My expererience taking it...and a post for optimism

Published Sep 12, 2009

541 Posts

Specializes in hospice, ortho,clinical review.

Hello.....(okay title should say "My" or NCLEX experience... ha.....guess I'm still excited and can't type/think!)

I had an orig. thread deleted b/c I didn't want to compromise the very thing I promised to protect, even though it wasn't any different from posts I've seen about number and catagory of q's without anything identifying, I still felt uncomfortable.

That said after many prayers and much studying, I passed with 82 q's. I found out yesterday and it's finally sinking in! :nurse: Aside from trusting that God had this plan for me, although nervous, I went in armed that I was prepared as best I could.

What I've learned is no experience is the same, but please don't let the negative rumors that you may see get to you.

I dreaded the NCLEX and followed this site since 2005 when I started this journey. I ended up taking a break from the site weeks before taking it b/c the nature of some posts fueled my anxiety.

If I would have seen some of the comments posted here about the nature of some questions and what that means regarding the level you are being tested, I would have been a mess. Please don't believe the rumors that you will see about this question is low level and this type is high. That will only serve to psych you out and that may be the single reason you're not thinking clearly, instead of trusting what you know.

There's no end all be all to what source to study with. If Kaplan works for you great. I didn't like/use it so it's not the alpha and omega of sources to use. If YOU are comfortable using a bunch of sources to claryify things and it doesn't overwhelm you then do that. I liked NCSBN and Rayfields books along with some Saunder's but what works for me may not work for you. YOU may only need one or two sources and again maybe for *you* Kaplan is great.

What did you do in school? What worked for you? I found my program did prepare me very well, honestly I left feeling the test no different than I did some nursing exams at school. I did a ton of q's from all sorts of sources discs and NCLEX 3500 I think the more q's the better especially understanding the rationale. The LaCharity book was really good too.

I'm a big believer it not only having some fast facts about things and maybe some fun picture to recall in your memory (I'm a visual learner) but to really understand what is going on in the body. It's all really integrated with something goes wrong and there's always one component that is more important than others for what to do for the patient. IMO there was no mystical strategy to apply, no word play that couldn't be seen as to what the question was getting to.

The fact is there's no magic bullet or some unknown key that if you tap into you will unlock the secrets. After taking it, to me there is no way that you can pre determine the setup of your questions and having one type must be more positve than others. Other than the fact as they say it's adaptive to test your ability, the rest is really random.

Therefore it's impossible for anyone here to tell you how this test is going to work for you. Or this is what you should study more of and you'll be set. There's no truth to the screen color determines if you passed. I even read something as ridiculous as that each testing center must give 4 people per week all 265 to validate NCLEX system! C'mon think about that. If that were true would it be tesing *your* ability?

This is a test to confirm safe entry level care. It seems people are looking for some hidden agenda and there is none. You are expected to know the knowledge you graduated with in the broad scope. Of course a bit of more detailed knowlege about something will never hurt, but you are not expected to know everything and answer everything correct.

I'd just like to really see the rumors and negativity die off. If you look at many of the threads there's a theme of panic and chaos and it's just seems to be feeding a mob mentality.

Trust that you graduated with that diploma for good reason and you will make make it to the next level to achieve your dreams.

Good luck to all.....YOU CAN DO IT!