I PASSED NCLEX ON MY 6TH TRY WITH 75 QUESTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi everyone,
This is just a disclaimer- this post is about to be VERYYYY LONG. I always told myself that once I passed, I would write a post to motivate and encourage others because so many posts on this site have gotten me through my toughest days. I am not writing this post to brag in any way.. I just want to bring some kind of encouragement and hope to people who are feeling how I have been feeling for the past 2 years… if you want to just read what I did to pass, skip to the section after the ******** line
Backstory:
I graduated with my BSN in may of 2014… I graduated nursing school with a 3.4 gpa, did well in all my classes, and I felt on top of the world. I could finally RELAX. After 5 years of college (2 years pre-nursing, 3 yrs of nursing school), I felt like there was a weight lifted on my shoulders. I took the week between graduation and Kaplan to just CHILL for once in my life and not worry about anything. I read books, attended a wedding, caught up on all my tv shows, and watched movies with my sisters. Kaplan began june 2, 2014-june 6th. I focused in Kaplan, sat no where close to my friends (because I knew I wouldn't be able to focus), but I didn't feel like I got from Kaplan that all my older friends who had graduated years before me did. They all raved about it but I just felt like the professor read questions and did test taking strategies all week.
After Kaplan, I began studying not so vigorously (one of my first mistakes), doing about 75 questions a day and half-assedly doing the qtrainers and qbank questions. I only finished about 50% of the questions before I went in for my test on aug 15th. Nursing school was so tough for me, I figured I would be invincible and pass no matter what. Also, up until this time, I had never had trouble in school/testing.
First attempt: doing Kaplan only I got 75 questions and failed…I pretty much knew that I had failed after leaving the testing center.. but I wasn't too upset about it for too long because my sister's wedding was in a week and I got wrapped up in that.
2nd attempt: I took a content review course because I felt that my content was not strong enough. I took a course taught by a woman named miss bola in greenbelt, md. i DO NOT recommend this course for someone in the DMV (D.C., Maryland, and Virginia) area who is looking for a good content review. She provides you with a binder and just makes you repeat what she says.. I also extended my Kaplan for the free extension period and did qbank questions and qtrainers. I also did nclex exam cram cd (not good at all they repeat the same questions). I took my exam on nov 7th, and failed with 75 questions AGAIN.
3rd attempt: this is when I fell into sort of a phase of depression…. I felt that I didn't study the notes provided to me at the best of my ability, and could have done better on Kaplan questions. I called Kaplan customer service (which is very good) and they gave me a free full repeat of the course.. I didn't get my money back regardless of meeting all the criteria, but I got to attend another course. I went to this course in December of 2014 being taught at the community college near my house, still depressed but I was doing okay. I felt SOOOOO stupid in that class because I felt that these kids who all knew each other had such good foundation for content. Regardless, I began studying after the holidays in janurary of 2015. I did Kaplan (I was doing great at the questions, but I had basically memorized the answers by then), Lippincott review book (very good practice tests with rationales), and studied my miss bola notes. I went in to take my exam on march 25th 2015, and failed at 137 questions. I was SO disheartened by this because I felt as if I had passed. I was just so excited I got past 75 questions. I also had saunders and pearson book which were not good in my opinion. Saunders questions were very basic, and I couldn't read the whole book and basically memorize a whole textbook.
4th attempt: from end of march to july I was SUPER depressed. I didn't want anything to do with nclex I changed my date probably about 3-4 times and finally settled on august 26th to take my exam again. I went in with my mom this time (she was praying for me in the car) and I went all the way to 265 questions!!!! I was sure I had passed, this time I did lippincott, hurst videos for content (really good if you like her teaching method I think this helped me the most) and NCSBN 3 week course where I just did the questions. NCSBN questions were very similar to nclex because NCSBN writes the nclex, but I felt that they were on the same level and that didn't benefit me. On august 28th, I paid my $8 quick results and found out I failed.
5th attempt: again from end of august to about December I was SOOOOO depressed. By this time my nursing school friends had been in their profession for about 1 year, and everone was living their lives. I was happy for them, but also jealous because I wanted to be like that too. I began studying in December 2015 for my 5th attempt in January. I wanted to start off the new year with a BANG by getting my nursing license. I studied for about 3-4 weeks. I did UWORLD and studied my HURST notes as well. I went in for my exam with my big sister there for moral support on January 15th, and came out after 3 hours and 137 questions. I sped through the questions.. I found out I failed on January 17th.
