I am writing this post for two reasons. 1) To give God all the glory. He is the only reason I passed NCLEX. 2) To encourage people who may have low Kaplan scores like I did.
I graduated nursing school December 2016. I took NCLEX for the first time January 10, 2017. I did not take any review courses. The resources I used were a Saunders book and a Kaplan book. I did not get much sleep the night before the exam and my confidence as not very high. When the exam continued to give me questions after 75, I freaked. I tried to tell myself to calm down but this was very difficult. Test anxiety is a real thing. I took all 265 questions. I knew immediately that I had failed. I did the PVT later that day and got the bad pop-up. A few weeks later I got my Candidate Performance Report. I was "near passing" in all categories. I felt like I was an idiot. I felt so stupid as I saw all my nursing friends pass on their first try.
I decided I would not take the chances again. I paid the steep price for the NCLEX self-paced course. Their videos are so helpful. They have an entire library of content videos. They walk you through questions step-by-step. They also teach you how to be confident and how to keep your stress level as low as possible during the test.
These are my Kaplan scores:
Diagnostic: 60
I did not take Q-trainers 1 and 2
Q-trainer 3: 54
Practice Test: 80 (this was shocking)
Q-Trainer 4: 54
Q-Trainer 5:55
Q-Trainer 6: 53
Q-Trainer 7: 58
Sample Test 1: 56
Sample Test 2: 52
Readiness Test: 62
My scores were not the lowest I've seen but they definitely were not the highest. Kaplan wants you to consistently get scores in the 60s and I just couldn't do that. Please, do not lose confidence if you can't get up to those scores.
I retook the NCLEX March 8, 2017. Again, it kept giving me questions after 75. And again, I began to panic. I prayed and prayed and prayed. I begged God to let me finish soon and pass. My computer shut off around 120. I had 26 SATA and only 1 med question. A few days later I got my quick results back and PASSED!! A few days after that my license was posted on the board of nursing.
Work your hardest, PRAY, and make sure you talk yourself up. I know it's weird to talk positively about yourself but it really does work. It helps build confidence. You can do this!!
"I can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens me" --Philippians 4:13
gizahon
165 Posts
Congratulations and best wishes RN!!!! May God bless us all nurses!!!!!