I took the NCLEX on 8/4/10. I am a long time stalker of this board but did not want to join while I was in nursing school and studying to take the NCLEX. I tend to get distracted easily. I was so nervous about scheduling my appointment that I debating rescheduling at least twice every day. I set up a study plan for myself. I used Kaplan Strategies (the book from the bookstore, not the course you pay for), Saunders for a comprehensive review, Exam Cram for some review but mostly questions when I needed a quick test on the go, NCLEX 3500 on the puter, and Kaplan question trainer on the puter as well. I attempted to review 3 chapters in Saunders every day (mostly to meet a personal goal so that I could get the content then move to just questions). I felt that Saunders questions were too easy so I didn't do them at the end of the chapter. Exam Cram didn't really resemble the NCELX questions to me but again, it made for a good quick review/questions on the go. I did do the questions in the Kaplan Strategies book. They were somewhat hard. I saved the Kaplan qtrainer questions for the last week before my exam. These questions were difficult but they TRULY made me think!!!!! I also did questions on the NCLEX 3500 throughout my study plan. I also used the infection control mnemonic. That is an absolute MUST HAVE! I felt prepared with these resources. I was getting 60's on the Kaplan qtrainers so I did not reschedule my exam.
When I took the exam, I felt very well prepared. I decided I was going to take my time with the first 75 questions and read them carefully, rewording them, thinking about what the answer could be before looking at the options, then looking at each option one at a time and eliminating if I could. I was absolutely determined to only do 75 questions. I had convinced myself of this the whole time I studied and actually began to believe there only existed 75 questions when I began the test. I sat down, took a deep breath, went through the tutorial and just before starting, I said a prayer, calmed myself until my heartbeat slowed just below level III anxiety, and then began.
I got a ton of priority questions, some infection control, no OB, 1 med calc, about 3 psych, prob 5 peds, 15 meds, 11 SATA, and after 75 questions, I was done. I walked out feeling like I had passed. I came home and did the Pearsonvue trick and got the good pop-up. 2 days later, I got my quick results = pass. I was very happy.
but they TRULY made me think!!!!! I also did questions on the NCLEX 3500 throughout my study plan. I also used the infection control mnemonic. That is an absolute MUST HAVE! I felt prepared with these resources. I was getting 60's on the Kaplan qtrainers so I did not reschedule my exam. 
I sat down, took a deep breath, went through the tutorial and just before starting, I said a prayer, calmed myself until my heartbeat slowed just below level III anxiety, and then began. 
