CAgirl23

I also would HIGHLY recommend mark klimek for: 1) knowing how to answer lab values 2) maternal and child development (I got a lot of these Q’s in my NCLEX) 3) how to distinguish different psych patients (if you know what psych patient you are getting, you can answer your question better— ie: are they able to learn reality or no?) 4) how to prioritize 5) how to guess when you don’t know the answer 6) EKGs and how to interpret (I don’t normally get many ekgs but my last exam I got at least 5-7) If I have to re use one study material over and over? It is MARK KLIMEK. His strategies really are helpful! However, he doesn’t go toooo in depth with patho, just somewhat the surface bc he expects you should have already know all of it. So if content is your weak point, use Hurst or something similar (most people passed using mark klimek but I did not pass using him twice— UNTIL I used Hurst after for more content material). The only study material I took notes for was Mark klimek. I used my Apple notes and every topic, I took notes as if I was sitting in his class. I never used his blue or yellow book that he provides/talks about. Hurst also has a book so I filled in the blanks from the videos and those were my notes. You have to really understand these and sometimes listening may not cut it so take notes. UWorld is next but only use UWorld if you are weak in knowing how to answer questions. This app really helped strengthened my skills for that as I was not good at answering NCLEX style questions before.

@JayflowersPN In order to take it as NY boards, you would have to fill out a form ‘Apply for Licensure’ in their state, pay the fee, and meet their credentials first before being able to apply to take the exam as NY. Once that all gets approved, then you can apply to take exam there. Once you passed boards there, you can actually practice there, however since florida is a compact state, you may have to just submit your education and license info to florida state to have them verify all info to get licensed in florida afterwards. You’ll have to look more into that. I believe this is the link for NY boards: http://www.op.nysed.gov/prof/nurse/nurseforms.htm I graduated back in 2017 and it was unlimited tries for testing. However, when I did finally pass couple months ago, I found out that Minnesota has changed their rules and if you haven’t passed after 5 years from the time you have graduated, you are required to take a remediation course. I was close to having to do that but fortunately passed! Try to figure out your weak points in studying. Do it/study differently bc same efforts gives you same results. Best of luck.

@NurseTy What really helped me was UWorld, LaCharity Prioritization book, Mark Klimek, and Hurst. I’ve also done Kaplan book and Saunders questions book but I wouldn’t recommend those. Saunders is easier from the NCLEX IMO and UWorld is more difficult than NCLEX. I got pretty good at knowing how to answer the NCLEX style questions but if you don’t know your content, that will make it very difficult to pass— which was my constant issue. If you do know your content, it’s usually the other reason— not knowing how to answer NCLEX style questions, which I highly recommend UWorld but it seems you are already doing that too. I never finished all 2000q’s but I did a good amount (1300-1500?). I first did UWorld and Mark klimek together but I feel that mark klimek’s way of teaching is pretty interesting and great, however I don’t feel it teaches you as in-depth of patho. Hurst gave me more of that. But I wouldn’t suggest doing so many testing materials altogether as that will be overwhelming. Choose 2 or 3 and stick to that. If failed again, add another while reviewing previous study materials. You change your way of studying, you’ll eventually get a new result! Usually 1-2mos of studying for me but I’m not going to lie, I did cram the last time I studied and only studied 2 weeks straight very hard 6-8hr per day and passed my last time. But I focused more on content thru Hurst more this time and then just reviewed mark klimek for more content info. I wrote notes down for each videos/topics he posted. I did re-listened to his videos all over again another time but that takes time so I decided to just have notes to make it easier. Some people do 100+ questions a day, well I never had time for that as reading rationales took A LOT of time to go thru. I am a C average student so def not the smartest and was able to pass. You’ll get there. Hope this helps and goodluck!

@baygirl I took it in California but as Minnesota boards. I endorsed it over to CA after I passed. I moved to CA after graduation and found out I didn’t have to always fly back to MN to take the exam as it is a national exam so same text anywhere in the USA.

I took it in California too but took it as minnesota boards. However, they changed their system to require fingerprinting since the last time I took it and they needed me to complete that step before officially posting my license on BRN. Took almost a whole month! So be patient and know that it will be official in no time.

I’ve taken the NCLEX 5x and 4/5 got the bad pop up everytime— all failed. I do believe in the PVT and it is difficult to want to because ofc we all want the littlest hope that we had pass. My last time was the good pop up and passed, best of luck. Let me know if you need help with suggestions on what I did that helped me to finally passed.

Fingerprinting in MN is new (ofc not in CA) so all that needed to clear before license would post online. Last yr, some friends and fam I know that took NCLEX in MN had their license posted shortly after they passed.

My license posted already. Took almost a whole month to. I took it as MN boards because endorsing it would take a long time (heard it can take 3months or so…) but wanted to get the exam out of the way first. Also wasn’t sure if my credentials will meet CA’s standards and did not want to run the risk of it taking too long and me forgetting fresh info for testing. I am originally from MN and plan to practice in CA.

