2016 NCLEX-RN Experience

[OB_RN BSN]

I promised myself I would write to this website after passing my NCLEX-RN, and though it is a bit late, here it is!

I graduated from my BSN progam May 7, 2016, and started working as a graduate nurse June 6th (also relocating to an area 2 hours from my home), and officially took the NCLEX on July 18th (the day before my birthday). The week following graduation I attended the in person Kaplan review (not sure how much of my success I can attribute to the sessions) which my school offered at a discounted price, along with the online access to the practice tests/qbank. I wanted to stick solely to Kaplan's study plan, using their textbook, videos, etc. In the end I reviewed the book twice before my exam date, and once the night before my exam (the night before was truly just skimming while watching some stand up comedy with a nice IPA in hand following some cardio at my hotel's gym). I quickly realized the videos were too time consuming and god awful to sit through, making my mind wander off of topic so i ditched that portion of my studying.

I also purchased the Saunders review book, which is much more pleasant to look at compared to the black and white pages of the Kaplan textbook. I never did finish Saunders, but I hit areas that I knew were must knows for NCLEX (the ENTIRE fundamentals section, and peds which was my weakness). I would also read info from the Kaplan text, then supplement with Saunders on important topics. Kaplan's comprehensive book was simply more down to the point, but Saunders was great for some explanation.

So... I stuck to this method of studying with the two text books, creating flashcards for memorization-type info (such as med categories), and practing the qbank and trainers. I no longer have access to my Kaplan site so I can't remember each individual score but they were anywhere between 50%-70%. Most commonly scoring around 58%-64%... so I never was a perfect scorer on these exams by any means. I do remember my Readiness Exam score was 67% if that is any help to you, I took it 1 week prior to my test date. For all of the qtrainers and preset quizzes I went to a library and isolated myself so there were no distractions or excuses.

Ok, so, the test date... I switched my test date about 3 times before taking my exam. I don't advise anyone to do this, but I knew that I wanted extra time to review material and to avoid rushing through my practice questions with my current job as a GN working 12 hour shifts, and many 8 hour education days.

As I finished up Kaplan (other than a Qtrainer and the Readiness) about 2.5 weeks before my test date I purchased one month of UWORLD. UWORLD was absolutely a game changer for my studying. Kaplan would really drive me crazy with their terrible rationales, while UWORLD broke down each individual question and gave me a detailed explanation about the topic and why the correct answer was indeed the correct answer. Not to mention the UWORLD interface looks almost identical to NCLEX. My advice is DO UWORLD!! I forced myself to do one full 75 question test a day, then follow up with another 25 questions test right before bed. I felt UWORLD was much more valuable to me practice wise than kaplan questions. My scores for Uworld were between 58%-80%.

And finally the day before my exam I stayed at a hotel which was 3 minutes down the road from my testing center (which I visited the day before as well to know exactly where to go). I stayed at the hotel alone so no one would distract me or take me out of the head space that I needed to be in before taking the exam. All I did the day before was drive the 2 hours to my hotel, had dinner at a cafe where I skimmed half of the Kaplan Review book, went to the hotel's gym for a cardio/medication flashcard review, at 7pm I was in my room with some netflix, a drink, and the second half of the kaplan book. By 9:30 I took some melatonin and went to bed. I woke up at 8am to take one last trip to the gym for some stress relieving cardio (best idea I've ever had), got ready for the day, had a breakfast sandwich, and by 9:30am I decided to half heartedly review some notes I wrote while studying (mainly to pass the time until my 12pm testing time).

I arrived at the testing center around 11pm (one hour before my test). Everyone who worked at the site was pleasant, I got my palm scanned, but my protein bar in my locker, put in my earplugs covered by the headphones and started my exam early. LUCKILY I totally kept my cool. I was blessed with having my first 2 questions make me ask myself "Is the NCLEX really this easy??". Then as the test progressed I had many alternative questions, priorities, and some teaching in the mix so I was able to convince myself that I was above that stinking line of competency that we all fear. Before I knew it, in less than an hour my computer shut off at 75 and I wasn't in a complete panic.

Of course I immediately called my mother afterwards to explain what had just happened, and she told me, "You really sound confident about it. Don't second guess yourself. If you did poorly, you would know it." So the 2 hour drive home I kept telling myself this so I didn't loose all sanity.

The next day I had to work 7a-7p, which I was glad I had something to keep me busy and not checking the state board 100 times a minute. I couldn't help by search my name on the state licensing site around 9:30a (praying it wouldn't end in tears in front of my new coworkers) and sure enough I was listed as a licensed RN! It became a celebration at work and I couldn't be more thankful. Now I work on an OB unit working postpartum, catching babies, doing L&D, and triage. Ever since I had my OB rotation in nursing school, I knew I absolutely HAD to be a part of it. So, YES it is possible to start out in the specialty you want at a brand new nurse. Do not let the NCLEX bring you down, go into the exam calm, cool, collected and go with your gut on each question.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL!! :)