My NCLEX experience

[Highway7]

Hey everyone,

So I've been creeping the threads on this website for a while and promised myself (and God) that if I was able to miraculously pass this exam, that I would post a short thread about what I did. Sorry for my style of writing- I'm not trying to write a beautiful essay, just trying to ramble and share whatever I can before I have to go to bed before my shift tomorrow morning.

So quickly a little about myself, to perhaps make me relatable. So I'm a 21 year old male from Ontario, Canada and got my BScN at a really highly rated school... Got in based on my high-school marks, which I think were definitely over-inflated, and I did not find my BScN program easy. The thing is, I am far from a good student. I passed my 3rd year Pathophysiology with a C- (the minimum grade), and did most of my evidence based papers the night before, or submitted them late with a doctor's note. I skipped most of my first year Anatomy and Physiology lectures in first year, and started smoking a lot of weed for my second and third years. I stopped all substances by my fourth year but by then I had already lowered my GPA substantially and realized that I did not gain anything out of my first 3 years in the program. So I really did well in my fourth year (mostly reflecting on clinical experiences, and BSing theory essays.) I ended my degree with an 8.0 on the 12 point GPA scale, which is a straight B. Nothing spectacular, no honors, nothing. My HESI score was around 650 on the entrance, and 500 on the exit... The class average was 800+. Until the end of my fourth year I did not know most lab values, except for potassium and sodium... Could not make heads or tails of a telemetry strip yet I had my pre-consolidation on a cardiac floor... It's quite embarassing actually. I'm just telling you all this so you know that I was well below average and really did not put my all into the program.

So anyways, time went on and I did my consolidation on a mental health unit... That's where I stood out- I was always good at therapeutic communication, research, and had an interest in psych since high-school. I managed to build upon my medical knowledge slowly, enough to be a valued member of the team. This got me my first job on my temporary RN license on the same unit. I worked hard as a temporary RN, made some money, learned a LOT on the job (can't stress this enough), but really still put off my NCLEX until nearly the expiration of my temporary RN. Actually, I had it booked but my ATT expired and I skipped my appointment because I did not feel ready at the time... So yeah I put it off to the last possible test day.

Months went by and it was then 4 weeks before my exam. I was like *** WHERE DID THE TIME GO! I had no idea where to start. I was getting really good at psychiatric nursing, but had SO many knowledge gaps. I knew NOTHING about maternity, peds, or even adult physiology. I had a LOT to do. I had signed up for ATI months before, but left my coach hanging so many times that they ended up disabling my account. Furthermore I was getting panicky. Did not feel ready (to say the least).

I ended up coaxing a girl I went to school with who had just finished her NCLEX and passed on her first attempt, into lending me her Elsevier account with the Saunders review and the Elsevier adaptive testing. I did the Saunders review for 3 weeks after my full time shifts, staying up nearly all night trying to cram the knowledge of 4 years into my head... I ended up spending way too much time on the fundamentals, pharmacology, adult health and had barely reviewed maternity and peds by the time my last week and a half came by. I was NOT comfortable. I then went out on a limb and paid the $50 for the UWorld question bank- as a friend of mine who failed the first time and passed the second time told me that the questions were nearly identical.

I spent a week on UWorld. Finished all 1700 questions in a week while working full time, highlighting them on the program and flagging them as needed until the last 3 days before the exam, which was on a Monday. I had gotten exactly 4 days off on my last week before the exam which I was going to use to cram, cram, cram. So on the third-last-day before the NCLEX date, I was going through my UWorld incorrect answers (I had exactly 50% correct by the end of the bank). I realized I did not have much time left, but knew SO MUCH MORE after doing the whole bank, and was really able to recover a lot of the knowledge I thought I lost through bad decisions during university. I was still not doing exceptionally well on certain topics, so started to review those first... (Maternity, Peds). The thing is is that I was reviewing them on my phone, and was able to take screenshots of the rationales which were highlighted and I was going to review. That was apparently against the terms of use policy and UWORLD DISABLED MY ACCOUNT! So by this time I was freaking the hell out. I was like, WHAT AM I GOING TO DO I DONT HAVE QUESTIONS TO PRACTICE! I opened up the Saunders review again and realized that there are so many details to all of these disorders and meds that make pee turn red and different cancer meds that attack at different parts of the cell cycle etc... That I felt like I was going to puke!

Fortunately I realized that Elsevier adaptive testing was still on my friend's account and that I could practice more questions there. I was sure as hell glad I did. I mean the rationales are not AMAZING, but they state why the other answers are wrong. The questions weren't as great as UWorld but they were still helping my expand my knowledge with each question. By this point I wasn't taking notes as it was 2 days before my exam. I was just going through all the questions that I could possibly do. It REALLY HELPED. I stayed up all day and all night for the weekend before my exam, and slept 3 hours before my exam.

Also, on the night before my exam, I found studystack.com, and this site: Nursing Cheat Sheets - Easy Guides, Forms, and Charts about Nursing which I was just staring at and trying to make mental images of perfectly in my head before the exam.

