My NCLEX experience!

Published Aug 18, 2012

46 Posts

Here's a little about my experience, hope it helps some of you..

I didn't start studying for the NCLEX until about 2 weeks after my last day as a nursing student. Now I didn't go over any material, only did practice questions. My 1st week of studying I did NCSBN practice questions.. which were pretty helpful. My 2nd and 3rd week I only did KAPLAN q-trainers and this was pretty hard but also helpful since it was similarly worded to the NCLEX. My scores on the NCSBN were in the 70's and for KAPLAN I was getting around 55-60. The last day (day before my NCLEX) is when I read over the study guide found online which was awesome but I think it only helped me on 3-4 questions for my NCLEX lol. I did NOT feel prepared for my test but I tried to stay as positive as I could and prayed to GOD to decrease my anxiety and clear my thoughts during my exam since I am one of those who panic over a test :uhoh21:

The day of my exam, I made sure I scheduled it in the afternoon because I'm NOT a morning person and my brain doesn't function as well in the am lol so I was scheduled for 2:30pm I got there, left everything in my car except for my ATT and my ID. So I got seated and started my exam. The white board was there for any math questions or to write things down. My first question was one where I had to put steps in order, pretty easy and straight forward. Then I started getting all multiple choice quesitons, then a few select all that apply and priority questions. Once I reached to question 75 I was PRAYING TO GOD to please let me continue because I knew I was not getting enough prioritization questions, so after 75 it DID continue, and I answered all the way up to 230 questions and took no breaks! It was one of the most stressful moments of my life. The last question I got was one I wasn't sure about so I had to guess and that made me sooo frustrated that it shut off after that last question! I was 110% sure I failed that stupid exam! Got in my car, went home, didn't do the PVT until the next day.. and when I did it, I got the good pop up :yelclap:

After the good pop up I still didn't feel as happy as I would be if I saw my name on the BRN site. So about a week later after checking the site every chance I got, I FINALLY saw my name on their site and was beyond proud of myself!! :yeah: :yeah:

One of the happiest days of my life was knowing all my hard work had paid off. I scored B's and C's in nursing school and I really tried my best and studied like crazy and to see your name on that site makes it all worth it. The exam is very possible to pass, I studied 3 weeks, 6 hours a day, 5 days a week before taking it and I still didn't feel very ready. But the NCLEX is not one of your regular class exams where you study and you feel ready. I honestly don't believe it matters how much time you put into studying, it is the years of studying you have done in nursing school that will help you pass the exam. I can't recall one thing I remembered from my studying that had helped me on the NCLEX (besides lab values and hypo/hypercal,mag,kalem..) its the information retained through the years in nursing school that helped me pass.

But do practice prioritization questions, it will help you answer them better. Also, I didn't use the decision tree, I had great difficulty with that and just stuck to my regular way of answering questions. Forgot to say, I got about 3 questions where you gotta put them in the correct order, 3 exhibit questions, about 30 select all that apply, and lots of prioritizations.

Best of luck to those who are studying for this exam! Don't stress over it too much, not worth it! Think positive before and during the exam, you can do all the worrying afterwards

YAYY!!! I'M AN RN! WOOT WOOT! :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah:

:w00t: