NCLEX in 75?

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Is it normal to feel like you failed after 75 questions? I took my NCLEX today. I studied a ton in school, maintained very high grades, and got 99% probability of passing from ATI. I did not expect my computer to stop at 75. When it did, I was extremely excited like "Hey, I did it!" but as times goes on that "what if you are the one who bombed this miserably" is creeping up into my head. I can recall and handful of questions that I was on the fence on and looked up the topics when I got home and know without a doubt I got them wrong. It is only a select few that I was absolutely unsure of but those are the ones that I can vividly remember. I remember having many "aha" light-bulb moments in questions about nurse/patient communication where the nurse clearly addressed exactly what the patient said. I had a few streaks where I kept getting SATA as well, but the majority of my test was multiple choice with one drag and drop as my last question and I am pretty confident I got it correct. I know you can fail or pass in any amount of questions. I'm just looking for some reassurance from others who had 75 questions, if you began to remember questions you definitely got wrong after the fact.

Thanks everyone.

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I felt the same way. The machine shut off at 75 and I was upset. I thought I wasn’t doing well and truly thought I’d go to 200. I cried the whole way home. It was Friday afternoon. I cried until Sunday afternoon when I paid for the quick results and found out I actually passed.

Its not uncommon.

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I felt the same. Took the test super fast, shut off at 75. I kept over analyzing the questions I had and felt that they were in no way “passing level” questions. But I did pass. Take a breath, get your mind off of the test and you’ll find out in a couple days!

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I don't personally know anyone who walked out thinking they passed. I got 75 questions and was done in 45 minutes. I cried myself to sleep and was a wreck until I paid for the quick results and found out I passed. Given how well you did in school I think it's really unlikely you did badly enough to fail in 75 questions.

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7 hours ago, kp2016 said:

I don't personally know anyone who walked out thinking they passed. I got 75 questions and was done in 45 minutes. I cried myself to sleep and was a wreck until I paid for the quick results and found out I passed. Given how well you did in school I think it's really unlikely you did badly enough to fail in 75 questions.

Did you do the Pearson V trick? I did it with a friend 12 hours after I got out of the test and got the good pop up. I know most people that passed say this is accurate, I'm just stressing myself to no end until I get my official results. I'm gonna try to do something nice for myself today that isn't nursing related and try to relax and wait for official results tomorrow.

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I did not do the trick as I was really only interested in the official results.

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Specializes in NICU.

Your feeling is absolutely normal. NCLEX testing is completely foreign to the way you have taken tests since elementary school. Prior to NCLEX, you were given tests that you were graded on the number you got correct. NCLEX is an adaptive test in which it adjusts the difficulty according to your correct/incorrect answer. It is possible to answer a little over 50% of the questions correctly and pass NCLEX at 75 questions. On a traditional test, you would have flunked. During NCLEX, your brain is wired to think "wrong answer means I am failing" which has been your experience with tests your whole life.

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37 minutes ago, NICU Guy said:

Your feeling is absolutely normal. NCLEX testing is completely foreign to the way you have taken tests since elementary school. Prior to NCLEX, you were given tests that you were graded on the number you got correct. NCLEX is an adaptive test in which it adjusts the difficulty according to your correct/incorrect answer. It is possible to answer a little over 50% of the questions correctly and pass NCLEX at 75 questions. On a traditional test, you would have flunked. During NCLEX, your brain is wired to think "wrong answer means I am failing" which has been your experience with tests your whole life.

I’m responding to say I PASSED! Those 48 hours were excruciating but I got the great news yesterday and my state board has already issued me a license and I’m on the nursys website! It hasn’t fully hit me yet, I’m still in shock

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Specializes in LTC, Rehab..
On 2/1/2020 at 5:32 PM, skayel said:

Is it normal to feel like you failed after 75 questions? I took my NCLEX today. I studied a ton in school, maintained very high grades, and got 99% probability of passing from ATI. I did not expect my computer to stop at 75. When it did, I was extremely excited like "Hey, I did it!" but as times goes on that "what if you are the one who bombed this miserably" is creeping up into my head. I can recall and handful of questions that I was on the fence on and looked up the topics when I got home and know without a doubt I got them wrong. It is only a select few that I was absolutely unsure of but those are the ones that I can vividly remember. I remember having many "aha" light-bulb moments in questions about nurse/patient communication where the nurse clearly addressed exactly what the patient said. I had a few streaks where I kept getting SATA as well, but the majority of my test was multiple choice with one drag and drop as my last question and I am pretty confident I got it correct. I know you can fail or pass in any amount of questions. I'm just looking for some reassurance from others who had 75 questions, if you began to remember questions you definitely got wrong after the fact.

Thanks everyone.

If you got a lot of SATA questions, that's often a very good sign. When I took the PN version, half of my test was SATA, and prioritization questions, they even threw a question with a strip asking me to identify whether it was V-fib, v-tach, LOL. What I recommend is to wait for two days for you unofficial results. I did the PV trick but psyched myself out and thought I failed. Congratulations to you OP!!

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On 2/2/2020 at 12:43 PM, skayel said:

Did you do the Pearson V trick? I did it with a friend 12 hours after I got out of the test and got the good pop up. I know most people that passed say this is accurate, I'm just stressing myself to no end until I get my official results. I'm gonna try to do something nice for myself today that isn't nursing related and try to relax and wait for official results tomorrow.

I was exactly at your spot few months back. Shutting off at 78 qs and thinking did I fail miserably? That 48 hrs was crazy and felt so long. I couldn’t sleep so I did the Pearson Vue trick which gave me good pop up and that gave me little room to breath and I could actually sleep the next night and following that I got my official Pass. I’m sure you did just fine!

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I think it's normal to think you failed, no matter what number you're on when the computer closes. If you answer well, you'll get harder and harder questions.

It can be difficult to figure out if the questions are so hard because you don't know diddly-squat and are failing, or if the questions are ridiculously hard because you're awesome and absolutely crushing the test.

I remember getting an OB question that I knew without a doubt I answered correctly, and I panicked because I was afraid it meant I was doing poorly so the program was giving me easier questions. Then the next question was back to being ridiculous-level difficulty, so I knew I was okay.

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On 2/4/2020 at 5:49 PM, happyfaces said:

I was exactly at your spot few months back. Shutting off at 78 qs and thinking did I fail miserably? That 48 hrs was crazy and felt so long. I couldn’t sleep so I did the Pearson Vue trick which gave me good pop up and that gave me little room to breath and I could actually sleep the next night and following that I got my official Pass. I’m sure you did just fine!

Sure enough, I did pass! My license is up on Nursys and everything! Those nerves were something else though while waiting!

On 2/4/2020 at 10:30 PM, turtlesRcool said:

I think it's normal to think you failed, no matter what number you're on when the computer closes. If you answer well, you'll get harder and harder questions.

It can be difficult to figure out if the questions are so hard because you don't know diddly-squat and are failing, or if the questions are ridiculously hard because you're awesome and absolutely crushing the test.

I remember getting an OB question that I knew without a doubt I answered correctly, and I panicked because I was afraid it meant I was doing poorly so the program was giving me easier questions. Then the next question was back to being ridiculous-level difficulty, so I knew I was okay.

Thank you for your reply. I did end up passing and already have my license issued to me! That wait was the longest of my life without a doubt.

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