It has been 4 years... not so sure anymore

xxryu139xx · Jul 7, 2011

Hi everyone! Hope everybody is having a good day. it has been 4 years since I graduated BSN in the Philippines. I have been trying to pass the NCLEX but until now, no luck at all. It seems to me that I am slowly forgetting what I have learned (Clinically & Theoretically) in my 4 years in the Nursing school. I enrolled in kaplan , paid $700 but did not really worked out for me because all the instructor do is read questions in the projector for hours. I am enrolled in a review center right now and still trying to get the hang of it. I am working 5 days a week, so I only have the weekends to study. I failed my exam twice, and I just submitted my application for a re-take. I am not sure what am I doing wrong here. I have all the material, I have saunders, kaplan, nclex made easy, feuer audio,kaplan medication flashcards, and the list goes on. When I get home, I try to study at least 2 hours, and I try to suck all the information, its just that whenever I see a book, my brain automatically alerts me to say No!! I take the practice tests but the highest score I can get is 60%. I sometimes wonder of nursing is really for me. I love nursing, and I personally think that is the only field I really see myself doing for a long time, and it just doesn't seem to go on that same page as much as I want to.
Sometimes I wonder if a structured study habit is all I need. Need advice..I still love nursing just like how it felt during my first clinicals when I was still a student. Looking forward to hearing from you guys. Thanks!

Hi, i graduated BSN from the Philippines last year, and i just recently took my exam yesterday with a positive PVT result. Hopefully it is true that i have passed. Anyway i also took Kaplan Review in the Philippines averaging about 60s in the practice tests and finally a 73 on the final readiness test. Before that I had local boards review, where they had fast paced lecture brain downloads and over 4000 practice questions. Basically I have been preparing for the NCLEX for more than a year now. When i was at Kaplan i had a few classmates who came back home just to study away from work, family and any distractions. Also it is cheaper there and the instructor spoke and explained things in a language they understand well. I'm not telling u to go back home and review not knowing if you can afford that financially, but i can tell u that working while studying at the same time can be very hard. Reading material is boring. Best advice given to me while studying for local boards is to do 4000 questions and that will give u a very good chance to pass it. So i said.. why not do 8000 questions? I ended up doing over 10000 questions using Saunders, Lipincott and the review centers sample problems. I used that on top of my review for NCLEX. I think i have done close to 12,000 questions for the NCLEX. All in all i have answered close to 22,000 questions for the last year. If i was you I would get the Saunder's, Lipincott, Kaplan or ATI question programs. Answer them as best as u can using test taking strategies. If you get it wrong, read the rationale. If you still do not understand the rationale then go dig it up in your book. It's much better than reading notes and memorizing bullets. Good luck to you!

schmeken · Jul 7, 2011

Hi there! Thank you for your response. A month after graduation i came here, so i did not have the chance to take the local boards back at home ,so o really have no idea what to expect. I really cant afford to go home right now study because of financial reasons. I cannot afford to quit work as well. I have never answere that so many practice questions. I tried doing a hundred but i would get tired easily, then i would start procastinating. Thats why i read the book because i think i need to understand the content better. I will ttry to do more practice questions as you suggested. Hope it works! Thank you so much for your help..

pitxurri19 · Jul 7, 2011

Hi there! Thank you for your response. A month after graduation i came here, so i did not have the chance to take the local boards back at home ,so o really have no idea what to expect. I really cant afford to go home right now study because of financial reasons. I cannot afford to quit work as well. I have never answere that so many practice questions. I tried doing a hundred but i would get tired easily, then i would start procastinating. Thats why i read the book because i think i need to understand the content better. I will ttry to do more practice questions as you suggested. Hope it works! Thank you so much for your help..

Hello there kababayan. Graduated 6 years ago bsn in the philippines. Amd i'm going to try my luck for Nclex. I hope i'll pass first try. I'm using saunders, la charity(my scores are killing me :crying2: ),3500, kaplan cd and review strategies... i'm also having a hard time reading a book and aswering tons of questions but i'm forcing myself because i really have to. Been doing this for almost 2 months now. And i only have a month before the big day. Don't worry kabayan, you're not alone. Let's just try our very best and study hard. Ok? And don't forget to pray...

xxryu139xx · Jul 7, 2011

it is good to have a plan of attack for the exam. What i did was to simulate the exam at home. I would allot 6 hours for each practices session. Lipincott 3500 can be programmed and be specified the desired amount of questions you wants. So i would program 265 questions. I would do the first 75 questions and then i will take a break. then do the next 100, take a break. then finish it. You have to condition yourself. You have to get used to answering 265 questions in one sitting. you may never know if you are only gonna answer 75 or end up doin 265. if you don't have the stamina for 265 then your anxiety level will keep increasing the closer you get to 265. There are also NCLEX software for Iphone/Android for questions on the go... if you're sitting on the toilet for 5 minutes you can get 1-5 questions done depending on how fast you answer and read the rationales too.

