Passed NCLEX in 75 questions - Long post

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Hey everyone, this is for anyone who is looking for any bit of reference (as I did for the last 3 months) about the NCLEX. I had my exam on the 10/13 and it shut off after 75 questions. I traveled home (2 hour drive) and did the PVT and got the good pop up. I did the quick results and found out I passed today. I have lurked, commented, and used this site for a good 3 months, so a huge thank you to everyone on this site. Here is what worked for me....

I graduated in August, and had been doing UWorld and Nurse Achieve questions since mid July. I took a CAT exam at the end of my 30 day trial for Nurse Achieve and got a pass-pass. For my UWorld I did the entire 2100+ Qbank and averaged out to a 61, I had around 900 questions I marked/flagged to go back to later, even some I got some right, but said "Oh, damn good question I want to see that again". I also did around 1000 questions on Nurse Achieve. I finally got my ATT in mid September and scheduled for Oct 13th, which gave me pretty much 30 days, so I looked at UWorld to see what were my low points and worked on them. Instead of hand writing notes, I copied and pasted the rationales to desktop folders and would review these once a week. I also added in Mark K's lectures, listening and typing notes on his lectures. Additionally, I went through a decent amount of the LaCharity prioritization and delegation book. Finally, I did 3 more CAT exams (pass-pass on all 3) and 2 UWorld assessments with a good chance of passing.

As I mentioned, I traveled 2 hours to the site, stayed in a hotel the night before as I had scheduled my exam for 9am. I looked over nothing in the hotel room last night, as I felt I had been doing close to 4000 questions (between UWorld and Nurse Achieve), and just wanted a break, as 3 months was probably too long and I started getting bored the last 2 weeks. I either knew it or I didn't.

I got to the testing site 30 minutes ahead and went through their screening process. I got through the first 10 questions and thought, yea it is vague, but this is a lot like my nursing exams. If there is one good thing I will say about my nursing program is that it was a *** (there were no A students, there were barely any B students, it was 60 students clawing their way to C's). That's why I feel there are nursing programs out there designed to get a student through their program, and programs out there to get them to pass the NCLEX. My program was tough, and I felt it was a normal nursing exam.

My exam had I think 25 SATA, 1 drag and drop, no math, no EKG. It was a mix of everything, from maternity, peds, to priority, some mental health, and legal/ethics. I had no delegation, maybe 1 or 2 peds, pharm were basic beta blockers. There were a few random vocab that made me do a double take (thinking what the hell is that word), but only 2-3 questions that I had no idea what they were asking. I got out in 90 minutes and drove home. Did the PVT and got the good pop up.

I hope this helps at least one person, as I know a lot of posts helped me through the last 3 months. Good luck to all.

Congrats!! Thanks for the information and taking  the time to post your journey and it's very helpful for those who still have to test and are afraid of the NCLEX! 

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