NCLEX RN CA October 2019

Published Nov 7, 2019

25 Posts

Specializes in New Grad.

Throwing my two cents in since I stalked this site religiously when I got my test date!

I graduated 9/30 in Southern California, got my ATT 10/15 (and started studying!), scheduled my exam for 10/28 at 1300 (75Q, 2h, 10-15 SATA, ridiculous # of prioritization/delegation, no hot spot, 1 audio ), name on DCA 10/30 at midnight.

I used Kaplan because my school paid for it and listened to the Mark Klimek audios.

Kaplan content is good; I felt prepared. The rationales are trash. They rarely explained why something wasn't right, they just said it was wrong. The questions were harder than NCLEX. There's more grammar and spelling errors than you'd expect from a program so expensive!

Kaplan scores (%), taken at various times during the day and night.

Diagnostic Test 63.3
Sample Test 1 62
Sample Test 2 48
Trainers (T1 51) (T2 60) (T3 51) (T4 64) (T5 57) (T6 60) (T7 66)
Cap Test (1-3) yellow sub categories with green overall each time
Readiness Test 66
Qbank- scores and length varied a lot; used 370 of the 2105
FYI, getting higher/lower scores is okay too! I'm only bothering to put them because I know the stress of wanting some type of comparison for your progress when you're prepping!

Mark Klimek audios were awesome! An overall review that simplified a lot of concepts.

I didn't buy Uworld but I did take the 25 free questions they offer. I was freaking out at first because everyone (except my Manda Panda❤️) said you just HAD TO have it. Same content/difficulty as Kaplan, the only advantage is the rationales (these were awesome). If you have text anxiety, you may benefit from the interface because it looks just like the NCLEX screen.

Randomness:

CA participates in quick results now for NCLEX RN.
Some timelines from friends, different dates all in October/November 2019:
- tested Friday had results Tuesday at midnight
- tested Thursday had results Tuesday at 11 am
- tested Tuesday had results Thursday at midnight
People have passed or failed using any resource you can name! I can't stress this enough! If I could make a billboard, I would. If you fail or pass, it's not because you bought or didn't buy such and such expensive a$$ program! It's about you! How well did you prepare? Do you have text anxiety? These things matter the most.
- Side note: anxiety is a B! If you've performed poorly during critical times in the past because of anxiety, definitely work on controlling it for the NCLEX! Perhaps, just as much as you are working on studying. A friend didn't pass and I know her test anxiety is the only reason why.
Schedule the exam when you're at your best. If you hate alarms, don't schedule for an AM test. If your brain works fine in the AM but you're thinking about scheduling in the afternoon so you'll have more time to study, schedule in the morning!
Rest your mind before the test! I went to the beach and had fun. At 2100 temptation got the best of me and I took a 25 question test, passed it and realized I was as prepared as I was going to be, then went to bed. Easier said than done but I swear it's a reason everyone on here is saying to do it.
Think positive leading up to the test! For someone who is negative all the time (me?) this was hard AF, but stressing and talking bad about your abilities won't help you reach your goals!
Don't freak out if you don't see as many SATA; a question below passing level can be SATA too. They say you can't tell but I think you feel it when you're effing up, it just means it's time for a break. You don't have to leave your computer; I sat there and silently pumped myself up for a minute if I felt overwhelmed.
On the day of, I woke up naturally (hate alarms!), ate something light, drank my coffee (if you don't normally drink caffeine in the morning, don't start today!), went to the beach (again?), told myself I was freaking awesome, then went to take my test!