Passed NCLEX 2nd time, low scores, PVT worked, twice!

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I want to share my story, as I always found support and guidance while reading others'. I hope this can help at least one of you out there!

I've been out of school since Dec 2015. Traveled a little after graduation, and then finally got to studying. I dreaded the nclex. D-R-E-A-D-E-D. During nursing school, I diagnosed myself as having nclexphobia. I was never confident in taking the nclex, ever since nursing school! Our school integrated Kaplan during our program, and the one-week nclex review prep and online resource was included. My scores started out in the 40s and in the end, I probably averaged in the 50s. Other resources I had was the Saunders 5th edition book and the PDA LaCharity book. Unfortunately, I barely used both of those. I took the nclex around March/April and it stopped around 245. I came out of the testing center in a "what the fudge just happened" attitude. I didn't know what to think. The PVT had the bad pop up, my application wasn't pending/open on breeze, and my failed attempt was confirmed with a letter in the mail a week after my test.

It felt like crap--not gonna' lie. To see and hear your classmates all pass, get jobs, get their lives movin' etc, while you just failed the most important test of your career.... that sucked. To have your non-nursing friends ask you about your life and how you can't really explain to them how hard/weird/complex nclex is... that sucked. To know that you may have in fact disappointed your family and feel hopeless... that sucked. I didn't want to talk to anyone, didn't want to explain myself again that I didn't pass--I was embarrassed. But you know what I learned from all of this? TRUE friends will understand. TRUE friends will support you, encourage you, cheer for you, and be there for you regardless. My family has been supportive of me since day 1. After failing, they would always say, "That's okay! Try again!" Surround yourself with genuine, positive, and motivating people!!

Alright, second time to attack this nclex! My friend let me borrow her Hurst binder full of content. I will say this was quite helpful, as Hurst tends to condense the most important content. I watched the majority of the accompanying Hurst videos, until her account had expired and I couldn't access it anymore. Other resources I used were...

-UWORLD: YES YES YES. I totally recommend UWorld! AMAZING rationales... seriously, this made Kaplan look like the crappiest of crap. I did at least two set of 75q tests everyday. This is time consuming because I made sure to read all the rationales! What also helped--I would write down the rationales that I got wrong or didn't understand fully. My 30 day subscription ended a few days before my test, so I went to Kaplan for practice questions for those last extra days. I was so frustrated and annoyed with Kaplan, I just decided to not even utilize it.. (I know some people swear by Kaplan, but for me.. definitely not!)

-Saunder's 5th edition: I would only use this as a reference. If your short on time, I don't recommend practicing the questions.. they were pretty simple/straight forward. I do recommend going over the different preferences and rituals of various cultures/religions!!!

-PDA LaCharity: I know a lot of people recommend this, but honestly this was useless for me. I learned all my prioritization and delegation through UWorld's awesome rationales.

-Nclex mastery app: This is nice for on-the-go, but I barely touched it.

-35 Page review floating around: Thanks to allnurses, I was able to find this. Although a bit disorganized, I highly recommend looking at this, ESPECIALLY for the mnemonics about isolation precautions and cranial nerves! Super helpful.

In summary, of all the resources I tried out, I would recommend UWorld and Hurst, for sure! Saunders for content clarification and the cultural preferences (I cannot emphasize the cultural preferences part enough! Those were the type of questions I got on the nclex that I was like HOW TF AM I SUPPOSE TO KNOW THIS...), and the 35 pg. review for the mnemonics.

I also want to mention that I did get low scores. PLEASE do NOT let the numbers be your focus. For UWorld, I completed the whole qbank, and averaged a 51%. Reading the forums, a 51% is not a confident percentage. It's discouraging, yes, but remember to focus on reading every rationale! That's how you'll LEARN! I also want to add that after completing the ~1900 qbank, I did them again and verbally explain to myself why this answer is wrong and why this answer is right, etc.

I took my 2nd nclex on a Saturday. After 2 hours, it stopped at 75q. This test was WAY harder than my first one. I had at least 30+ SATA, and you should've seen my face every time a new SATA question appeared. It was frustrating, but just remember to ELIMINATE. If you've never heard of such thing, don't pick it. Trust your instinct! I've also had procedures and medications that I've never heard of. I came out of there thinking that I failed FOR SURE... that no way I could have done exceedingly well for it to stop at 75q. I did the PVT a few hours later, and it said, "The candidate currently has an open registration for this exam. A new registration cannot be created at this time", which I believe means that I either did the PVT too early and/or they hadn't processed my exam yet. On, breeze, my application wasn't "pending/open" (just like the first time when I failed). After 48 hours, there were no results of my license on breeze/brn (just like the first time when I failed). All of these clues lead to me thinking one thing: I failed. AGAIN. I already told my family and friends that I probably failed. The feelings of guilt, regret, annoyance and frustration all came back again.

I did the PVT on Monday, and to my surprise, I got the GOOD pop up. THE WHAT?! I was indeed VERY skeptical. I did it again 2 hours later... good pop up, still. I told myself I can't get my hopes up... Went out late Monday night, came home, went to bed around 1:30 am and refreshed my breeze tab. LO AND BEHOLD, my license was there! I checked the brn, and MY NAME AND LICENSE WAS THERE. I was absolutely SHOCKED.

I just wanted to share my story... share what worked for me, what didn't. I wanted to let you guys know that low numbers mean nothing, as long as you absorb the reasons for why you got those numbers. I wanted to let you guys know that the PVT did work for me, for both times that I took it. Last of all, I wanted to let you guys know to keep pushing, don't give up... THIS IS WHAT WE'VE BEEN WORKING FOR. The nclex is the weirdest and hardest test I've taken... I still don't understand how it works and I don't think anyone fully will.

"Don't compare your chapter 1 to someone else's chapter 20". YOU GOT THIS!!! Put time, energy and passion into studying! Once you defeat it, it'll be all worth it in the end. Best of luck to everyone!!

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Awesome post, and I enjoyed reading it. Congrats!

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Congratulations on passing.

You literally cracked me up.:lol2:nclexphobia

Thank you!!

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Thanks for this post. I found myself teary eyed. Just have a question, does Uworld questions are more look like NCLEX? Are they both on the same level of difficulty?

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Thank you all for the kind words!!

Lnzsay, I felt UWorld questions may be a little harder! The detailed rationales are what really help explain concepts and why this answer is right and the others are wrong. UWorld also helped me be more confident with SATA questions!

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Specializes in Internal Medicine, Endoscopy,HDU.

Thanks for inspiring us! Congratulations!!!!

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