NCLEX Advice PVT, Out of Time

RNinsomnia

I'll start by saying I am a foreign graduate student, Puerto Rico, graduated on December 2015, got my ATT by early March (took a while due to school paperwork, misunderstandings etc), and took the NCLEX on May 26, 2016.

So here it goes, on D Day, I went on to tackle the NCLEX feeling somehow confident as I was getting 70s on my qbanks, I'll say which ones later, walked in there they handed me the paper with the rules and info and as a typical Caribbean born Latino I paid no mind to that, the first mistake. Proceeded to the jail like check-in, placed my stuff in the locker including some snacks and the sealed cellphone, yes, they make you put it in a sealed bag and can't be open until after the test by the person there at the test center. Went in and started my test, again feeling confident and somewhat cocky that I was going to pass in 75, at the most 100 questions, or fail if anything at the same amount. HA!!

I started taking questions, I was taking my sweeeett time answering because remember, only 75-100. Hit the 75 mark clicked next aaanndd 76 popped up, no worries I have 24 more and at that moment I got the "take your 10 min break" window, yeah, exactly that tells you how slow I was moving. So I took my break, went to the locker grabbed some snacks, restroom... and went back. I actually took longer than 10min, about 13 or so, is ok, I got this, only 24 more to go. Came back to the test and realized the time for the test NEVER STOPS, yeah! Remember that paper I said I didn't read at the beginning, that info was there, and yes I didn't know, shoot me!! Right there I panicked a bit and honestly don't even know how I answered the next couple of questions. I talked to myself and calmed myself down and continued.

Long story short, question 100 appeared, then 101, 110 and so on with about a bit over one hour left. Now I'm really panicking, "What am I doing?" "Am I doing that bad?"... and another voice in my head, wiser, screamed "hold it!! If questions are still popping it means you're NOT doing that bad, it is just the computer can't decide with 90% certainty. You are still in the game!!!." I stopped looking at the time left because it was making me nervous. Well, I was still in the "game" at the 225 questions when I realized I had only 4 mins left, and the time numbers were yellow. Not as bad as red, but "no good" (through a Latin accent there).

So what did this "smart" cookie did? The worst thing ever.

In my native country when you are running out of time on a test they say is best to just answer quickly hoping you make it to the end and answering at least some right. HA! I forgot I was taking the NCLEX!!!! Anyway, that's what I did! I started answering at 300 mph mainly looking at last sentence, the one where they really ask what you need to figure out. I did that with like 10 questions and only stopped for about 30 seconds on 2 SATA questions that came out. I had about 40 on my test. Still, I ran out of time at question 240 something. At that point, thank God I had adult pampers on!!

So you know what wouldn't show through my pants (yes, I'm kidding but still...). Got out SUPER depressed! My wife saw my face and just went "oh-oh!" At that point God love her soul, and one of the many reasons I love her, no, she's not next to me with a knife I do love her lol She was encouraging me to not feel bad and even went online to look for what happens when you run out of time in order to give me hopes. The result, I felt worst because I learned it doesn't really matter if you run out of time, the computer will still analyze your LAST 60 question to see your performance, doesn't mean you have to answer all right but you have to be above the line, the passing line, if you fall under just once in those 60 questions you fail.

Well, now I felt I didn't pass for sure! Remember I answered a lot of the last questions quick!! Without thinking much!!! Got depressed again, even more, the next morning!!! Until I decided to be brave and go do the PVT trick. I did research about it and everybody said it was accurate. So I went ahead and around noon I followed the steps and did it been 99.99 certain I failed. Well, guess what!!! I'm writing here lol remember I started this long story saying "if I passed the NCLEX..." lol the trick gave me the GOOD POP UP! Red triangle with an exclamation mark saying "our records indicate that you have recently scheduled this exam. Another registration can not be made at this time."

I still didn't believe I called my wife excited/freaking out. I was still discouraging myself although this gave me hope I didn't have. I took the test on a Thursday and wasn't sure if the "quick results" will be worked on a Saturday but THEY DID and I purchased it gave the phone to my wife, I was scared to look and next thing I heard was a loud happy scream followed by an "I told you, I told you you'll pass." When I saw the "PASS" result I honestly can't describe the feeling, but I won't have to because I'm pretty sure that whoever you are, reading this now, you'll experience the same thing or close to it. WOW! I really couldn't believe it but yes and a week later my BON posted my license (NY).

Summary, in case you skipped lol

So to summarize my long story, be confident but NOT overly, STUDY YOUR CONTENT HARD, I used Saunders for content, watched some HURST review videos a friend handed me, they are content-based which I liked because it doesn't matter how many questions about a subject they throw at you, if you know your content and how to apply it, you're good. I bought both the Kaplan qbank and the Uworld and honestly, if I had to do it again, I'll only stick to Uworld! Their software is nice and their rationales are AWESOME! I was scoring high 60s low 70s on both. Some people say to try to aim at Uworld to be above the "the average score" I say stay above 65% regardless. What did I come across on the NCLEX? Tons of prioritization, infection control and some delegation, not as many as I expected, and of course some content based questions here and there BUT prioritization and infection were the keys on my test.

When you get to the center READ the instructions they give you if you don't know much about what to expect while there. And don't take a lot of time answering the questions, HOWEVER, do if you need to because remember it is MOST IMPORTANT to answer right than to run out of time. Don't talk yourself down while on the test try to remain calm and keep yourself "up". The fact you keep getting questions doesn't mean you're doing bad, it only means the computer can't decide at 90% certainty, YOU'RE STILL IN THE GAME. It doesn't matter if 75 or 265. You just need to pass and do not listen only to those who say they passed in 75 and feel bad if you didn't. Reality is, a lot say they do to try to look good when in fact they went over 75 and if they didn't oh well good for them, really, but their license is the same as yours lol Anyway study hard and good luck!! Yours truly a proud RN who went way above 75, ran out of time, shat his pants(not literally) but got the good pop up and a beautiful diploma with a license number.

NCLEX Advice PVT, Out of Time

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