Passed NCLEX in my second attempt!

[spongebobgirl]

I just want to share my experience because I know how it feels to fail. I know that somewhere out there, theres another struggling human being who's only prayer is to PASS this incredibly challenging exam.

First of all, this experience (the review and exam itself) is life changing! You will be a different person, you will discover abilities and attitudes that you have never ever discovered about yourself and most importantly for me, this experience made me realize that family and God is everything.

I took my first NCLEX last March this year (265 questions, 5 hrs) and I did Kaplan review course prior to that. I started my review November and that was quite a long time but believe me, it wasnt enough... only because I was juggling a lot of things at the same time. LESSON#1-FOCUS is a MUST! Make sure you know your priorities, at least for that entire duration while you do your review. I know work and family is always on top but, just give some more time for the review. I did some last minute Saunders reading too. It was the most wrong thing to ever do! I literally finished the entire book in a week! imagine how messed up that was? DONT OVERWHELM yourself! LESSON#2-Make a study plan and stick to it, no matter what! So I did kaplan but I didnt finish my qbank. I think I mustve stopped after doing 50% of it.. NOT A GOOD THING TO DO! Always remember to look up whatever term or item that leaves you with a big question mark. every single minute of your review counts!

So that's how I failed my first try. NO PLAN, INCONSISTENT, NO FOCUS and most of all, SUPER STRESSED. I forgot to breathe and enjoy life.

The day I got my retake mail I immediately sat down and talked to God. I asked for His guidance and provision of wisdom as I plan to take on another exam. I asked for peace and acceptance. After an hour of pure meditation and having a clear mind, I started to work on a plan. I did almost a month and a half of pure bloody, sweaty and serious review. I focused on Kaplan this time. and btw, I listed every single dreadful question I could recall from my previous NCLEX. I focused on those and read evrything about them. I did a lot of running and biking too. I believe it helped my relax and breathe through my most stressful review days. You definitely need to have break days while doing reviews. I didnt do that during my first take so thats why.

My second attempt was just a few days after the 45 day retake rule. I chose the closest day possible because I didnt wan to prolong my agony. I took it in another testing center and that kinda refreshed me. same thing happened, 265 questions, almost 6 hrs but this time, I had like 75% of my questions SATA! It was wicked, bloody and I was extremely dehydrated. I thought I'd kill it at 75 because the level of difficulty of evry single SATA was just unbelievable. but well, I sat down until 265.... and anyway, still killed it!

I got my mail result, certificate and license last night! I keep telling myself that my review was never enough but I know deep inside that it wasnt because of what I did.. it was because God willed it to be!

So yeah, if you fail for the first time, just take a deep breath and talk yoursef out of it. Ask for God's guidance and do your best AGAIN! If it's for you, God's gonna give it to you! In His time! because everything happens for a reason :)

God bless to you all SECOND TIME TAKERS! Go kill it!

[RNfindingherway, BSN, RN]

Congrats RN on a job well done. Did you do the Kaplan Live Classroom or on Demand classes? Tell us more about the Kaplan review.

[spongebobgirl]

I did the Classroom setting the first time I took it.. then I figured its going to be the same topics anyway so I asked Kaplan to grant me an extension of the review class and online resources. They were really helpful since they granted me an extension and a choice of taking the review class online (classroom anywhere program). Kaplan Review is very helpful. It is very similar to the NCLEX itself. Sometimes I think some of the kaplan questions are way too hard compared to the real NCLEX. Also, the online resources are very convenient and user friendly. I highly recommend it. I figured, it doesnt really matter which review class you take... what matters is how you maximize whatever resource you have.

[elissandra]

I pass my nclex at 265 question, 6 hrs, 30 SATA, 2 calculations questions, 3 drops, about 15 EKG TRACE and a lot priority questions. It was my 4 time on May 4, 2015, after 24 hrs I got a good pop up. I made Kaplan, 100% qbank. Grade: 68, 76, 80%. Kaplan

[spongebobgirl]

congrats elissandra! your questions looks similar with mine.. My Kaplan grades were way lower than yours though! haha. now off we go to the real world of job hunting!

[erinmu12]

J Wynn w