tempus fugit

Along the beach in Oxnard/Ventura is some of the cleanest air in that part of the state. Ocean breezes and all that.

Bama RN, If you read the Pearson book on CAT computerized adaptive testing, it says that the pass rate is 50 percent for EVERY BODY who takes the test. in short if you start doing better than 50 percent, the computer gives you harder questions, then as soon as it feels confident you are going to pass, it shuts off. (or as soon as if feels confident you are going to fail) So if you normally do better than 50 percent on exams, then you are going to feel horrible in comparison after taking a CAT style of exam. (the NCLEX messes with your head, just like nursing school did) But I have to admit, I got the heebee jeebees today, my confidence wained, and I began worrying if I passed or not. I say odds are high you passed. But whats the worse they can do to you if you fail? Shave your head and make you take the NCLEX again? Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Apilorasi, I'll bet you your favorite beverage that you passed. You may have gotten 10 SATAs in the beginning because they were throwing the 15 non-counting questions at you in the beginning. If you got loads of SATAs, under my theory, and you cut off at 75, then you passed.

I studied Saunders for about 4 weeks. Did approximately 100 questions every other day. I tried to do 100 questions in each of the contents, but have to say I did not succeed in finishing them all. I was getting scores anywhere between 72 to 84% on Saunders. (My ATI scores were worse but I did great on the final ATI NCLEX predictor.) I did all the alternative question formats in Saunders and while I was still in school I did everyone of the ATI practise exams. To me it seems more about using your basic knowledge in nursing to think about what the answers to the questions should be. I would study books and chapters on NCLEX question formats...so you understand the "game" of it. Then practise taking the questions on computerized exams that give you get imediate feedback on your answer, over time, thru positive reinforcement, you will be "trained" subconciously on how to use your knowledge to answer NCLEX questions correctly. (at least answer them correctly more than 50% of the time.)

Feisty, that's a good story. I'm sorry you had to stress. Unfortunately, adaptive tests are designed in such a way that they make people who normally due well on exams feel horrible. I just read a post where the test taker had 30 SATA! She passed. And I'd say she was doing extraordinarily well on the test. Unless I hear otherwise from some one, I think anyone who gets lots of SATAs and cuts off at 75 can feel confident that they passed. I probably won't know for sure if I passed till Monday or Tuesday. But I'm not stressing. I'm enjoying!!! Today, I'm going out to lunch with my nursing school friends, one who is taking the NCLEX right now!! Good luck everybody!:heartbeat

The exam would have made me feel like this . But I had read Pearson's explanation of adaptive tests and I concluded that the more SATA's they threw at me, the better I must be doing. Before too long I was jazzed to see an SATA come up and when it shut off at 75 I walked out feeling like "that's it?" Don't know if I passed yet, but I have a friend who had 22 SATA and she passed at 75. My primary study tactic was doing as many Saunders practise tests I could force myself to do. I took it easy the nite before the test and went out to eat at a comfortable restaurant with my husband. I also noticed that even if the question seemed like "you gotta be kiddin' me, no *******' way, nobody taught us that!" If I took the time to look at everything and think about it, there was a clue in the question sentence to help me find the answer. Of course, I could have gotten them wrong too. Who knows? :chuckle

MSU nurse There are many hospitals hiring in the Ventura County area. I recently attended a new grad hiring fair at St Johns in Oxnard. They have the highest hourly wage in the county, pay 10k to 12K hiring bonus for two year commitment and give a 2100$ biannual retention bonus. I'm not sure how good their new grad orientation is, but they do offer new grad orientations into specialty units. Also I believe there is room to negotiate a relocation allowance if you are moving from more than 50 miles away. Ventura is an awesome place to live, though expensive. Cottage in Santa Barbara pays 30$ and hour for new grads and offers 4,000k sign on bonus. From the outside, their new grad progam looks pretty good. There are tons of opportunities for RNs in LA. Check out UCLA and Cedars Sinai new grad programs. I have lived in LA and I think Ventura is a much better place to live and you should have no problem getting a hospital job in this county.