NCLEX

[StarRN29BSN, BSN]

Hello everyone,

I promised myself that I would post my NCLEX experience once I took the exam. First, I was an average nursing student. The last semester in our program we needed to take one last EXIT HESI and they required us to pass with a minimum of 850 which is “likely to pass NCLEX.” I got an 840 so I had to retake it again, bought uworld and study the topics I scored low. Retook it and made 900 “very likely to pass.” When I finally finished nursing school this May, I was exhausted so I took a week off and went on a vacation. It really helped me relax in order to start studying again.

Here is what I did to prepare for NCLEX:

Klemik review: The next week after my vacation, I went to a klemik live review. I went with one of my friends who literally had only two weeks to study because her job was staring mid-june. The review was helpful, not so much in content but in strategy in how to pick the best answer. I went over the yellow book from front to back. The blue book not so much, maybe half. By the way, my friend also did uworld for two weeks along klemik and passed the NCLEX with 160Q in 4 hrs.

Hurst review: So after the live review, I began using uworld again but I was scoring low and I felt I needed to study more content. So a classmate and I purchased the HURST online version. To be honest, it was really helpful in relearning the content in a fast and easy way. Took me 2 weeks to finish it. It helped me understand better the material and get better scores in UWORLD. However, if I had done only the hurst review, I wouldn’t have passed. Their questions are good to review content not to practice NCLEX questions.

LaCharity: Purchased this during nursing school $30. It was helpful in practicing delegation /prioritization questions but UWORLD has good questions too.

Lippincott: at the klemik review they recommended this book so I bought it $45. It came with a 7 day passpoint trial. I did the passpoint the week before my exam. The program allows you to mimic the nclex, it would stop whenever you were consistently above the passing line. Took several test and I would stop at 75 or 80Q with mastery level. More of a confident booster lol. I found the questions in the book itself really hard, they really made me think.

NCLEX Mastery APP: used this app only for pharm, I found their pharm questions harder than uworld and they also give you useful mnemonics.

Now, two weeks before my exam I became paranoid because all of my friends were passing. I didn’t know if these materials were enough so I purchased the NCSBN NCLEX review.

NCSBN review: It was cheap like $50 for three weeks so I went for it. The questions are supposed to be old nclex questions. Totally unnecessary but it made me realize that I was weak in nursing management and ethics …so I went back and review more questions with UWORLD because they have better rationales.

One week before the NCLEX, I felt brain dead. I couldn’t do more than 20Q before getting a headache. So I took the whole weekend off, no questions and no reviews. It wasn’t easy because I felt anxious in the beginning, but it truly helped me reset and start over again.

Nclex exam: I know people say not to, but I did reviewed the day before and the day of the exam since mine was @ 1pm. When I started the NCLEX I literally thought I was taking an uworld test. It is true that the questions are vague, and I was always left guessing between 2 answers. I was so concentrated in the beginning that when I looked up 1 hr had gone by and I was in question 20!!! I had a melt down! I was like ok need to go faster….2hrs later I was at 75 and when it went to 76 my face fell. I was like…there is no way I will have time to do 190Q more in the next 3hrs. At that exact time they asked us if we wanted a break (which would count towards our time), I was like uhm heck no…I’m sitting here till a least question 100…the following questions were so easy that when it shut off at 80 I was mentally screaming “noooo please give me more questions!” I left the testing center so distressed that I felt like vomiting because I just didn’t know if I had just passed or failed miserably.

In the end I had 25+ SATA, 2 pharm, 1 calculation, no maternity, 2 peds, but a lot of safety, prioritization and sadly psych which is my weakness. I had a few weird questions that I believe I answered correctly because I vaguely remember going over it in nursing school.

Pearson Trick: did the trick and I got the “good pop up” @ 2hrs, 9 hrs , & 24hrs. It calmed me a little, but I still felt anxious until I got my official results that I had passed.

Recommendation: UWORLD truly helped me, I believe I wouldn’t have passed without it. I was doing a minimum of 100Q a day and averaging 70% towards the end. If i scored lower than 60% in a topic i would go back and review. Klemik was helpful in strategy (used it in NCLEX for questions I had no idea), and HURST as content review. If you cannot afford all these reviews just go with UWORLD. Just PRACTICE and PRACTICE questions. Anything you can get your hands on. One last tip is TAKE YOUR TIME! If I had rushed myself during the NCLEX I probably wouldn’t have passed. Most of my friends finished with 75Q and in less than 1.5 hrs. I did panicked when i was in Q75 and 3hrs in but you must keep calm and go at your own pace. Be CONFIDENT on yourself. It really isn't that bad just take one question at a time.

That’s my two cents, hope this helps anyone.

[lemoj]

i took my nclex last thursday. it’s my 2nd time taking the test and i felt quite confident walking in this time around. but here’s how i prepared.

i went to a review center last november. they have a good reputation so i went at it. the review materials are awesome without a doubt. but the mistake that i did was not doing any practice questions. i heard Uworld is good but i thought it was a waste of money. fast forward to February. i took the test. it didn’t stopped at 75 so i’m like i should be okay. but then my brain just got exhausted after 100 questions maybe because i didn’t practiced enough. i panicked my head feels like it was about to explode. i tried to beat the clock so i started guessing the answer. ran out of time at 250 questions then i failed. i expected it but still a little depressed. i didn’t change a lot with my studying habits but i decided to get uworld. i finished the whole 2000+ questions and got 90% at the assessment test. Then Judgement day comes. i walked in feeling much confident this time around. i got a really first question. then the next one was SATA. then another then another. i got a lot of prioritization and delegation. all of a sudden the questions got easier. in a sense of they’re asking all about content knowledge and not a lot of application and analyzing. (in my opinion) so there’s the 75th question. i knew i got it wrong. then it shuts off. my exam only lasted for 1 hour and i was out of there. i was devastated because i can’t accept the fact that i failed in 75 questions. i was really sad the next day but i figured it’s not gonna help me pass the exam the third time around. so 48hrs later i checked the pearson website. bought the unofficial results. i just want to get it over with. but then after i paid the result showed ‘PASS’ i almost cried and i couldn’t believe it! i closed down the page and tried it again and it’s the same thing! this is the happiest day of my life! but what i find weird was the questions is not as difficult compare to the ones in Uworld. i didn’t get any computation. no ECG no question with an ‘exhibit’ type. it’s just really odd. but nevertheless i finally did it!