JaxiaKiley

I posted this in the NCLEX forum, but thought I'd post it in this thread in case some of you don't check that forum: My NCLEX experience was pretty rough. I wasn't the best of students in school and didn't make the best grades. I struggled with tests because I had a bad habit of over-thinking the wording of the questions. I've had a lot going on in my life and have been very stressed out. My stress level has been so high that it made it very difficult for me to focus and study the material. Add my general performance/test anxiety to the mix and well, it hasn't been pretty. The night before my test date, we had tornado warnings, and so I was in the bathroom (for safety) with 3 other people and 6 animals when I wanted to be resting. I woke up early and made it to the testing site with plenty of time. When I feel anxious, I tend to experience GI issues. During school, I took a bottle of Maalox with me into the tests (yes, I'm odd). Since I knew I wouldn't be able to do that for the NCLEX, I took some Zantac, and Immodium before I left my house and put two chewable Pepto Bismol tablets into my mouth as I went through the check-in process. It's better safe than sorry, right? I had a few more chewable Pepto tablets in my pocket, and I asked if I could open them into a tissue and take it in with me. They said that wasn't a problem. As I sat down to take the test, my hands were trembling. I went through the tutorial and started the test. Egads! I had a ton of mother/baby questions and drugs -- my two worst subjects! I kept watching the clock and was racing through questions. I kept telling myself to slow down. At one point, a question comes up that is based on a medical term that I don't know. Frustrated, I put my head in my hands, closed my eyes, took a few deep breaths and tried to relax. Wait! I do know that word because I studied it during 3rd semester; and look, there's an answer that's appropriate! In the end, I had 75 questions and it took me right at an hour to finish. I only had two alternate response questions, and both were SATAs. No med calcs, no ordering of answers, nothing like that. When the test stopped at 75 questions, I was shocked. Surely I failed! With all those mother/baby and drug questions, there's no way I had passed this thing. I wanted to shake the computer and beg for more questions. Don't stop now; let me show you that I do know something! When I got to my car, I couldn't help it. I cried. I felt terrible and knew I'd let everyone down who believed in me and supported me. How would I tell them? I spent the next 48 hrs as a basket case, obsessively checking the website to see if my results were available. On Friday morning, they still weren't available when I got to work. After we finished the first surgery, I used my phone to check the Internet for my results again. They were available! I went over to the BON website and my name wasn't listed. Oh no! Shaking like a leaf, I found a secluded computer to enter in my credit card information and looked at the screen: Pass That is such a beautiful word! Relief rushed through my body and I couldn't believe it. I passed; I passed! I was all giggly the first time I signed my name as an RN. :) I'm sharing this because I thought there may be other graduate nurses out there who were in similar situations. Trust me, if I can do it, YOU CAN DO IT! --- Thank you so much for all of your support. These El Centro/NLC threads were a lifeline to me.

My NCLEX experience was pretty rough. I wasn't the best of students in school and didn't make the best grades. I struggled with tests because I had a bad habit of over-thinking the wording of the questions. I've had a lot going on in my life and have been very stressed out. My stress level has been so high that it made it very difficult for me to focus and study the material. Add my general performance/test anxiety to the mix and well, it hasn't been pretty. The night before my test date, we had tornado warnings, and so I was in the bathroom (for safety) with 3 other people and 6 animals when I wanted to be resting. I woke up early and made it to the testing site with plenty of time. When I feel anxious, I tend to experience GI issues. During school, I took a bottle of Maalox with me into the tests (yes, I'm odd). Since I knew I wouldn't be able to do that for the NCLEX, I took some Zantac, and Immodium before I left my house and put two chewable Pepto Bismol tablets into my mouth as I went through the check-in process. It's better safe than sorry, right? I had a few more chewable Pepto tablets in my pocket, and I asked if I could open them into a tissue and take it in with me. They said that wasn't a problem. As I sat down to take the test, my hands were trembling. I went through the tutorial and started the test. Egads! I had a ton of mother/baby questions and drugs -- my two worst subjects! I kept watching the clock and was racing through questions. I kept telling myself to slow down. At one point, a question comes up that is based on a medical term that I don't know. Frustrated, I put my head in my hands, closed my eyes, took a few deep breaths and tried to relax. Wait! I do know that word because I studied it during 3rd semester; and look, there's an answer that's appropriate! In the end, I had 75 questions and it took me right at an hour to finish. I only had two alternate response questions, and both were SATAs. No med calcs, no ordering of answers, nothing like that. When the test stopped at 75 questions, I was shocked. Surely I failed! With all those mother/baby and drug questions, there's no way I had passed this thing. I wanted to shake the computer and beg for more questions. Don't stop now; let me show you that I do know something! When I got to my car, I couldn't help it. I cried. I felt terrible and knew I'd let everyone down who believed in me and supported me. How would I tell them? I spent the next 48 hrs as a basket case, obsessively checking the website to see if my results were available. On Friday morning, they still weren't available when I got to work. After we finished the first surgery, I used my phone to check the Internet for my results again. They were available! I went over to the BON website and my name wasn't listed. Oh no! Shaking like a leaf, I found a secluded computer to enter in my credit card information and looked at the screen: Pass That is such a beautiful word! Relief rushed through my body and I couldn't believe it. I passed; I passed! I was all giggly the first time I signed my name as an RN. :) I'm sharing this because I thought there may be other graduate nurses out there who were in similar situations. Trust me, if I can do it, YOU CAN DO IT!

