mye614

actually, some of the questions I did not have any trouble picking the right answer ( I even picked an answer just by reading the scenario...and then the answer I had in mine was in one of the choices..so I picked it)...I just found it a bit harder with the ones I was not so familiar with. Yes, I have followed your 6 week program exclusively..Did about 5000 practice questions (just the CD)..Oh gosh! I hope I passed......

I am so depressed again after taking the dreadful exam the second time around. Question # 1 already got me, I had no clue what to answer and I spent about 3 minutes figuring it out and I guessed I still ended picking the wrong answer. My exam stopped I think between 102-110, I'm not sure if I got the last question right ( it was about a pt who is to undergo septoplasty and asked which pt statement should the nurse be concerned about...I do not remember the other 3 choices but I picked the statement where the pt said he has been taking advil...so I thought this would cause him to bleed more)...I had tons of delegation/prioritzation that were sppread throughout the exam, a couple of disaster questions where you have to discharge a pt in order to make room for the new admit...Mainly who to assess, see, and return call first and also who would benefit from Home health Nurse/service. No math/calculation/new format type of questions. Some OB, developmental stage (peds/elderly), psych....Oh, lots of teaching too...Gosh, I'm so worried that I may have not made it again this time. My feelings are worst than when I took it the first time...Of course, CA doesn't participate in the quick result service so I have to wait...wait...and wait...Last time I waited almost 6 weeks only to find out that I failed...I felt like none of my studying helped..I did closed to 5000 questions and follwed Suzanne's program for 6 weeks......Arggggghhhhhhhhh...I feel so dumb...dumb.....dumb...dumb...the questions weren;t actually as hard but getting down to 2 possible answer and picking the right one is what makes it hard...can;t even apply MASLOW and ABC's sometimes....Should I start reviewing again for #3???

Suzanne has given me her study guide to prepare for the NCLEX-RN (thanks :) )...But I'm having a hard time sticking to the plan...I need to be motivated and pushed. I just can't seem to get my head back to studying. No books or strategies could ever prepare you for the "big one"...The first time I studied my butt off and I still failed..So, what difference will it make this time??? I'd like to stick with Suzanne's plan but can't saty focus at it....I don't know what part of the Saunders book and CD to begin with (quiz? study? exam mode?)...Then of course when you click on each of the modes it will give you different system to be tested on ( respiratory/cardio/nervous etc.....) It's so muchhhhhhh ........What do I need to do?????? I really want to pass the board!!!!!!!!! Please help!!!!!!!!!!!

all of us are included in my daily prayers. I know God will hear our prayers. God knows we are going to be great nurses so we have to trust in Him and he will guide us to the right path...Good luck to all of us!

When I was in nursing school (ADN program) we were eligible to sit in "only" for the LPN licensure exam after our third semester in the "actual" nursing program ( prereqs not included). As far as I know you can only sit in for the NCLEX-RN once you have completed the RN program, I don't think there's other ways to get around it but finish the RN program first.

I know exactly what you're going through right now. I graduated in May and took the NCLEX-RN in July but failed. I took a review class that was offered in our college but felt like it didn't help and prepare me for it. Now I'm gonna try again and planning on retaking it last week in October ( hopefully I'm ready by then...so much distractions here in California)...I hope we both pass this dreadful exam next time. Goodluck to you!

Tiffany, Wow! I really appreciate you explaining these things to me. You are right, I too like the others tend to look into things too much that it confuses me more. You're also right for saying that ABC's not always the best choice, I have to really understand and rationalize each of the choices not just depending on the ABC technique. I really feel that this is what got me to fail the exam (for looking too much into the question/choices and just focusing on the ABC's...just like what our nursing school has taught us!...Bummer!)..Yeah, if you can give me more inforamtion on this type of prioritizing, I would very much appreciate it. Thanks again!

