I am on of the first New Graduates to take the NCLEX in Canada. The NCLEX replaced our existing national boards (CRNE) as of January 5th, 2015. Today was my test date and I have a few questions and tips for everyone. Since this test is very recent, theres a few kinks that will be discovered.
Pearson Vue Trick: Unfortunately that doesn't work in Canada. Is there any other way to find out my results sooner ? Waiting 4-6 weeks for my results almost seems torturous!!! Especially when you've been anticipating for the exam months in advance.
ID: The Pearson Vue website is not very clear regarding what types of ID are acceptable. If you are a Canadian Citizen, any form of government ID is acceptable. But if you are a permanent resident, you will need to show your passport or permanent resident card. In my case, since I am an American born permanent resident, I came to the testing office only with a British Columbia License. Apparently, this is not acceptable. Luckily I was able to rush back home and grab my passport just in the knick of time to take the test
Computer shut off at 110: Now I understand that the minimum questions to pass/fail is at 75. Kaplan implied that most American NCLEX candidates completed their exam at around 120. I'm just curious to figure out how candidates did in Canada. This concept is new and very different from the CRNE. Because of the unfamiliarity, I am not sure if 110 is good or not.
Lab Values: I was very relieved to see that questions were provided in both SI and U.S.A values. I used Kaplan Prep to study which gave rationales and lab values in American values. Don't stress too much about this!.
Take your time: I found 6 hours to be sufficient amount of time. I finished mine in 2.5hrs. Don't rush, and think through everything. No need to worry about the clock.
Don't Stress Out: I realized that questions kept getting harder as I went through. Feeling like you have no idea whats going on is pretty normal. It's suppose to test your limits and question yourself.
Take Breaks: Take advantage of the breaks! I found that after I took a break it was a lot easier to concentrate. Also bring something to snack on, gives good brain fuel to continue the exam.
Don't bring anything you don't need: They're very strict at the testing centre. You will only be allowed to bring your ID and your locker key to the testing. They give you everything else that you'll need
Study: I used both Mosby's NCLEX-RN text and the Kaplan Prep. I found both to be useful, but I feel that Kaplan has helped me prepare better. It's a bit pricey, but it taught me how to analyze questions and prioritize better. Their decision tree is useful when taking the NCLEX exam. I highly recommend it.
Thanks for the reply! I did all the steps...nothing complicated..., and yes, I took the risk and entered my credit card info (when it says: your order is not....Click the "Submit Order" botton, it means that you already "paid" for your order.)...Anyway, my concern was if getting "good pop up" and the above message could be a good sign...Oh, and I was not charged as my order was not "complete"...Dear nurses, your insight would be kindly appreciated
Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
It's impossible to say. However recent Canadian candidates have been notified by their respective college of nurses within a few days to a week whether they passed or not. They were notified by email from the CoN. (Much quicker than the initial estimate of 3-6 weeks!)
I am a nurse graduated from east asia .... planning to give nclex at the end of march ... reviewing saunders comprehensive is taing ages.... I was thinking to take Hurst online review. can any one guide me what to do ? i am super confuse
Hi! I took the NCLEX-RN on Feb 13th in BC and was convinced that I had failed. Felt like I didn't know the answer to so many questions and really had to critically think my way through it! I did the PVT 4 days later and got a message that said "cannot schedule an exam at this time, test results pending" or something like that......today I got an email from CRNBC saying I had passed! So for me the trick worked, although I could not believe I had passed!! Hope this helps, and best of luck to everyone out there studying, it is a stressful time, but worth it! :)
Hey NurseP1988 I signed up for the Kaplan on demand course. I got my nursing degree in Ireland and haven't been practicing for awhile so I felt a bit overwhelmed by the exam. I found their video lectures pretty good because they went through a lot of rationale for answers and their Qs were similar to the actual NCLEX Qs. The content lectures were a bit boring, but I just focused on areas that I was weak in (pharmacology, maternity and peds)....I have heard that hurst have a good prep course also. I gave myself fours weeks to prep and did tonnes of practice Qs and tests. I also watched a lot of videos from simplenursing with Michael Linares on YouTube, he makes studying easy, and best of all it's free I got to 210 Qs when the computer shut off, I felt horrible throughout the exam, and was convinced I was doing really badly. But I just kept remembering the advice from the Kaplan lectures, don't focus on the amount of Qs, just because you have gonna beyond 100 Qs doesn't mean you have failed! Take your time, answer each q as if it is the last, and look at each answer before selecting your choice, they want you to think about the outcome of your choices........ Hope that helps!
