My NCLEX-RN journey.....

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Hi all other future and current nurses!

I wanted to thank all of you for your stories and inspiring encouragement about your NCLEX experiences. I really feel like this website is the reason I passed my NCLEX-RN this passed weekend.

First off, making to graduation was my sole priority throughout nursing school. I never thought at all about NCLEX until I recieved my ATT. Even while registering on PEARSON VUE, I still had another 8 weeks to finish school and never gave it a thorough thought as to what I should do to pass it. School was tough and I figured I had to make it to graduation before I even consider NCLEX.

When I recieved my ATT, I had been out of school for maybe 2 weeks. I was just starting to somewhat relax.....then the chaos started. I didn't have the money to pay for fancy prep classes and scoured the internet for days trying to find the 'BEST' study materials, but that was fruitless as well. Then I found this website and I was positively thrilled to find a collaborative site with real forums of people just like me trying to make it through NCLEX-RN alive. The resources suggested on this site were truly helpful and I wanted to pass them on to others. There were many suggestions so I only picked these because of the price and constant attention they recieved on this forum.

1. KAPLAN 2012-2013 NCLEX-RN (the green book. I found it on amazon for 20.00)

2. LACHARITY Priority,Delegation, and Assignment (amazon 16.00)

3. Mosby's medication cards w/ mneumonics (flashcard set- amazon- 25.99)

Other than those, I researched any unclear information in my textbooks from school. I really felt like the questions on NCLEX-RN were very similar to these 2 books. Whenever I didn't get a question correctly, the books offered clear reasons why the choices were right or wrong. If I was still unclear... I looked it up to clarify further. Nclex asked so many different types of random information that it was ideal that I studied every page in both of the books....TWICE. For me, it helped me to retain the information better. I also made a point to memorize the important reference ranges listed in the Kaplan book. VERY HELPFUL!!! Knowing what is normal vs. abnormal is a huge advantage on NLCLEX.

I hope this helps someone else and thanks again for helping me!

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Hello!

Congratulations!

Like you, I graduated in May. I am soooo afraid that I am going to fail the nclex, in fact i had a dream that I did :: tear :: I have been doing questions on and off since last december but I only truly started studying for the nclex probably about 3-4 weeks ago.

I have been consecutively doing 50-150 questions/day (mostly 150).

I must say I am a very average student and really working my a$$ off to graduate. Senior year was easy but my junior year, oh man...- 4 am clinicals, med-surg/ etc. I barely got a C in medsurg.

I am not naturally smart, I really have to study to know my stuff. I must say though, that I know I'll make a great nurse because I excelled in my clinicals. Grade wise, not so much.

So far I am using..

1. saunders CD (have been using it since december)

2. nclex 4000 (have been using it since december

3. KAPLAN qbank (just purchased it end of last month)

right now I'm focusing on the qbank since people say it overprepares you for nclex...I just ordered the lacharity book as well...

In kaplan I am scoring high 50s on the qbank

my grades are

diagnostic 58

qt1 60

qt2 53

qt3 57

i'm holding off to take the last 4 becuase I want to boost my qtrainer grades.. I have not yet scheduled my nclex :scrying:

please help! anybody!

ALSO - I am not a nervous person but I feel like I'm going to blank out during the tests. Sometimes when I am taking practice tests at home I pretend I'm taking the real thing that get anxious and blank out.

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Shining Star, I just took nclex-pn last friday. My advice to you is to trust your instincts. I ended up getting some answers wrong because I didnt trust myself to mark the answer I wanted. When I got home I went through my Saunders and sure enough found I had marked answers wrong. I did quick results today and found out I passed, I was shocked, but also realize this isnt like a school test where you need to get 80% correct to pass. When we are in school we know the content for the exam and probably get better test scores than we will on the nclex.

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Thank you so much for the motivation Anne. If you don't mind me asking, how did you study? I graduated from a top-knotch nursing school yet I still don't feel prepared at all =/

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I graduated from one of the best schools here in MI . I can tell you what I did but recommend doing more. I used Saunders and their disc. Its good for content but the practice questions are not that hard. I had the NCLEX-PN 2012-13 Kaplan strategies guide. I did not follow through with their strategy very well when it came to exam time because I wasnt used to questions that were as challanging. It sounds like you are getting very well prepared from your previous post.

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I think another one of my problems is anxiety =/ I havent even scheduled the test because I'm SO afraid of failing. I dont know how I'm going to sit there for 6 hours. I definately know the basics but when it comes time to apply myself I freak out =( did you focus more on questions or content?

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I think another one of my problems is anxiety =/ I havent even scheduled the test because I'm SO afraid of failing. I dont know how I'm going to sit there for 6 hours. I definately know the basics but when it comes time to apply myself I freak out =( did you focus more on questions or content?

Shiningstar0602- You should definatly schedule your test. I had constant anxiety during school and had to consistently work my a** off to graduate. NCLEX is the summit. It's the last torch to light before we can call ourselves nurses. I do believe that school has prepared us for the NCLEX....what we need to work on is how to comfortably take a test of that kind.

1. Study all the practice tests and be sure to read the rationales of what you got wrong. REMEMBER- if you get it wrong in practice, you will remember it in the real thing.

2. Learn to eliminate answer choices. It's easier to pick between 2 answers than 4.

3. SATA- treat them as individual true/false answers...its helps!

4. Reword the questions- these scenarios are trying to find out if you can answer a particular subject matter, be sure to know what that subject is before trying to answer it.

5. KNOW WHAT IS NORMAL! I'm referring to ECG and blood values (this is crucial)

This was the bulk of my NCLEX. I had 75 questions. 25 SATA, 1 ECG, 1 lab report, the rest were multiple choice.

Good luck and get a sign to look at over your desk to keep your head right. Mine was an index card stating, " I'M GOING TO PASS THIS F****** TEST!"

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Graham - thank you SO much for taking the time to listen to me and my whining! I took question trainer 4 today and did a little better (got a 62). You passed with 75 questions? THATS AWESOME

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do you suggest I study what I get RIGHT as well?

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Absolutely.

The rationales are the part of these books that are the most useful. You will certainly KNOW why certain answers are right and may not need to reread those rationales, but certainly the ones that you came down to 2 choices and chose the right one.....make sure you are clear as to why its more right than the other choice. Kaplan and Lacharity are great for this purpose because they devote the whole back end of the book to the answers which makes it convenient to page through when needed.

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Prior to June, I was only studying from saunders and nclex 4000 (which my school recommended - no idea WHY!). Later on, I realized that these are lower level thinking questions which is why I invested in the kaplan course. My kaplan instructor also suggested that I buy the green book so it should be coming in the mail ASAP! I'm wasting money left and right but I am desperate right now. I just want to pass and be on my way to becoming a nurse!

Do you have any tips on anxiety? that's one of my biggest issues - and also focusing throughout the test...

btw thank you so much for everything - you're an angel :heartbeat

I'm so happy I found you =)

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My kaplan teaching also suggested that I schedule the test ASAP. I don't feel I'm ready .. AHHH

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