I wanted to post this because I have visited this website countless number of times for encouragement to keep trying on Nclex. I just took Nclex for the 4th time after a year of trying and passed. So this is long but my experience:
To prepare for the 1st time I took it, I used Kaplan. It did not help me that much, although I do know many people who it did help. I guess the process they give you to figure out the right answer to the questions always took me a bit of time for each question. So that was difficult for me.. I also did the online course instead of in person and I think physically being in a course really helps more. However I know some people who took the course and passed in 75 questions. So from what I remember I had been scoring in the 50's-60's on most tests. I didn't finish every test in the course which was absolutely the worst decision. Basically I was over confident. However, I do get really bad test anxiety so although I thought I could pass, I also doubted myself A LOT. I went in very anxious and guessed on many questions. I got stopped around 130-140 somewhere. I started crying after the test... it was a bad experience to say the least. THEN I put my credit card number in because I was so anxious and I got a pop up that ended up being bad but it looked like the good pop up after I had researched it online. I ended up failing and was crushed.
For the 2nd time I used Hurst review and I attended the live class. This actually really helped me as I noticed while taking the test the 1st time that I was guessing on a lot of questions mainly because I didn't know the content that well. Hurst does a really good job at explaining concepts and content in a way that's very easy to understand. I also purchased the lectures online which helped me because I am both a visual and auditory learner. The 2nd time I took the test, I was there for the entire 6 hours and 265 questions. I took maybe 1 or 2 short breaks. To be honest, I was an anxious mess and that's what kept me awake and the adrenaline going. I was very close to passing, however I failed it. I remember being at question 230 and thinking I will have to take the remainder of the questions and then I looked at the clock and only had 30 minutes. This is when I think I really messed it up because I rushed through the rest of the test, which, when you get the whole test, is essentially the most important part to get answers right... Afterwards I looked up the rules for the test and realized I would've been better off taking my time (to an extent) and doing my best while risking running out of time because I probably would've gotten more answers correct.
At this point I was devastated.. I had failed twice after sitting there for the entire 6 hours and 265 questions. I was so upset I told my mom I would only give in 2 more tries and if I didn't pass by the 4th try I needed to do something else with my life (career-wise). I can honestly say my family/friends/boyfriend all pushed me to keep going when I didn't want to. I was definitely depressed in my situation at that time. I was living at my mom's house, my grandfather was about to move in with us, making money from random babysitting gigs that eventually came to an end.. I didn't have much going for me and I was so upset about everything I would sleep during the days and not put any effort (really) into studying or doing anything. It took A LOT for me to start studying again.
For the 3rd time I took it, I used Hurst again. I had waited I think 4 or 5 months to retake it and felt that I needed to brush up on the content. Fortunately they give you a book with all the content so the only thing I payed for was the online lectures which I believe was about $50. The 3rd time ended up being my worst time to take it. I was freaking out. I decided not to tell anyone except for my boyfriend when I was taking it because I didn't want to have to tell all those people that I failed it again and didn't want the pressure the day of.. Needless to say I set myself up for failure by not believing in myself in the first place. Oh- and I also had run out of time to use my ATT.. they give you a certain amount of time to take the test and I had forgotten about that so I ended up intensely studying for about a week before the test. So that wasn't good. The night before the test I was stubborn about not telling my parents about it so I ended up sleeping at my boyfriends place... bad idea. I couldn't sleep, I was extremely anxious and I didn't want to take any medicine because I didn't want to be groggy (it was at 8 am.. I'm not a morning person). So the next day I tried to remain as calm as possible. I walked in freaking out, heart pounding, exhausted. The computer shut off around 130 questions. I felt very uneasy but relieved it was over with at the same time. So results came back and I failed again. I had a bad feeling this was going to happen so to be honest I didn't let it bother me that much. I kind of had the mindset that it was a practice test and I would get it the next time.
For this last time I took it, I waited again until the last week I could, but this time I knew what I was doing. I had looked up study groups, other online resources, really anything different I could do for this test. I decided to purchase the 5 week course under nscbn website (the people behind the test questions on nclex) It was $70 (the cheapest I had payed for any course) and it helped me pass. This time, unlike the others, I did a ton of practice questions- probably around 1500-2000. I have to say that's what helped me the most, and reading all the rationales literally even if I got the answer right. The other thing I did was answering about 100 questions a day or every other day for about 2 weeks. This was the one thing that I didn't do for any other test and if I'm being honest with myself it's because I simply didn't want to do a lot of practice questions. Even this time doing them I would be really hard on myself if I did bad (got below a 70) on a practice quiz. However, I pushed through it, went to this website to find stories similar to this one, I practiced mindfulness and meditation to relieve anxiety. I looked up inspiring quotes (I know cheasy but it helped), I prayed some, and I went into the test the calmest I've ever been. I kept telling myself everyone else believes in me so why don't I? I went to a great school for 4.5 years, if I can do that I can get past this test. I am bigger than this test. I can do it. I believe in myself. Boom, 2 days later- yesterday- I found out I passed.
So I hope this helps anyone struggling to continue trying. I know it's not easy, but I know now it was worth it. After doing 3 different review courses, the ones that helped the most were Hurst for the content and ncsbn for the questions. That course has content too but I thought it was way too much and only ended up reviewing some of it. Anyway, good luck to everyone and you can do it!!!
You can do it, just be confident and don't second guess yourself. I had a problem with second guessing myself which was something I had to practice. Also, it helped me to exercise the day before to clear my mind.
