Passing NCLEX in 265 questions

[Nurse.Kayla]

Alright guys, I know this topic has been shared by many different people, but I'm posting this for the students out there who are looking for as much reassurance they can get (which is how I was).

I'm going to do my best to not give any false information or false hope.

I studied with both Kaplan self paced, and UWorld. I finished everything on KAPLAN except for the q-bank, and scored decent on all of the trainers. The first CAT test I finished in 121 questions, and I was a little discouraged. I made a graph of all the questions I got right and wrong to have some what of an idea how I did, and honestly I dipped below the line for 7 questions in the middle, then brought it back up. I took the diagnostic test next and got a 65%, and after seeing that equates to a 98.7% pass rate I was pretty happy. I focused on Uworld for a week or so after this, and was consistently getting 50-60% on all of my tests. I decided to do the trainers on Kaplan next and finished with the lowest being 55% and the highest 63% on the last 2. I took my second CAT test after the first 3 trainers and did terrible. I went to about 200 questions. While it came out green, making a graph freaked me out because it seemed like all I did was go negative. I got in my head and started doing poorly for awhile. I took about a week off of studying and went on a vacation and just tried to relax. As soon as I got home I busted out the last trainer, and the readiness test. I again got a 65% on the readiness which equated to 97.5% or so and I was happy. The last few days I just focused on reviewing labs, fetal positions, heart sound placements, growth and development, conversions, isolation precautions, and delegation. I did no studying the day before the test. When I went in I told myself that I could do this, and today I was becoming a nurse. I knew I wouldn't finish in 75 and that was okay. I took a break at about 80 and told myself I could do it. But slowly I got to 125, 150, 200! I was panicking. All of my classmates were gone and there were only 3 people left in the room including me. I knew when I got to 210 I was going the whole way. I took another quick break and cried in the bathroom. I pulled myself together and told myself that these last 55 will make or break me. I went back in and after every few questions I put my head down, took a deep breath and told myself I could do it. Around 260 I began to cry, and I was so over it I just wanted to be done. I picked my answer and went to the next, and as soon I was done I clicked through the survey and held up my hand to be released. My last question seemed very easy, like a recall question and I was sure it meant I was below the line. It took me 5 hours total. As I was leaving the proctor asked if I was glad to be done and I just started crying and told her I knew I failed. I quickly got into my car and told all of my friends and family I failed and just cried the whole drive home. I cried all night, and checked the state boards website every 10 minutes for my license, even though I knew it wouldn't be there. I got no sleep that night. Around 11 am the next day I HAD to do something to relieve some anxiety, so I did the PVT and got the "good" pop up. It helped some, but I knew it might be wrong, and soon after I got an email from my job stating my license still wasn't on the state boards website and if it wasn't up soon I wouldn't have the job waiting for me anymore. I freaked out - this was my DREAM job. I was so scared I was going to lose it. About 30 minutes later I tried one more time and my profile showed that my license is now "active" and when searching my name on the site it shows me as an RN! I couldn't believe it. I was shaking and I screamed and cried. I was so positive I failed!

I wanted to make this long post for those of you who are studying, or who went to the full 265. It is extremely possible to pass at 265! I know of 2 others in my class who passed with 265 questions, and after searching online all night I read about many more people who passed at 265 than failed. I don't say this to get your hopes up, but to hopefully help relieve some stress. If you put in the time and have faith in yourself, you can achieve anything you set your mind to.

While studying i second guessed many things, and almost always my gut was right. During the test I never switched 1 answer. I told myself if it was wrong, that's okay because more often than not I'm right.

I don't remember how many of specific questions I got. I got several SATA, some priority, it seemed to be very few delegation, and a lot of medications. But honestly, you can't tell what a higher level question is. I thought I could and it psyched me out, and I had to stop thinking like that and just answer the question.

Just know that you can all do this. You've busted your butts so hard for 2+ years, and you made it through nursing school, and you can make it through the NCLEX too! Even if that means going the full 265.

I have faith in you all!

-Kayla, RN, BSN

[anneaw]

Congratulations!

And you are right - as I know several classmates who went to 265 and they all passed. The NCLEX wants you to pass and is giving you every opportunity to do so. If you go to 265 - the test believes in you and you are still in the game.