Passed the NCLEX RN :)

Great is He who is in me

That promise, I recited and held close to my heart every time I felt the pressure of NCLEX. It gave me strength in times of doubt and exhaustion.

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I earned my degree from the Philippines and right after passing my boards there, I moved here in US. I immediately started to apply for CVS as soon as I got settled. The process took a year and 2 months before receiving my ATT last December 2012. During the first few months of the cvs process, I was always on the edge and impatient to have it done. But as the months passed, I eventually let the thing run its course as I got busy with my job.

Then, as soon as I got my ATT, I scheduled to take the nclex on the last day (April 24)of the window period. I figured I needed time to prepare. I have been starting to read and review a few months before my ATT came, but it was more of letting the time pass. Or if my conscience was hunting me of not knowing anything anymore. When i scheduled my test, I enrolled in kaplan online on demand review and also bought a lot of books (hurst, Kaplan, PDA and Saunders ) trying to compare which was better.

Kaplan Strategies book- I suggest read this when you need a run through of the topics and after comprehensive review. Because this book will help you prepare how to answer questions and eliminate choices to get to the correct answer.

Hurst- this is by far the funniest and coolest book I have read about nursing. If my books in college especially med surg were written like it in college, I bet lessons would have not been so hard to understand. I believe Aunt Marlene did a great job in explaining Pharmacology in a nutshell.

Saunders- for comprehensive review, this is the book to read and understand by heart. It explained each disease process in simple and in a concise manner. Of course it is not that compete as it could be, but whenever I had more questions about a topic, I try to look for other books for details.

PDA- great for practicing and knowing what to expect in NCLEX. Questions here were

formulated the way NCLEX questions are given. Raw, simple but definitely tricky.

Kaplan review- I wasn't able to finish watching the videos because I felt I could learn more in reading Saunders than watching the videos. The videos, aside from being so long, felt like everything was mooshed together. I mostly used the qbank and qtrainers to gauge myself in areas I needed to improve with. The questions were definitely harder in Kaplan.

I started to answer 25 questions a day for 2 weeks and progressed to 75 questions a day on my 3rd week. A week before my exam, I started the q trainers 4567 and readiness test. I completed answering PDA. 2 days before the date, I reviewed the normal values and read the 35 page cram sheet that went around here in all nurses.com. The day before my test I went to the spa and had my nails done and watched the voice before I went to sleep.

I was calm and collected as I could be during the week of my exam and during the day itself. When I had anxiety attacks once a while, I recited that verse and prayed for strength. I found solace each time I prayed. I get to keep enough strength and courage each time I finish my prayer to Jesus. Each time, He never fails. He never fails.

My test shut off at 75. And the whole time I was taking my test, the butterflies in my stomach were in coma. Which I was so grateful for because, I could have lost my sanity if they were awake.

So tonight, I share this experience to the readers of this wonderful community. If I have done it, you can too! Just believe in yourself. Work hard and pray harder. It's a difficult journey, but nothing worth having is easy. It's difficult but never impossible. As Dory said, " just keep swimming, swimming swimming"

Be blessed nurses! :)

SJT, BSN, RN