I understood you examples. I was actually thinking the same way...ABC's always comes first when it comes to prioritizing. Whenever one of the choices involved ABC's, I immediately picked it as the best answer but sometimes I get caught up when there's no ABC's on one of the choices. Say all the choices involves post surgical patients...this is where I get stuck! One day post op compared to a 2 or 3 day post op. Oh, also correct me if I'm wrong, when it comes to acute and chronic illnesses (such as diabetes/COPD/asthma) in prioritizing care for these patients would you see the acute one first versus the chronic ones???

here in CA, you have to wait 91 days to retake (at least that's what BON said on the letter they sent me when I failed the first one)...I took it in July so I am up to retake it this coming October....

ok...let me see if I understood it right...In a situation where there is no or not enough staff and you are not in a hospital you would assess and tag the patients first...the one with difficulty breathing would be tagged as red, then the one with the open fracture would be tagged as yellow, then the one with the minor laceration green and black for the one who is not breathing. after tagging these patients you will then treat or transfer the red one first then the black one would be last since this patient is already dead or can no longer be saved...Did I get it right???

Hello, I'd like to know if any of you can help me understand more about taking phone calls and prioriting home health visits. On my first NCLEX-RN attempt, I had a lot of questions about it. Like if you are an RN and you received a phone call...who would you talk first or who would you return the call first? How do you decide your priority on this? And also, let's say you are a Home Health Nurse (RN) and you received your assignment for the day, which of those patients would you see first? Is there a standard of care that the NCLEX set up for this? Like those with Disaster triaging (RED/YELLOW/GREEN/BLACK)????? Thanks! :imbar

So, what was the answer you found? I'd like to know too since I'm taking my NCLEX-RN as well. Suzanne sent me an article about it but I don't think I read anywhere in the article once the patient is in the hospital. External/Internal disasters (like 9/11, katrina, fire etc...) you have to follow RED (critical with chance of survivors), YELLOW ( less critical that can wait), GREEN ( walking wounded ) and then BLACK (dead or unsalvageable)...But what about once they get transferred to the hosiptal? I'm kinda confused on this one too...I know I have to know because with my first NCLEX attenpt, I noticed that many of the questions I had were on disaster/triaging/prioritization. Thanks if you can let me know what you found out about it.

Brandi-BEST OF LUCK to both of us. Hoepfully our strategies will work wonders for us this time. Keep us updated on how your studying is doing, I'l do the same as well...

Brandi, I'm with you on this one! I have failed the first one and I told myself that I will make it the second time. I have been studying (utilizing Suzanne's plan together with my own plan).. I have been doing this for about 2 weeks now, I must say though that for the past week I have been slacking off (meaning losing focus)...I have so many things to do at home and with my kids...I just couldn't stay focus but I try t do at least 2-4 hours studying a day (with breaks in between). I am actually following my plan at this time (devoting 4 weeks of it)..I'm reading a review book that has 50-70 practice questions at the end of each unit and I read their rationale too..So far I have been scoring 60-70%. After my 4th week with my plan, I will start with Suzanne's. I intend to retake the board 3rd week of October. I also promised myself that starting this Monday, I will remain focus....forget about chores...I'll delegate house works to my husband....Moving to CA is soo distracting...It's good that our family is here but there's just too many things going on all the time...So much distractions! But, I really want to pass this time...So, what's your study plan?

Hi, I too was offered a nurse tech position after I failed my fisrt exam in July. Prior to that I was hired as a GN with a temporary permit issued by my state, but state law stated that if I fail the exam my permit will no longer be valid and that I will not be able to work as a GN. I was aware of it when I was hired so as soon a I found out my result, I immediately notified my HR and my director and they have offered me the Nurse tech position until I get my license then I can go back to working as an RN. Personally, I did not accept the offer for the reason that I'd like to be able to concentrate on studying and preparing for the board. I do not have anything against Nurse Tech ( I have a great respect for them) but it was my own choice not to do it.

