Passed NCLEX - but felt like you failed?

Nursing Students NCLEX

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  1. Even though you passed, did you feel like you failed the NCLEX?

    • 28
      Yes. It wasn't what I expected!
    • 7
      No. It felt familiar to me!

35 members have participated

I took my NCLEX on Monday, June 15th. I finished at the current minimum, 60 questions(thanks, covid!) and walked out of the Pearson Vue testing room feeling like an absolute and utter mess. It was far more difficult than I'd expected, in that the questions provided less information for me to go off of. I just KNEW I'd failed the most important test of my life.

I sat in a dark corner of the building, waiting for my friend to finish his test, barely containing a full-blown meltdown. However, when he walked out he said the same thing I was thinking. "I know I just failed that test."

He got the current maximum amount of questions, 130.

Our other friend, who was taking her test at the same time but at a different center, texted us when she finished and said the same thing; "I just failed that test."

The thing is, we've always been top of the class students - I even scored the highest on the Exit HESI out of nearly 50 students - but we all felt blindsided by the NCLEX.

Much to our relief, the PV popup trick gave all three of us a good indication, and the next morning at 8AM - our names were listed on the GBoN/SoS website. We all passed!

So, if you've taken the test and passed, did you feel like you failed? Despite knowing that you were fully capable?

10 hours ago, H to the R dizzle said:

Yea for sure ?

I took the NCLEX on the 16th and my results were on hold. I did the PVT 2 hours after receiving the email and I got the same message you did. I tried the trick 3 more times after that and eventually received the good pop. I finished around 12 and I didn’t get a good pop up until around 5 that evening! I’m pretty positive that my results were on hold due to how quickly I finished. My test cut off at 60 and I completed it in about 45 minutes give or take. I have 13 sata and 1 calculation.

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Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.
12 hours ago, H to the R dizzle said:

I’m still At on hold for my results:(

I did the PV trick after I got my Pearson Vue email, which was about 15 minutes after the test ended. I got the "good" popup too but I took that with a grain of salt and waited for my name to appear on the Georgia Board of Nursing website the following morning.

I also got 11 SATA, 2 Drag and Drop, and surprisingly no drug calc.

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2 hours ago, AB3614 said:

I took the NCLEX on the 16th and my results were on hold. I did the PVT 2 hours after receiving the email and I got the same message you did. I tried the trick 3 more times after that and eventually received the good pop. I finished around 12 and I didn’t get a good pop up until around 5 that evening! I’m pretty positive that my results were on hold due to how quickly I finished. My test cut off at 60 and I completed it in about 45 minutes give or take. I have 13 sata and 1 calculation.

Mine still says on hold

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7 minutes ago, H to the R dizzle said:

Mine still says on hold

IDK why it still says on hold

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Did you pass now, isbyour result still on hold?

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11 minutes ago, IJEOMA12 said:

Did you pass now, isbyour result still on hold?

Mine is still on hold checked right now

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Specializes in Surgical Transplant.

Took my test this past Tuesday. I wasn't nervous, and felt good going in. I think my UWorld scores helped in my confidence (I also have never really been a nervous test taker so that helped.) However, I was beginning to psych myself out around question 45, I began to question whether my questions were getting easier or harder. As soon as I got a question that seemed easier than the last, I began to worry. If I got a SATA, I felt oddly relieved. This game of hard vs. easy questions mentally wore me out by the end.

To me, the subject matter of the question was easy and recognizable but I was having a hard time narrowing down my answer between two options (multiple choice) and on my SATA, there would always be one option I wasn't sure of. Long story short, the last half of my exam, I felt like I was completely guessing on all of my answers. Decent amount of obscure pharm and SATA, 1 drag drop, 1 exhibit.

My test shut off at 60. I didn't even want to move from my seat. I was trying to hold back tears as I walked out of the test center and felt sick to my stomach the rest of the day. It felt like I BOMBED the exam. I felt like I did so bad, I refused to do quick results or the pop up trick. I was too scared to look or possibly get a false negative (happened to my coworker despite passing.)

