Passed NCLEX RN with 75Q

[Wildflower8 RN, CCRN]

Whew, what a relief to know that I passed! I just graduated with my BSN in December so I was very nervous to take this exam and very glad that I passed with 75q. I want to thank everyone who posts on these boards because reading your posts really helped to prepare for this exam. I know I especially appreciated that people would put what they did to prepare for the exam so I thought I would do the same.

-The test itself: I took the exam on tuesday and just found out the results today from quick results. My exam started at 12:15 and the quick results were up today at exactly 12:15.

-75q

-6 SATA

-1 med calc

-1 drag/drop

-a whole bunch of med questions

-Lots of teaching/prioritization but no delegation

I left the exam feeling very numb. I didn't feel like I had bombed it but I also didn't feel like I had passed it. I felt that my questions involved pretty straightforward med surg material( I had like 2 OB questions and like 2 psych) so there wasn't anything overly random that I saw on the test but many of the questions had 2 really good answers and it was very hard choosing btwn them. I had medications that I knew and some that I didn't. My first question was pretty simple and from there it was kinda tough but I was a little worried at the end because my last few questions were kinda easy and one of them was the med calc question so it made me feel that I may have fallen below the imaginary pass line.

Study Materials:

Kaplan: Our school made us take the course right before we graduated and I am very happy that I did. The NCLEX questions were very similar to Kaplan questions and I even believe that Kaplan questions are more tricky. The in class portion wasn't overly helpful to me since all we did was go through questions but the online videos I thought were very good. I completed all of the Qbank and Qtrainers, here are my scores:

Diagnostic Exam: 62%

Readiness Exam: 68%

Qbank Avg: 62%

Qtrainers:

1-59%

2-66%

3-57%

4-67%

5-67%

6-69%

7-68%

Hurst Review: I had signed up for the online Hurst Review even before I started Kaplan because a friend had recommended it. I really loved the way that Marlene presents the information and I felt that it made everything I had learned in nursing school click. I believe that Hurst gave me the content I needed to know and Kaplan rounded it out with teaching me the strategies to pass the exam and letting me practice a lot of questions.

Saunders 4th edition: Um, I really didn't read my saunders book but kinda skimmed through it. I do believe that it can be a good book for content review but I think the questions on the cd don't necessarily prepare you for NCLEX questions because they are a little too easy.

ATI: Our school also made us do these dumb tests in order to graduate and I really do not believe they prepared me for NCLEX. We had to take the RN Comp predictor and I forgot the actual score I got but it meant that I had like a 95% chance of passing NCLEX the first time.

I guess I really studied for about 4-5wks before I took the test. I did about 100-150q a day and made sure to review the rationales so I could understand what I was doing wrong. I do believe you need to have a solid grasp of content but I think the test is more about strategy in answering questions than anything else. Big weight has been lifted off of my shoulders and now I can be excited about starting my SICU position next month!

[Wildflower8 RN, CCRN]

I forgot to add that I also used the Prioritization/Delegation book by LaCharity and I think it really helped me with alot of the prioritization I saw on my test

[erandi]

congratulations!!! Do you think Learning ext.com is good to review ?????

[Wildflower8 RN, CCRN]

Thank you! I am not sure about learning text though because I do not personally know anyone that took it. I have seen posts on these boards about it. Do a search and I am sure you will find plenty of posts that can probably give you some good feedback on it.

[Melinurse]

Congradulations.

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

:ancong!:

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

Congratulations

[Chloe25]

Congratulations! Thank you for taking the time out to post your study materials. I am currently studying for the NCLEX and using similar products (Hurst, Kaplan). I just purchased the Saunders book and mostly doing the quizzes, reading the rationales, and skimming through some areas I am weak in. I have been doing 100-150 questions daily from Kaplan also. Also, I have the Lacharity Prioritization coming in the mail soon.

The questions I have are:

With Kaplan: Did you watch all the content videos? Review of questions videos? Did you use the RN course book that came with Kaplan?

[Wildflower8 RN, CCRN]

Thank you everyone!

Chloe25- I didn't watch all of the kaplan content videos, I mostly watched the meds videos and some of my weaker area videos (Health Promotion and reduction of risk potential) I did watch quite a few of the review of question videos to see their train of thinking for getting to the right answers. I also watched the test strategy videos and the ones that went over crutch/canes/trach care etc. I did use the Kaplan blue book as well. I would say that I skimmed through the entire book instead of actually sitting down and reading it page for page.

[caliotter3]

:ancong!:

[trish4212]

I took my RN test in IL 1/29. No results yet. Most stress I have EVER been through. Friends and family waiting to hear makes it worse.... lots of pressure. Not to mention I have a potential job IF I pass!! AAAHHHHHH!!! OK, so I had 75q.... 6 SATA, 1OB, 1MH, 5 MEDS, and a LOT of priority. I heard that the select all that apply are only up if you are doing well? Anyone heard this before? WOW what a stressful 48 hours. Wish me luck :)