NCLEX-RN 2017

Hello friends,

I have graduated December 2016 and took NCLEX on Mar 2017. I did not study very hard. During nursing school, we used ATI and after graduation that is what I used to prepare for NCLEX. I also have purchased Kaplan's self-review course; however, I did not like its lectures thinking they were time-consuming and stopped using Kaplan. I was practicing using ATI most of the time. During NCLEX, the computer went off at 75. Unfortunately, I did not pass the NCLEX. I was crying like my whole life was ruined. However, I had to pick myself up and start studying again. Since I failed NCLEX at my first try, I was hesitant and felt unprepared to take the NCLEX second time around.

I knew I was weak in content, so I used ATI's The Comprehensive NCLEX-RN Review book to sharpen my content area. And I used Kaplan's Q-bank to practice questions. At first I was scoring as low as 36%, and my scores went up to 68%. On Kaplan's Readiness Test, I earned a 64%. When I was taking the quizzes on Kaplan, I did not google the content about the questions at all. I wanted to see how i do without any help from external resources. When I was finished with my test, I would always go back and review my tests and google the items i had questions about. I am married and have a three year old. Therefore, it was challenging for me to study day and night. My husband works from home, so he was telling me to go to library and study. I was feeling bad for him because he had to manage his job and the baby. However, I had to do it. I woke up every morning around 9am got ready and left the house. I tried to be at the library at 10am and studied until 3-4 pm. I took short breaks from now and then (10-15 mins every hour or two).

I did not tell people about my failure with NCLEX. And, I had people telling me why are you not taking it blah blah, and I had to make up excuses saying that I am not ready and stuff.

I decided that if i schedule my exam then I will study even harder and it happened. I scheduled my exam for May 2, 2017. Having a date helped me concentrate on my studying, telling myself that, "i can do this and that after I take the exam, right now I must focus on my studying." I was telling myself that I can do this and that this is a minimum competency test and so many nurses have done it and so can I. Preparing for the test was tough, because i failed the first time around I was extremely anxious and nervous. I felt incompetent. I did not want to use too many sources and get confused. Since I bought Kaplan for ~$400, I focused on their questions bank. I literally have answered every single one of their questions on their Q-bank. I have done all the Questions Trainers and Readiness test.

My test day, I was extremely nervous. I had a big breakfast. I started at 8am and was finished by 10:15am. I had 104 questions and computer went blank. I had exactly 20 SATA (Select All That Apply) questions. I was getting excited when I was having SATA questions because SATA are higher level questions. Two hours after I was finished with my test, I received the email from PearsonVue and tried do the Pearson Vue trick. I got a positive message. I was still very anxious and was waiting on the results anxiously. Exactly 48hours after my test I received the test results and I have passed the NCLEX! What a big relief.

In conclusion, you guys are capable of passing the NCLEX, but must study and prepare well for it. You will never feel ready for this test. So schedule your test in advance and study, study, study.