I've been a lurker for the past 4 days while dreadfully waiting for my results (took the test on 7/3). You just don't know how much the kind words of support, even though not for me personally, have helped me get through those "darkest" days of my life. After the shock of getting 75 qs wore off, I was virtually catatonic. Just thinking about how I would make it by guessing my way out of a test sucked the life out of me. If I manage to become lucid, it won't be for long, coz then I would be either be anxious/crying ad nauseam. In short, I was your perfect nut case. There was something about 75 qs that made me uncomfortable. While many think of it as a good thing, my second-guessing nature always veered toward the thought that if I fail at 75, then it's got to be real bad. I guess what pulled me through is reading people's experiences and this is why I am doing the same thing. I remember getting SATAs every 3-5 frames (I purposely didn't keep tabs because I have sheer hatred for those kinds of qs and knowing exactly how many of these I got will drive me nuts after the fact), I had tons of infection control, prioritization, delegation, teaching on meds (in fairness, I have a good number of recognizable drugs more than foreign-sounding ones) and one med calculation (mcg/kg/min for a certain weight, with a certain dose on hand). I also remember that neuromuscular and endocrine disorders and geri changes stood out in my set. With regard to prep, I went for Kaplan complete. My QTs weren't all that great (QT1 59, QT2 61, QT3 57, QT4 59, QT5 62, QT6 58, QT7 58) and Qbank 67%. I had to delay my exam for 2 more days just so I can get over the negative impact of these scores (one day spent just going through all my 2-inch thick notecards one more time - by the grace of God I found myself really poring over infection control and endocrine disorders). For content, I read Kaplan (cover to cover) with Saunders as supplement when Kaplan gets too general. With meds, it helped that I learned side effects as a group and recognizing the drugs through endings (I don't think it is even humanly possible to know each of them individually - just do the best you can with the major ones). And it all passed. Just wanted to say that this website became practically my lifeline, after I've exhausted other means (friends and family can only take so much:chuckle). At 2 AM today, my husband broke the good news to me (he said our dog woke him up even before his alarm clock went off for 3AM - the time he says when BON does its batch processing). I am in Cali, we could check our names out from the BON website and the recent holiday added 2 days to the agony. He has since went back to bed while I decided to watch the daybreak...my first day as an RN. To everyone, it is okay to come out of it feeling very unsure and beaten. While you may have thought you have guessed all the way through, believe that these are thoughtful, educated guesses backed by years of Nursing school. I am proud of all of you who make the big trip to the testing center to tackle NCLEX by the horns -- no matter what the results are. That is sheer courage and success in itself. We can all do it.
AD MAJOREM DEI GLORIAM! (that is what my username means)
