Passed NCLEX on my second try!

[Katbabyy]

Hi future nurses!

Here goes my ramble! Like many others, I want to share my journey in order to help at least one person out there! I took my boards on July 2nd and it was devastating because I knew I failed when the test shut off at 111 questions. I took Kaplan and did all the question trainers, all of the qbank, and watched a majority of the content videos. My scores met all the percentages they said (qbank 62% and qtrainers average 60-65%) so I thought I was ready to go. Don't get me wrong, Kaplan qbank and question trainers are VERY helpful and I highly recommend them. However, I realized my problem was that I was not strong on content. I was practicing solely Kaplan questions which were all higher, critical thinking questions so I didn't have any cushion to bring myself back up when I dipped below the line. Anxiety was a factor too...I started freaking out and didn't take a break. BAD IDEA.

It didn't help that I had a phone interview at the hospital where I had a summer internship the next day either. I cried..took a week off to celebrate the holiday weekend...then started to think about how to approach the Nclex the second time. I knew I needed a content review and I read about HURST on this website. HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT. It makes you think about each system in a different way and I learned the WHYS behind everything. I complimented watching each video with Saunders 4th edition book I got from my friend. Saunders is really good to brush up on content and I used the CD to practice for content level questions. It took me 2 and a half weeks to get through the Saunders book and finish up Hurst. After that I went on vacation for 9 days that I had already made plans for but I downloaded apps to do questions when I had a chance!

After I got back from vacation I started doing Kaplan again along with PDA by Lacharity. I thought the questions were really good so I had it reset so that after I did content, I could go back and do the high level questions and see if I understood them better. This time when I did the qbank and qtrainers, I understood the WHYS behind why I chose an answer. I could break questions down easier because I was stronger in content and my scores were in the 70s and 80s! PDA was SUPER helpful and I did one chapter a day (18 chapters) and did about 4 of the case studies. I rewatched Hurst videos and read through the notes that you fill out as well once in awhile to keep brushing up on content.

Here are my HURST scores: I did the first one before I went on vacation and the last 5 throughout the month of August!

104

104

90

100

92

94

My Kaplan scores the second time were really high but since I had done them before that may have been a factor. Even though I didn't remember most of the questions, I don't think it would help to compare my scores to yours if you are taking it the first time!

I took the exam yesterday, September 3rd. For the first attempt, I still studied the night before and the morning of I did a practice test since my exam was at 2. BAD IDEA. For the second attempt, I did do one practice test and looked over things but cut off studying by 3pm and went shopping and ate dinner with my family. The morning of the exam, I got up, ate breakfast, and did 5 practice questions on Kaplan just as a warm up. I stayed calm and prayed a lot. I PRAYED every night, prayed before I went in, and prayed during the test whenever I felt my anxiety kick in. I took it slow and at 75 questions it cut off! I had 10 SATA, 3 drag and drop, 1 picture, 1 EKG, 1 math, a bunch of meds and priority but no delegation questions. The questions weren't getting any harder for me and I was wondering why they weren't and scared they were low level questions so I kinda wanted the questions to keep coming but it didn't. I was uneasy...didn't think I failed but didn't think I passed. My last question was a pharm question too that I didn't recognized because it didn't give me both the generic and trade name like they say they always do! WTH! Well 24 hours later...I checked the board of nursing website and I PASSED.

So if you are not too strong on content...buy Saunders or Hurst or whatever you have money for. If you can't afford Kaplan qbank at least do the 7 qtrainers that are floating around online so that you get familiar with those questions. They are very similar to Nclex but definitely not harder. Hurst was comparable to Nclex too and their sata were more similar than Kaplan's sata, which were harder in my opinion. I don't think doing just Hurst is enough though. I recommend it for content because it ties everything together so nicely but you need to do TONS of questions from other sources too. I did about 100-300 questions a day between Saunders, Nclex 3500, Lacharity and Kaplan. Read all the rationales right or wrong! I bought a blank journal to right down all the rationales. I never reread them...it was just helpful for me to write down why I got a question wrong. Pray a lot and keep calm. Do something fun once in awhile and remember that it is just a test. Don't read stories about people who failed too much on this forum either...I had to stop myself from reading them because it made me have more anxiety. I don't know their story or background on how they studied so I shouldn't compare and either should you!!

Ask me any questions and I'll be glad to help out :) thank you to this forum for helping me because reading success stories boosted my confidence and this forum also introduced me to Hurst! Now I can finally relax even though summer is over!

Good luck everyone!