NCLEX lottery+$200.00=Nursing shortage? Maybe.

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I heard that the pass rate for first-time takers of NCLEX is 85%. I am not all that impressed with that percentage. Provided my school's ADN program boasted a 98% pass rate. With all of those funky exams taken in nursing school that NCLEX rate should be higher. Maybe nursing schools should change its test structure. Taking NCLEX is like buying an expensive lottery ticket. Pay your $200.00 NCLEX testing fee and try your luck. Friends of mine wonder that you go through all that stress for years to finally graduate nursing school to then have to take this exam and cross your fingers. I would rather be a social worker.

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Specializes in Did the job hop, now in MS. Not Bad!!!!!.
I heard that the pass rate for first-time takers of NCLEX is 85%. I am not all that impressed with that percentage. Provided my school's ADN program boasted a 98% pass rate. With all of those funky exams taken in nursing school that NCLEX rate should be higher. Maybe nursing schools should change its test structure. Taking NCLEX is like buying an expensive lottery ticket. Pay your $200.00 NCLEX testing fee and try your luck. Friends of mine wonder that you go through all that stress for years to finally graduate nursing school to then have to take this exam and cross your fingers. I would rather be a social worker.

WOW! feel better? that's the kind of rant I would normally write! OMG! :rotfl: I'm sorry if that's the wrong response. I am actually living vicariously through you right now. Way to vent!!!

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Specializes in SICU, ER, MEDICAL.

I must have a sick sense of humor because the was so funny. :lol2::lol2::lol2: This is what I felt like going in to take that exam.. Vent away....:devil::angryfire

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Specializes in RN- Med/surg.

Nursing isn't the only profession to have to pass an exam to practice. I don't consider myself "winning the lottery"...I worked my TAIL off preparing for the exam and am proud of myself for passing.

As a patient...I'm glad there's an exam to guarantee competant nursing. There are ways to cheat through school..you can't cheat on the exam. I'm not saying everyone who failed was incompetant...but at least we know it's not easy. Also...if it WERE easy to be a nurse...pay would be much lower.

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Specializes in Cardiac.

Trust me, the difficulty of the NCLEX has nothing to do with the Nursing shortage...

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Specializes in Did the job hop, now in MS. Not Bad!!!!!.
Nursing isn't the only profession to have to pass an exam to practice. I don't consider myself "winning the lottery"...I worked my TAIL off preparing for the exam and am proud of myself for passing.

As a patient...I'm glad there's an exam to guarantee competant nursing. There are ways to cheat through school..you can't cheat on the exam. I'm not saying everyone who failed was incompetant...but at least we know it's not easy. Also...if it WERE easy to be a nurse...pay would be much lower.

I gotta admit, when I was feeling really defeated by the whole study game and the odds I battled, hearing an RN whose been in the biz for 20+ years tell me I could do it if she did it, made me want to slap her. Because it's not the same, and as a patient, I've had some numbskulls tend to my care. And after nursing school I see how they "cheat" their way through their profession. (e.g. My BP isn't 84/62 one day and 120/80 the next). Nurses from the "old school" should be the ones getting re-tested. Not the ones coming straight out of a 2 year very difficult curriculum getting tested on medical topics that a PA couldn't answer.

Makes me doubly proud to have made it, but I swear, one more person says to me "of course you made it. we knew you could" or " if I did it and I"m older (say 53?) then you can" ....There's just too much pressure to take a test that is supposed to be based on minimum competency for RN care. Or else they wouldn't have repeated this thousands of times in school. We made it through nursing school. We rock! NCLEX is yet another Mt. Everest. There should be a friggin parade in our honor!

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Specializes in Cardiac.
I Nurses from the "old school" should be the ones getting re-tested. Not the ones coming straight out of a 2 year very difficult curriculum getting tested on medical topics that a PA couldn't answer.

Lol, There was absolutely nothing in my nursing school, or on the NCLEX than a PA couldn't handle!

And why should 'old school' nurses get re-tested? That makes no sense. Trust me when I say this, nursing school, Hesi, the NCLEX....these are all a walk in the park compared to real-life nursing. I'm not an old-school nurse by any means, but what I have to deal with on any random day in the real world is by FAR harder than any test.

I work with a lot of those old-school nurses in the ICU. Now, they've got some info in their heads that would knock your socks off!

And after nursing school I see how they "cheat" their way through their profession. (e.g. My BP isn't 84/62 one day and 120/80 the next).

I had a patient yesterday who had a BP of 72 one hour, and then 130's the next. Without me giving pressors. So, yes. It happens.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

85% is fairly reasonable.

What I hate about the test is the variable number of questions. People get so hung up over the number and type of questions they start stressing over that rather than concentrate on the questions themselves.

It's not like one just walks in blindly and starts guessing and rolls a roullette wheel. Presumably the person who passes studied throughout the cirriculum and knows the stuff.

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dear Aprilhere,

I agree with you that there should be a test to ensure minimal competency for RNs and LPNs. I am sincerely glad you passed. I have worked my tail off in school and out preparing for NCLEX and came up short. But don't fool yourself there are many forces out there working to keep nurses wages stagnant. Greedy healthcare institutions public and private who want to maximize their bottom line and will encourage the passage of legislation to get around the Nurse Practice Act at our expense. Ever heard of high nurse-patient ratios, mandatory overtime, shortstaffing, and unlicensed "certified" med techs dispensing medications to name a few. Think about this; Can you imagine what was the starting salary for entry-level RNs 10 years ago for the same training?:uhoh21:

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Moderators please close this thread. Thanks.

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Specializes in Cardiac.

So any time you get responses that you don't like, we have to close the thread?

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All that the NCLEX exam wants to see is that you will practice as a safe nurse starting your career, nothing more. And for those of you that have tested recently, the majority of questions are of the priority nature: what would you do first? The exam is based on common sense with the ABCs thrown in, think of it in those terms.

And I am one of those older nurses that went thru a very extensive two year hospital based program. And I will put my skills up against any new grad coming out. And as mentioned above, suggest that you spend sometime in the realm of an ICU and see all of the knowledge that us old nurses have. You may be quite surprised. Or even any other area, instead of just comparing yourself to someone that has been around the block a few times.

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