My NCLEX and CABRN Experience: Passed 75 Q

[OliverElio87, BSN, RN]

I just wanted to share my experience with the CABRN and the NCLEX. I recently took the NCLEX-RN for CA as an out-of-state.

NCLEX Prep:

1. ATI Comprehensive Predictor (Result: 99% chance of passing NCLEX):

My school utilized ATI throughout the program and we needed to pass the comprehensive predictor in order to graduate. I know some people are not a big fan of ATI, but I thought ATI was beneficial to my success. The questions in ATI are more content based and in-order to be successful with the NCLEX you need to have good content foundation in order to dissect the critical thinking type questions that NCLEX gives out.

2. UWORLD (Result: Overall: 61%, Self-Assessment 1: 68%, Self-Assessment 2: 62%)

Only resource I used post graduation. If there is 1 resource I could give anyone it is UWorld. During my exam, I honestly felt that I was just doing Uworld questions. From the question style to the format of the exam that is how close Uworld was to the actual NCLEX-RN. Furthermore, I thought the questions in Uworld were much harder than the actual NCLEX exam. I did 75 questions a day leading up to my exam. Make sure you read the rationales because the rationales in Uworld are amazing.

I would take the Uworld self-assessment 1 right away. It should be the first thing you do when you register for Uworld. This will allow you to get an idea of where you are in the process and look at areas you are weak in. I work better under stress and if my very first Uworld self-assessment stated I was "borderline" you bet I would work my but off and study and not procrastinate. Even if you get a "very high chance" of passing in UWorld, I would do the QBank answering 75 questions a day for 1-2 weeks and then take self-assessment 2. If you're scoring in the 60's, I would take the exam sooner rather than later.

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NCLEX-RN Exam (Result: Passed 75 questions 1.5 hour):

Type of Questions: 20 SATA type questions, 1 put-in-order, 1 calculation. I also had a lot of prioritizing patients and delegating to UAP and LPN. If you struggle with prioritzing and delegating then I would suggest getting LaCharity and practice those type of questions because they will show up over and over during the NCLEX.

Experience: I personally thought that the actual NCLEX exam was about the same or less difficult than the questions that Uworld was asking me. The last couple of questions, I felt that the questions were easy so I was a bit worried that I was not doing well. So just because you are getting questions that you feel are easy at the end, don't let that distract you and just keep going. There were obviously some questions I had no idea what they were asking and I just tried to critically think what the answer would be. When these type of questions would pop up I would tell myself "well that could possibly be the experimental question" and just keep going. Remember there are questions in the exam that are not graded.

Time Management: Make sure you are only spending an average of 1-1.5 minutes a question. I have read some students who failed the NCLEX at 75 questions and the common denominator that each one had was that they took almost 4-6 hours to answer 75 questions! What I get from this is that the computer knows that you can't possibly do all 265 questions with the time remaining so it will just shut off at 75.

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Pearson Vue Trick (Result: 100% worked for me):

Since I was testing for CA, quick results is not offered so I relied on thr PVT to ease my anxiety. The first time I did the PVT, I waited until I got the email confirmation from Pearson stating that I completed the NCLEX. I would suggest others to wait for the same thing because at least you know that their system knows that you are done.

30 min after exam: Good Pop-Up

4 hours after exam: Good Pop-Up

24 hours after exam: Good Pop-Up

48 hours after exam: Good Pop-Up

CA Breeze:

Right after the exam, I looked at my status on breeze to see if anything changed. What i noticed was that in the drop down under "Manage Your Application" an option given was "Reapply/ Re-test". Needless to say I freaked out when I saw that. Does that mean you failed? The answer is NO, just because you see that after you exam that does not mean you failed because I passed. I searched this board looking for an answer to that and I could not find any so I wanted to put it out there so others who encounter this option will not freak out like I did.

I checked breeze about 48 business hours after I took the exam and my name was searchable on breeze with my RN number.

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Miscellaneous Tips:

1. If you can afford it, apply for a interim license. I've been told that those who attain an interim license get their results and actual license faster.

2. I would apply ONLINE. It is much easier and you can track everything.

2. Make you sure you complete your application 2.5-3 months before graduation. Some students don't submit their application until AFTER graduating and this causes you to wait even longer to get your ATT.

3. When you submit your application, make sure you are also sending your transcripts where you did your pre-reqs. Some schools already have this on their transcripts, but some don't and if they don't the CABRN will ask for them (they did for me). This is one of the reasons why students have their results delayed is because they are missing transcripts. For California students, just because you have your ATT that does not mean your application is complete. The CABRN will need to have all transcripts/courses verified before they can release your result.

4. I called the CABRN about 1.5 months after I submiited my application. I asked if they had everything they needed pending final transcripts. Remeber, while you're waiting for your turn to be evaluated make sure that nothing else is needed (livescan, payment, etc).

5. Out-of-State Applicants:

If you can go to CA and do your livescan it will make the transition better than getting a finger print card. A friend of mine did the fingerprinting and it took a couple of months for the board to verify it as complete versus livescan which only took mine to be verified in 2 weeks.

6. Make sure that your palm reading at the Pearson Vue Testing testing center (day of exam) is accurate. If at any point the worker looks like they might not have done your palm reading correctly quickly ask them. This is another reason why your results can be put on hold.

Hopefully this helped some of you!