Officially Passed..My NCLEX Story/Tips

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So with the prayers, and support of others on top of believing in myself. I found out that I officially passed the NCLEX-RN today. Here's my story of how it happened. So I graduated from my BSN program the middle of August, this is when my studying began. I set my exam date about a month and couple weeks later.

Virtual Ati- I had to do the 6 week program for free from my school. I was assigned an online tutor (who sometimes didn't answer right away) and then off to the world of taking back to back tests. If I scored lower then the benchmark which is 60% then you have to do homework assignments. I did the classroom activities which were PowerPoint's that summarized certain parts of the ATI books. However, there was no video and no direct interaction of learning. You can look up my previous threads on scoring in each area and at one point I doubted myself when I had a bad testing day for my green light approval which was a 62%. (Thus having me do remediation) However, I noticed when I had to do 2 more weeks of remediation all my scores jumped up even my final comprehensive scores jumped up 68, 78, last one was 81 (4 days before my exam date). Regardless I was told to wait for the green light but I felt ready to take it after studying everything else. So no, I didn't get the green light approval and I still passed. Plus I have a pretty good memory like copy and paste style so when I recognized questions I can remember the answers. Another reason why I stopped doing ATI after a while memorizing that would not help!

The ATI NCLEX-RN Review Book 16^th edition- I wish I would have known of this book throughout my nursing school life. This summarizes key points of each subject and the book is pretty slim! I read every page and was able to grasp on to the main points. I read this along with my ATI training. Also used the ATI app from my iphone so when I wasn't home I was testing on my app!

NCSBN 3 week course- I bought the $50 course. So when I wasn't doing assessments with ATI. I was on this site. At first I went through and read the NCLEX categories but stopped when it broke it down to the body systems and did strictly questions. This had a ton of content! I didn't finish this course because of time but I noticed my scores were between 50%-75%.

Mosby's Pharmacology Note Cards 3^rd edition- This has funny cartoons and short and sweet information on majority of the drug classes. I enjoyed looking at these note cards when I had time.

Prioritization, Delegation, and Assignment by LaCharity-I really think this made me excel in the NCLEX. I completed all the chapters besides the case studies because I ran out of time. It's a small book and the questions really helped me gain an understanding of how to prioritize! I at least scored between (60% and 80%). Life Saver!

Saunders 5^th edition- I read the first few chapters but realized after a while. This was WAY too much information for a short period of time. However, I did study the basics like Nutrition, ABG's, and Labs chapters and whatever chapters were my weaknesses. I focused all the rest on the CD. I took an assessment and had a 68%. After that I just focused it down to the SATA questions only which I did in the end week.

Kaplan NCLEX-RN 2013-2014 book- I read the first few chapters which really helps you in how to break down the questions and narrow things down. I think this helped a TON! I then did the CD that came with it that had one test and I scored a 68%.

Lippincott's Q&A 10^th edition NCLEX REVIEW- One week prior to me taking the test. I wanted to focus on questions. So I used the CD only due to time and wanting more computer practice. Each category I did 75 questions from it and scored from 65%-75%.

The 35 page study guide that is available on all nurses was GREAT!-Short and sweet content that had awesome mneumonics. You can find this by doing a search or it might be in the stickies. I also found other notes by Google just by typing in random things. Like EKG pictures, Math solutions that worked for me. I also found helpful tips on how to remember pharm a little bit. I started by looking at the classifications and the drug types usually the last few letters you can figure them out. Just do a nice SEARCH of Medication Classifications and all kinds of tips pop up.

Chegg notecard app- You can download previous note cards on your phone that people have made by typing in whatever you want to learn. I typed in NCLEX labs, medication classifications, and medication antidotes. I constantly played the note card game on this. This came in EXTREMELY handy!

NCLEX 3500-2 days before my exam I found this free online and did two practice tests that was at 60%. Just google Free NCLEX 3500 and it's some type of edu site.

NCLEX time: You should have a plan in mind. I did work 24-30 hours a week but I was able to separate study time to 2-4 hours everyday (300 to 400 questions a day splitting them in AM/PM last few weeks 100-200 questions) I turned off all distractions! I learned to take breaks every 30 minutes. Do a variety of questions from different sources! But have ONE main content program to study from!

Toward the last week of my NCLEX date. I focused on strictly questions and reading rationales that I missed and the basics like LABS and MEDS! I took the day before my NCLEX date off like a mind break which I highly recommend, do something FUN! A few hours before my test date which by the way you need to find what works for you in testing in the daytime or afternoon times. I prayed and weirdly I had this happy feeling of how badly I've wanted to be a nurse in the first place. I also read information about the NCLEX test online to ease my nerves and learn what the test is all about.

So I took the test and had some nerves not as bad as usual and when it shut off at 75 questions. I was almost devastated for some reason I wanted it to go on because I heard of people failing at 75. I was the average nursing student that did STRUGGLE in some subjects because of test anxiety but in clinicals I did excel. I just felt horrible until I had the courage for the PVT which showed the GOOD POP UP! I had about 8 SATA, 1 math, 1 picture, not many meds but I recognized them all thankfully and it did attack two of my weaknesses in other subjects. But I realized NCLEX could not attack all my weaknesses it just found luckily two of them. I had a ton of prioritization questions, teaching, and safety which THANK YOU LACHARITY!

In the end, every one who takes the NCLEX will have different results, different types, so don't base my experience on yours. As you see I didn't score the top scores but I was at the point of feeling READY to take it on. Only once did I think of moving my date up but I waited and kept practicing even more until I was burned out in studying and I wanted to go for it. I even made a backup plan that if I did fail my first time then I would purchase Hurst or Remar.

I wish everyone luck who crosses this thread and really thank allnurses NCLEX discussion board for reading all the stories. I hope this gives you motivation that it's okay if you don't get the best scores in the reviews but always try harder! If you have any questions let me know! Bless yall!