I'm sitting my exam in two weeks time. Wondering about these results- so what I will do is try to re-register for an exam after I sit it, right?
"Good" pop up will say: "Our records indicate that you have recently scheduled this exam. Please contact your member board for further assistance. Another registration cannot be made at this time."
"Bad" pop up will say: "The candidate currently has test results that are on hold"
But if I get the "good" one (oh please!) I still don't get my registration for 6 weeks? So can't apply for jobs until then?
I also trained in Ireland and am also struggling with paeds, maternity and meds (amongst others!). I'm due to sit in two weeks, have been using Saunders which took me FOREVER to get through...Just started Kaplan Premier book and am pretty disheartened and stressed that I'm doing pretty terrible at test questions! Going to look up the on demand course you mentioned so thanks :)
Amazing news that you got official results within 10 days!! I thought I was going to have to wait 6wks.
Are you in Vancouver? How's the job hunting going?
Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
Hi Jbelle,
Well Done!!!
I'm sitting my exam in two weeks time. Wondering about these results- so what I will do is try to re-register for an exam after I sit it, right?
"Good" pop up will say: "Our records indicate that you have recently scheduled this exam. Please contact your member board for further assistance. Another registration cannot be made at this time."
"Bad" pop up will say: "The candidate currently has test results that are on hold"
But if I get the "good" one (oh please!) I still don't get my registration for 6 weeks? So can't apply for jobs until then?
Thanks, Jill :)
Bad pop up is NOT results on hold. Results on hold means results on hold. It does not indicate pass or fail.
Hey JillNas, thank you! Don't stress, I was only getting 50-60% on the practice tests! and i really didn't feel confident that I had covered enough content....but you can't know everything! I focused on the most common meds in pharmacology, covered classifications and focused on those that are dangerous and interact easily..... You never know what you're going to get in the test so you can't possibly prepare for every drug out there! For peds and maternity I looked at the most common and serious conditions, and I got a lot of study topics for those areas from just doing practice tests. I found using the decision tree that Kaplan teaches to be really helpful in ruling out the wrong answer. I waited a few days before trying the PVT, I had submitted my credit card info that's when a red triangle appeared and below it said I had test results pending... I don't know if this trick actually works so don't get too caught up in it. I got my email from the college of nurses 7 days after the test so it's not too long a wait
And yes JillNas, I'm in Vancouver:) how about you? I have only started looking for work, but I've heard it can take awhile so I'm willing to go out of town if it means getting work faster.
I got to 210 Qs when the computer shut off, I felt horrible throughout the exam, and was convinced I was doing really badly. But I just kept remembering the advice from the Kaplan lectures, don't focus on the amount of Qs, just because you have gonna beyond 100 Qs doesn't mean you have failed! Take your time, answer each q as if it is the last, and look at each answer before selecting your choice, they want you to think about the outcome of your choices........ Hope that helps!
FlyingButterfly
44 Posts
Thanks for the reply! I did all the steps...nothing complicated..., and yes, I took the risk and entered my credit card info (when it says: your order is not....Click the "Submit Order" botton, it means that you already "paid" for your order.)...Anyway, my concern was if getting "good pop up" and the above message could be a good sign...Oh, and I was not charged as my order was not "complete"...Dear nurses, your insight would be kindly appreciated