Hey Nurses!
I actually don't know how to start so let me start by saying thank you for taking the time to read my post. I'm Arci, foreign educated nurse, passed my PNLE (Philippine's Licensure Exam) almost a year ago, I'm from Texas and this is my nursing journey...
5 years ago, my parents and I decided that I go to college in the Philippines. I've been reading about how others despise this because "It's a shortcut, you will not be educated the same way, etc." NO I don't consider it a shortcut, I consider it a smart move because it is CHEAP. One semester was only around 60,000 pesos which is roughly about $1,200 books included. I was a full time student, since school's basically 7 am to 5 pm. The first year it was all lectures. 2nd to 4th year was lectures/clinicals. We had no summer breaks and most of the time we would do lectures from 7 am to 2 pm and clinicals from 3 pm to 11 pm. That was basically my life. So what I'm trying to say is, it is no shortcut.
Went back to the US after graduation and PNLE and processed my papers immediately. Registered myself on the BON website. Got evaluated by CGFNS which reviewed my Transcripts and results we're equivalent to BSN program, something like that. Did background checks, jurisprudence and IELTS (which I didn't know I didn't have to take) and registered with Pearson, I actually don't know the exact steps I did haha. But yeah almost 3 months ago I received my ATT.
Fast forward to today, I am sitting here... Typing this... Drinking coffee... and nervous. Nervous because I don't know what to expect. NCLEX is 4 days away. I used Saunder's, Picmonic, La' Charity and UWorld. La' Charity helped a lot and I was able to answer UWorld questions better after finishing it. I love Picmonic and UWorld. I have about 200 questions left on UWorld and have yet to take the self assessment test. I'm only scoring 55-70% on UWorld. Mostly in the 60's. I am so glad I stumbled upon posts here 4 months ago when I was on google searching for review materials.
I've been studying A LOT the past 3 months. My husband would take me out on weekends and I would stay home on weekdays just studying. I'm writing this because somehow I'm being relieved. My original plan was just to ask for tips on my last 4 days. I did not know I was going to give a summary of my journey. If you're still reading this, thank you again.
I've also driven to the testing center, it's in the town center 10 minutes away. I plan on arriving 30-45 minutes early just so I can calm my nerves. My test is at 1 pm. I picked an afternoon time because I am not a morning person at all and I take a lot of time getting ready, I didn't want to rush for an 8 am test.
As mentioned, NCLEX is 4 days away. What should I do now? What should I expect? What should I bring? What helped you calm? Basically all the whats. Kindly help and thank you!