ORNURSETOBE

I did the same thing. Put my things in locker 7 and sat in chair 7. Got 75 questions and passed. I was the first to get up and was sure I failed. I am sure you did well.

I do not suggest doing any more q trainers. I suggest doing the qbank only. Do no more than 25 questions at at time. It worked for me. I used the tutor mode so I could see my answers right away. Once I was finished with that test I would take a 10 minute break then took another test. I took about 4 to 5 tests daily. Once you identify your weak area, concentrate only on that weak area. Look at your comprehensive breakdown and find where you are weakest and focus on that. The qtrainers take too long just to see your answers that you are not learning anything. When answering qbank in tutor mode you immediately see your answers and that helps you to study. You will be surprised at the difference. For example: qtrainer 4 and 5 are 150 questions which is 2 1/2 hours each plus at least 1 hour reviewing your answers. That is almost 4 hours that you have waisted. It only takes about 30 to 35 minutes to answer a 25 question qbank test in tutor mode. Plus you will retain the material. Plus you have also identified your weak areas for those questions. In 4 hours you would have taken between 6 and 8 tests and gained more knowledge that way. Try it and see what happens. You have 12 days left. Give yourself 3 days this way and see what a difference it makes in your scores. If you do not like it you still have time to study a different way. There is no rule that says you must finish those trainers or you will fail the NCLEX. Answering fewer questions help you to absorb the material you just covered. I also suggest answering questions only on one subject at time. For example: 25 safe and effective care questions, or 25 management of care questions. After answering 50 questions and you are above 64% I would leave that subject alone and move on to another subject. I can honestly say I was an average student, and can attest that the qbank was better for me than the trainers. You will be amazed at how much material you can cover in 12 days using only qbank with a small amount of questions. Good luck to you.

JUSTME123, Here is what I posted about meds in another thread. Hope it is helpful to your. One suggestion about the meds. I only knew certain meds not all meds because it is too many to memorize. The meds from your final semester should still be fresh. Review those and make sure that you know those. Cardiac, Endocrine, Renal, Respiratory. When taking the NCLEX, read the drug name and see if you can identify which system it came from (ex. Endocrine... Levothyroxine). Determine what the question is asking about that drug (ex. teaching about Levothyroxine). Read your answers and remember what that drug does to the client. Sometimes if you can't figure out which answer is correct, look at your four choices and see which answer is going to be the most dangerous for the client (ex. a. nausea, b. vomiting, c. hypotension, and d. blurred vision). Another thing I picked up about medications from Kaplan. When they ask about common side effects, it is usually nausea, vomiting, headaches. Less common and more severe is bronchospasms, hypotension, tachycardia, bradycardia, respiratory depression. If see a choice like that most of the time it is the answer. Good luck!!

I am sorry to hear about the NCLEX. Take some time off away from the books. At least a week to regroup and get your head together. When I thought I had failed my test I was frantic. Then on my way home from work, two days later, I felt really relaxed and was making a plan on how I was going to study. I had made peace with the fact that I had failed (I still did not know that I had passed) and was ready to move on to retake the test. One suggestion about the meds. I only knew certain meds not all meds because it is too many to memorize. The meds from your final semester should still be fresh. Review those and make sure that you know those. Cardiac, Endocrine, Renal, Respiratory. When taking the NCLEX, read the drug name and see if you can identify which system it came from (ex. Endocrine... Levothyroxine). Determine what the question is asking about that drug (ex. teaching about Levothyroxine). Read your answers and remember what that drug does to the client. Sometimes if you can't figure out which answer is correct, look at your four choices and see which answer is going to be the most dangerous for the client (ex. a. nausea, b. vomiting, c. hypotension, and d. blurred vision). Another thing I picked up about medications from Kaplan. When they ask about common side effects, it is usually nausea, vomiting, headaches. Less common and more severe is bronchospasms, hypotension, tachycardia, bradycardia, respiratory depression. If see a choice like that most of the time it is the answer. Hope I have been of some help. Good luck!!!

Applied for an internship in the OR. If not the OR, my next choice is Labor and Delivery because I may be able to get in the OR with a C-section.

Like the other post said, you need to assess and weigh what is important to you at this moment in time. The NCLEX is a long way off, you have to pass school first. Finances should be just as important. What do you currently do for a living? Can you afford to take out that type of loan for BSN program? Are you willing to pay back the money over the long haul? Personally, I am not. I chose the Associate degree prgram instead of the diploma because I could go straight into RN to BSN or MSN. The diploma program was longer and I still would not have all the required classes if I chose to get my BSN or MSN. Place all of your options on the table and see what you have. Look at what the end result of each is and see if that is acceptable to you.

It is amazing to see how many made it through to the final phase. First semester- 33 to start, lost 3 at 8 week mark (end of math class), if you failed math class you had to drop. Lost 1 more after final. Had 7 other to fail final, but wrote up a petition about having a new instructor and they won and were allow to retake final and they all passed. (4) Second semester- 28 original. lost 2 at drop phase and 3 at final. (5) Third Semester- 23 original. lost 2 at final. (2) Fourth Semester- 17 original. lost 1 at final. (1) A total of 24 graduated, but it was not the original class I started with it was mixed with people who may have transfered in from another school or who may have failed during a previous semester. 16 including myself out of 33 that started with me ended up graduating. We also had a couple that left the program or moved away.

As a part of our management class we had to submit a resume and cover letter to our instructor. She tweeked it, if needed and that is what I use. You might want to ask your instructor if she will look at what you have and see if it is ok. A resume is only work experience, not clinical experience. If you worked as a tech you can include that, but you do not include school clinical experience on a resume. Clinical experience all falls under the heading of Education: ___ School of Nursing. Any employer automatically knows that you have a certain amount of clinical hours required for school.

