If most people feel they failed, how does that benefit anyone?

[kgh31386, BSN, MSN, RN]

First off, I have yet to take the NCLEX, and I'm NOT saying people who guess on any questions are unsafe, stupid, won't be or aren't good nurses, everyone guesses on questions from time to time...guessing on a question doesn't really mean the person taking the test is stupid or doesn't know any material, it may be about the test...so this is a question about the NCLEX and why it is what it is. I see post after post from people who say, "I had questions on drugs and diseases I never heard of!" And when asked how they answered the question, the common response is.."I honestly just guessed, clicked, and moved on". And then you ask them how the test was as a whole and you read a lot of, "I felt like I knew nothing, I guessed on all but 2 of the questions, I felt horrible the entire time", and they PASS for the most part:)(congrats to all who pass btw!). But then you hear of some people who post that they felt confident, knew the answers as they took the test, knew the material, etc, THEN say that they failed after feeling that they knew the stuff. That somewhat baffles me and I'm not sure what's up with that. I'll leave that for another thread, but what I really want to know...HOW does making a test that makes many people come out feeling as if they guessed on most of it or flat out failed, help anyone? I mean probability wise, there's no way 85% of people can guess on most of a test and pass it. We've had tests in nursing school where more than 50% of the class failed it. So bottom line, that means people must know more than they think they do when taking the NCLEX right?:wink2: They really can't be guessing on a majority of the test can they????? Because if a lot of people are truly (guessing or feeling as if they really have no idea on most of the NCLEX and passing) as they say they do, then how do THEY(the NCLEX people) know or WE even know that we learned anything and are meeting that minimum competence they ask for? I wonder if someone who took the NCLEX, without studying one bit after graduation, would feel any less confident than someone who studied 2-3 months straight??? There's a question for you, has anyone ever just taken it without studying, pass or fail? And to those who took the test and felt as if they failed, do you honestly feel that you guessed on a majority of it, or just some of it? And I'm not saying this about everyone, everyone will have different views of the test they took, but I'm just asking this based on a number of threads in this section.

[swirlything]

If the NCLEX tested only at the passing standard and required you to do well at that level, 85% would still pass, and those people would not walk out feeling as scared as they do with the current system. It's true. It would make a lot of people feel more comfortable during those 48 hours they are waiting for results (or longer in some cases). But nobody is harmed by a couple more days of anxiety.

However, doing it the way it is done, the Boards of Nursing gain more information. Not only do they learn who is safe to practice (because those nurses met the passing standard), they also learn what level of knowledge each tester has. Since they also know what program you went to, they know how good a job of teaching the material each program is doing.

Doing it this way also meant that I only had to sweat through 75 questions instead of 265 questions... something that I really appreciate! It's a bonus for those of us who do really well (or really poorly).

[wintergurl060]

"how does making a test that makes many people come out feeling as if they guessed on most of it or flat out failed, help anyone?"

the reason why so many people felt defeated after taking the nclex is because the way the questions were worded. if you take kaplan, saunders, lacharity, med-surg, nclex 3500/4000, etc..., you will noticed these nclex review questions are worded much harder or simpler than the actual nclex exam... nclex exam can be 1-2 sentences long, then you select an answer (at least that was my experience...there was no passage to read)..some people prepare themselves to read long and difficult sentences/passage, but instead they don't, this can be a shocker, because you were not expecting this, anxiety starts to kick in for some.

start with the minimum amt of qs 75....of the 75 qs, 15 are experimental, that leaves you with 60 qs....of the 60 qs one much get at least half of them correct.....now here is the trick.........the ones you get correct, you aren't sure if they are knowledge/recall/comprehensive qs (which are score lower or doesn't even weigh on the nclex exam)...now safety, environment/infection control, reduction of risk potential, health promotion/maintenance, management of care and prioritization/delegation (these qs carries a lot of weigh on the nclex, they are scored higher....these qs can moved the stylus up and keep it up, even if you miss one, the stylus won't drop that far.....but if you continue to miss qs, the stylus can fall drastically (on rare occasion this will happen).. and this is a no-no, something you do not want)...

test takers come away feeling in aw, because they really don't know what to expect.....things go thru their heads such as, were the qs to easy or were the qs to hard, i didn't know any of the answers, etc.....you will never know how you performed until you received some sort of preliminary report such as the pearson vue trick..... nclex qs aren't going to tell you this is a high end q or a lower end q......the computer is just gonna test you..thats it.....the computer is just gonna give you the q... and your next q will depends on how you answer the previous q which can be a low end q or a high end q......this in itself will make anyone anxious, and then the computer doesn't shut off at the tester's expectation (which will cause some to experience palpitations).

here is a good read for you, if you have time: nclex-rn: a computer programmer's commentary - 16th jul @ 05:08 pm on allnurses.com/nclex-discussion.../nclex-rn-computer-408342.html.

hope this helps.

[cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN]

There's a question for you, has anyone ever just taken it without studying, pass or fail?.

I read about 200 question from the Saunders book while waiting for my plane home from my honeymoon. I flew back on a Friday, took the NCLEX on Tuesday.

I only studied those 200 Qs.

I totally knew I passed. And I did.

I don't think people really mean it when they said they 'guessed', More like, they were unsure of the correct answer, utilized the skills they learned in NS and chose what they thought was the best answer.

[kgh31386, BSN, MSN, RN]

I read about 200 question from the Saunders book while waiting for my plane home from my honeymoon. I flew back on a Friday, took the NCLEX on Tuesday.

I only studied those 200 Qs.

I totally knew I passed. And I did.

I don't think people really mean it when they said they 'guessed', More like, they were unsure of the correct answer, utilized the skills they learned in NS and chose what they thought was the best answer.

That's what I like to hear. I mean even in NS, some people study 2-3 weeks for a test 4-5 hours a day and don't always get an A. But some study a couple of days before and just understand how the questions are, and are able to apply the info. I guess everyone studies differently and months may be necessary for some. But from what you 2 said, it seems like it's in peoples' heads. Since 15 are thrown out, that leaves 60 and you gotta get 30 outta those 60. And you basically have to get 30-75 questions right, give or take a few depending on the difficulty level.

[cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN]

For sure I think it's in people's heads. I think people overstudy even for basic tests.

One time I got into a study group. Listening to the other people's notes on what they thought was important freaked me out! I thought, "holy crap, I didn't even think to study that!!"

I started to study the things that they studied. Boy, I bombed that test. I almost blew my A due to one stupid test.

I never got into another study group again! And my grade went back up.

After that, I went back to my regular study habits--which was, I only studied a hair the night before the test. Only the highlights too.

Graduated with a 4.0...

People study the strangest, most specific things!