On the exam day, I was writing with about 8 other people in the pearson testing centre. It was sketch that they made my scan my handprint like 20 times and sit in a small boxed up room with a glass box in the middle, with a guy with a few computer screens staring at everyone from all angles. I was so tired I felt like the screen was floating in and out of my face. Felt like I was going to puke halfway through the exam, the questions were challenging for sure. But NOTHING LIKE UWORLD. THOSE ARE SO MUCH HARDER.

Anyways, I finished the exam in 79 questions in about an hour and fifteen minutes. It wasn't too hard, and this is how my breakdown was:

I was sure that I failed. I mean there were a bunch of questions that I researched when I got home that I actually got incorrect. But the PVT trick was proven right once again and I passed.

So basically guys, DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME WITH JUST CONTENT REVIEW. I got a LOT of different types of questions but JUST by being able to identify exactly what the question is asking, applying it to "what would I do?" in clinical, and applying a lot of critical thinking, I was able to pass.

DO UWORLD. I can't stress this enough. Even though they disabled my account (got it back after my exam was well over with, sheesh), the skills that I learned while doing those 1700+ questions were INVALUABLE. I didn't see identical questions or anything like that (although it is still a good content review with the rationales), but I was able to think more in the way that they explained the rationales, which I know carried me. That and literally before every question I was begging God and bargaining... Hence this post is one of the promises I had meant to keep.

All in all, I was able to pass using:

UWORLD

Elsevier adaptive quizzing

and Saunders content review.

USE SAUNDERS IF YOU HAVE TIME FOR SURE. That way you won't feel as unsure as me before writing the exam, because at least you'll have ALL the content down. But if your test day is coming up, MAKE IT A PRIORITY TO DO THOSE UWORLD AND ELSEVIER QUESTIONS. I hear Kaplan is amazing too. Just make sure that you do those critical thinking questions... Please... I mean I could have done all of the content review by saunders and still failed because the questions they pose in saunders are really nothing like the actual exam. I didn't review all of the content, but those "cheat sheets" paired up with those questions with beautiful rationales helped me kill that test with a few weeks of studying... So please try it out. I don't work for UWorld or anything, really they pissed me off big time after disabling my account cause I took screenshots of JUST the rationales (not even the questions). But it is simply amazing.

I know I would have finished in 75 questions had I done 1. All of my incorrect uworld questions over again, and 2. a little more content review. But I am still satisfied with my result.

OH AND YES THE PVT TRICK WORKED FOR ME AND ALL MY FRIENDS, and the guys who failed did get charged.

TRICK FOR ONTARIO TEMP RNS: Since you're already on the website and the marks go to CNO super fast from Pearson, even before you get a letter in the mail, around 24-48 hours post-exam you should check your license on Find a Nurse and if it hasn't been revoked, then you passed, because that's one of the first things they do even before they mail you, because their goal is to "protect the public" and don't want someone who failed working on a temporary license, even after 1 day.

Anyway sorry for the absurdly long post. But I swear I just rambled because I have my shift in the morning.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL THE NURSES WHO ARE WRITING THE NCLEX SOON! You guys are going to kill it, and I passed luckily on my first try, but no worries I know a lot of friends who failed and passed before I even attempted it for the first time, because they were quick to pick themselves up, dust themselves off and go again. So go get it, because it's yours. You spent the time in school, and you deserve it. Even if you're not an amazing student like me in class, YOU GOT YOUR CLINICAL HOURS!

And trust me most of the RNs I work with now are so adept and sharp because of the experience they have with our client demographic, not because they memorized all their notes from school. If I could do this, you got this. Yeah God basically told me to say all that because he passed me.

Sincerely,

7

[tumbletohumble]

Hey man congratulations! It's weird that I was almost exactly like you in university. But unfortunately for me I didn't pass the first two times and now that I'm on my third attempt I'm feeling super anxious. I used UWorld and ATI this time around for studying and I was able to average 62% on the Qbank. I've gone through the rationales in detail. I got my green light from ATI. Do you think that's good enough? I do feel way more prepared than the last two times.

[Highway7]

Hey tumble- what did you use to study for the first two times?

Honestly, like I said, I was getting a straight 50% on UWorld, and I had ATI and found it much too difficult so really gave up on it, left my coach hanging and just crammed content and did those UWorld questions. I can't stress enough how similar the style of UWorld was to the actual NCLEX. Especially the SATA- the UWorld ones are so challenging and with the rationales really helped me think more critically when answering questions.

I think you're well more prepared than I was, definitely in terms of content and your marks. But in reality the only time that actually really matters is during the actual exam, when you have to consistently get questions correct.

There's these 2 books that all my friends are recommending in terms of NCLEX-specific advice. Of course I didn't have time to go through them in depth, so it really depends when your exam is. I did skim through them though, and I know that if I had used them to my potential, that it would definitely have made me much more confident. My friends who passed too swear by them.

1. Saunders 2014-2015 Strategies for Test Success

2. Prioritization, Delegation, and Management of Care for the NCLEX-RN

In terms of anxiety, that's something that won't just go away. It will be there until you write, before, during, and even after. And if it's not making you incapacitated, I believe it's healthy. It will keep you motivated, like it 100% kept me in the few days leading up to the exam. Channel it, meditate on it, and kill that NCLEX, bro!