Passed NCLEX in 75 Questions: My Experience

[baylakeanna]

Pennsylvania, Traditional BSN. 2.9 GPA for all of college, but 3.5 for just nursing classes (I had mono freshman year, ugh.) I graduated May 6th from a program of 120 students. We used ATI throughout school and had the 3 day ATI live review.

Before the NCLEX:

I used a couple of things to study. I took the in person Kaplan class which comes with online practice tests and questions. Their questions are really hard in my opinion, but helpful. Kaplan is not very content based and is very much based in strategy. I used some ATI. Not much, this was content based and I knew content. I also had two question books. The first was "Prioritization, Delegation, and Assignment: Practice Exercises for the NCLEX Examination." This was by teacher recommendation. The other was "Saunders Q&A review for the NCLEX." I really liked the Saunders book. It has all of the categories of the test. For example, if you're not good at safety and infection control, they have an entire test just for that.

I tried to do a good amount of questions every day. Sometimes I would get discouraged and thought I wasn't studying enough because I wasn't doing a ton of questions every day, religiously like my friend. They would not rest until they did whatever amount they said they would do. I told myself that I knew the extent to which needed to study, and trusted that. Some days I did 50. One day I did 500. The important part was that when I did the questions,I took my time, especially in thinking of the answer. For me, mindfulness was key. I did one question at a time. I did not answer all of them like a test and review after I was done. After I chose my answer, I checked it. Then I read through all the rationales. I did this because sure, we read them when we get the question wrong, but we should also know why the answers are right when we choose them. I got more out of it this way because the question was still fresh on my mind.

(I know on Kaplan you do not get answers right away. But the answers to all of the question trainers are on quizlet, so I would answer one question, find the answer and rationales on quizlet, and repeat.) When I finished the tests on Kaplan, I looked at the analysis and determined my three poorest areas (physiologic adaptation, etc.) I would use Kaplan's qbank and make them only those categories. I also would go back to the Saunders book and do around 20 questions per each category.

**Note: I did not study the day before my test. I went to the spa. TREAT YOSELF. There supposedly are studies that show if you relax the day before and do things you enjoy, you will do better. It's important for you to listen to your body. If you're tired, sleep. Don't force yourself to stay up, because I promise you won't be thinking as well. I felt guilty plenty of times because I would fall asleep doing questions. My mom and my therapist both told me that if I'm falling asleep, it means I need to sleep. It's true. I felt my studying was much more effective when I listened to my body, even if I did not get much done.

What to do on NCLEX test day?

I'll move on to the actual test now. If you are familiar with the procedures, skip this list.

• I got there an hour early, so I wouldn't feel rushed. Leave everything you can in the car. Leave your phone in the car because otherwise they make you put it in this special bag and they hold on to it. The rest of your stuff goes in a locker and you can get it at any time. I brought my wallet, a water, and chapstick (I wound up not taking any breaks.)
• When you get there, they will ask for your ID, and then scan the palms of your hands, like a fingerprint. Then they take a picture of you. They tell you all the rules and give you a sheet of the rules to read. You then sign saying you read all of them. After this, they send you to a waiting area.
• The TA called on me to come over. He explained the rules again, especially about breaks. If you have pockets, they will ask you to turn them inside out at this time. The TA also had me turn around and lift my hair up to expose my neck to make sure I did not have a bluetooth on. You can get earplugs from the TA if you want. I did; I hate noises like sniffles and coughing when I'm taking tests. He then gave me my whiteboard. The whiteboard I was given was a laminated piece of paper that looked like graph paper. If you run out of space, raise your hand and they will bring you a new one. You don't erase it.
• Once you are told that you enter the test area, they palmscan you to go into the room. The TA will take you in and they set the computer up for you. Then the computer tells you the terms and conditions of the test. Then there's a tutorial. Then you get your questions.

