Passed NCLEX-RN Canada on the third try!!!

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Hi everyone, this is my first post on all nurses but I have probably read every thread related to the NCLEX and the Pearson vue trick. I wanted to share my experience with the NCLEX. I am a Canadian trained RN And I was one of the 1st class to write the exam. Our school did little to nothing to help prepare us for this exam. On my first attempt I relied solely on hurst review. I found it helpful but it does not come with very many questions.

1st attempt March 28th 2015 I get all 265 questions and felt like the exam was way out of my league. I felt so unprepared and defeated. I read about the Pvt and I tried with with a valid visa gift card with $0 on it. Sure enough I got the message "your card has been declined". I knew I failed. The letter came 5 days later and there it was big fat FAIL. I ended up losing my new grad position and was extremely upset.

2nd attempt September 4th 2015. This time around I used the remedial program from hurst and answered questions from the Kaplan book "NCLEX premier 2014-2015" and the cd that came with the book. I was doing okay on the practice questions and I felt like I knew the content fairly well and I decided to give it another go. I got 265 AGAIN. I tried the Pvt again and got the message "your card has been declined".

3rd and final time March 11th 2016. In Canada you're only allowed three attempts at the NCLEX and if you fail you have to repeat your entire BScN (4 years). I knew I needed to do something different if I wanted to pass this exam. I admit the first 2 times I didn't really give studying my all. This time around I hired a tutor who was very expensive ( over $2500) when it was all said and done. We covered content and I would answer hundreds of questions on my own from Saunders and from the lipincott Q&A. I wrote the exam and it went to 265 AGAIN. I was shocked!! I thought for sure I failed. I tried the Pvt and I got the message "you have recently scheduled this exam another one can not be made at this time". Now I was sceptical but it was my final try so I was thinking of course I can't schedule another exam I'm out of tries. 4 days later the letter comes and I find out I passed!!

Moral of the story if you need help with content and have failed the exam hire an experienced tutor to help you it makes such a difference!!

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Congratulations on passing! :)

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Congratulations! You must feel so relieved!

Would you feel comfortable sharing the province of your school? (well, actual school would be best but if not, at least give us a hint which province? Seems there's a huge disparity in pass rates among the provinces.)

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I'm from Ontario I went to Brock university in St. Catharines!

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

There's a change in the way the Ontario schools approach the NCLEX now...they realized no one was prepared lol. They're incorporating NCLEX style questions in their exams.

I province switched from Quebec to Ontario and took the nclex twice. I passed the second time with an app called UWorld in 76 questions...and it only cost me $60. It's just a massive question bank with actual nclex style questions and excellent rationale :)

Congrats!

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Thank you!!

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So is the hurst review worth the money?

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I think it's worth the money yes but I would also recommend using Saunders with the program. The videos are great but they are only about an hour long so it doesn't get into to much detail. It's a really good program if you just need a quick refresher of core content. The downside is the program doesn't come with very many questions. I highly recommend PDA by lacharity and Q&A by lipincotts for questions.

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Congratulations!! FitNurse444 :)

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Congratulations!! I am in my 3rd year and find that there's not a lot of time to study for NCLEX with quizzes and exams popping up every other week. May I ask your average grades as a student? Did you find that a lot of your peers had difficulty with the exam? How much does the expenses for the exam cost?...

Thank you!

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My average in school was 70-75% I was an average student. I wasn't great at tests in class but I did really well in clinical! I know a few people from my class that had and are still having difficulty with the exam. But a lot did pass on the 1st try. My best advice to you is to grab the Saunders text now and try and use it to match what you're doing in school. Honestly it's never to early to start doing practice questions from the book and companion cd. I spent a lot on resources but I highly recommend Saunders (70$) hurst (300$) and PDA by lacharity (55$). I only recommend hurst if your weak in core content such as fluid and electrolytes and maternity. I found some subjects dry to read about so it was nice to have the videos to watch. Just try and do as many questions as you can there is an art to answering them once you do thousands of questions you'll find your groove! Are you a Canadian student?

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congrats fitnurse444.....so now whats next? which state are you trying to work in?

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