My NCLEX experience

So I'm not sure if anyone really cares (lol) but, I loved reading other people's stories in the weeks leading up to the nclex.

I graduated in December, an average student. Took the Kaplan review course through my school and did the entire Qbank and all question trainers. I reviewed all answers and made a point to really understand the rationales. I got my ATT on January 11th, and scheduled the boards for February 11th. Exactly one month to study hard!

I devoted at least 2 hours a day to studying, often as much as 8 hours on my days off, while my kids were at school/daycare.... Everyone told me not to focus on content and only do questions, but I didn't feel comfortable with that. I studied the Kaplan content book pretty hard. I brushed up on a lot of facts that I never would have been able to correctly answer otherwise. Especially lab values and infection control!! I also made note cards, with labs and nursing interventions for things I wasn't confident in.

My Kaplan scores where all between 60% and 72%.... my lowest was question trainer 7 at 60% which had me so nervous. The week before the test I downloaded nclex mastery app to brush up on questions while I was out or at work. I truly believe it's best to do a balance on content and questions. Don't try to memorize facts. Like, if I'd get a question wrong, I'd read the rationale AND look it up in the Kaplan book to get a broader familiarity with other aspects of the topic.

I had major trouble sleeping the night before the boards. I got a total of 3 hours of sleep. Once I started the test my heart was POUNDING and I felt like I was going throw up. But after the first few questions I relaxed a lot more.

I was never a great test taker. Always thought I'd end up with 265 questions. I was SHOCKED when it shut off at 75. Only 35 minutes....I felt I was doing average. I felt if it shut off at 75 I should have had a better idea how I felt. I had 21 sata. Everyone always told me that it's normal to feel like you failed and that usually means you passed. I was nervous because I honestly felt it was a lot easier than I expected, and I must have gotten lower level questions, therefore failing.

Within 24 hours people who also took it had their liscense posted but i didnt.... I was devestated. The pvt trick kept giving me the good pop up. But the fact that my license hadn't been posted yet while others had, crushed me. Last night, a post on this site reminded me about the mandatory child abuse training that I had completely forgotten about and didn't do! That was the reason my license wouldn't be posted yet! Anyway, I checked at exactly 48 hrs for quick results this morning and saw I passed!!! And now I'm working on my child abuse training so I can get my license asap!

This site helped me so much over the past few weeks! Thanks everyone!