dontra07 · Jul 7, 2011

Hi everyone! Hope everybody is having a good day. it has been 4 years since I graduated BSN in the Philippines. I have been trying to pass the NCLEX but until now, no luck at all. It seems to me that I am slowly forgetting what I have learned (Clinically & Theoretically) in my 4 years in the Nursing school. I enrolled in kaplan , paid $700 but did not really worked out for me because all the instructor do is read questions in the projector for hours. I am enrolled in a review center right now and still trying to get the hang of it. I am working 5 days a week, so I only have the weekends to study. I failed my exam twice, and I just submitted my application for a re-take. I am not sure what am I doing wrong here. I have all the material, I have saunders, kaplan, nclex made easy, feuer audio,kaplan medication flashcards, and the list goes on. When I get home, I try to study at least 2 hours, and I try to suck all the information, its just that whenever I see a book, my brain automatically alerts me to say No!! I take the practice tests but the highest score I can get is 60%. I sometimes wonder of nursing is really for me. I love nursing, and I personally think that is the only field I really see myself doing for a long time, and it just doesn't seem to go on that same page as much as I want to.
Sometimes I wonder if a structured study habit is all I need. Need advice..I still love nursing just like how it felt during my first clinicals when I was still a student. Looking forward to hearing from you guys. Thanks!

It's really hard to focus if you can't give up your job. I graduated in the Philippines 16 yrs ago, works there as an ER nurse for almost 10 yrs, came here to the US just last year. Since January I started my review for NCLEX doing self-review. I don't have a job so I just focused on my review using Saunders 5th edition, exam cram, la charity, lipincott borrowed from the library and some free sites online like: http://www.exammaster.com/ & http://www.*******.com/home/exams/nclex-exam ( RN pedia ) ... Just like the others I've done so many questions out of the resources that I have, maybe 10,000 - 12,000 questions all in all, reading the rationales. I dont have a calendar or study plan I just review randomly focused on questions and the rationales. I tried to read some topics but it seems I just forgot what I've read after reading. So, I go back to answering questions especially the exam cram questions which really gives me the confidence to take the NCLEX. I dont have a laptop either so I go to the public library to review and answers questions for 5-6 hours not everyday. I took the NCLEX last month and got 75 questions, got the good pop up, and after 3 days able to saw my name in the CA BON site. My advise to you is to have a leave from work if you can't give up your job, and focused on your review. I know you can do it. I will pray for you!!! Goodluck kababayan! :smokin: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah:

dontra07 · Jul 7, 2011

Goodluck on you exam!!! :smokin: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah:

caliotter3 · Jul 7, 2011

It is not true that you only have the weekends to study. Get up early and study for one hour before you go to work.

kakay · Jul 7, 2011

Wow i have lot's of kababayan here... hello there ate's/ kuya's...

same here i also graduated at Phils. last april 2009, im having difficulties in studying on

my own .although my Husband Supplemented my needs especially books..

im doing practice test averaging result from 45-50% huhuhu

what should i do?

can anybody give me some tips to be more motivated doing this review on my own? tnx

xxryu139xx · Jul 7, 2011

51% is the low low passing grade. it means you might just pass since u have correctedly answered the majority of the questions right, but if you want to make sure u want to aim for 60%+ to be sure. Just keep answering all the questions and your average will keep going up.

branzilla · Jul 7, 2011

Go look for this book at your local library. http://workbookfortestsuccess.com/ It is easy reading and will help you with working on some simple areas to practice with study tactics. You will still have difficulties with studying. But the more you practice, it will help develop a stronger plan for NCLEx prep. I take my 5th nclex next week. If I don't pass I'm just going to take it again. I graduated 2 years ago. I'm in the same boat as you. Create a plan, work on your focus, be disciplined but flexible, balance your priorities and get rest, accept you have weaknesses and realize so does every person so your not alone, be confident and have a positive attitude.

We have our BSN. Now lets pass the NCLEx. Then we can move on to the next acronym called L.I.F.E.

pitxurri19 · Jul 8, 2011

Go look for this book at your local library. http://workbookfortestsuccess.com/ It is easy reading and will help you with working on some simple areas to practice with study tactics. You will still have difficulties with studying. But the more you practice, it will help develop a stronger plan for NCLEx prep. I take my 5th nclex next week. If I don't pass I'm just going to take it again. I graduated 2 years ago. I'm in the same boat as you. Create a plan, work on your focus, be disciplined but flexible, balance your priorities and get rest, accept you have weaknesses and realize so does every person so your not alone, be confident and have a positive attitude.
We have our BSN. Now lets pass the NCLEx. Then we can move on to the next acronym called L.I.F.E.

I agree with you branzilla... :yeah: