I took my NCLEX - RN exam yesterday. It was my 2nd time and when I came out of the testing center I didn't feel like I failed or passed either. I was more like in the middle. I've already cried my eyes out scared of the thought of failing the 2nd time around. I did that pearson trick a couple of hours after the exam and well it took me to the billing address and credit card information which I'm already guessing that I failed the stupid exam. It sucks to have to delay my future and I have a child I can't even support(I'm living with my parents) because I can't pass that exam. Now I feel like what the heck am i supposed to do?? Like what am i supposed to do now that i haven't done before?
Has anyone ever taken the exam more than 2 times? please someone tell me.. So i won't feel alone.. All my friends have become nurses already 1st time takers and 2nd time takers. I hate failing.
What should i even do? what do i study on this time? I feel like the book is about to get ruined cuz i've been reading on it so many freaking times and i still can't pass that stupid exam..
what should i do?? i have 45 days till my 3rd attempt to pass the nclex and this is really getting me so down. should i just look for a job? or study again?
I will be taking the NCLEX for the second time around the end of September. I first used Saunders, La Charity which is great, and Kaplan live online course. I did not finish nor follow the Kaplan plan thoroughly, so this coud be part of the problem. Also about Saunders, I think it was just way over my head with too much info to retain. For my second attempt, I am reading the Hurst review book, kaplan course book, doing Kaplan Q Bank, answers Exam Cram Questions, and going back over La Charity. I think the Hurst review book is straight to the point and non confusing. I am doing little by little so that I can retain the information. I want to do just questions my last three weeks before my exam. I found it hard to apply Kaplan's strategy because my content was lacking. I do feel like the exam was closer to Kaplan's questions though. I hope this helps. Good luck studying
I took the NCLEX 48 days ago, 265 questions, and failed, without the good pop up. I read the Kaplan study guide and did roughly 3000 questions from Saunders even reading through the entire book. Saunders doesn't reflect the NCLEX questions at all. The Kaplan guide is alright. You can apply the strategies, but I honestly believe the designers of the NCLEX take that into consideration and structure the question so it's not as cut and dry as that. I took it a 2nd time today, and it cut off at 100-110 questions, with the good pop up after wards. I purchased the 5 week subscription from learningtext.com (NCLEX distributors). They give you outlines of the subject areas and questions that are very NCLEX style, somewhat helpful. I also read through the Lacharity book. I firmly disagree with a previous statement that you shouldn't take your time; take your time on the questions. I went in the second time and really read the question while picking out the key words. Think through the answers based on the info in the questions, take your time and don't constantly second guess/over think your initial choice. Oh, I had probably 7-10 "choose all that apply", and those suck.
I emailed this to a friend and will copy it here:
Know the difference between antipsychotics (ine) and antidepressants (il); schizo vs. depression
I had probably 5 questions on Parkinson's disease this morning
Prioritizing what patient to sees/assess 1st!!!!!!!! (Lacharity!)
On both tests I had quite a few infection control questions. Know airborne, what you should wear a mask for, etc. (ex. no alcohol rub for CDIFF)
Know basic pharmacology and the ability to have an idea by looking at the end of a drug what it's used for. I had quite a few questions that would have 4 drugs and ask me which one to question.
There were quite a few "teaching was affective" or "teaching was not affective."
When reading a question then an answer ONLY focus on the information in the question.
search it on here, there is a link for it in a thread!
I used it.........its free.........3800 higher order questions. I did 100 a day and read all the rationales (right or wrong)
I passed last week in 75 Q's! and i am from overseas................i really really found this site great!!!!
Was the Exam Master the only source that you used? I also have been using it and I found that it is helpful. I also purchased the NCLEX 4000 and I believe that they are the same questions as Exam Master. I wish I hadn't got the NCLEX 4000 now because the Exam Master was free and the NCLEX 4000 was around $40.00.
i used quite a few sources.........got bored quickly!!
But out of all of my resources i would say that Exam Master and La Charity are the top 2!!!!
I just found that the more questions i did the more comfortable i was in sitting the exam.....it was almost like it became second nature. Yes content is important.......but there really is a style to picking the right question. I found that during the exam i could look at a question (without knowing the actual subject well) and just know what the answer would be based on the wording of the question!!!
Do as many Q's as you can...........till it becomes like a reflex action!!!
Update, I am not using Kaplan Q Bank. I could not afford to pay them an extrall 200 after paying for the live online course. I did not find Kaplan to be that helpful. I am using Lacharity and Davis 2010 for questions and Hurst and Kaplan course book for content.
Tinkerbell04
180 Posts
I will be taking the NCLEX for the second time around the end of September. I first used Saunders, La Charity which is great, and Kaplan live online course. I did not finish nor follow the Kaplan plan thoroughly, so this coud be part of the problem. Also about Saunders, I think it was just way over my head with too much info to retain. For my second attempt, I am reading the Hurst review book, kaplan course book, doing Kaplan Q Bank, answers Exam Cram Questions, and going back over La Charity. I think the Hurst review book is straight to the point and non confusing. I am doing little by little so that I can retain the information. I want to do just questions my last three weeks before my exam. I found it hard to apply Kaplan's strategy because my content was lacking. I do feel like the exam was closer to Kaplan's questions though. I hope this helps. Good luck studying