Passed California NCLEX-PN on my 2nd try. Out of school for 7 years

JezzaNorCal

So a little background on myself... I'm an RN in the Philippines. I moved here like 2 years ago. I graduated on March 2011 and got my license in the Philippines on August 2011. I decided to apply for LVN when I got here because I heard a lot of stories about Foreign Students in California who need to go back to School when it comes to NCLEX-RN.

I applied for my 1st try on March 2017, took them 6 months to reply just to say that I have to go to a different agency for my evaluation. Before I applied, I looked at the requirements & I'm pretty sure there is no instruction that I have to go to a different agency. So I have to get another OTR from my school & do everything again. In short it took me another 4 months to finally submit all of it including my evaluation report.

8/17/17 Got my ATT, scheduled my test for 11/8/17. I was working that time as a MedTech. It was hard to balance review and work. Especially if you're gonna be so tired coming home from work. It's like even if I read for 2 hours nothing comes in. So I studied every weekend, took a 10 days off from work. That time I thought 10 days was enough to really cram. For others this might worked for them, but it really depends on you. You should know yourself by now thru nursing school what works when you study. I used NCLEX-PN EXAM CRAM (4th Edition) This is actually a good book if you still know your content. So the night before my test I am still cramming & answered few questions. I took my exam @ 8am. I had few SATA & a lot of questions that I didn't know. Because I knew that I didn't really prepared myself for this. I'm guessing the whole time. Now SMART guessing is okay but that time I was just really like guessing and not reading the questions carefully because I already know I failed. Finished 205 questions in like 2 hours. Went home tried the PVT trick after 5 hours, I got the bad pop-up.

2nd Try, I quit my job. I told myself I'll just study and focus on my review. I think I applied like last week of January. Then I got the letter like 2 weeks after (that time I'm like dang that's really quick compare to months of waiting). Got my ATT @ 2/28/2018 & I was aiming for 4/30/18 to take my test. So I have at least 2 months to study. This time I changed everything about my study plan. I found UWorld because of all the forums I read here. I started studying 3/1/18, I was doing UWorld for like 2 weeks. But then I always get a lot of wrong answers. At first I told myself that UWorld questions are just really hard. So I searched another forum & I found out that you really have to know your content.

How To Pass The NCLEX

STEP 1 Make a schedule/Study Plan

So when I did my schedule I really tried to follow it. I even put doing 60 questions. But guess what I was all over the place that I didn't even follow my schedule that much. I'm not saying for you guys to follow what I did. It's really good to follow your schedule most of the time because you'll have more time management.

STEP 2 Try not to have distractions

Now this is hard, since I wasn't working. I got distracted so easily. I didn't even uninstall all my Social Medias because I know I'll get bored. So when I was studying I'll put my phone away from me. But if I need to check a Medical Terminology I'll google it. Most of the I would check my notifications. Got distracted for 5 mins then go back to studying. At the last 2 weeks of studying I still found myself doing it. So try your best not to get distracted. If you have to uninstall apps or put your phone in "do not disturb". You know what to do *wink*

STEP 3 Get yourself in the mood before studying

Now this one I haven't found anyone who posted bout this. I dunno maybe this is weird for other people. But it really helped me especially when my test was coming up. What did I do? I listened to my favorite songs, any lively songs before I study. Then I think of happy thoughts. I'll do it for an hour. Most of the time I'll over do it. But it helped me w/ my anxiety.

STEP 4 Search for study tools that will help you

For this one, I know everything is great. You just have to stick to it & trust that it will work for you. I used Saunders 7th edition, UWorld, NCLEX Cram, Nclex pn 3000, other nclex pn review apps on my phone. Now I know this is a lot. But I only stickied to Saunders and UWorld. I did the rest from here & there.

STEP 5 Know your content

When I found this in someone's post (thank God) this really helped me. That's why I got Saunders. If you'll look at it, this book is so thick. But it covered everything. I told myself I'll do 2-3 chapters a day. I tried, but when I didn't get to schedule my exam on my target date because I was late doing it, (I got 5/14/18 instead of 4/30/18) I got lousy and I said I'll still have time or other **** happened. I finished the book tho, but some parts are cram because I didn't get to keep up on my schedule. I studied the units that has lesser page at first. I made sure I kept OB, Respiratory, Cardiovascular, Mental health, Fundamentals last. Because I just felt like there are a lot of questions coming up on these topics. So that I'll remember them the most, especially Fundamentals.

