Passed the NCLEX after 5 months of studying 2nd time around

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Specializes in Family Planning, STD, OB/Gyn.

Hello everyone! Just wanted to thank everyone on allnurses.com and the input of answering questions and giving questions to challenge us nursing students and future nurses. I took NCLEX first time...did not passed. I did not want to post that on here because boy would that bring more confidence down. Instead, I searched for posts of those who passed however many times it took them to increase my confidence.

So first off. I read SO many ways to study the NCLEX and I really liked

Bryan's

https://allnurses.com/nclex-discussion-forum/its-official-im-542909.html

Uaefan's

https://allnurses.com/nclex-discussion-forum/long-time-lurker-533532.html

Their posts helped me through the ups and downs of the the "no social" life. I thought I needed a study plan for NCLEX. To be honest, after reading uaefan's post. There is not specific study plan to abide by or follow. You make it yourself because YOU are the only person that know yourself. So my study plan was to correlate the chapters of LaCharity PDA with Saunders 4th. That helped me to read (more like skimming) and then reinforce the information with PDA questions. NCLEX 3500 I changed my tactics to doing each section of the topics per week and at the end of the week I do a 265 Q on a Sat. I make it my goal to do at least 50 Qs. There were some days where I didn't do any studying for 3-6 days.

Also this time around, I started off with prayer before each studying period. I am born and raised catholic. But I was a fallen Christian. So going back to praying helped healed my worries and crazy stressed out days. So if you believe in higher power, talk to them or better yet, talk to a person you know that is up in heaven. Asked them to say a prayer for you too. I talked to my grandparents, friends, siblings and family members (have never met). Hubby thought I was weird. But I didn't think any of it.

My study plan (may or may not work for you)

Start with prayer

Saunders with LaCharity

at least 50Q per day---I used NCLEX 3500

studied 2 hours max for me each day from Jan 31-May 9.

also I reused all my ATI tests for more questions.

It's better to stay with at most 3 sources, don't overwhelm yourself with more than that.

Test day:

said a prayer before I hit the road (an hour drive there)

before test, I wrote out Jeremiah 29:11 from Bryan's post, and wrote "God is with me" "Heavenly father pray for me, Mother Mary pray for me, St. Cupertino pray for me, St. Therese pray for me"

said one our father, hail mary, glory be before clicking start, halfway, and after the test

took a break every 30 minutes

test lasted 3.5 hours

I believe it was around 70-80 questions (turned off the Q counter)

more than half was priority, 6 meds Q, 23 SATA, no audio, no hot spots

after test, I asked for a sign from St. Therese to send me a rose. She sent me 4 different roses and it was the 2 rose that caught my eye all throughout the day.

Just took the NCLEX May 10th started at 9 a.m. and left the building at 12:30 p.m. with 7 breaks during the test. Hubby did the PVT later that night after I refused to give him my information at 7 p.m. Got the good pop up! Did it again after our mini celebratory sushi dinner...still the same good pop up.

Good luck NCLEX test takers! You can do it! Conquered the beast! Do not doubt yourself, stay positive. Read uaefan or bryan's post if you ever feel down.

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congrats...i took the nclex 6 mons after i failed it the first time @ 265...i took my test on the last day my ATT was expiring. ...and like u posted above...i agree with all the tips...my test stopped @ 75 and took me one hour fifteen minutes.... Only thing i did differently from u was leave the question timer on but turned off the clock timer... I used 3 resources which was enuff to study. I did about 100 questions a day...memorized 3 lab values a day till i knew them alk...congratulations RN

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Specializes in Family Planning, STD, OB/Gyn.
congrats...i took the nclex 6 mons after i failed it the first time @ 265...i took my test on the last day my ATT was expiring. ...and like u posted above...i agree with all the tips...my test stopped @ 75 and took me one hour fifteen minutes.... Only thing i did differently from u was leave the question timer on but turned off the clock timer... I used 3 resources which was enuff to study. I did about 100 questions a day...memorized 3 lab values a day till i knew them alk...congratulations RN

Thank you! :) I don't think I would have been able to keep that Q counter on. That's what I did last time, so I knew this time to just shut it off and take a break every 30 minutes.

Congratulations to you too!! :D

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Good luck with your official results. Thanks for posting your methods for preparing.

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