Passed nclex & you can too!

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I just wanted to leave a post to let you NCLEX takers know that this test is definitely doable. I graduated at the end of August 2011, moved back home from going to school in So cali back to No Cali in mid Sept and just went out and spent time with fam and friends for about well over a month & took Nclex November 1st 2011. My mindset was to get out all the distractions out of my system 1st before I started reviewing. I reviewed for about 2 weeks, except weekends. My plan was to do all of Kaplan-focused reviews, qbanks, & trainers. The trainers get pretty long towards the end being at 200+ q&a. I did 3important things:1-i reviewed only rationales of questions I got wrong(because there's no point of going over your right answers-you got it right for a reason!!); 2-wrote very brief notes on items I kept getting wrong(not a paragraph, but a few words or a sentence); 3- I took breaks (when I got too many wrong in a row I took breaks to clear my mind & focus--which my bro taught me). I made a goal for myself, at least 100 q&a a day, but on my focused days I just kept going lol. After doing so many questions you realize that interventions are very similar and it became easier. My scores ranged from 50s-80%. I went out on some days after finishing my goal of questions, spent time w/ fam & friends. I realized that nclex isn't made to have us fail & it is minimum competency; we are all competent! You passed nursing school! The day before nclex I just reviewed some notes, made a snack for the test & made sure I had my att with me. I hardly got sleep thinking about the exam (which was weird since I was pretty calm lol), I ate breakfast and left early to avoid any traffic & make room for any possible problems. While taking the test I stayed calm & broke things down-used my critical thinking, sometimes I didn't even have to lol. I felt like I was taking a more simply worded kaplan exam to be honest. I took a break after question 60 something-drank some water, ate a snack& used the restroom. I came back w/ a clear mind lol. When the questions hit 75 & the computer didn't shut down I thought "I guess I have to be ready for 265 & kept going"...but then my comp shuts down to a blue screen before I even get to 80! I'm thinking..great I might of failed, some questions were too easy, I might of failed? I got so many SATA questions & decent amount of pharm..so I wasn't sure what to think. I drove home happy that it was over, but also unsure with that unsettling feeling if I passed-which is normal!! Heck, I even thought some questions seemed to easy, should I have remained on it longer? Lol. I did the pearson view trick & it said I passed etc etc & I couldn't register. I was in shock & in disbelief!! I came in before the test thinking if I don't pass, then I don't pass..I would just keep reviewing. I think many of us are just plain anxiety ridden--belief in yourself & what you know!! When my friends tell me they aren't ready yet, I tell them that you can't know everything. It's true, I had topics I wasn't sure of, but I knew how to connect it w/what I already know. I hope thing helps somebod. Good luck to you all!! Btw: please avoid social networking when reviewing! I would see updates from my flow classmates & it would give me palpitations-I took my social work app (facebook) off my laptop & my phone. Nothings worse than feeling rushed. Remember, they're not taking it for you..so minimize distractions!

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Specializes in orthopedic & HDU.

CONGRATULATION

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congrats!

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:ancong!:

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Congrats!!! :balloons::balloons: I am currently doing Kaplan as well. Did you watch all the CONTENT VIDEOS from kaplan? And did you read the Kaplan book that comes with the program? Thanks

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Congrats.

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Congrats to ChicRN!!

When I took the Kaplan review our instructor didn't recommend watching the content videos unless we needed to refresh on a topic that was unclear to us. I didn't watch any videos instead i wrote down topics that I wanted to review after I finished with the questions I was working on and then looked up the answers in the Saunders book or my med/surg book from school. I rarely used the Kaplan book.

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Congrats!!! :balloons::balloons: I am currently doing Kaplan as well. Did you watch all the CONTENT VIDEOS from kaplan? And did you read the Kaplan book that comes with the program? Thanks

Hi there, no I didn't watch the Kaplan videos or read the book. I did practice some q&a on the blue Kaplan strageties, practice book when I just wasn't up for practicing on the computer. I felt like I've already read too much during my exit exams in nursing school. I felt that practicing q&a was more effective for me. All my fellow classmates passed doing the Kaplan qbanks& trainers, since we all study similarly I followed lol.

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Congrats to ChicRN!!

When I took the Kaplan review our instructor didn't recommend watching the content videos unless we needed to refresh on a topic that was unclear to us. I didn't watch any videos instead i wrote down topics that I wanted to review after I finished with the questions I was working on and then looked up the answers in the Saunders book or my med/surg book from school. I rarely used the Kaplan book.

I agree with the videos. I watched one and I felt it was too much lol. I just invested more time practicing questions and briefly looking up something I really felt I should go over. I practiced some SATA on the Saunders cd.

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Congratulations,new RN!

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Specializes in Psychiatric, Orthopedics.

congratulations new RN :) Kaplan does it again!! God bless..

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:ancong!:

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