PASSED NCLEX!!! My Strategy!

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Hi Everyone!

I took my NCLEX on Friday, June 17th and paid the extra $8 to get my preliminary results this morning and found out I PASSED!!!!! (YAY!!!!) I used this website throughout my entire time in nursing school and while I was studying for NCLEX so I wanted to share with everyone my strategy for studying for NCLEX.

I got my ATT on June 7th and decided to take my NCLEX as soon as possible. I had already interviewed and gotten hired for my dream job the week before so I was ecstatic to take my NCLEX ASAP and get started working. I originally scheduled myself to take the NCLEX for Monday, June 20th and I started out using Kaplan the week after I graduated on May 19th. My college highly recommends the Kaplan prep class and about 90% of my graduating class signed up for it. So I paid my $400 and went to the first 2 days of the class... After that I didn't go back. I know a lot of people find Kaplan helpful but I honestly found it to be a waste of my time. Their decision tree strategy took way too long to work through and the majority of the time spent in the class I felt like I was just listening to people read into the questions and argue the answers. I felt like I wasn't getting anything from the class and honestly I was very upset that I paid $400 for this course. So I set out to work through the Kaplan QBank at home to prepare for the NCLEX on my own... I did about 200 questions on the QBank, was getting mid 60s to 70s on all of the questions trainers, and the quizzes I made. However, I found a lot of discrepanices in the answers/rationales to the questions versus what I learned in nursing school. I know there's a certain way of thinking in NCLEX land but I just did not find Kaplan helpful at all and I wouldn't recommend it.

So after reading tons of reviews and people's strategies on here I decided to purchase the 30 day access to UWorld. I purchased it about 1 week before my NCLEX date and worked through almost a 1000 questions in a week's time. I was doing anywhere from 150-200 questions a day. I LOVE UWORLD! I HIGHLY recommend this to anyone studying for NCLEX. The questions were EXACTLY like the NCLEX and the rationales were amazing at helping me review and understand content I might have mixed up. UWorld is awesome because the rationale comes up right underneath the question after you answer it and breaks it down by answer choice. It makes it super easy to understand and does a very good job explaining everything.I felt very prepared for the NCLEX by solely using UWorld.

So I checked to see if there were any earlier dates because my brain was fried on Thursday night and I just couldn't do anymore questions. I decided to just go for it Friday morning and signed up to text the NCLEX at 8 am. I didn't sleep much that night and I was up by 5 am to leave for the test. I got 103 questions and it took me just over an hour. It did scare me a little bit because I was so sure I was only going to get 75. I felt confident throughout the test and I really didn't feel like there wasn't anything I didn't know. The NCLEX was laid out exactly like UWorld and I felt that it did an excellent job preparing me for all of the questions I had.

I was the first one to leave the testing center and the check-in lady told me I probably passed because I was done so quickly. But silly me doesn't believe it until I see it. Since I took it on Friday I was freaking out because I was going to have to wait all of this weekend to get my results. I read online about the Pearson Vue trick but I was hesitant to try it because I didn't want my credit card to be charged. So this morning I bit the bullet and paid the $8 for the preliminary results and got my PASS! :)

So in short to study for the NCLEX I recommend solely using UWorld. I also looked over the NCLEX study guide that's floating around on here a few times and I think that it is a good short review guide for reference.

If anyone has any questions please comment back, I'll be happy to help anyone! Good luck to everyone taking their NCLEX or waiting for their results!!

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Congratulations! And thank you for sharing your experience!!

I am waiting for my ATT and would like to take NCLEX asap. I was trying to decide which review or program I should use, and I was leaning toward uworld. I am planning to do 100-150 questions a day...

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Congrats!!! How would you rate your NCLEX questions? Harder than UWORLD? Did you notice any trend of questions getting more difficult? Thanks

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It was good reading your post, I have been wasting my time with kaplan and I'm just going to focus on u world strictly. I also feel that kaplan was a waste of money,I test next week , so I have about a week to work on U world.

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Hi! thank you! :) I actually thought the NCLEX was pretty easy and straightforward. It was set up EXACTLY like UWorld, the questions were no harder/no easier than UWorld. I think mine questions stayed consistent throughout the exam. I went through a really tough nursing program and our passing rate is 90% so I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it but I wish I would've taken the NCLEX sooner because it was not as hard as they make it out to be. I was actually very surprised! Good luck to you!! :)

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Hi! I HIGHLY recommend Uworld, don't even bother wasting your time with Kaplan. I would just go straight to UWorld, it was amazing and I wish I had found it sooner and before I paid Kaplan hundreds of dollars. Good luck to everyone!! :)

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This is a long shot but was everything on NCLEX covered by UWorld and did you remember all the rationales for questions going into NCLEXV

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