At the beginning of the test, I was a mess and I couldn't stop shaking. So I did cleansing breaths for a minute or two. I reminded myself that I've been practicing and I am perfectly capable. I was determined to end at 75, but I prepared to take all 265. Don't get scared, but I'm not kidding, my test was 50% select all that apply, and I was so pissed. Some people say that was because I was doing well, but some people get SATA and fail, so I didn't want to think that. I got two drag and drop questions that were insanely easy. I got a lot of prioritization, delegation and who to see first. I also got a lot of therapeutic communication. I just focused on the question I was currently on. Do not worry about the one you had before (not worth it, you can't go back and change.) The best tip I heard was that if you get stuck on a question, think "if I can do one thing for this patient before leaving, what would it be?" I used the Kaplan decision tree the whole time. Look it up.

I was on question 75. I took a deep breath and prepared myself to be disappointed and to continue. I pressed next, and it shut off. Then I left. I was honestly very discouraged because the questions were so hard. I let myself cry, I went home, called my bff who also took it that day, watched funny videos and ate ice cream. I also promised myself that I wouldn't look on the license website until way later because I didn't want to think that I failed because it wasn't posted yet. I just kept telling myself that I made it through nursing school, and that the first time pass rate for BSN's is high 80's-low 90's.

*(The PA license board this year has been putting the license up in the morning the day after the test. Mine wound up being posted today around 9:00 am, and on Pearson it still says processing. Also, the Pearson trick is not reliable and does not work for everyone, so wait the 48 hours to get the preliminary result if your licensing board isn't as quick as mine.) Today I woke up to my best friend calling me. She checked the license site for me and we both passed!

TLDR; The main idea:

This is what I have been trying to get to:

• Not everyone studies the same. Some people will do hundreds of questions a day. Some will just read their textbooks. Some people do a few questions and take a break. You know yourself, and do what feels right for you. Don't drive yourself crazy.
• Listen to your body and respect yourself. Don't talk down to yourself. Take the day before the exam off.
• Remember how far you've come. You finished nursing school! Nursing school is hard and if you were not capable of being a nurse, you wouldn't be here right now. Don't let it get to your head when people pass at 75 and you're in the test at question 260. You can still pass. A pass is a pass, employers and patients do not care when you finished.
• Give yourself a variety of resources. It was nice for me to be able to switch to a book after doing Kaplan for a while. Don't get discouraged when you get lots of questions wrong. Keep going!
• Go on the ncsbn website and get yourself familiar with the bulletin. Know the testing procedures. It will make you so much more comfortable.
• Prepare to be there for the whole time and prepare to do all 265 questions. If you hit #265, that's okay, because you can still pass!

If you read all of this, thanks! Please ask me questions if you would like. I don't know what to do with my free time now, lol.

[baylakeanna]

I will ask her in the morning!

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

Greetings! I also passed in 75 questions and all I used for NCLEX questions was the NCLEX 4000 program and Saunders Q&A. My program also used the ATI stuff as well. At this point I don't recall my blend of questions but they were quite difficult and if this was scored "traditionally" I'm sure I would have failed. Fortunately this doesn't score traditionally and tries to find your ability level instead and uses that to determine pass/fail. Yes, I nearly hurled at the end of the exam.

Here's the thing: I met up with a classmate at the testing center and we both finished in 75, both of us also got our licenses numbers about 35 hours after the exam was submitted for scoring. The PVT does work but it depends upon 2 things to be reliable: the 2nd scoring must be done and the pass/fail result must be communicated to the billing system. I suspect the billing system defaults to making you pay unless it sees that a "pass" flag is set, which intercepts/stops the billing process. These are two separate systems. Licensing boards will have access to the results and will be able to see if you passed or not probably before the billing system does. In my case the "old" PVT system indicated a "pass" within 30 minutes of walking out of the test center and that result held true. That old system didn't put $200 at risk like the current system does.

The biggest factor for licensing speed probably has to do with how quickly your licensing board receives your completed background checks.

[baylakeanna]

Future_Nurse_Nekia said:

Hello again, thank you for to your reply. I do greatly appreciate any help I can get. If could check with your bf and let me know, that would be awesome. I do think you're absolutely right. everything we use will have it's ups +/-. I'll try the doing questions and pray I pass. I was helpful on my exit ?

Okay so here is what she said!

"It was ok. It has a lot of learning materials besides just questions which might be helpful. But it has this simulation nclex that i failed 6 times and never passed and then passed in 75 on the real nclex. It has a bank of just practice questions though too which i did a lot of. I think that book on prioritization and delegation that we bought is definitely worth the money."