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6TH ATTEMPT: I was depressed for about 1.5 months. From the middle of January-end of February. It took MBON forever to process my application- which I wasn't complaining about because I did NOT want to study). Once they did I set my date for april 19th. Im one of those people who cant study for too long because my brain begins to feel mush. I was studying†by looking over hurst note. Then one day on march 3rd, my older sister came over to visit and basically said I need to get over my hump and push through. We found a nursing course called Julius nursing review course taught in greenbelt, md as well. His next class was starting march 7th-april 1st.. 5 days a week from 10:30-1:30. I paid the $500 for the course and went in march 7th. If you are someone who needs content review, THIS IS THE PLACE FOR YOU. The professor leaves NOTHING out. He does a comprehensive review, with animated examples and LOTS of humor to get you through the day. Weekly tests, homework, and very understandable terms. Many of the students in his class have English as a second language so he simplifies the language A LOT so youre understanding it in normal people terms. He explains everything and emphasizes that the class is like a family. I took his course, and didn't really start studying hard core until the end of the second week. I studied alllllllllllllllllllllllll the material he provided. By the end of the course, I also bought his question bank for $125. After his class, for the next 2 weeks, I did 150 UWORLD questions and 100 of Dr. Julius's questions for a total of 250 questions per day. I spent more time going over the UWORLD questions because they were sooo much more difficult. The rationales are a million times better than kaplan's whack 1 sentence rationales. They provide images, graphs, and full fledged explanations. I also divided the book that Dr. Julius had given us into days, and began with my weakest areas. I broke the pharm chapter up into 5 sections and memorized one section per day and repeated it for 2 weeks. i took a readiness exam provided by dr Julius on the Saturday before my exam and scored a 66% when he recommends 70%. After that, I had started FREAKING OUT because I knew I wanted this to be the last time I took this exam. For the next 2 days I went through EVERYTHING, I even came home the day before my exam and studied the peds chapter I didn't get a chance to go through. I also went to my doctor and got a prescription for a very SMALL dose of and anti-anxiety medication to help calm my nerves before the exam.
On Monday, april 18th, I went in to take my exam and got done with 75 questions in 2 hours. I read all the questions carefully, had a bout 11 or 12 SATA, and took my time with it. My heart sank after the blue screen of death which says loading content†popped up after hitting next after the 75th question. I thought it was time for my break, but my exit exam popped up. I did the exit exam and prayed for about a good 10 minutes before submitting it. I went back to the car, where my little sister was waiting and we prayed SOOOOO hard for like 30 minutes. I went home thinking theres no way I passed with 75 theres no way†I had a busy day today helping my dad with yardwork and running errands. I checked my board's website not thinking anything would be updated but there it was---- a license number next to my name! I was sooo overjoyed because I am officially a REGISTERED NURSE. After almost 2 years of crying, depression, AND ANXIETY, I AM OFFICIALLY A RN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review of resources:
Kaplan- $500.00 good if you have a strong content base, and are good with critical thinking. Waste of time if you don't have a good content foundation (like me lol)
HURST: $400-500.00? very expensive but very good for content, but I feel like she doesn't go in depth with pharm. I wish she had a whole chapter/lecture dedicated to pharm, and ekg's and med calc. I feel like that would really help.
Nclexx rn exam cram- don't know the price- piece of crap- don't waste your money
Saunders: $50- good if you are willing to read a 700-800 page book for content, questions are VERY simple, and there's only about 10 questions per chapter at the end of each chapter.
Lippincott: $50- GOOOOOD FOR PRACTICE QUESTIONS! This really helped me get over my 75 q hump. Broken up into systems with 150-190 questions each and 6 comprehensive exams.. I wasn't ablet o finish the whole book.
Pearson book- $50- like saunders--- I wouldn't get it
PDA LAcharity: $30- I felt like this book contradicted a lot of what I had learned in school/confused me with prioritization and delegation. If you know someone who has this book, I would recommened borrowing it to see if you like it.
Julius Nursing review center in Greenbelt, MD: $499.99- VERY GOOD!!! Awesome professor who really CARES for his students, checks up on them afterwards, tries to create study plans with them, and shows them unwavering support. Really hilarious teaching style. You may think hes wasting your time sometimes with stories but they always come back and connect
UWORLD: $60 (30 day subscription)- holy grail!! Do UWORLD with allllll your heart and you will succeed. Some people only do UWORLD and pass. The rationales are amazing compared to kaplan's rationales that state b is not the answer, c is the answer†ßWHACK. Good images, charts, and rationales. Don't worry if you are doing badly on test, try to get above average on exams and go through EVERY SINGLE QUESTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The questions are so difficult from here that you get accustomed to that level… when you go to nclex—nclex questions seem too easyâ€
What worked for me was dr julius' class, which is taught in greenbelt (and online—go to ijnursingreview.com) and UWORLD (only $60 for the 30 day subscription, you get 1850 questions which is a BARGAIN compared to Kaplan and hurst)
How exciting!! I love reading inspiring stories like this one! I take my NCLEX-RN for the first time on May 4th and have been using U World mostly to study from. I absolutely love it! The rationales are amazing! In my opinion it blows Kaplan away!
My drea
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Contrats! You are a true inspiration for me and for sure for others. I am still in the same situation you were before. Hopefully one day I will pass and share my experience with others.