Oh, and I got all giggly the first time I signed, "Jaxia, RN" today, too

Woo! I made it, I made it! I passed! It's been over 12 hours since I found out, and I'm STILL happy dancing

I'm waiting for Pearson Vue to call me and tell me to stop logging into their site because I'm killing the server! Ha! Thanks for the positive thoughts :)

I took the NCLEX today and I am stre-essed! The next 48 hours cannot pass quickly enough!

Ah. My apologies! I didn't realize where you lived. Go get a massage and relax!

Can you find out your results today since it's a Sunday?

I'm taking it on Wednesday, so I totally understand how you feel. Good luck!

I wasn't sure which date in Feb you're scheduled to test, so I just wanted to say good luck to you :) I'm taking mine in a few days. AhhH!

At my job, there is a guy who sits on the nclex committee that helps with developing questions for the nclex. During one of our new grad meetings, he came in and talked to us. This is one of the questions I asked him because I had heard the same thing. He said that is NOT true. People are NOT 'chosen' to get 265 questions. You get questions until the computer decides you've passed or failed; no more, no less.

I take it for the first time on Wednesday the 11th. It didn't occur to me that that means I'll find out my results on Friday the 13th! Here's to hoping it's my lucky number. I'm very nervous and get major test anxiety. Ahh!

I wasn't an LVN, but IIRC, most of the hospital recruiters who came out to my school last fall said they give a 2:1 credit for previous experience. So, a LVN with 10 years of experience would get paid like a RN with 5 years of experience. I don't have any specifics on the actual pay. Good luck to you!

I think it just depends. The semester I started, El Centro had the lower GPA. IIRC, this past semester that started, Northlake had the lower GPA. It just depends on where people want to be, I guess. Did you only put one school as a choice, or did you put both?

I'm so proud of Yang, RN! I cannot wait to add those letters after my name ... I start my new job in the morning. From what I understand, tomorrow is just the HR 'paperwork' day, so it should be fairly low key. We shall see! Good luck with school starting this week!!

Congrats on getting into the online class! I had ********* for AP1 and 2 and highly recommend her. Maybe you'll get lucky and you'll notice a 1 there, too

mom35 -- It's not that they will "delete" you from the program. They just won't teach you. You are expected to learn everything on your own with very little, if any, direction. Imagine being told that a test is over a broad topic, say cardiac, and that's it. No chapters, no pages, no read this book, nothing. Test questions can come from text books we don't use, topics not covered in lecture, etc. If it has anything to do with the heart, it can be on the test. Plus, anything covered on a previous test or previous semester is also fair game ... to ensure you retain the information. Basically, the people running the program are not there to help you in any way. Other schools offer things for struggling students; not ECC. Find some friends, form study groups, read your texts books, answer NCLEX questions ... because these things will help you get through -- not the staff at ECC. All that being said, no matter where you go, nursing school is challenging. I talked to other students, and they had their gripes, too, no matter what color uniform they were wearing. So many people have made it through; it is possible! You can do it!! :)

Well, the bundled the HESI review with our book box, and put something (I can't remember what it was now) in the book box that we couldn't initially get on its own. What a mess. Plus, unless they make major changes, the HESI review was a joke.

Good luck to both of you! I switched from IT to nursing, too. And yes, I'm taking a pay cut. But, I wasn't happy, and that's the most important thing, I think. I just graduated from ECC in December -- you can do it!

The test was easy. I just graduated in Dec 08. It took about 30 mins and wasn't hard at all. You get plenty of attempts, there's only a 7 day wait if you fail and there's no cost. It's online, so you can do it from home. There's another thread around here with more information, too. Good luck!

I just get SO much test anxiety! So, I went with Feb 11. I'm trying to do questions ...

Thanks for all the tips. I've been trying to decide if I want to take a review class. MBA2BRN -- There weren't any afternoon appts available in from Jan-March at any of the locations that were close to me. I'm used to taking my school tests in the morning, so hopefully that will be practice enough at having my brain function so early in the morning. I might switch to an earlier date if I start feeling more confident. I get so much test anxiety!

I have several books ... Saunders, Kaplan and the Prioritizing books, to name a few. Mostly, I'm using Saunders to study. Kaplan is mostly test-taking advice. I feel like I have a good grip on prioritizing, but I plan to go through the book once before my test date. I don't know how to know if I'm ready to test. However, our ATTs are only good for so long, and in my case, my job gives me an even earlier deadline. It seems everyone suggests taking it sooner, rather than later. Several people in my class are taking the NCLEX within the next two weeks, which is right around a month after we graduated. Personally, I signed up for a day that's about 2 months after graduation. I have a lot of test anxiety, and with the holidays, I haven't been spending the time preparing that I wanted to do. So, I gave myself a bit more time. However, I'll be into my internship at this point, so how much time I have to truly study remains to be seen. Best of luck to you!

Thanks for posting an update. I'm so glad things are going better!!

/waves Thanks and congrats to you, too!! When do you take yours? I scheduled mine for Feb 11 at 8a. I was hoping for an afternoon appt, but they were all taken