[jenyl2004]

I always said that I would come back and leave a post because you all have been such an inspiration and comfort to me. I found so much good advice on allnurses and to all of those out there who still have not passed I say, " DO NOT GIVE UP!!!! "

You have to find a course that will help you understand the nursing process and make you think. Uworld did that for me.

I graduated from nursing school in 2012. I was a C student for the most part, I loved what I learned and talking with the patients I had in clinicals was fun. No joke nursing school was hard my second semester. I failed my 102 class and had to figure out what it was I did wrong. It was my studying habits and how I studied. So I started doing outlines of EVERY chapter in school from EVERY book I had to read. That was a lot of chapters too‚ However, in the long run that helped me all through school.

Once I graduated with my ADN I took the Nclex in 2012 and 2013. I used Kaplan the first time and then hurst review the second. KAPLAN was good for detailed information of drugs etc but that whole decision tree was grueling to learn. They also focus on timing your tests to finish Nclex faster. The videos were just plain boring. Hurst actually had really good videos, but they want you to write in a study guide that YOU have to print out.

Needless to say I was devastated. I sunk into a depression for three years. I refused to study or talk about finding a way to fix my problem. I worked as an uncertified aide during that time. I was so miserable, I lost faith in myself.

I would read posts on here about individuals that passed on their third, fourth attempt etc. Or ones who let it go until 5+ years later, only to pass. In 2016 I got my CNA and started working at a new job. I would do the nclex mastery app at work and at home I read my LaCharity delegation book and yellow Saunders book. I got up to a little more than half and then I quit.

I was browsing on here at work and someone mentioned Uworld in their post. I decided to give it a try. I realized that worrying about how many questions I would get on Nclex or answering questions at light speed would not help me.

I needed help with my understanding of why I needed to see a certain patient first. What I would do if that patient was having trouble with their foley or if their chest tube came out during transfer. Or how to solve problems between staff in a positive way. Or if I am administering blood and patient becomes ill what do I need to do first.

I had to hone in on what my priorities were. The LaCharity book and Uworld helped me do that. More importantly I had to find a program that was not crazy expensive like Kaplan and hurst. I have spent so much $ it is no joke.

I did Uworld through my phone and paid $109 for 2 months of 1,958 questions. The minimum Uworld will let you do is 75. I would do 75 or more a day at work or home. They are good at helping you understand your priorities and how to troubleshoot.

I scored in the mid 50s to low 60s. I finished my questions two weeks before my test which would be the last weekend of April. I decided to do my self assessment test which is like a nclex predictor.

Needless to say I failed it because I took too long to answer the questions

Again I was worried and saddened because my test was one week away. I decided to do two tests out of the small nclex cram book. I also did questions from the nclex mastery app. That Thursday I grabbed my brothers and a friend and did painting with a twist. I had so much fun! I did glance over the study guide of the cram book as I sat in my car waiting to take my test.

I prayed, struggled to eat breakfast, dressed in my work scrubs/hoodie ( I wanted comfort and the little jacket was in case it was cold in testing room) and got there early. Before I started I utlized the ear plugs. When my test went past 75 questions I did not care. When I reached 100 questions I kept going. At 120 questions my heart sank, I accepted the timed break. I went to the bathroom to get my thoughts together,I walked around in the hallway to get myself together.

I remembered something: the Nclex is NOT a monster or trying to trick me. By giving me more questions it is actually helping me. The more questions I get, the closer to passing I am. It is only a computer giving me questions based on how I have been answering them.

I kept this in mind as I kept answering, getting one SATA after another and who would you see first one after another. At some point it stopped: 160 questions total.

I left with the "I honestly did the best I could" feeling. And yes that test was JUST LIKE Uworld. I even had an IV question exactly like the one I did on Uworld. It was pouring rain and I sat in my car going over in mind all the things I believed I did wrong.

I got home and said nothing. I just waited for my fail letter. I did try to look up my name on my BON website but after a week saw nothing. I felt terrible, so as I waited for my letter I tried to figure out my next move. Six weeks came and went but nothing in the mail. I was freaking out, "WHERE'S MY LETTER, I KNOW I FAILED! ", maybe they forgot me Again I sunk into depression. I decided to call the BON. I refused to pay for quick results and pvt was not a guarantee because for those it did work for, they actually failed! I just couldn't do that to myself.

