JUST finished school

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Hello all. YES, I just finished school this past Tuesday. I am going to take the NCLEX hopefully by End of February, does that sound like enough time?? Also, I have a job that I accepted. It is ROTATING days/night, 3 twelve hour shifts. It will be rotating every four weeks. I have NEVER worked nights in my life and am afraid of this. It is my only concern coming into a new journey, "as of right now", my only concern. Any tips, pointers, etc??? I don't want to pass this job up because of this. PLEASE HELP.

Our ATTs started arriving yesterday. Some of my classmates already have their exams scheduled for as early as January 6th. Of course, this is a state by state thing. I’m in Michigan. 
 

As for study material, the school pays for the Sylvia Rayfield review. We had a three day live review via Zoom (thanks 2020), but we have printed and online material to study. I am also using Mark Klimek and Nursing.com as well. I have been thinking about buying UWorld for their question bank. How about you?

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I am in Ohio. I am thinking about utilizing UWorld and Mark Klimek, and lord knows when the stuff is arriving at the BON. Is OK. I am waiting.

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On 12/19/2020 at 12:12 PM, FitnessPleese said:

I am in Ohio. I am thinking about utilizing UWorld and Mark Klimek, and lord knows when the stuff is arriving at the BON. Is OK. I am waiting.

Hey FitnessPleese,

Just an update. My ATT came Monday 12/21 and I scheduled my exam on that same day. I took the test today 12/29 (started at 12:30pm). I finished in 79 questions with 32 SATA  and 2-3 order questions. The state of Michigan issued my license just before 4pm. 

I really just used Mark K. We have PrepU and PassPoint through school. We had to take passpoint exams as part of our nursing transitions class. I took one extra after graduation and it shut off after 75 questions. Mark K was quite helpful. I listened to all of this lecture over the last few days and listened to diabetes, lab values and cardiac again this morning.  I found NCLEX to be straight forward. No deception or trickery.  Good luck and let me know how it goes!

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1 hour ago, luvfav said:

Hey FitnessPleese,

Just an update. My ATT came Monday 12/21 and I scheduled my exam on that same day. I took the test today 12/29 (started at 12:30pm). I finished in 79 questions with 32 SATA  and 2-3 order questions. The state of Michigan issued my license just before 4pm. 

I really just used Mark K. We have PrepU and PassPoint through school. We had to take passpoint exams as part of our nursing transitions class. I took one extra after graduation and it shut off after 75 questions. Mark K was quite helpful. I listened to all of this lecture over the last few days and listened to diabetes, lab values and cardiac again this morning.  I found NCLEX to be straight forward. No deception or trickery.  Good luck and let me know how it goes!

Well congrats!! Woohoo!! Get this. I have not even had my stuff sent to the BON yet. I imagine they are back in office Jan 4, so that is when things will probably be sent and that is a maybe. I’m OK with this. I’m doing questions daily and staying in that mode and just editing it out. That’s how they roll. 

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17 minutes ago, FitnessPleese said:

I’m doing questions daily and staying in that mode and just editing it out. That’s how they roll

No doubt you’ll be well prepared! Make sure you update your progress!

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Specializes in Oncology.

I finished school one year ago and work in oncology and work only nightsand I love it!  I prefer working nights to days. It gives you a little of each day (I have kids so I at least get to see them every day) and when you have to work holidays you at least get some of the holiday for yourself. For example, I just worked Christmas but had my whole day to be with my family until 6:00 when I had to leave. Rotating is another story, but when you’re on nights here is my strategy:  I sleep an hour or two from like 2:00 to 4:00 on the day I’ll be working that night. Then after work I shower and go to bed right when I get home in the morning. I honestly can’t sleep more than 5 hours during the day but it’s enough for me if I’m working that night. If I’m not working two nights in a row I’ll just sleep 3 or 4 hours when I get home then I’m tired enough to go to bed at like 9:30pm and then I’m able to get back on a normal sleep schedule for a few days. Also I make 4 shots of espresso before I leave for work and drink it in the first hour or two of my shift ?.  There are days when I’m tired, yes, but It has worked for me. Allow yourself the down time when you need it. 
As for the NCLEX, I finished in mid December and took off until January 2 - not all people recommend that but I needed it myself. I used only UWorld, did about 80-90% of the questions and carefully reviewed the rationales of what I got wrong. I studied for 4 weeks and passed in 75 questions. I know some people prefer to test right away but I needed to study so I could go in feeling more confident than I was at graduation. It’s whatever works for you. But I wouldn’t spend more than a month studying. 
Also I love working in oncology, it can be tough but it’s very rewarding. Best wishes to you and congratulations!

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