nclex help

racing-mom4, BSN, RN · May 7, 2008

Pick a book you like and start now. If you school utilizes ATI I am guessing you have the ATI codes to take the content area tests. What I did as soon as I got my test date I sat down and took all the content tests. The ones I scored lowest on got the bulk of my attention. Say I scored a 67% in nuero, then I would grab my Saunders book and read the neuro chapter, then I took the Saunders Neuro test, then I would target my Davis disk to give me neuro questions. Once I was hitting 80% or better on the nuero test, I took the ATI nuero test again to see if my score went up. Nice thing about the ATI content is they do not provide you with the correct answers, only an end score, so you dont even know what question you missed--so you cant cheat yourself.

Then I would move on to the next lowest ATI score, I repeated this over and over. I would do hundreds of questions a day, I took a NCLEX flash card box with me in my purse where ever I went, so if i was at a kids soccer practice, I could do Nclex cards, dentist appointments-Nclex cards. My kids that could read would read me the questions on long car drives.

I looked at passing boards as my full time job. I was a crazy woman for about 3 weeks. I most likely did thousands of practice questions before my exam. I would start my day by taking a practice test and depending on the score I got I adjusted my daily plan.

A few days before the test, i stopped. I cleaned out closets, I took the dog on long walks, I made great meals for my family--I basically vegged out and relaxed. I knew I had done all I could have possibly done to prepare, I knew the knowledge was in my head, I just had to relax enough to retrieve it.

I also did lots of positive self thinking, I would almost chant the number 75 at night before bed, I would visualize me hitting submit on #75 and seeing the screen turn blue. I would envision a black horizontal line and a red sloping line above it, this to me would be the harder questions I was answering.

Even after all my preparations I still exp some anxiety on the drive up to Pearson VUe, but I remembered what my mental health teacher taught us"you are your sharpest in a state of mild anxiety" so I let that anxiety work for me, I told myself this is a normal feeling and I am now at my sharpest. During the actual exam, if I came across a hard question I did not know, I told myself, "ok your doing good--your getting the hard ones now"

At question #65 I paused and said a quick prayer "ok lord you have been good to me, I promise i will be a good nurse, we have 10 to go"

Happy to say, I took Nclex in less than an hour, the screen did turn blue after question 75 and I drove home with a huge smile on my face. I knew I passed, it was just a matter of waiting to see a lic number behind my name, at 0800 the next day I saw it!!!

I swear the anxiety is worse than the actual test. I know my post is long, but I just wish everyone would be able to have the same Nclex exp I had. You made it through school and that is a huge accomplishment in itself, the knowledge is there. You have it, it is just a matter of being able to retrieve it during the exam. By doing thousands of practice questions you will feel confident in your test taking skills.

You can do it!!! Now go get started!!

Accio · May 7, 2008

i am getting ready for boards and took the ati predictor and made 84% i was told i was more than likely not going to pass i need help what to do and how to study!

Hello. I was wondering what the ATI predictor was? I would like info about it, because I am getting ready to sit for boards again 3rd time... and would like to be able to gauge my readiness for now compared to when I last tested in November.

THANKS...

racing-mom4, BSN, RN · May 7, 2008

It is a 265 question test that is very similar to Nclex, covers the basics. OB/Peds/mental health and med surg. Depending on your score it give you your percent of passing if you took Nclex that day. It also provides a detailed breakdown of your strengths and weaknesses. I think it was a 7 page report.

It has been pretty accurate at the school I attended. In fact this past semester you had to get a certain score on the predictor before the school would send your info off to the state. If you didnt reach that score you had to have personalized tutoring until you could. Our school purchased it for us ( out of our technology fees of course) I think you can go to ATI.com though and buy products, I have no idea how much it costs.