My Life After Nursing School/ Revenge of the NCLEX

Published Jan 29, 2019

5 Posts

Specializes in Behavioral Health Nurse.

Hello there future RN's! I promised myself that I would post here once I passed my NCLEX and try to help a few lost souls out there. I found this site helpful in my darkest moments.

I would like to start off by saying I was an average nursing student I got a few A's, B's and one C in OB. I always knew that I was an anxious person, but nursing school was something different. I was diagnosed with major depressive disorder and panic disorder at the end of my third semester. I didn't know if I could continue pushing through nursing school, but my love for nursing made it hard to just quit. I pushed through and graduated. I was physically and emotionally drained. I neglected my mental health for so long that I decided to take time off. I was back in California and everyone tiptoed around the NCLEX because that was a big trigger. I graduated December 2017 and submitted my paperwork to the California BRN in February 2018 (I waited too long). I waited for three months (May 2018) for my ATT and I still managed to avoid the NCLEX. I had taken the Kaplan Course and managed to do well. I took my test in July 2018 and went all the way to 265 questions and FAILED. I took a month break and moved to Arizona with my boyfriend. One day I woke up and I was ready to get this test over with. I got UWORLD and was excited to learn.

Studying the 2nd time around

I only used UWORLD! I answered every single question and read every single rationale. I took notes on things that I wasn't sure of. I answered about 100 questions a day! I would go to Starbucks and open up UWORLD! I loved it. I thanked God every day for helping me get through the day and for helping me retain so much information. I answered 66.5% of the entire test bank correctly. Then once I finished I went through the questions I answered incorrectly again. I also got a very high chance of passing on my 2 assessments.

I received my ATT in December but I decided to spend Christmas with my family and worry about the test after. The only test date near me was January 26th and I scheduled that baby.

The week before the test I opened up ATI and answered questions on my weak points the endocrine system and OB. Then on the day before the test, I read some of my notes and called it a day. I cried before bed and woke up feeling great (lol). This was shocking! I went to the testing center feeling good. I was prepared to answer all 265 questions. On one of my breaks, I noticed I was the last person in the testing center. I freaked and started crying. I was on question 145, crying, and answering questions while sobbing then the test stops at 155. I was convinced I failed. 48 hours later my license popped up on BREEZE! I PASSED!

NCLEX

I got a lot of content based questions which worried me. It was a lot of cardiac and endocrine questions. I had one EKG strip question, quite a few priorities questions, tons of SATA questions (but I had a ton when I failed too), and two put in order questions. I had no math, fill in the blank and no hot spot questions. Test stopped at 155. I prayed throughout the entire test.

I can't thank God, allnurses, and UWORLD enough! It's possible. Remember to take care of yourself first. It's okay to take a break if you need it! I graduated 13 months ago and I am finally happy with myself.

Vanessa Ramirez RN, BSN