Exactly 24 hrs later, DOPL sent me a results email while I was at work. I had an interview the next day and was TERRIFIED of looking at the results. To my relief, I passed! Best feeling ever. Despite taking numerous UWorld exams over the minimum question amount (and feeling mentally intact), the NCLEX was still mentally draining. To those who passed with over 60 questions, KUDOS TO YOU

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Specializes in ICU, CCU.

I took mine on June 4th. I sat there and I swear the letters seemed to just dance around the screen laughing at me. NOTHING made sense even though the wording of the questions were simple. I simply couldn't comprehend a THING. I had been using UWorld for the previous weeks leading up to the exam and I had no problems comprehending anything, despite being considered harder than NCLEX itself.

I walked out in shock but had to hold myself together for the sake of my kids who drove me with me for over 3 hours to get to the testing center. I was making backup plans and already talked myself into retesting. I would be losing my residency spot and possibly the opportunity to bridge over in the fall. Everything seemed to just float away from me. I was actually shocked when I saw my license posted. I don't know what kind of grading strategy the board uses to grade but I highly doubt it is as simple as it being "adaptive".

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

This was back in the bad old days of the '90s when you had to wait WEEKS to find out your results.

I was a mother of 4 who went to nursing school in my mid-30s. It took me four years of hard work to get a two-year degree, but I did well and pretty much sailed through the program, earning good grades and the approval of my instructors. I had to wait two weeks after graduation to take the NCLEX, and when I finally sat down at the computer I felt well prepared. Four years of studying and clinicals had all boiled down to this, and I was ready.

Seventy-five questions and only 40 minutes later, the computer shut off and it was all I could do not to wail "But I'm not DONE!!" I just knew I'd failed. I never felt more sure of a thing in my life. As I drove home with my then-teenaged daughter whom I'd brought along for moral support, she did her best to talk me down as I was in full freak-out mode. Needless to say, the following days were pure agony, and daily I haunted the mail box praying that it would be the fat manila envelope and not the skinny business one. I was almost panicking, because I had a job that I was expected to start the Monday after I got my license and if I couldn't do that, all my plans would be shot to hell. I had no Plan B.

I was in the house when the envelope finally came two weeks and a day later, and I wept with joy when my husband handed it to me. I had passed! But oh, I'm so thankful I never have to take that test again!

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Specializes in ICU, CCU.
5 hours ago, VivaLasViejas said:

This was back in the bad old days of the '90s when you had to wait WEEKS to find out your results.

And here I thought you were gonna say the bad old days when the exam had to be taken on paper and you had to wait a couple of months for the results LOL. My mom always mentioned that to me when I agonized over waiting till the next morning to see if my license posted or doing the PearsonVue trick as soon as I got home.

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Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.
15 hours ago, VivaLasViejas said:

This was back in the bad old days of the '90s when you had to wait WEEKS to find out your results.

That sounds like an actual nightmare. Having to wait until the next day to see my name on the Board of Nursing website was torture enough! This just sounds blatantly cruel haha!

Quote

But oh, I'm so thankful I never have to take that test again!

I couldn't agree more.

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Specializes in Tele, Interventional Pain Management, OR.

I took my NCLEX in January 2016 having graduated from my ADN program December 2015. My cohort took a live Hurst Review the Summer prior to our last semester. So that (along with studying the Hurst workbook) was pretty much my official NCLEX prep. Side note: 10/10 would recommend Hurst.

My NCLEX shut off after 75 questions--about 90 minutes of testing--and I left feeling dizzy and disoriented. I'd finished my ADN program with a 4.0 but the actual NCLEX left me gobsmacked. An odd mix of delegation, education, and SATA questions (like at least 1/3 SATA) left me questioning my ability to become an RN.

Did the PVT that afternoon, which turned up good. I took NCLEX on a Saturday and my RN license number was posted by Monday morning.

NCLEX is crazy. My program had something like a 95% first-time NCLEX pass rate so the odds were obviously in my favor. Yet I left that dang test feeling as though my nursing education added up to nothing.

But--your nursing education means something. Especially if you've done well in a rigorous program. Stay calm and get that NCLEX done.

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