2 years out of Nursing School. Failed 3 times Help!

Nursing Students NCLEX

Published

I've been out of school for 2 years and failed Nclex 3 times. 1st time I was pregnant with my 1st child (7 month pregnant at the time), 2nd time baby was 5 month old and kept me up all night. 3rd time was 3 months ago and I think I was just too rusty and scared. The hard part for me is only person that knows is my husband. So it's my hidden secret from family and friends. Since I am currently a stay at home mom. No one really ask me about it they just figure I am a RN. So... I have been avoiding the nclex like its the plague but, now I've decided it's time to close this chapter and start a new as a RN and NEED to Pass this time. I need to start from scratch on study.I'm looking for recommendation on good study resources for core content and over all testing strategies. The time frame I'll be able to spend studying is 2 hours a day, 5 days a week. Any suggestion, motivation or personal story would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Going to follow this if you don't mind. This sounds all too familiar for me. I failed first attempt because I just found out I was pregnant after being told I wouldn't be able to have kids, so it was a high risk pregnancy plus the darn fear itself of nclex. I was humiliated and avoided my fiancé and everyone else because I hate myself for it. I continued to work, nonhealthcare job, and finally gave up to spend time with my baby for his first year. I tossed out my results like an idiot bc I didn't want the reminder! Now here I am, out of money and having to apply this week to retest and don't feel prepared at all since I've been out 2 years. Lord help us both!! If I don't pass I will probably never try again though. I just wish someone here who just took it could give us a keyed in study guide or something that helped them pass it they once struggled. Best of luck momma!

If you don't mind me asking, how are you studying and what resources are you using.

Iam looking also for a good study in Atlanta area

Hi. Do you know of any study groups or programs I can take here in Atlanta.Thanks

Honestly, you need to reconsider if this is the path for you. Stop making excuses regarding why you did so poorly. You are placing your patients and fellow staff members at risk if you are not capable enough to pass this exam. The exam is designed to weed out students who can not excel in nursing in order to protect patients.

Specializes in Med/Surg, LTACH, LTC, Home Health.
Honestly, you need to reconsider if this is the path for you. Stop making excuses regarding why you did so poorly. You are placing your patients and fellow staff members at risk if you are not capable enough to pass this exam. The exam is designed to weed out students who can not excel in nursing in order to protect patients.
Tell me how exactly a stay-at-home mom with no RN license, no job, and no career is placing patients and "fellow staff members" (which don't exist) at risk?
Honestly, you need to reconsider if this is the path for you. Stop making excuses regarding why you did so poorly. You are placing your patients and fellow staff members at risk if you are not capable enough to pass this exam. The exam is designed to weed out students who can not excel in nursing in order to protect patients.

This from a poster who does not appear to even be in nursing school yet. The test was not designed to weed out people who won't excel as nurses. If it was it's failed...and badly.

Keep trying... each time you are eligible to repeat attempt - DO SO, and meanwhile try practicing questions.

You will pass.

My best friend studied hard during school. Disciplined beyond normal. Every day she would sit in library and memorized book cover to cover.. Nicest person ever. Not one bad string in the textile of her personality. No doubts she would have been sweetest nurse. I would entrust her my beloved without blink of an eye. When time came - she did not pass NCLEX, (and if someone should have passed that test - that was her!) and failed it again, and again and again. Stopped communicating and almost gave up.

Few years later finally she did passed that damn test.

Just keep trying and don't pay attention to the result, once you walking out of door of the testing center, start preparing yourself for next date when you can sit for NCLEX again... and again. It will happen if you do not give up. Just practice questions over and over, any questions, app on your phone... the cd, the online... any you can get your hands on.

I just took mine for the 4th time. Don't give up. I don't even know my results yet. If I didn't pass I'll be taking it again. This test is not easy. But it can be done. Most people have used Kaplan tree and uworld. Keep up trying! Best of luck!

The test is designed to test critical thinking which is not taught in nursing school. It's not a weed out test. Reseach it.

Hello there,

Although it sounds like you've had rough 2 years, it will be okay. Being afraid is probably one of the worst things you can do to yourself. I can share my experience but it's entirely different than yours. I took my NCLEX 6 weeks after I graduated and passed. However, I literally studied for 6 days a week for about 6 hours a day. I did not like any other material besides Saunders and that's because it worked for me. I read the chapters (typically 2-3 per day) and did each question with rationales for the chapters I had earlier studied. I also had a friend who studied with me and was able to go over the questions together. I aimed for at least 200 questions per day and finished all of them in around 6 weeks ( I believed there were 4000 questions in total). When I took the test, I honestly did not think it was that hard because of the questions that I was doing in Saunders. When you do the practice questions, they are detailed and tend to make you feel like you know nothing and will fail. However, don't be discouraged. Keep reading, do as many questions as you can and try to calm down without feeling defeated. I took my NCLEX on June 2014 so it's been a while for me, however, my professor always said to do more questions as they help you remember details. ONe last thing, Saunders will repeat important questions that are more likely to be covered on the test. Each time it asks in different ways, but it's the same content. Hope this helps!

Good luck!

+ Add a Comment