Passed Nclex- 75qs 1st try, PVT Trick, UWorld vs. Kaplan

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Hello all! I am a long time lurker on this website and decided to finally make a post about my Nclex experience 2016. Brace yourselves this will be a lengthy post because I want to leave no stone unturned. (cliff notes at the bottom lol)

Background

I graduated from a BSN program at my university august 2016. I basically took 3 weeks off before I started studying for the nclex. In the beginning I was using kaplan because our school made us pay for it. I also purchased the saunders comprehensive 6th ediction ncelx rn book ($50), and the nclex rnmastery app ( on sale for $15.99).

Study Habits

I studied a total of 5 weeks for the nclex, but my most intense studying was done within the last two weeks. in the beginning I was using kaplan and saunders only. Saunders was too easy for me but I liked their rationals so I would use the online questions to brush up on my pharm only. I never actually read the book or did the questions in the book since I was not that bad at content. I would do one or two 75qs kaplan test from the q bank everyday for about 3weeks. My kapaln scores where no where near what kaplan recommend. I was averaging 54% on my qbank questions and reading all the rationales for each test I reviewed. Feeling frustrated I did some research on this website and found out about UWorld. So I purchased a one month subscription to Uworld on sept. 13 and never looked back. I highly recommend Uworld because the questions are hard and the rationales are very educational. Uworld was like having saunders for content and kapaln for nclex style questions all wrapped up into one easy to use program. after purchasing uWorld I scheduled to take my Nclex oct.4 2016. that gave me a little over two weeks to study Uworld. I would aim to do 100-200 questions a day. I read all the rationales and wrote down the ones I knew I was weak in or never heard of. I would study from 1pm to 11pm with lots of breaks :wacky: . I also studied the rationales everyday so the info would stick. this is how i remember things i write it down in my own words and memorize it. in-between my uworld I would take my kapaln qtrainers to help me build stamina for the nclex (just in case i went all the way to 265). my kaplan scores went up but i was still not reaching the 60% they recommend. I just continued to focus on uworld and its rationales. I also would use the nclex mastery app to do peids, and maternity questions only because those were my weakest topics in u world. For meds i used the kaplan content review study guide and just wrote down the classes for all the major drugs and important info about each class such as side effects, pt teaching, and the action of the drug. I also read the 35 page study guide i Found on here and starred some of the stuff i really liked. I say the first 3 pages you should def. memorize especially the infection control mnemonic!. the only thing i memorized for the nclex where normal lab values an vitals. the day before my test i did not study and when i did try to study i had a huge headache out of no where! i think god was trying to tell me i needed to rest lol.

Nclex Day

The night before my Nclex i got no sleep because thats just how my body works. I remember in nursing school every night before clinical I would get zero sleep no matter what the anxiety just keeps me up. my test was for 8am i was so nervous driving to the test center i drove into the wrong plaza XD. once i was checked in and got my locker i realized i forgot my snacks ( God was trying to tell me i wasn't gonna be there long). I went into the testing room and saw that most of the people there were taking the nclex. I sat down and started taking my test, i didn't use the ear phones because it was already really quiet. i read my first question and thought this doesn't seem too bad. my next question was a SATA ( select all that apply) but I wasn't freaking out i just answered and moved on. 2 hours and 75 questions later I got the blue screen. I had 35 SATA, two easy meds, Alot of infection control ( i know i got those correct thanks to the study guide), some priority, two delegation, and alot of peids and maternity ( my weakest subject), no math, and no ekgs, and 4 exhibits. After i left the test place i did not feel bad i felt relieved. I felt that i did very well because i knew i definitely got some questions correct. the test just felt familiar there was no curve balls except one question i had but I'm almost certain that it was one of the 15 experimental questions because it had nothing to do with being a safe nurse.

PVT and Passing

I finished my test around 10am oct.4th and did the PVT trick where you try to register around 1pm. I used my active debit card and changed the expiration date only. I got the good pop up because the system said i couldn't register to take the test again. 10pm the same day 12hrs post exam i did it again and received the same popup. 11 am oct.5 i checked my exam status and it said pass! :roflmao: :laugh:

Final thoughts

I did not find the nclex super difficult or unfair. The questions i received were no diffrent than the questions i encountered on UWorld. Uworld was way harder than nclex in my opinion. The questions were similar but not word for word, i remember i had one question so simliar to UWorld i know i got it correct because it jogged my memory so much and it was SATA just like in uworld. The SATA on nclex are not as difficult as kaplan or Uworld so don't freak out if you get them. Uworld really prepared me for nclex. Uworld gives you alot of SATA just like nclex and the questions are hard like nclex. The rationales on uworld are the most important to focus on because it helps mold your mind to thinking the way nclex wants you to think. I highly recommend uworld and the 35pg study guide to pass the ncelx, and saunders if you need content. i felt like i was over prepared for the nclex but thats ok because it made me very confident in my answers and i felt very good once i finished which is not the norm. another thing people on here always say is "nothing they studied was on the nclex." i feel that is an untrue statement or they didn't study nclex style questions. this is why I recommend uworld, because everything nclex threw at me I definitely encountered on uworld and even kaplan. your going to get who to see first questions,priority questions, what to do first questions, delegation, patient teaching for medications and procedures ( ex. lumbar puncture), all these questions will determine if you are a safe minimally competent nurse. All in all to pass the nclex i recommend Uworld, the 35 page study guide, memorizing lab values, believe in your answers and most importantly PRAY! you can and will pass this test.