smile4RN

Yes, there is a hiring freez in NOVA and DC. New grad nurses with ASN will have a very hard time getting a job as many DC and VA hospitals are now requiring new grad nurses to have at least and BSN. With the economy doing poorly and everyone looking for a job they can choose to be picky. I'm in the same boat.

I agree with everyone else. Don't reschedule as you can practice more questions. I found that the exam cram questions were most like the nclex however the answer choices for exam cram are too easy. The nclex will be much harder. Even if you get the questions right I would look a the rationale. Hope this helps:specs:

Took the exam this past Friday. Day before exam I just relaxed. Made sure I didn't eat anything crazy that could get me sick and just relaxed. Practiced breathing, got my att, ID and directions all ready. Slept a bit earlier then usual. Woke up the day of the test and just had quized myself on lab values i had memorized and did my thing. ... You can do this!!! The most important advise I can give is remember to breath and practice relaxing and calming the nerves.

I'm pretty sure I can't be the first one to try this but... I took my test this past Friday and today (Monday)... I just called the BON (the main number). Told them I just needed my licenses number. Didn't tell them I just took my NCLEX. I just gave them my ssn and bam they gave me my license number. If yours doesn't come up then you should know... ----prior to calling I went on the the BON website and did a license look up and came up empty. hope this helps?

congrats!

I graduated with my ADN this past May and had quite a few issues with my nursing school communicating with BON. Long story a bit shorter, everything got sorted however 5 months have passed and my brain was leaking nursing material by the day. Anxious to lose any more material I scheduled for the earliest exam date possible. I studied long and hard for about 2 weeks. I used the Exam Cram, Saunders, Kaplan 08-09 book, Prioritization, Delegation and Assignment book, Lippincott, and Sandra Smith's NCLEX review. For all the books that had practice exams on CD, I made sure I scored above 65%. I was ranging from 65-78%. If you get it wrong. PLEASE make sure you read the rational. Many times I knew the answer I just didn't know which one to pick. The books that I read from cover to cover was Kaplan NCLEX-RN review and the Prioritization, Delegation & Assignment by Linda LaCharity. These two books helped me tremendously. For all of you that have iphones, I downloaded the Saunders NCLEX review and did 50 questions everyday, on the metro, in a cab, on my lunch break and anywhere or anytime that allowed me. Exam day was this past Friday. I made sure I ate breakfast and got there early about 15 mins. I practiced breathing, dried off the sweaty palms and dragged my scared butt inside. I felt confident 60 questions in, but once I hit 75 it felt as if I was going to have a panic attack and I've never had one before in my entire life. Tunnel vision started setting in and by 100 questions I felt lost. Some questions I had a very hard time with and I knew was causing me anxiety I just guessed to get over it. I'm a slow test taker. TRUST ME, I was always the last to leave during a test. I hit 200 questions and I saw time was running out. So... I picked up the pace believing I had already failed - so what right? I just started picking answers that first came to mind and then BAM! Screen shut off. I was elated the executioner had put me out of my misery. Yeah, I came home shed about 2 tears and watched about 5 episodes of Intervention. Told myself life could be worse and started studying some more (preping myself to retake the NCLEX). I was sure I had failed. Everything I had studied previous to the exam was on it. You need to know your med calculations, ped med calculations, pathology, peds, ob/gyn, psych, delegation, all of it... I would say majority of my test was meds. Meds I did NOT know. Diseases I've never heard of before. Here's the deal. It's about critical thinking. I sometimes think they purposely put material most wouldn't know just to test your critical thinking/detective skills. The exam cram questions I would say are the most similar, however the answer choices where much much much harder to choose from. They know we can eliminate 2 answers if we know the material, but they'll leave two amazing answers left, that without critical thinking you'd be guessing. This is getting too long. I passed. The results were not on the BON site so I called them as if I was already a RN and just asked them for my licenses number. Didn't say anything else except giving them my ssn # and "Can I please have my license number". They gave it to me and that's how I knew. Took the test on Friday and knew by Monday. To all that are still scheduled to take the NCLEX. You can do it! Keep studying. Hopefully, anything I've noted on this post will help. 4 RN