On January 7, 2014 I passed NCLEX!!! First, I want to say THANK YOU to ALLNURSES.com!!!! This site was so useful during my nursing school and nclex prep!!!
Since I found many nclex test-takers' posts so helpful, I should post something about my journey to getting my RN license :)
I graduated December 15, 2013. Received ATT around 12/20/2013. Signed up for 'almost' the earliest NCLEX date January 7, 2014.
I signed up for the in-class Kaplan Review from Dec 16-19. In-class was about 99.9% useless. Only because the instructor was unable to teach us the decision tree and she continued contradicting herself, which confused the class of 70. On the other hand, Kaplan was a great resource when reviewing for NCLEX. I did not have much studying time but I did all of the Trainer Tests 1-7 (to guarantee Kaplan refund/continued use), 30% qbank, 3 sample tests, and the alternative quiz. The videos are great if you have the time to watch them! I reviewed most of my tests and if I did not understand a topic, I would review it using Google or other textbooks. Sometimes during the tests, I would review the topic, which would help me remember/learn more about it. ***Note: every instructor is different. I was the lucky one to have her :-/
The night before my test, I skimmed through the NCLEX 35 page study guide (PDF) which was VERY HELPFUL!!!
I wanted to reschedule so badly because of the holidays and not having as much time to study like my fellow classmates, but I decided not to. I told myself to only think positive thoughts from now on until the test! Even if I wanted to doubt myself, I fibbed to myself by saying something like, "I can do this. I want to be a RN. I will do great and pass!"
My test was at 10:00am. It took me 4 hours hours with (I don't know how many questions). Last time I checked before the screen shut off, it was around question 130. Great tips that helped me was to not look at the clock or question number but to focus on each question as if it were a real patient or real work scenario; I took my time answering questions and always brought it down to two best choices before picking the (hopefully) correct one; telling myself to re-focus many times, take a deep breath and start over with the question. I did not give myself any expectations but to do well on the test. I had classmates that wanted to finish the test and pass with 75 questions, but I always said as long as I have less than 265 questions and leave within 6 hours, I will be happy.
Lastly, I refused to do the PVT (Pearson View Trick) and had a classmate do it for me. It gave me the pop up and did not take me to a credit card screen. I did not believe it, I was still negative about my test. Then, around 4:00pm, the state posted my official results saying a permanent license was issued!!! WOOHOO!!!
