2nd Time Pass Sucess

Hello fellow Nurses and Future Nurses,

I just recently passed my NCLEX for the 2nd time and I wanted to share some helpful information for those who weren't successful the first attempt. After I didn't pass I looked around for help from others who had gone through the same experience I wasn't able to find anything. I failed in 75 questions, took a good hard look around and fixed my studying habits, then PASSED in 75 questions.

1st: Allow your self to grieve. It SUCKS not passing, seeing your friends pass is great but not being with them is also hard. I gave myself a week off to recover and relax. I should have rescheduled my test the night before but I didn't know I could and didn't think to ask. I spent the night before in the ER with my son, I found out I was pregnant the day before, and I was extremely tired when I took the test.

2nd: Look seriously at what went wrong. For me it's half content and half just knowing how to take the test. I wasn't doing enough practice questions at one time. Only 30 or so an I needed to be doing 75 then going back and looking at the answers right away. I also had a very negative tape playing in my head and I needed to stop listening to it. I was very anxious and could see myself failing and that's exactly what I did. Thinking positive the 2nd time really changed my strategy and helped me pass. God loves you, wants you to succeed and this test is just the last bump in your RN road.

3rd: Seriously look at Kaplan. It's a proven technique and it works. I had it the first time and I listen to too many people say it doesn't work or to try something else. I didn't do everything that Kaplan told me to do and I believe that's part of the reason I was successful I did the Hurst Review for content review and it was helpful but it didn't teach me how to take the test.

4th: I got a tutor or make a plan and stick with it. It was expensive but worth it for me. You don't need a tutor if you have a lot of discipline but with my family life I needed someone to tell me what to do. My tutor told me to practice 150 questions a day. She also looked at my Kaplan tests and told me what to work on, and praised me when I did something right. I remediated them right away and I took all the trainer tests again. I also watched some of the video's while I was doing content review. It's well worth the time.

5th and most Important: Think positive! You can pass, you will pass and you will be an awesome nurse.

Good luck everyone!