Took the NCLEX 3/2/2012

I hardly ever post on forums, but I have used all nurses.com for reference on nursing school and nclex. So I hope you can use my feedback as your input has helped me in the past.

A little about me: I started an Accelerated BSN program in 2008. I lost a year because I had to repeat a class. ( I had to repeat it because my professor wouldn't accept a late paper I wrote worth 20 percent of my grade. Obviously that meant I had no room for error in exams etc. ) I almost dropped out of nursing school because of this incident. I decided to return the following year and graduated last year 2011. (btw, I worked 40 hours a week while in nursing school while raising a preteen who drove me nuts)

In order to get my walking papers from the school, they required us to take the HESI exam. This exam was HORRIBLE! So much content and total of 175 questions ! The school gave us 3 months to take it. A total of 12 exams date were scheduled. I waited until the 10th exam date to take it. (So 2 months after graduation had passed and now I was rushing myself.) If I failed, I would only get 2 more tries and then have to do some remedial class, pay $800 and wait 6 months. (this meant another year wasted) I took a big chance, (note, I was mourning the death of my young sister whom died one month before my graduation in a car accident.) It was very hard to study under these conditions. But I read the WHOLE HESI book, took all their online exams (about 600 questions), and barely passed with a 910 ( passing was 900 and above)

I received my ATT a few weeks later. I scheduled the exam 2/27/12. My goal was to complete kaplan Qtrainer and Qbanks. My brother downloaded the kaplan audio lectures onto my iPhone, which I would hear while driving, riding the subway, cleaning my house, exercising.

I also had an ambitious goal of doing the whole saunders CD but was pretty burnt with just Kaplan questions!!

On 2/11/12, my favorite aunt got diagnosed with uterine cancer, and she made me her proxy for all her medical needs. I started panicking again. The exam was in two weeks and I had a lot of questions left. But I had to care for her also.

On 2/24/12, I had 400 questions left. I knew I wouldn't finish by that monday so I rescheduled to 3/2/12

On 2/27/12, I get a call from a classmate telling me he failed the NCLEX. This guy ran out of time and only completed 200 questions! I have to mention, he was one of the smartest students in class. Average GPA for him was 3.8. (Now I begin to doubt myself.)

On 2/28/12, my poor aunt died from complications of a hysterectomy. I can't begin to describe my thoughts. Just 3 weeks ago, her and I were chatting about traveling after she recovered. We made all her funeral arrangements and I debated rescheduling NCLEX again.

I decided exactly 26 hours before the exam that I would just take it ( they give you 24 hours to reschedule) At this point, I was done with all the kaplan questions. I read every single rationale. I averaged 60%.

on 3/2/12, I'm scheduled for a 8am NCLEX test slot. (The afternoon of the NCLEX test date was my aunts wake.) At this point, I was numb, tired, mentally exhausted. I reminded myself that life was too short to stress something so much. I woke up that morning at 4am. I had a 20 min drive ahead of me. I parked my car at 5am a block from the test site. I sat in my car and heard 1.5 hour of nursing content audio (kaplan) and read some notes for the next hour. ( I saw the sun rise and was eager to get this test over with) at 7:30am I bought ice tea at the nearest starbucks. Then I proceeded to check into the pearson center.

FYI: make sure you bring the ATT letter, they turned away 2 girls because they didn't have this. I was fingerprinted 6 times! They also take your picture and record audio and visual images of you while you're taking the exam !

The test was a blur. It was so easy that I couldn't figure out if I was receiving hard questions. I began to panic. once I reached the 70th question, I figured I was failing because I hadn't been given any med math, no diagrams, no hard medication questions! It shut of at 75 questions after 50 minutes. I'll never forget the warm flushed feeling of panic and despair!

I did the pearson trick 10 mins later and got the pop up that suggested I passed. I couldn't believe it. I checked on Sunday for the unofficial score online (theres a 48 hr wait) It confirmed I passed.

My advice to future nclex applicants: Do ALL Kaplan Qbank and Qtrainer. Read all rationales. (You learn/reminded about 3 different topics from each rationale). The decision tree does help but it can be overwhelming to apply when you're panicking, so consistent test taking will help you determine what nclex is looking for.

I briefly went over the Saunders book for the hard to absorb topics. I didn't do any saunders questions. I racked my brain with meds for nothing, the questions on nclex were upfront.

Kaplan questions are 10 times harder !!!!!!!!! I can't emphasize that enough. I barely did 50-100 questions a day because my brain would hurt.

Make sure you're scoring in the 55% and up scale. if not, review the topics you keep getting wrong.

Don't let people who have failed give you doubt. Most likely they didn't study right. You can read the whole Saunders front and back and fail if you haven't done Kaplan questions (or similar) Saunders CD is hogwash compared to Kaplan.

In the end, I'm glad I'm done. On to mourning and figuring out what happens next.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL....