I made an account just to write my story on how I passed my NCLEX-RN! I've always just gone to this website to view stuff without adding any content or comments. Now it's my turn to contribute.
I graduated with my BSN in December 2014. Decided to take my NCLEX at Jan 26, 2015 because I had a job waiting for me that will start in March. My school made us buy the Virtual ATI program so I used that as a main source. While going through it, I thought it was such a joke. They used the same practice exams they gave us during nursing school to prepare for the ATI exams. I honestly didn't learn any content from it. I did the program and got around a 80% probability of passing the NCLEX. I know it wasn't the 92% they wanted, but I had to take the exam to get my license in time to start my job in March.
I failed my NCLEX. I knew I was doing bad during the exam, but everyone says that they feel like they were doing bad and still passed. I did the trick immediately after walking out of the examination room and got the bad pop up. It charged my credit card and received a new ATT. My classmates did the trick immediately after their exam and got the good pop up and passed. I got the whole 265 and took 3 hours. I still had hope that the pop up was an error and I would be that lucky person who's pop up was an error. My results came in and I indeed failed. I was near the passing standard for every topic. I was so embarrassed because my school has like a 97% pass rate out of around 30 students. That means I was that one person that failed and everyone passed. I felt dumb. However, I wasn't gonna let it stop me.
I cried and stayed in bed for 2 days. I got over it and did what I had to do. My peers that passed also agreed ATI was completely useless and that they were lucky they passed. The questions were NOTHING LIKE ATI. My one friend used Kaplan and ATI. After she passed with 75 questions, I decided to use Kaplan as well. Kaplan was more similar to NCLEX than ATI hands down. So I started doing the practice questions and wrote down the rationale on why the answer was correct and why the others were wrong. I did all of Kaplan question bank, question trainers, and sample test. I wrote down every question and rationale. I was getting high 50's, low 60's, even high 40's. I did this for 47 days until I could take my next NCLEX. I even decided to take the stupid ATI predictor exam just to see how I progressed after using Kaplan. I received ATI's "green light" by getting a 93% probability of passing the nclex. I completely give the credit to Kaplan for preparing me for ATI's predictor exam.
Come round two for NCLEX on March 16, 2015, I'm freaking out on the way there since my mom was driving me (how nice of her). My exam was at 8 am so I had to leave my house at 6 am. I told myself I would 100% take the break no matter what. I didn't take my break during my first exam and realized I was just zooming through the exam from being mentally fatigued. So while taking the first few questions, I was getting a lot of select all that apply and leadership questions. I thought I was gonna stop at 75. Here comes question 76, then 80, then 90. I was freaking out. I just kept praying throughout the exam and even decided to put my head down for a minute at question 100. Question 140 rolls around and I took my official break. I walked around the building looking like a crazy for 20 minutes and drank enough water so that I wouldn't have the urge to pee if I have to take the rest the rest of the 4 hours remaining. Came back with a clear mind and a hopeful spirit. Next thing you know it, I'm at question 200 and just felt like I was gonna fail, but I decided to take my sweet sweet time on the next set of questions. Question 230 comes and I accepted that I'm gonna get the full 265 again. I was currently getting leadership questions and select all that apply questions, but i kept getting spurts of easy and hard questions throughout the exam so I thought nothing of it. Question 235 was a select all that apply, and I click next. The screen turned blue unexpectedly. I was so excited because this time I knew I passed. I ended on a hard question with leadership questions before that. I left and did the credit card trick again immediately and got the good pop up! I passed. Looking back, I feel like NCLEX is just a luck of the draw on the type of questions you get and if you're lucky getting the right answer. I was torn between two answers so many times.
So if you decided not to read that lengthy post, here's the spark notes version of it.
-Don't use Virtual ATI, at least as a primary source of studying.
-Kaplan is more similar.
-Believe in yourself, especially if you fail.
-I believe in the credit card trick 100% since I'm living proof of getting the good and bad pop up.
-Take the break(s) when offered during the exam.
-Heck, give yourself your own break by just resting at a question for a few minutes.
-Do not expect 75 questions. It'll play games with your head. Expect 265 to lessen anxiety.
Delia, people supposedly have gotten the bad pop up and passed and vice versa. However, I think the odd of that happening to someone is so little since there are thousands of posts showing that the trick does work. I 100% believe it works. Hopefully you got the good pop up!
The first time I did it, I got a red triangle, and then the second time! It went threw! Ugh! If indeed I did fail, what r good materials to use?, don't wanna overwhelm myself either. I remember my last question being a sata question (205) í ½í¸‘í ½í¸•
A SATA question doesn't necessarily mean it was a hard question. There can be a SATA in a easy format as well. My last question was a SATA but it was a leadership question. Right now, I think you should wait for quick results . If you did fail (and lets hope you passed), you should take a few days off before hitting the books again. I would use Kaplan as a testing strategy resource because I wasn't able to apply much of the content from Kaplan on the NCLEX. I've read many many many reviews about the NCSBN practice questions and they were both positive and negative reviews. Please don't use Virtual ATI tutor. What did your pop up say when you got the red triangle? Did it say" Our records indicate that you may have recently scheduled this exam. Another registration cannot be made at this time"?
I don't think it said that exactly, I just couldn't submit my request to pay, the second time it did! I'm thinking I didn't t pass since it took my paymentí ½í¸¢ so u say the kaplan is good for the nclex. I used saunders this time.
I just used the question bank and didn't buy or read anything else. So I didn't use the Kaplan NCLEX review book. This worked for me, but you should definitely looked into different options and then choose what works best for you! :)
dimples81
24 Posts
I Got 205! Last was a sata! I think I got it right but I'm not sure! I'm soo confused! Amd has anyone ever passed but got a bad popup??