Passed NCLEX on first try with 120 questions.

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Hello everyone,

I told myself that once I passed NCLEX that I would post a little something on hear to let people know about my experience because I know that I found myself reading a lot of other comments and stories on this website about other people's experience passing NCLEX.

I was definitely not someone who just breezed through nursing school. I'm not going to lie, I did struggle to get through my Bachelor's degree a little bit and found that I really had to study to pass nursing school (in the end, I am thankful for that as it allowed me to prepare for NCLEX in a such a way that let me pass on my first try).

I had about 120 questions before it completely shut off and I immediately felt like I was about to throw up because I was almost positive that I had failed. I didn't find the questions as hard as I had thought they would be so assumed that I was on the low/easy questions and had failed. However, fortunately for me our board of nursing posts the results the next day so I was able to find out pretty quickly that I had actually passed. I think a big thing is to not compare your NCLEX to someone else's. Everyone's NCLEX is different and just because you have more or less SATA or more or less prioritization questions means nothing. There are so many questions available for NCLEX to choose from that everyone will have a different test. I probably had about 15-20 SATA and I felt like I had a ton of pharm questions with few prioritization type questions except until the very end of my test.

How did I prepare? I used the Kaplan review guide, the Kaplan Q banks (I did every single question and made sure I read EACH rationale, whether I got the question right or wrong- this is what helped me the most) and I did every practice test and question trainer offered by Kaplan as well as doing the CAT tests that Kaplan offers. I gave myself a month after nursing school to really put the time in to study for NCLEX and did questions in the morning and then remediated and then would study specific materials in the afternoon and focus on content. My Kaplan Q banks were not wonderful. I started out in the low 50's, high 40's and by the time I took NCLEX i would say I was consistently in the mid-high 50's. I was consistent with my diagnostic and readiness score and got a 59 on both of them. I got high 50's on QT6 and QT7.

I personally found the NCLEX questions to be easier than the Kaplan questions in the sense that I felt like Kaplan had prepared me to see those similar type of questions and I was able to think it through because I had thought it through previously with Kaplan. In my opinion, the NCLEX was easier than any of the Q banks that I did with Kaplan.

Sorry for the lengthy post, but like I mentioned I know I found it helpful to read some of these and wanted to pay it forward to others who might be testing soon. Just remember that you know the material. You have been in nursing school for 2-4 years and know it. Take a deep breath before you begin testing and just make sure you take your time and you will be fine. The day after your test treat yourself to something special and try and do something to keep your mind off of the NCLEX results that you haven't received yet. I told myself I could only check each hour on the hour for my results and tried to find things to do to fill in the time in between.

You guys have this and are more than capable of passing!