The lady refused to tell me whether I passed or failed, just encouraged me to take the 3 hr child abuse course. "Huh? Where's my fail letter?" I kept asking repeatedly, "I know I failed, Why didn't you guys send it yet? It's been eight weeks". Again she calmly stated maybe I was waiting for a license so I really needed to take that course.

In disbelief, I decided to pay for pearson vue quick results a few hours later. I saw PASS, I gasped and sobbed hysterically.­ My battle was finally over, it took me 5 years to do it. I have FINALLY earned my title of RN.

All of you who have not passed yet: DO NOT GIVE UP! Find what type of learner you are and what program will increase your understanding. Do questions daily! I truly say Uworld is the cheapest in cost and the best interactive program out there. Most importantly PRAY!!

PS: Uworld's people write nclex questions for NCLEX

Jen RN.... Finally and it feels good!

[Future_Nurse_Nekia]

baylakeanna said:

Okay so here is what she said!

"It was ok. It has a lot of learning materials besides just questions which might be helpful. But it has this simulation nclex that i failed 6 times and never passed and then passed in 75 on the real nclex. It has a bank of just practice questions though too which i did a lot of. I think that book on prioritization and delegation that we bought is definitely worth the money."

I appreciate you going out of your way to get this information for me. I decided to go with UWorld. Doing questions everyday til test day. I'll update you guys on how things go for me, good or bad. But of course I'm praying great!!!

[hopetopassnclex]

Thank you.

[kassm]

Hi! Thank you so much for writing your experience about the nclex. I take mine in three weeks and you really helped put my mind at ease. I have a question about something you mentioned in utilizing Kaplan's trainers and Qbank. You said that you used the trainers to focus on your weak points and made your Qbank tests based on that. Did you take all the Kaplan trainers consecutively (excluding Q7 and the readiness, I know you mentioned not doing those), and then focus on Qbank? Or did you spread out the trainers over the weeks? I am struggling on how to space out what I need to do and how to review so I just wanted to ask! Thank you in advance :)

[Smithette]

Thanks for such a detailed and thorough post!!

[gijade]

How did it go, did you pass?!

[gijade]

This is awesome. I loved reading about your story and so glad you did not give up. Good for you! I start LVN School in a few months, but I'll begin my prerequisites on Monday. I'm looking at how to prepare for NCLEX already. I know it's rather early, but I'm trying to get an idea of how this will be and am taking all of the great advice you and other nurses have provided thus far. Short term goal is LVN, long term is RN.

[imhorsemackerel, LPN]

Congratulations! I just passed my NCLEX-PN. When it shut off after 85, my jaw dropped. I thought I was dreaming. The questions from around 70 onward were actually easy, and I was under the impression I was doing terribly. I remember everyone saying that if you get a question right, the questions should get harder. Cue panic. It took me like an hour (in reality it was probably just 2 minutes because time stood still) just to gather my thoughts and raise my hand to exit the room. The next 48 hours made me anxious. I'm actually taking an online class for the RN program I'm interested in, and I know for this last module I just wrote whatever just to get a grade as I couldn't really focus. The good pop up did appear the 100 times I tried it, but last night I had a dream that I checked my grade and it said I failed. Interestingly enough, it said it twice. Thankfully I passed.

I know once I take the NCLEX-RN I will have to reread OP's post.

[Future_Nurse_Nekia]

Passed NCLEX.......I just want to thank everyone on this thread for their support, kind words, and motivation. I took my NCLEX PN on Saturday, July 22, started at 2:15 after a good cry and quiet prayer. I was done a lil before 4. The computer shut off in 85. I was happy it was over and came home and did the PVT @ 4:30om. I got the good pop but didnt believe so I did it like 5 more times between then and Sunday. Monday morning at 9am when I logged in to my BON account, low and behold, there was my nursing license number. The stress of the test is now over, and the stress of being a good nurse begins. Thanks everyone, and to those going to take this test, dont let anxiety and the unknown beat. You know what you know and will do great.