My NCLEX PN Journey

491 Posts

Specializes in Neuro/EMU, Pediatrics, Med Surg.

For the past year I've been stalking this site, just like some of you, looking for advice and answers. So here is my share:

Just to get it out there, I'm a 'B' student- I need to study but I did not make it my LIFE during school. I worked part time the entire program and I'm a mom of two girls. I didnt alienate my family and friends during nursing school, I kept a healthy balance. I also have previous healthcare experience so that did help.

Our program did not focus on NCLEX style quizzes and exams until the 3rd semester, so my first piece of advice is to start doing this early, if your not already.

I graduated on 12/4/14 and I began studying for NCLEX about 2 weeks prior to graduating. I did a overall pretest in Saunders to see where my strengths and weaknesses were- in my case it was adult med/surg. So each night I would do 100-200 questions.

I graduated Friday 12/4, and got my ATT on the morning of 12/6. I immediately scheduled my exam for 12/19. There were earlier spots but I felt 2 weeks to focus solely on NCLEX would be good.

Our school offered a prep course, a expensive prep course. I really didnt want to spend the money on it, and since I knew my strengths and weaknesses, I decided NOT to do the prep course. I was going to study my butt off on my own!

Thanks to this site and my LVN program, I used 3 sources:

#1 Saunders- I started working on it for about a month before taking my NCLEX. I did thoudands of questions.

#2 Exam Cram- I got so tired of Saunders and needed a change. I got the book with 445 questions right after graduation. I love the online CD, it had just practice questions and graded everything. It said to shoot for 70% or higher, when I did my first exam I got 55%Yikes!! I used that book for 1.5 weeks, about 3-4 hours a day, and by the end of it I was scoring 90%

#3- Kaplan Strategies- this book is thin and to the point. It breaks down test questions and explains them in detail. It goes over strategies, delegation, prioritizing, etc. I did this book for 3 days before my exam. It may help some of you to read this one FIRST if your having trouble understanding NCLEX style questions, but for me it worked last. It clarified things. There is an exam in the back and it says to aim for 70% or higher. I got 71%, I would have liked to score higher but didn't beat myself up.

The day before my NCLEX I did minimal studying. I tried to stay distracted.

Today I took my NCLEX!!I got to the testing center a half hour early, totally feeling like I was going to puke lol! My exam had SOO many SATA, a few click and drag, 1 EKG, maybe 1 dosage calculation, and a bunch of prioritizing/delegation. After about 2 hours, my exam shut off at 85 questions.

I walked out of the testing center wanting to cry. It was so hard to gage how I did- I didnt feel like I completely bombed it but also didnt feel like I nailed it. I waited about 4 hours and then did the new PVT trick (you can look it up on this site if needed). You can still do this trick if your status says "results not available" btw.

I got the good pop up, so I feel a little better! I live in TX and since quick results is available, I will hopefully know for certain in a day or two.

I know this is lengthy, but I hope it answers some questions and can be helpful!!

Good luck guys!!!! :up:

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babyisa, MSN, NP

90 Posts

Specializes in ICU, Neuroscience, Telemetry, Med/Surg.

Dec 20, 2014

Thanks for you post and good luck! Please let us know when you get your quick results and pass I, too have recently taken the NCLEX (exactly 2 weeks ago) and still waiting on results. I also got the good pop up; hoping for good results. Again good luck and thanks!