I promise, I won't put up post after post, but I do want to tell my nclex story in the hopes of easing the anxiety of those of you who are struggling with even the thought of the exam..
A little about my background. I started nursing school at the age of 33. I was married for 14 years, then divorced not knowing how in the world I would take care of my children. I had been a stay at home mom and with no college education my future looked dim. Nursing, particularly behavioral health, has always been an interest of mine...anyway....
I started school and was shocked at how difficult it was..but guess what? I didn't have the option of failing, I had to complete this no matter how hard it was. The first 3 semesters I made "B's", but the last semester killed me. I don't know what happened, but I studied my butt off and barely ended that semester with a "C". When I took my final that semester, I left that day just knowing I had failed....thank God I passed!!!
Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of the madness...I knew NCLEX was the last and most difficult hurdle I'd have to face. How would I study? I didn't know. Obviously I wasn't pulling out past notes, or was I going to read all the information again...What would I do? I went online and there was a repeated pattern...everybody said practice questions, practice questions, and more practice questions. So I thought..hum I don't hate studying that way, so that is something I can do. I would have loved to take one of those high priced classes, but honestly I didn't have the money for those.
I went to the library and checked out three books. Each book had tons and tons of practice questions. In the end I probably ended up doing about 1000 practice questions. Towards the end I noticed a pattern in me. I was beginning to answer the questions right even though I might have not even knew the information. That had to be a good sign I thought. I also have the Saunders book and I went through some of that, but not a whole lot. When it came to test day, I didn't feel very confident at all....I remember thinking to myself while waiting to test....boy I should have studied more!!!
I took the nclex on a Wednesday. The testing center was 2 hours away, so the night before I stayed in a hotel and studied some, but mainly just relaxed. I got to the testing center at 8:00. Everyone there was so nice, that it made the experience at least tolerable....
OKAY, so I sit down and I had heard some crazy story about trying to get the first question right...well quess what? I didn't even know the first one. I got to about question 35 and realized..OMG I don't know any of this. I am so stupid, I should have studied, I should have taken a class, I can't believe I have to pay another 275.00 to do this agaiin. I literally wanted to get up in the middle and run away. I sat there and said to myself "Please don't shut off at 75 because that will mean I am doing so badly that there is no chance of redeeming myself.". Well of course!!!!! The dang thing shut off at 75!!!!!!!! I didn't cry, I drove home turned up my music full blast and told myself over and over...at least I can take it again!.
Oh my poor family and friends. They mean well...OH, you did fine, you passed, don't worry, you did it! I wanted to scream...stop saying that, you don't know, I KNOW I failed!!!!!! I think if one more person told me I passed I would have dropped them on the spot...what did they know anyway, they don't even know what a freakin nclex is!!!
So I go online and read post after post about how if it shuts off at 75 that is a good sign. I feel better, then I read...I failed at 75...OMG that's going to be me!!! Many of my friends got their results the next day after 5pm from the ohio board of nursing website. I checked the next day after 5 and the dang thing said PENDING. What the heck does pending mean? Other friends said they didn't get theirs until 48 hours later. OKAY, I can wait 48 hours, but NO MORE. I get online after 48 hours and NOTHING. I have spent the past 2 days with huge knots in my stomach, I can't sleep, I can't eat and they don't have the decency to post my results in a timely manner.
I literally couldn't take in anymore. I went to the personvue website, paid the freaking $7.95 and got my results.. I passed, oh that's probably a mistake, WHAT??? I passed? How? I would have bet my fortune..$200.00 to be exact that I failed...but I didn't
Why am I writing this? I want to tell you that it's okay. I got 75 questions, was sure about maybe 2, and I passed. What was the test like? Many priority questions, like who would you assign to this patient. I got three check all that apply (boy do I hate those) and NO math, no fill in the blank or anything like that. On each question there was maybe one or two that I could throw out, the other two I guessed. When I say guessed, I mean I KNEW NOTHING ABOUT WHAT THEY WERE ASKING!!! I also got about 5 drug questions.. I knew one only because it is one I take, the other, I couldn't even tell you what class they were in. My questions would go from difficult to basic (no, I didn't even know the basic ones)......
I can't tell you how I passed, but what I can say is practicing questions did help I guess because I passed. Looking back I would have probably taken a class designed to help you through the nclex just because it would have given me confidence when I walked into that testing room.
If you don't read anything else please read this....have a plan to keep yourself busy after taking the test. Do not do what I did and sit around the house and obsess about that crazy test!! It will eat you alive. Go shopping, go watch a movie, drink yourself into a coma (just joking) just don't do nothing....
If anyone is about to take the nclex and has any questions, please feel free to ask, I would love to help you as much as I can. I know in the midst of it, I would have loved to talk to somebody who had been there already..
Well I'm off... who knows, I might put on my scrubs, my badge with red RN tag hanging off of it and walk around WalMart just for the fun of it:lol2: Good luck everybody....
