. I based my studying off of those questions I answered.

Side note: Personally, I don't think the amount of questions you do specifically helps you to pass, it matters on whether you understood the rationale. If I didn't get it right, I'd search through all of my books to find the answer and understand it thoroughly.

For prep I used VATI tutor/ATI question codes that I used throughout nursing school, Saunders book 6th edition, NCLEX 3500 (look for it by googling), and Davis' NCLEX-RN Success cd.

During NCLEX I got tons of SATA, prioritization (some were SATA), a few delegation, a few labs, 4 EKGs, no math, a couple of diet, and a couple of meds.

Besides content, I think the MOST IMPORTANT thing to know is how to prioritize (who should you go see first?), delegation, and labs.

I was also one of those that feared SATA, but I was told to look at every answer and determine if it's true or false. That's how I got through those.

I wish the best of luck to those preparing to take for the first time and those who have to try again. You will get through this! I know the night before I felt nervous (and you will too). Just relax, do some light exercise, have faith, pray, and believe in yourself! If you get nervous during the exam (which I did as well, lol) just take a couple of seconds and do a brief breathing exercise. That always seemed to calm myself enough to continue. & please take your time! Don't rush and don't pay attention when people are leaving. When I finished my test was when I realized I was the only one left in the room, lol.

If you go pass 75 questions and it didn't shut down, that means you are still in the game! So hit the ball out of the park! You got this!!!!!! :):cool::nurse:;)

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Specializes in Maternal Newborn.

Congratulations!! So happy for you. :)

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Specializes in Acute care-Rehab.
Congratulations!! So happy for you. :)

Thank you so much!!!

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Congrats!!! Thanks for the tips!!!

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Specializes in Acute care-Rehab.
Congrats!!! Thanks for the tips!!!

You're welcome! & thank you!! Best of the best of luck to you!

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

Congratulations! That's quite an accomplishment! I also used the T/F method of answering the SATA. I found that method to be particularly useful. As to doing questions, I also did about 100 questions per day, but I focused my efforts on being able to pick apart the questions so that I could ensure that I was reading the questions correctly and understand what it was actually asking. Sure, I was looking at rationales, but I was also making sure I was reading the questions for any key words and phrases that might relate to how the answer might be found.

I'm not 100% sure that worked, but it had the effect of slowing me down a bit so that I wouldn't blaze through questions and answer the question I thought I read vs what actually was asked.

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Specializes in Acute care-Rehab.
Congratulations! That's quite an accomplishment! I also used the T/F method of answering the SATA. I found that method to be particularly useful. As to doing questions, I also did about 100 questions per day, but I focused my efforts on being able to pick apart the questions so that I could ensure that I was reading the questions correctly and understand what it was actually asking. Sure, I was looking at rationales, but I was also making sure I was reading the questions for any key words and phrases that might relate to how the answer might be found.

I'm not 100% sure that worked, but it had the effect of slowing me down a bit so that I wouldn't blaze through questions and answer the question I thought I read vs what actually was asked.

Thank you!!! :)

That's actually a good point! It's VERY important to look for the keyword. I forgot to add that in my entry. Lol. When I first started out in nursing school, I use to do horrible in answering nursing questions and that was one of the main things that I didn't do.

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