Hey everyone! I promised that if I passed or failed I would write an article about what let me see to that score. So here I am. I am blessed to say that I passed my NCLEX on Halloween in 75 questions and I did it with a 5 month old!
Here is a little background on my situation. I got a surprise positive pregnancy test August of my senior year in nursing school. Although I was scared I would not graduate on time I was able to and my lovely baby girl came 3 weeks after I graduated. Unlike all of my other classmates I was unable to take my NCLEX as soon as they did to start the July rotation. I took time to recover after my c-section and to be a mother. My goal was to start studying in July to take my test at the end of July but personal issues preventing me from doing that. So once again I was pushed even further from graduation in regards to studying which terrified me. It wasn't until September that I decided it was best to put my child in daycare for 2 weeks so that I could study Non-Stop to try and take my test the week after.
I had job interview set up the first week of October so my goal was to take my test before heading out to do them so I could let them know that I passed or would have to take it later if I didn't. I was unable to take my test in September despite my Board of Nursing sending me an email saying my paperwork was approved and to wait for my code to test. It never came. I ended up doing all 3 of my interviews with still no code in sight. I contacted My Board of Nursing one last time and was able to reach someone who told me that all I was missing was my drivers license picture and that upset me so much that my NCLEX was delayed over something that I was unaware of. I immediately sent it in and receive my code and scheduled my exam for Halloween.
My mind was going crazy trying to figure out how I was going to study with my infant and no longer being able to afford daycare. It was through the grace of God that my best friend was in between jobs at the time and was able to watch her for one week. During that time I used Kaplan and Kaplan only to practice question after question. Any part of the question or rationales that I did not understand I looked up and wrote down in a notebook. Did I feel prepared as I wanted to? No, but it was all I had to work with and my test was coming up.
On test day I was really nervous but the setting was also really nice and comfortable which helped a little bit. I made it to my seat and begin the test. I had so many select all the apply that in my head I feel I failed. Despite knowing a lot of information I still felt unprepared for those type of questions. I only had one exhibit type question and the rest were multiple choice or select all the apply. Around question 33 I was praying that it will go past 75 because I believe that I had already failed. When my test cut off at 75 I had already started prepping for having to take the test again in December. I had flew through the test in under an hour, not intentionally but that's just how it went and that also made me feel like I did not do well. For someone who has an out-of-state job that starts in February I really wanted to get it out the way. The two days waiting where the longest two days ever but when I seen the word pass pop-up I cried.
Sorry this is so long but I really just wanted to say that it's not always easy and everybody has a different way of studying period for me my mind works better with short study periods before a test. I also want to say that just because you have a baby does not mean that you can't do it but you will need help to make the load a little easier. Congratulations to all the others who passed this October I'm supposed to will pass in the upcoming months!
