heres a little history about my nursing career post graduation:
1. july 2008: took the ATI exam and scored a 47% of passing NCLEX the first time
2. august 2008: graduated from nursing school after 2 years
3. september 2008: took a job in a different state as a graduate nurse without taking my boards
4. sept-oct 2008: took an nclex review class, answered question and read some material
5. oct 2008: failed nclex after 75 questions (2 SATA, no math, mostly teaching) gave up my positon as a new gard and started working on the floor as a tech
6. november-december2008: took kaplan review course, scored 68% on the diag. exam, 69% on the readiness exam. felt confident since i was aiming for 65%.
7. december 2008-february 2009: read material in the kaplan book that i was weak on the last time i took the exam, answered every Q bank question and did Q trainers 1-7.
8. february 2009: took nclex exam today. again...75 questions. (6 SATA, no math, lots of pharm and infection control). most of the pharm i had NO idea and i felt like some of the infection control was repeated questions. i've been crying all day, based on my history of nclex i do not think the 75 question stent is in my favor. i feel like my passion for nursing is deminishing with each nclex failure. im seriously considering taking a different job in business so i wont feel so pressured to pass nclex based on my job. (if i ever take this exam again).
9. february 2009- as far as the eye can see: completely devistated and feel like a failure.
i think what helped me the most was recgonizing where i was weak and focusing on making that my strengh. for instance, since i failed the first time with 75 questions, i realized that i was lacking both nursing content and how to read through a standardized test question. so when reading content i focused on normal lab values, insulin regimens, various diets and common meds like ace inhibitors, beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, dieretics, steriods, antibodics. as for reading through the question thats where kaplan helped....being able to break down the question and look at in a way is what helped me pass. to be honest, i didnt sleep a wink before my 8 am exam and i was too nausous to eat....so the whole eat a good breakfast and get plenty of sleep did not work for me.
i studied some content everyday and answered at least 100 questions everyday for 3 months. i hope this helped a bit!
Congratulations on passing! Thank you for sharing your process. It is always helpful to learn how other people have found success. Best of luck in your career!
hey everyone, i just wanted to first extend a huge THANK YOU!!! for this website the support i recieved when i needed it most. and second i wanted to send an update and say that I PASSED NCLEX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
for those who are discouraged about never passing i hope you take time to read my time line to the nclex and realize that ANYTHING is possible. the first time i took i failed with 75 questions, and this time PASSED with 75 questions!!!! i want to provide the same type of support for those who are in my situation so please, feel free to contact me if you need advice, support or just need to vent about this horrible exam.
thanks again to the nurses who came before me and those who will soon follow! :)
kmg265
10 Posts
thank you so much!
i think what helped me the most was recgonizing where i was weak and focusing on making that my strengh. for instance, since i failed the first time with 75 questions, i realized that i was lacking both nursing content and how to read through a standardized test question. so when reading content i focused on normal lab values, insulin regimens, various diets and common meds like ace inhibitors, beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, dieretics, steriods, antibodics. as for reading through the question thats where kaplan helped....being able to break down the question and look at in a way is what helped me pass. to be honest, i didnt sleep a wink before my 8 am exam and i was too nausous to eat....so the whole eat a good breakfast and get plenty of sleep did not work for me.
i studied some content everyday and answered at least 100 questions everyday for 3 months. i hope this helped a bit!