STEP 6 Do practice questions

I was supposed to do 60 questions a day. But since it didn't happen, I did 90-250 questions a day on the last 2 weeks before my test.. In my schedule since I can't keep up I just set it up that the last 2 weeks I should be done w/ Saunders & just do practice questions.

STEP 7 Balance your Life

First month of studying I started working out. To just have a balance & not study all the time. I also started eating healthy. Eat lots nutritious food, drink lots of water and don't sleep late. I made sure I always have 8 hours of sleep. For you guys that can't do 8 hours, just make sure you have enough sleep. I also still watched my shows or NBA. Try to have fun while studying. You deserve it! 2 days or 1 day before your test, don't cram. Don't touch any of your study materials. Do something exciting! or pamper yourself, try to get a full body massage (I planned to! but my dumb-*** forgot to do an appointment! HAHA!) But that was mother's day so I celebrated w/ my family & I went to church.

STEP 8 Trust yourself that you can pass

Have confidence! write your name everywhere w/ LVN or RN after. Always tell yourself that you got this! Think positive. Because if you think that you will fail, YOU ALREADY FAILED from that part. I watched inspiring videos for motivation. You'll find a lot in YouTube. This really helped me a lot.

STEP 9 Lastly, Have faith

I usually go to church every week, but you don't have to. As long as you have faith in your God that's all that matters. I wrote in my white board some of my favorite bible verses.

Matthew 17:20
Psalm 46:10
Matthew 11:30
Matthew 19:26
Psalm 5:8
Proverbs 3:5

TEST DAY:

I scheduled my test for 2PM this time. I woke up, ate breakfast, watched inspiring video, got ready. Left the house @12 30. My auntie picked me up supposedly w/ my grandma. But surprisingly my grandpa was there too. Then on the way we also picked up my other auntie. In my mind I was like, "wow! whole squad is here" kinda pressured me but I really appreciated them showing there support. My grandma asked me to pray some of her small prayer booklet. Got to Fairfield test center & ate my snack since I was so early. I was bout to listen to Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's Crossroad but then I almost inserted my headset to my muffin instead my phone :laugh: I was so nervous! Now wear clothes accordingly. It's cold inside the testing center. But to my surprise they asked me to hang my jacket in the rack outside. I didn't know bout that so I only wore a thin shirt because I usually sweat easily w/ jacket. So I rubbed my arms and just kept on squeezing my arms until I felt warm.

I marked my small white board when I got SATA questions, because I wanna see if I'll get a lot or just few. I got 23 SATAs, but not consecutively. I think I only had 3x that I got it in 2 consecutive then it goes back to easy question. I had 3 drag-n-drop, 1 computation, 2 medications, 3 ECG strips (that I'm not familiar with). For my meds questions, I didn't really know what is it. I didn't memorize a lot of drugs but familiarizing w/ drug suffixes helped me a lot tho. I had enough delegations and a lot prioritization. TAKE TIME TO READ ALL THE QUESTIONS. I read it twice before looking at the answers. Do eliminations. If I don't know the answer I'll go back again and do smart guessing. I took my time that on the 2nd hour I'm still on question 63. I went to my scheduled break, grabbed my banana, also chocolate & ate in otw to the restroom. I stretched & looked at the mirror & told myself I will be an LVN. I think I also prayed in every question. Literally, just short prayers. Then when I got to #85 the question was easy. I think it was delegating. Then computer went blue & that's when my heart sank. Because I wasn't expecting it. I'm not that confident. I thought 23 SATA wasn't enough. I did PVT trick after 4 hours & I got the good pop-up! I did it again everyday for 3 days & still got a good pop up. 4 days after I received my letter. YAASSSSS! 4 days! I can't believe how quick!

So yeah. I hope these can help! Believe in yourself, work hard for it & have faith. You got this!