Attempting my 2nd go on the 25th

Nursing Students NCLEX

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Hi all. just wanted to vent and tell my story. Graduated in Dec '14 with a failed attempt of 265 on Feb. 7th. I studied the material from Hurst and did practice questions from Kaplan and Hurst. I was definitely anxious walking into the test and continually shook my head at almost every question, leaving me irritated because I didn't know these answers and doubted myself throughout. My anxiety seemed to never ease up during the nclex. Deep breaths, closing my eyes...nothing.

I only used one break because I just wanted to get it over with. I didn't build my stamina up enough to sit in for 5 1/2 hours. I was physically and emotionally drained. Majority of my class passed and are now onward to their next job in life.

I have been a tech for over 4 years and I'm burned out to the max. I had an RN job lined up upon passing and had to let it go and continue my tech job due to my failure.

Luckily I have a lot of the content still fresh on my mind. I have currently been focusing on Kaplan Qbanks, LaCharity/Saunders questions. Maternity/peds have been my weakest as I have been hitting 40% out of only 10 questions on Kaplan.

i have good days and bad days currently. I should be an RN now but I know there's nothing I can do about it. It's just hard for me to stay positive and study productively. Other than practice questions, I'm not sure what else I can do. Study groups can't happen because most classmates have passed.

I guess I'm just looking for positive vibes and any other guidance/tips I have not tried or should...thanks guys! Sorry it's so long!!

In the same boat we can do this!!! It's about controlling our anxiety we know this stuff we let the anxiety of the test get the best of us we can do it this next time we went through school and graduated this is just one more step. I believe in you!

How have you been studying this time around? I've been hitting a lot more questions than material, but I'm beginning to feel as if I am forgetting material though since I haven't looked at it. Haha. My mind is going at top speed at the moment.

i have used the same resources as you TroyM and i failed twice... i passed my LPN exam on the first try and been an LPN for 3 years. I need to do something different this time around. I know my content well , but I think im struggling with my critical thinking. I had 265 questions both times

How have you been studying this time around? I've been hitting a lot more questions than material, but I'm beginning to feel as if I am forgetting material though since I haven't looked at it. Haha. My mind is going at top speed at the moment.

Troy for me it's not what Im studying it's how Im studying. Content for me wasnt the issue and I don't believe if you made it to 265 it was ours either. For me the anxiety of it all was my downfall. I blasted in and out of there and couldn't even tell you if I read a question twice I was sooooooo blocked by anxiety. For me I have focused more energy on mediation relaxation and controlling anxiety and as a use to be collegiate athelte I shied away from the most important thing exercise!

As for studying, I was doing questions with my husband (non-nursing) and he got 15 questions in a row correct! WHAT!!!!! I know and he gave me the biggest secret to critically thinking! STOP THINKING AS A NURSE (kind of) and use COMMON SENSE! When you get a question and you know the answer stop read the question again and all the answer and complain why the other answers are WRONG and then go to the next but when you go to a question like ummmm I have no idea what they are talking about break up the question and the answer find what they are looking for even if it take 3 minutes! You getting it right at the end of the day is all that matters!

For me last time I did every single QBank question question trainer (twice over) in kaplan it was content for me it was anxiety.

So now I'm using Sauders as a time killer I did the assessment and got an 88% and am using the study schedule it automatically makes. Along with reading I do 150 questions a day from NCLEX mastery app (amazing rationales), Exam Cram questions, quizlet app for flashcards of drugs, labs, EKG, and then PDA questions. But more importantly I mediated, pray, and understand that I will see questions that I don't know the answer to but I know that I can find the answer! We got this!

You can do this! Have you heard of or tried - PRIORTIZATION and delegation by LaCharity?

You can do this! Have you heard of or tried - PRIORTIZATION and delegation by LaCharity?

I have. I found a download and have been using it everyday. At least 3-4 sections per day. Seems pretty helpful so far.

I've been mostly sticking with LaCharity and Kaplan QBanks. Kaplan seems to just frustrate me more and more. I do about 10-20 QBank questions at the time, depending on what I have going on (work, etc.), and seem to always get 50-60%. Even when I read the rationales...I still don't understand how they get the answer. Does this happen to everyone else as well?

Yes the Kaplan rationales can be vague however you can contact their team to help with explanations

Don't get discouraged. I took the Kaplan class the teacher told us, for the qbank questions it helps to keep school books near by to look for answers you may not know. This takes more time but it actually helps you learn. Don't stress over the rationales. I really love the LaCharity book. I truly believe it helped me pass!!!!

you can do this! i just passed on my 3rd attempt. Keep studying and keep doing questions. don't give up! now you know how the test is so you're not going in blind this time. you got this!

How many SATA questions did you get your first time around?

How many SATA questions did you get your first time around?

I'm probably one of the very few that did not count haha. I thought I had quite a few before question 75 though. A classmate of mine just passed NCLEX at 75 with no more than 10 sata questions. Ah...wouldn't that be nice :woot:

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