So I passed NCLEX almost a month ago but my license still hasn’t posted. I live in CA but took it as Minnesota board so it’s a MN license. Is it normal to be this long? I know that they recently just added the fingerprinting background check but back then, people would see that they passed on pearson website with their license posting immediately after that…

Hello! I wanted to share some positive insights for those who been having trouble passing NCLEX. I never thought I’d be sitting here today writing this! I took my boards this past Saturday. I did the PVT trick and to my surprise, got the good pop up! This is the FIRST time I ever got that good pop up and I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t believe I passed either, making all these excuses how I couldn’t have… I felt so poopy after my exam as well and TBH didn’t expect too much that I was going to pass (as I’ve failed so much, I didn’t want to set high expectations for myself only to fail and be disappointed again). Today, I found out I passed! ? Got the full 145 questions. A lot of SATA in the beginning (felt like almost half my exam) and maybe 10 prioritization. Got several OB/Peds Q and infection control! I couldn’t stop looking at the word ‘PASSED’ and still can’t believe it. This has been a loooooong journey for me. I graduated back in 2017. I have FAILED the NCLEX 4x! And each time was equally brutal… I felt hopeless and have thought of giving up. I just didn’t know how to do ‘better’. Also, getting a lot of SATAs doesn’t mean you’ll pass bc I did the last several times I’ve failed. I was prob just super close to passing… So what did I used? Altogether, I’ve used UWorld, LaCharity Prioritization book, Kaplan question book, Saunders, Mark Klimek and Hurst. I had ATI in school but never used it outside of school since 2017. I would scratch the Kaplan question book out as I didn’t feel that was that great. Prioritization book was super helpful so do the whole book! UWorld is really good but it seems harder than the NCLEX IMO. I didn’t go thru the whole Saunders book— just maybe around 50 questions from each section but I do think the questions are a bit too easy so I stopped using it. What I used in my last exam was Hurst and Mark Klimek! Mark Klimek IMO I feel he doesn’t go too deep into patho stuff but Hurst, I feel like it took it a step further— which helped me a lot! However Mark Klimek has a really good way of getting you to understand lab values and how to prioritize smartly! Highly recommend him— he has recorded audios online somewhere that I’ve downloaded before. This time around, I did not use UWorld but I do love UWorld and I do highly recommend it for understanding how to answer questions and rationales (prob how I got better at answering Q’s). This time, I rarely studied questions. But that’s bc I felt answering the questions wasn’t my weak point, it was needing to know more content. Tbh I procrastinated and studied super hard for just 2 weeks straight right before my exam! Pretty much 6-8hrs/day. I even studied day of and before my exam too, looking over all of my mark Klimek notes too. I did not expect that I will pass bc I crammed so much info in the end. However I did studied differently this time w the content and felt I understood more content this time around! Couldn’t push my exam date out any further either and took it the very last day that I could! I’m not sure if it’s just luck but I’m just really glad I passed and don’t have to worry about taking this test AGAIN! So don’t give up! If you’re failing, it’s either you need to know more content or learn how to answer the questions better! Different actions gives you different results! I know how it feels to feel like a failure. All my nursing classmates who graduated with me have been nurses for many years since 2017/2018 and I finally just passed boards. It’s definitely crazy and I’m still trying to fully process this achievement!

Thank you everyone! I won’t give up and will have to just keep finding different ways to study. Appreciate all the advices.

I believe it’s more content material I need to focus more on. I was thinking of using NCSBN as I heard they wrote the NCLEX. Is that the same thing?

HELP. ? I have failed the NCLEX 3x now and it’s DEVASTATING every time I failed. I need insights and positive feedback on those who have failed several times too who can tell me what you guys used to pass. Couple things about me, I’ve been out of school since 2017! I understand that’s a factor in which may make this test more difficult for me too. I’m also just a C average in school- so def worked my butt super hard to finish nursing school... How I studied: used UWorld the first time (7mos after graduated) but was going through sister’s lung transplant so didn't put too much time studying. It took a hard hit so I didn’t hit the books again until this year and retook it Feb 2020, using the Kaplan book only- failed again. I honestly didn’t like the book, felt like it didn’t have much info in it. After failing, I immediately re-registered (took it yesterday). This time, I used UWorld again (I actually really like UWorld), LaCharity PDA + Mark Klimeks audios. Listened to MK twice but failed again! Heard great things about Mark but when I tested yesterday, majority of my test was rarely on what he taught! This time, my test consisted of at least 20-25 SATAs and on meds I swear I’ve never heard of before (at least not in school)... felt like I had less prioritization q’s this time VS my 1st and 2nd time. I got a lot more med q’s this time too and also felt like it tested me on meds I’ve never heard of (which is one of my weakest subjects) and content I haven’t seen since since school (nothing Mark taught). For those who aren’t strong test takers, those who are NOT an A and B student in nursing school, those who been out of school for so long, and those who failed more than TWICE- how did you pass boards and what did you use? What’s also good for content review?