Arobin46
3 Posts
Hello everyone,
I wanted to post this because I have visited this website countless number of times for encouragement to keep trying on Nclex. I just took Nclex for the 4th time after a year of trying and passed. So this is long but my experience:
To prepare for the 1st time I took it, I used Kaplan. It did not help me that much, although I do know many people who it did help. I guess the process they give you to figure out the right answer to the questions always took me a bit of time for each question. So that was difficult for me.. I also did the online course instead of in person and I think physically being in a course really helps more. However I know some people who took the course and passed in 75 questions. So from what I remember I had been scoring in the 50's-60's on most tests. I didn't finish every test in the course which was absolutely the worst decision. Basically I was over confident. However, I do get really bad test anxiety so although I thought I could pass, I also doubted myself A LOT. I went in very anxious and guessed on many questions. I got stopped around 130-140 somewhere. I started crying after the test... it was a bad experience to say the least. THEN I put my credit card number in because I was so anxious and I got a pop up that ended up being bad but it looked like the good pop up after I had researched it online. I ended up failing and was crushed.
For the 2nd time I used Hurst review and I attended the live class. This actually really helped me as I noticed while taking the test the 1st time that I was guessing on a lot of questions mainly because I didn't know the content that well. Hurst does a really good job at explaining concepts and content in a way that's very easy to understand. I also purchased the lectures online which helped me because I am both a visual and auditory learner. The 2nd time I took the test, I was there for the entire 6 hours and 265 questions. I took maybe 1 or 2 short breaks. To be honest, I was an anxious mess and that's what kept me awake and the adrenaline going. I was very close to passing, however I failed it. I remember being at question 230 and thinking I will have to take the remainder of the questions and then I looked at the clock and only had 30 minutes. This is when I think I really messed it up because I rushed through the rest of the test, which, when you get the whole test, is essentially the most important part to get answers right... Afterwards I looked up the rules for the test and realized I would've been better off taking my time (to an extent) and doing my best while risking running out of time because I probably would've gotten more answers correct.
At this point I was devastated.. I had failed twice after sitting there for the entire 6 hours and 265 questions. I was so upset I told my mom I would only give in 2 more tries and if I didn't pass by the 4th try I needed to do something else with my life (career-wise). I can honestly say my family/friends/boyfriend all pushed me to keep going when I didn't want to. I was definitely depressed in my situation at that time. I was living at my mom's house, my grandfather was about to move in with us, making money from random babysitting gigs that eventually came to an end.. I didn't have much going for me and I was so upset about everything I would sleep during the days and not put any effort (really) into studying or doing anything. It took A LOT for me to start studying again.
For the 3rd time I took it, I used Hurst again. I had waited I think 4 or 5 months to retake it and felt that I needed to brush up on the content. Fortunately they give you a book with all the content so the only thing I payed for was the online lectures which I believe was about $50. The 3rd time ended up being my worst time to take it. I was freaking out. I decided not to tell anyone except for my boyfriend when I was taking it because I didn't want to have to tell all those people that I failed it again and didn't want the pressure the day of.. Needless to say I set myself up for failure by not believing in myself in the first place. Oh- and I also had run out of time to use my ATT.. they give you a certain amount of time to take the test and I had forgotten about that so I ended up intensely studying for about a week before the test. So that wasn't good. The night before the test I was stubborn about not telling my parents about it so I ended up sleeping at my boyfriends place... bad idea. I couldn't sleep, I was extremely anxious and I didn't want to take any medicine because I didn't want to be groggy (it was at 8 am.. I'm not a morning person). So the next day I tried to remain as calm as possible. I walked in freaking out, heart pounding, exhausted. The computer shut off around 130 questions. I felt very uneasy but relieved it was over with at the same time. So results came back and I failed again. I had a bad feeling this was going to happen so to be honest I didn't let it bother me that much. I kind of had the mindset that it was a practice test and I would get it the next time.
For this last time I took it, I waited again until the last week I could, but this time I knew what I was doing. I had looked up study groups, other online resources, really anything different I could do for this test. I decided to purchase the 5 week course under nscbn website (the people behind the test questions on nclex) It was $70 (the cheapest I had payed for any course) and it helped me pass. This time, unlike the others, I did a ton of practice questions- probably around 1500-2000. I have to say that's what helped me the most, and reading all the rationales literally even if I got the answer right. The other thing I did was answering about 100 questions a day or every other day for about 2 weeks. This was the one thing that I didn't do for any other test and if I'm being honest with myself it's because I simply didn't want to do a lot of practice questions. Even this time doing them I would be really hard on myself if I did bad (got below a 70) on a practice quiz. However, I pushed through it, went to this website to find stories similar to this one, I practiced mindfulness and meditation to relieve anxiety. I looked up inspiring quotes (I know cheasy but it helped), I prayed some, and I went into the test the calmest I've ever been. I kept telling myself everyone else believes in me so why don't I? I went to a great school for 4.5 years, if I can do that I can get past this test. I am bigger than this test. I can do it. I believe in myself. Boom, 2 days later- yesterday- I found out I passed.
So I hope this helps anyone struggling to continue trying. I know it's not easy, but I know now it was worth it. After doing 3 different review courses, the ones that helped the most were Hurst for the content and ncsbn for the questions. That course has content too but I thought it was way too much and only ended up reviewing some of it. Anyway, good luck to everyone and you can do it!!!