NCLEX MAY 2018

Published May 24, 2018

3 Posts

I promised myself I would come back on here after I took my NCLEX exam and give some people hope when they've feel like they've lost it. I know because I was one of them....

I'll try and make this short and sweet.

I took the NCLEX (1st time) in June 2017 and failed at 265. Yes I got all 265 questions and I was in there for 5.5 hours. It. Was. Brutal. Needless to say the next morning I checked the website and FAIL. I was devastated. I went back to working my old regular job and nursing took a back seat. I couldn't seem to face it again after the failure.

The 1st time I took the Kaplan course (which was provided for us in school during our last semester). I got all the right scores, I even got a good predictor score that I would pass the NCLEX. I think it was something like 93rd or something. Well that DIDN'T happen. And needless to say I got my money back.

Fast forward to almost a year later. I got up the courage and motivation to start studying again. My friends (who were already RNs) had suggested UWorld. I paid for a 2 month subscription. WOW! UWorld was a whole different animal. In a good way! It provided amazing rationals to each question. I ended up doing ALL 2079 questions. There was no question untouched. Lol. I read each rational and ended up taking notes... 2 notebooks worth of notes. My average at the end was 55% and 53rd percentile. I got a 49% on the predictor assessment which was in the HIGH range of passing the NCLEX.

I scheduled my exam and did NOT tell a soul when my exam date was. Everyone would always ask and I would just say sometime in May. I already had enough pressure from myself to pass, I didn't need the pressure of others. I made that mistake my 1st time.

Exam day: It was just me, myself, and I (and the man up above of course). I scheduled my exam in the afternoon, went and had lunch by myself, and got to the testing center an hour early. When I went in I could feel my heart beating through my chest, as I knew it would. There were several times I had to talk myself down, because everyone knows anxiety can be the death of you on the NCLEX if you don't get it under control. At question 75 I was praying it would shut off, but alas, it kept going. 76 came and I had to give myself another internal pep talk. My computer shut off at 127. Such a random number! 3 hours later I walked out feeling...... okay. Dare I say good. Definitely not how I felt after the 1st time I walked out of that building. I honestly didn't know if I had just failed or passed but I knew I was happy I didn't have to do another 265 questions!

Here in Florida our results will appear the next morning. I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed and went online to check. To my surprise.... before I could even get to the exam results page I saw my license number. I had to check my official exam results because I couldn't believe it. PASS! I passed in 127 questions.

My advice:

1. UWorld. it was the best investment I've made. Kaplan for me did not work nor do I think it was helpful. But I know for some, they swear by it. It just did not work for me. For UWorld you HAVE TO read the rationals. You can't just do questions and not read the rationals, you have to understand why you got the questions wrong and right. I knew a lot of information on the NCLEX solely from what I learned from UWorld. Of course the NCLEX is so random with the questions they ask you, there were a lot that I didn't know and that's where my critical thinking came into play which UWorld helped me grasp. And yes, it will take time and dedication to complete these questions. Nothing in life comes easy but hard work always pays off.

2. You are not obligated to tell anyone when you're taking your exam. It decreases the stress and lets you focus on the exam, not the pressure you feel from others.

3. Pray, pray, pray. I can't say that enough. If he brought you to it, he will bring you through it!

I know it'd hard to lose faith and hope after feeling so defeated. But NCLEX is just an exam. A hard one. One that will make you want to curl up in a ball and cry but it's not impossible (even though it feels like it). You got through a rigorous nursing program and graduated. You can and will get through the NCLEX and become an RN.

Good luck to everyone out there looking for a little hope! You can do this!