CONGRATULATIONS, MISS RN!!!!! Now, maybe you can share with us how you studied for it

Suzanne, I have a question about doing practice questions on the Saunders CD...After taking the exam and reading the rational behind the answers, is it advisable to retake the same exam? I mean, once you've taken it and got the correct answers, isn't just a waste of time to retake because you already know the answer? Or retaking is just another way of practice? I've done it before and I noticed myself just brushing through the questions and since I still remember the answer I just click the right choice (of course at the end my score is close to perfect)..

I actually agree with most of the people who responded to you. I graduated in May and mind you I graduated as a cumlaude but I tell you when I took the NCLEX the first time...I FAILED! and broke my heart big time!!! I'm still recovering from it. Soon after graduation, I took a review class too that was offered by my school and I felt so confident after taking it and I immediately scheduled my exam in July ( FYI all these during our move from NY to CA)...I've had thoughts of rescheduling it but I didn't listen to what my heart was saying so I proceeded but failed. I guess I was over confident because of my academic achievement (cumlaude) and taking a review course. Now I totally regret it because my self confidence shut down now I have to wait 90 days to retake. I had a job waiting for me and I was making $$ as an RN but I had to quit because I failed....Now, I'm studying harder, I'm following Suzanne's study guide that she created for me. I plan to retake it 2nd week of October but if I feel I'm not ready I will reschedule until I'm for sure ready. So, you have to really assess your readiness and if you feel strongly about testing on the 15th, by all means do it...I wish you all the luck.

it's ok...sometimes it's hard for me to explain things...my native tongue is not english so a lot of times I struggle for the right words :wink2:

On the answer choices, it basically tells you the patient's diagnosis and sometimes the lenght of their stay in the unit (ex. 1)acute or chronic asthma attack who was admitted 8 hours; 2) a one day post hernia surgical patient; 3) patient admitted 12 hours with severe vomiting and abdominal pain; 4) 3 day status post CABG;...this type of choices...I just made these up :) )..A lot of the scenario or case questions don't have any of these patient's current status (vitals, level of functioning, etc). so basically, I/we just have to use our critical thinking to decide which of these patients to send home to make available beds...And this is where I get stuck and confused..And sometimes too, for each answer choice there would be 2 or more different diagnosis associated with each patient...so it makes it more harder and confusing. :uhoh21:

So, how did you answer these questions? Like the one about a home health nurse...which one do you call back first or which one to see first when you get your assignment for the day as a home health nurse???? I'm sorry I just had to ask because I'm prpearing to take the exam for the second time and I remember I had those questions too...Goodluck to you!! Sorry, not that much of help here...

I guess I wasn't as clear. I know that you need to have a physicians order in order to transfer or discharge a patient. I guess what I was trying to ask is let's say you work in an emergency room or say in a hospital where the unit is already packed and you have to admit more patients who needs to be in a closed observation. Of course you will have to comunicate this with the physician but as a nurse how would you know which ones are ready to be discharge to give way to the new admit. I've actually come across some practice questions regarding this and I get stuck. I hope I made myself a little clearer......

Seems like many of you got questions on the NCLEX-RN about creating an empty bed to give way to a patient being admitted. What are the criteria in deciding which patient is to discharge or to transfer in order to create an empty bed? If I could still remember, I think I too got some questions on this when I sat for the board the first time. Also how about when you have to place 2 patients in the same room, how do you decide on that? Say, you have a patient who's already in the room who's a one day post surgical patient, what type of 2nd patient can you have this patient be rooming in with? I am actullay sort of confused about this...If I can be guided, it'll be much appreciated.

I think we don't have to know all the lab values. Mostly the ones that are being watched for all the time are K level, Na, Mag, Chloride, BUN, creatinine, urine SG, H&H, WBC, INR, PT/PTT...

In my preparation for my second attempt to pass the NCLEX-RN, I'd like to ask any of you if you know of a site or maybe you have created one on commonly asked lab values on the exam. Signs and symptoms, as well as reasoning behind the lab value, and intervention to correct the value. I'd like to know if I can get a copy of your study guide. I know we should not only memorize these values but to understand what is going on in the body for it to react the bad/good way. Suzanne, can you suggest of any? Thank you!