NCLEX: white boards and breaks

[hosta]

Hi,

I have contacted Pearson Vue and NCBSN and have received contradictory information regarding the use of white boards during the NCLEX RN examination. Pearson Vue says candidates will only receive one whiteboard; NCBSN indicates that when you have used your white board, you can raise your hand to request another.

I am a Canadian student, but I don't believes the testing rules are different for CDN candidates.

Could anyone please clarify the number of white boards available (especially if you have written the NCLEX recently, and used the white boards)

Second question I cannot seem to get a clear answer to is when a candidate takes a break during the exam, do you leave the testing centre? Or are you required to stay in a room in the testing centre. The reason I ask is because I would like to stretch, walk around, do relaxation exercises, etc, to get increased blood flow to brain. My testing center is in a mall, are we allowed to leave to have a snack and do some exercise.

I apologize for the length of the post, I have read the NCLEX rules several times, contacted both Pearson Vue and NCBSN and my questions have remained unanswered.

Many, many thanks.

[mr419]

I took mine in California so maybe there are differences maybe not

1) You get 1 whiteboard but i consider it more of a laminated piece of paper lol. Its a little bigger than the normal 8x11 paper and there was only really 1 side you could write on because the opposite side had the rules (raise your hand if you need to use the restroom etc etc)

2) Not sure what your testing facility is like but for us they put all the test takers in one room if you need to take a break for any reason you raise your hand leave the testing room and you can eat your snack, go to your locker and use the bathroom outside of the room.

[SopranoKris, MSN, RN, NP]

I sat for NCLEX at the beginning of July and the whiteboard they gave me had an eraser. All they said was we weren't allowed to "brain dump" on the white board. We could use it to think through questions (e.g. use Kaplan's decision tree, med math equations, etc.) but we were supposed to erase the board when we moved on to the next question.

As for breaks, we had to raise our hand to be escorted out of the room. They would palm scan you and then you could only use the restroom at the facility. You were not allowed to leave the premises whatsoever (no going to your car, using the phone, etc.). You could bring a snack & drink to put in your locker, but they had to see it before you put it in. The facility I went to made us keep our cellphones in our cars.

I've read posts that other test takers were allowed to bring cellphone, but had to give it to the receptionist and it was kept in a sealed bag until the exam was complete.

You definitely will NOT be allowed to go out in to the mall for a bite to eat.

Just know that if you take a LOT of breaks, you might get flagged for an incident report, which could cause your results to be put on hold while they review the video footage of your exam.

Good luck :)

[hosta]

mr419: Thank you so much for your response - it certainly clarifies the uncertainties. Many thanks!

[hosta]

SopranoKris: thank you so much for the helpful information. I now have a much better sense of the exam setting, and the white board use. I am relieved that we can use the board for calculation questions and to work through question options, to some extent. I won't take my cell phone - just seems like too much hassle, and I'll make any breaks brief.

Again, thank you for your help - much appreciated!