Passing NCLEX in 75 after a 700 on HESI

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I wanted to make a post since I looked at this site regularly while studying for NCLEX. My school did not make us pass the HESI to graduate, so I skated by with a score barely above 700 (which is a failing score) about 2 weeks before graduation. I felt super discouraged & like I would never pass NCLEX.

I used Hurst & went through the UWorld question bank about one & a half times. I also bought the LeCharity book but rarely used it because I felt like UWorld had enough prioritization & delegation questions with great rationales.

I studied for about 6 weeks. I was a good student in school but I was also a crammer so there were some subjects I knew better than others. I also moved back to the state my parents live in so I would FaceTime a friend to study together once in a while, but I mostly studied alone. I am also not one of those people that can sit down for long periods of time so I would do about 4 solid hours a day (sometimes more or less depending on how I felt), & do practice questions interspersedly throughout the day, with one day a week off. The BIGGEST piece of advice is get fluids & electrolytes & endocrine down first! If you do that everything else becomes easier. Youtube was also an amazing resource for me & I would watch videos on patho, which made the biggest difference in my critical thinking. Understanding patho better was probably the #1 thing that improved my scores. I also had an excel sheet where I would add the meds I did not feel I knew well (it was a long list). On Hurst my scores were 72/125, 73/125, 74/125, and 81/125. I don't remember my UWorld scores exactly but on my first test I got "borderline" & the last one a "very high chance of passing". I had a notebook where I'd write down rationales I did not know and highlight the ones I absolutely needed to go back to.

I sat for my NCLEX this past week. I got there early, said my prayers, & reviewed the highlighted sections of my rationales. When the computer shut off at 75 I walked out feeling devastated. It wasn't the "oh I failed" it was the "I BOTCHED it" feeling, like in my heart I thought I failed. The PearsonVue trick worked for me & I got the good pop but it did not make me feel better because I was so convinced I did poorly. Two days later I checked my results & I passed!

I studied until I felt like I could not handle another day in the library but it paid off & it will for you too!