what kind of student were u?

I made A's in nursing school and passed on the first try.

But not everyone who failed NCLEX did bad in school.

I received A's and B's in school, but I have failed the NCLEX twice. Going for try #3 in March.

Everyone is different though. I'm REALLY good at clinical skills and showing people what I can do, but I'm a horrible test taker and it sucks because getting your RN license depends on a test and not your skills.

Brandi

I got A's and B's and passed on the first try with 75 questions.

My advice? Do tons of questions. If you have no clue about the answer, look it up and learn the answer right then. If it's something you should know and have an idea about, try to figure it out using your critical thinking. Use the questions to identify your weak areas and study up on those. When you feel low, do a test on something that is a strong area for you to boost your confidence again. Use different nclex books to get a well rounded review.

You can do it!

I received A's and B's in school, but I have failed the NCLEX twice. Going for try #3 in March.

Everyone is different though. I'm REALLY good at clinical skills and showing people what I can do, but I'm a horrible test taker and it sucks because getting your RN license depends on a test and not your skills.

Brandi

This was a long time ago, but I also got A's and B's--but my A's were in theory and my B's were in clinical. I graduated with a 3.0 and took boards when they were a day and a half in a basement somewhere. They allowed 2 hours for each segment of the test and we had separate medical; surgical; pediatrics; psych, I think; OB--5 in all plus something they were testing out for the next exam.

I really don't know if that was easier or harder than today's NCLEX. However, if you flunked one segment of the test you only had to repeat that segment, and you had 2 chances to do so. Then you had to repeat the course before taking it again.

Waiting for the results certainly was hard.

I made A's in all my pre-req courses and B's in my nursing courses. The tests we had were always multiple choices and our finals were straight NCLEX questions. When it was time to study for the NCLEX, my friends and I just asked each other questions from NClEX books and if we were stumped, we would grab our lab book, med. dictionary, text etc and read what it said. This helped a lot, all five of us passed the first time.

A's in class, A's in clinical, and passed on the first try.

And studied the NCLEX practice books, took a ton of practice computer tests to get used to the testing mode.

merry christmas everyone!

just out of curiousity, what kind of grades did you recieve in nursing school? the reason why i'm asking is because i was mostly an A & B student, but how would that reflect my success of passing the NCLEX on my first try (with studying, of course)? i wrote and passed my Canadian RN exam, but it is a joke compared to the NCLEX because it was mostly psychosocial questions and there is much less emphasis on patho, drugs, and etc.....you actually HAVE to study for the NCLEX :uhoh21:!!

thanks very much!!!

I was pretty much a mediocre nursing (LPN) student.

I'm a whiz at math, and got through all of the 9 pharmacology exams (3 a semester) without studying. The pharmacology grades are the only reason I passed nursing school, as I failed two of the "critical thinking"-based nursing exams my last semester, and barely scraped by with a "C" the last semester. It was touch and go until the teacher graded the final exam in class. I was literally one failed question away from flunking nursing school.

I was appalled at myself because until the last semester of nursing school, I had never failed a test in my life. The nursing version of "critical thinking" really confuses me and made me feel inept and stupid all through nursing school. I had to study a lot, which was a humbling experience because I rarely studied when pursuing my previous degree, and graduated in the top 5% of my class.

I thought that nursing school would be a breeze because I was such a whiz kid at accounting and finance. Boy, was I in for a surprise.

I also have severe test anxiety, so I put off taking the NCLEX FOR A YEAR! I worked at a bank, periodically studied my school notes and a Delmar NCLEX book, took the practice tests on the Delmar CD (of which I only had a 55% passing rate!), and worried about the NCLEX. I was embarrassed when I ran into former classmates, because within 6 months, all 60 of my classmates had apparently taken the NCLEX and passed.

I had heard on this forum that if the computer shuts off at 85 questions, you have either done really well or really poorly, and if the last question was wrong, you have most likely failed.

I agonized over each question, and felt very discouraged. I felt I was getting most of them wrong. I know I missed number 85, because it pertained to fetal heartbeat, and I looked it up when I got home. The computer shut off at 85, and I was devastated.

One of the forum members told me that if you pass, you will show up in the North Carolina Board's website as a nurse between 48 hours and 7 days. Also, If you pass you get a small letter size envelope basically saying "congrats" and if you fail, you get an 11" X 7" envelope chock full of information pertaining to your weak areas, how to prepare for a re-test, etc.

I entered my ss# on the BON's website for 7 straight days. I came back as "unrecognized", which was no surprise, so I stopped torturing myself and stopped. Two weeks later I got a stuffed 11" X 7" envelope which I refused to open.

Two months later I got a small envelope in the mail with a card proclaiming me to be an LPN. I opened the large envelope and discovered that I had passed the NCLEX.

My family and friends still make fun of me. They think I should have stuck with banking, or become an accountant. Accounting is much easier than nursing.

I made all A's, except one B in my core nursing classes. All A's except three for my general reqs.

I took the NCLEX RN today and total feel like I knew NOTHING. I just want to vomit.

A's and B's. Passed 1's time around with 75 questions. Both with LVN and RN programs.

I made As and Bs in nursing school. I did not take a review course, and I spent maybe 2 hours with the review book I bought. At that point I felt that either I knew it or I didn't; I've never done well with cramming, it just makes me anxious.

I passed the NCLEX after 30 minutes and 75 questions (but just KNEW I had failed; didn't have a clue if I'd answered those questions correctly or not).

thanks for everyone's response, i really appreciate it!! i'm starting to get a bit anxious for the NCLEX, i'm sure it's a normal feeling....i have 7 more days till i write the exam, but no matter how many questions i'm doing or the studying i've put in, there is just no way ANYONE could know everything for this test......i feel like i'm just gonna 'wing' this exam and see how it goes from there :uhoh21:

your posts to this thread has given me some encouragement that i CAN do it! thank u all :rotfl:

luilui,

To be honest I can't say if studying really helped me. (Well, I don't even know if I passed.) Nothing seemed familiar to the questions I had done or what I read.

Good luck to you!