Darre

You should figure 4 years to get your RN and 2-3 for the NP. I recommend getting your BSN since most ADN programs still take 4 years, till you get all your prerequisites done. You will need a BSN for entrance into an NP program or spend an extra year in a ADN to NP program. On top of this most programs require some nursing experience to enter (which is a good thing and a sign of a good program). The experience you gain as an RN is important ( though I am only in NP school now, I pay attention to what my ER docs do and how they treat). In the end ask yourself, with 8+ years till I have my NP, would med school be a better option? It will take more than 8 years for your M.D. but we are talking pretty far down the road for both. Not discouraging you, just saying it may be a viable alternative with your point in life. I started nursing later in life, so M.D. was never in the cards due to family ect., but for you it may be a smarter choice. Either way,nursing can be a great job, so study hard, plan ahead and make sure that healthcare is the right profession for you. Good luck!

Thanks for checking Speffanie, I am ready to hear ASAP since tickets must be bought and work schedules rearranged.

What is your schools pass rate? It is a good indicator of how you may do. I think studying is a great idea but I took mine on Jan. 3rd and passed (even have my license). I really didn't study a lot since our school made us do ATI so and had to score so we had a 98% chance of passing. I had done tons of ATI in Nov. to pass that test, so I just went over my weak points. DO NOT try to study everything, you went through 2 years of nursing school, you have tons of knowledge waiting to be used, you won't learn some magic info this late in the game. Refine your test taking skills and relax get rest and, on the test, focus on doing the best on the question in front of you. I felt like the test went fair to poor with tons of select all that apply (SATA) but I passed with 75 questions. The pass rate for nclex is about 80- 85% if you did ok in school you will be fine. Don't stress yourself to death for a month. Start looking for a job miss future RN.

Just saw my name posted on my states board of nursing- I'm an RN! Nurse 2b- I thought the nclex was hard because few of the questions felt like they had clear cut answers. I felt like I struggled, yet I passed with 75 questions, go figure! Study what you feel weak on, don't try to study everything, that is what nursing school was for! Go in with a clear head, well rested and know that it may not feel good while taking the test but just do your best on the question in front of you. Good luck!

Took Nclex today, hard but also weird, difficult to study for since I felt many questions where not straight up- Pt is doing this or showing that, what do you do? Anyway, shut off at 75 and got the good pop up on pearsonvue. Feeling good

I should be studying but here I am on allnurses! I test tomorrow, I am a bit nervous but feel like my school has prepared me and I did well on ATI (98% chance of pass). Could be false confidence, but at this point I,m just clearing up small point of confusion and am going to get a good nights sleep. Cheers and good luck to all testers.

My sister is an LPN which I always thought was pretty neat, so when my construction career seemed to be only getting me a worn out body and O.K. money, I went back to school. So for me: Decent pay, interesting work, mobility both geographically and professionally and job security (we will see about that). Last but big- I can help people who need help. Sometimes that last one doesn't pan out, but when it does, it's great.

At my school (and most others) the focus is to prepare you for the NCLEX. That means not just regurgitating info, but critical thinking. So try not to focus on information like; "this bones connected to that bone" but rather understand, as others have pointed out, what could happen to a person on dialysis, who has kidney failure and what electrolytes might be effected and what you would do as a nurse.. This is the sort of question that A&P doesn't ask, but nursing school(NS) will. I guess I'm saying like many others, relax, study some electrolytes if you want, but in the end the test will be on what your teacher wants you to know, so listen, take notes and study what they tell you to and you will be fine. NS is tough, but really, if you work hard you will do just fine. I know it's cliche' but that's often how life works and NS is no exception. Good luck! P.S. (I'm going into my last semester)

I'm 41 and will be done with nursing school this Dec. I have a house, wife, mortgages, and a baby on the way but I put my head down and did it. Now when I look up (from having my head down) I can see the finish line...or the starting line as it were. I was in construction before and have really liked using my brain in a different way. Good luck to you and know there will be some really tough semesters coming up, but you and many others will do it and achieve your goal. Don't get bogged down in the "poor me,this is so tough" attitude, You will do it if you want it. Good luck. Also the advice on the above post is very good. Positive attitude and work hard at the craft of nursing on your clinicals, time flies and suddenly you are expected to perform on your own, use the time wisely.

I took the test 1 1/2 years ago, I was really in the dark about what it was, and how important it could be. Our school used it as a way to gain "points" towards acceptance. So thankfully I didn't worry or study, I just took it and did my best. I ended up with an 87.5% (just checked). I think the best thing you can do is know where you are weak and study that. I only bombed on sentence structure (26%!) so don't freak out just relax and work on the stuff you feel unsure of. Life is stressful enough and stress does NOT help at test time. Good luck to all!