If you are a new graduate nurse, you should working alongside a preceptor for a certain amount of time. You should not be handling patient's alone for at least 6 weeks, or whatever your orientation period is. You need to speak up if this is happening. If you are not getting the much needed orientation, then you might wante to find another unit. You should speak to your nurse manager. Did you have a preceptor phase in school? It should be just like that. You start working with them, and then they slowly back off and give you more responsiblilty. Until you are doing it by yourself.

Maybe what you saw was the test getting harder because you were getting the answers correct. If you did well in school, I can't immagine you blowing the nclex. I was an average student in school and managed to pass the nclex. I felt the same way when it was over. I had 3 days of torture before I got my results. What I have been told is the higher your knowledge level, the more difficult the questions. Also remember that you are allowed to miss 50% of the questions. Take some deep breaths. Calm down. You will get the results that you want.

I personally did not finish the question trainers. I gave up at test 5. I suggest working on the pharmacology section of Qbank. You would be surprised at the knowedge that you will gain from your pharm that way. I had plenty of pharm on my nclex, but it was not hard pharm. IV's is considered pharm as well. I had a couple of those questions. I did not have insulin at all. The medications that I reviewed were not on there. They were much easier. I do suggest looking at the herbs. I had one herb question. If you are doing that well on the tests, put your focus on your weak areas. Endocrine system is a very easy system to remember. I saw alot of SIADH, DI, Addison, and Cushings on Kaplan questions. Look at your Saunders and do strictly Endocrine questions. That will help you with a nice review. That is what I did for Maternity. I spent 1 week reviewing maternity because that was my weak subject and I probably had 5 maternity questions on the Nclex. Also remember to learn your meds for endocrine and what could happen to that patient if they get to much or not enough medication.

LOVETOSHOPP85, Use the Qbank if you just want to do a few questions at time. The question trainers are so long. It starts with 75 questions and goes to 265. You can suspend the tests when you needed a break or just want to stop, but I did not like them. I did not even finish 6 and 7. Even when doing Kaplan. I took the 8 hour class and it was suggested for us to not read any material after class for fear of burnout. So I never read my Kaplan book at all. I did manage to do question trainer 1 and 2 before the class was over. I made borderline on both tests. I read the Kaplan book in its entirety after class was over and Read all of Saunders except the material we covered this semester in class. I did not do any Saunders questions because I did not think they were as difficult as Kaplan, plus I answered Saunders questions all through the final semester of school. Like I said before, I can remember answers to questions, I don't care how old they are and that is not benificial to me. That is why I only did new questions with Qbank. I wanted questions as hard as they could possibly get. Kaplan was it.

:biggringiCONGRATULATIONS!!!:balloons::balloons:

1. how many questions did you take on nclex? 75 questions. 2. what study materials did you use? did you take a test review course? i used kaplan and their qbank for the bulk of my questions. i also used lippincott 3500 cd, and read the saunders comprehensive book. 3. did your son offer any testing (eri, ati, hesi)? we had hesi, and i can honestly say that i did terrilbly on it. i am glad to say that the predictor was wrong. thank goodness, it was not needed to graduate like a lot of schools. 4. how long did you wait for results of the test, or are you still waiting? took the test on friday, 6/29. results over the phone on monday 7/2. no quick results for virginia. 5. what were your thoughts coming out of the test (total disbelief, certainty you had failed, confident you had passed)? i was certain that i failed. each day it got worse. i thought i would have a heart attack waiting for my results. i did a dumb thing and checked some of my answers when i got home, and was for sure that i blew it. this morning on the way home from work, i started preparing for my new study techniques for my second try. 6. was this your first attempt at nclex? and only attempt. thank god!!!

First of all... I PASSED!!! :monkeydance::balloons::biggringi:nurse::rotfl::roll :Melody::Melody::Melody::Melody::Melody::Melody::Melody::Melody::Melody::Melody::Melody: Just found out and it is truly a wonderful feeling. I wanted to share my story with those of you who have been a lifeline for me these past few weeks. I started school a while ago only taking 2 prereq's per semester. Then I took a year off to have a baby. Then 2 months after having her, she died of SIDS. I, of course did not know where to turn. I decided I had a great job, with excellent pay and I would be content to stay there. I always wanted to go into the OR, but I had every intention to let that dream die. Until fate stepped in (in the form of my job), which decided to do some restructuring. I had been sitting on the fence about school and this pushed me on the side I needed to be on. I finished my prereq's and started my nursing classes. I definately was not the smartest one in my class. I struggled with just about every class to meet that 80. My best classes was fundamentals, peds, and psych. I needed to prove something to myself and those professors that stood strong that those who barely passed would not pass the NCLEX the first time. It is not that I did not know the material, it is just that I had a difficult time in school. Trying to maintain a full time 40 hour a week job, a husband and 2 children. But I made it. I am here to tell everyone that you can work a full time job, throughout the entire course and pass the class. First semester, I worked a minimum of 56 hours week. Second and third semester, I worked 48 hours every week. I did not cut my hours back until the last semester. I still did 32 hours. It can be done if you want it bad enough. Even studying for the NCLEX, I went back to working 56 hours a week, plus reading Saunders at work and answering 75- 100 Kaplan questions every day. Now it is time for me to start my new life and career. Day shift so I can spend time with my family. I have been working overnights for 14 years. What I found this weekend when I was so stressed, was that you guys were a bigger support to me than my husband. He does not understand why we are all stressing so hard. He will never understand. Today will probably be the first good sleep that I will get in a week. Maybe Kaplan did help me, I am not sure, but when I left there I thought that the questions were to easy and that I was getting knowledge and lower level questions. Maybe I felt that way because I had prepared well. Update: I just told my husband I passed. His words " I had no doubt that you wouldn't". I just love to hate him :)