LegsMcgeeRN

Man, this place sounds like hell and a dangerous place to work. I say leave as soon as you can, this environment will bring out the worst in you.

Hi jtun3d, i suggest you wait until you can view your quick results before assuming anything. Lots of people including myself, felt like they failed, and some even received the "bad pop up" and still ended up passing. If you do unfortunately fail, learn what you need to work on and retake asap!! I know its unbearable to even think about that, but you need to get back in so you can put this all behind you as quickly as possible and become the RN you know you can be! P.S. I highly doubt it will take you 3 years to pass this exam! You can do it!

*** just for clarification, even those with volunteer and work experience are still not being hired.

Is there even HALF of a slither of hope that I'll be able to get a job as a new graduate? I graduated with my BSN in December 2013, just passed the NCLEX last week. I have no hospital or volunteer experience, which I'm now hearing that employers don't find all that outstanding My question is, what more can we as new grads with no experience possibly do?!! Is it just really who you know, if so then thats a shame. Any success stories out there to help boost my confidence before i start sending applications to every hospital in the country.

"Fear and faith have something in common, they both ask us to believe in something we cannot see. I implore you to choose faith over fear!" AMEN!!!! Everyone who is taking the exam tomorrow, next week, 3 months from now, whenever! Needs to understand this! Fear tried to get the best of me on testing day but God delivered me! Congratulations RN!!!!! God Bless!

Thanks Angel!!! Congrats to you as well!!!!!

I used Kaplan and ill admit if i wasn't fresh out of nursing school i wouldn't use it because it lacks content compared to others. It is really good for test taking strategies though. PDA is a MUST! Please use it in addition to whatever you choose.

Aww thank you! I'm sure you will pass as well!!! Its only a matter of time! :)

Don't get too caught up with scores just make sure you understand all the rationales. I will say however, if you get 60 and above on kaplan then you're right where you need to be. Diagnostic- 51.7% Readiness- 57.8% I took the diagnostic, readiness, and QT 1-3 tests before i started studying during the first two weeks of the classroom review where the kaplan instructor explained how to use the decision tree and how to use the website. QT 1- 46.7% QT 2- 60% QT 3- 47% QT 4- 65% QT 5-60% QT 6-66% QT 7-69% Sample test 1- 60% Sample test 2-48% Sample test 3-96.7% Sample test 4-16% Cumulative Qbank score (100% completed)- 61%

Congrats RN!!!!!!!!

I took the NCLEX-RN exam for the first time on Thursday, April 10th at 8am. I arrived at the testing site an hr early just so i could avoid any unfortunate mishaps, ate breakfast at a cafe with my mom and aunt across the street from the testing site, and reviewed lab values until 7:30am. ***If this post seems too long to read please scroll on down for my study schedule and materials i used to prepare. Everything went smoothly, and before i knew it i was sitting in my little cubicle and clicking next for my first question. This is where it all went downhill for me. I never once in my life suffered from test anxiety, i didn't even think i would be all that nervous on testing day, but for some reason while i was taking the most important test of my life, i had my first panic attack!!! I was trembling, shaking, my heart literally felt like it stopped beating at one point, i couldn't read anything, i was a MESSSSS!!!! I'm surprised the proctor didn't come and ask me if I'm OK! I took my first break at 15 questions, that's how bad it was! This totally took me by surprise and when i went to the bathroom i did some deep breathing and prayed that God would guide me through the rest of the test. I went back to my seat took a deep breath again and started. Most of the questions on the NCLEX, to me, seemed sooooo unanswerable!!! I was sitting there looking at them thinking, "no, this is a joke!!!"... "I can't believe this!! I thought Kaplan would prepare me for this!!!"...." Pyrosis??!! What the hell is that?!!".. "Why did i give away my Saunders book?!! Now i'm going to have to wait another 45 days to retest!!!" By question 50 i was begging God to shut the test off at 75 questions because i mentally, physically, and emotionally could not endure another question!!! Finally i reached number 75, i answered the question and glanced at the timer and saw i had 2hrs and 47mins left. I then thought "Fine, i'm just gonna have to put any answer for the next couple of questions because i just wanna get out of here!" I clicked next and the screen went blue and said loading results. I was both relieved and heartbroken that it shut off. I couldn't believe i did so badly that i finished at 75 questions. For the rest of the day i was in a bad mood, as anyone would be. There was no doubt in my mind that i failed. I know they say its a good thing when you feel like this, but i literally felt like i guessed the 90% of the whole exam so there's no way i could of passed. I didn't bother with the PVT because i swore i wouldn't do it since i read stories on here of people who got the good pop up and still failed. Plus, i already had it set in my mind that i failed. Fast forward to Saturday morning 9:30am. I still didn't want to check the quick results, but i just wanted physical proof so i could tell my family and friends because i knew they wouldn't believe me, since they were always telling me there is no way i could fail because i studied like a maniac! I paid and clicked submit payment and said to myself Oh GOD! now i'm having some type of psychosis because next to status it said PASS. I got up and walked away from the computer and looked again and it still said PASS! No! no! no! no! this is wrong! I actually logged out of my Pearsonvue account and logged back in and it still said PASS! I could not believe it!!!!! I screamed and cried and ran around the house yelling I can't believe it!!! I can't believe it!!! Nooo!!! NOoooOO!!! I was in complete unwavering shock!!! My mom, cousin, and BFF all looked at the screen and said Yes RN!!! It's true!!!! LOL I could not stop crying!!! I actually PASSED!!! with 75 questions at that!!!!!! Here's a list of the study materials i used: Kaplan RN-Review- Classroom Anywhere Course- It was provided by my nursing program and i paid $300 to enroll. I finished the Qbank, did Qtrainers 1-7, watched all the content review videos, and did almost all of the focused review tests. NCLEX 3500- I only used this for alt item questions and SATA questions. They have excellent rationales which are very thorough. Just google NCLEX 3500 and you'll find it. Its free! LaCharity: Prioritization, Delegation, and Assignment 3rd edition- Interactive Review of Questions. This IS NOT the textbook version. This only contained questions that are in the textbook. Its $20, you can find it on Evolve. YOU MUST USE THIS!!!! Either the textbook or review of questions. End of story!!!! My Study Schedule/Technique This schedule and technique is verryy intense i have to admit that. I'm in my early twenties, unemployed, have no kids, live at home with my mom and grandma, and definitely struggled sticking to this schedule. So, for those of you who have way more responsibilities or are working, I'm not sure if this is do-able, but you can adjust it to your preference! I studied for about 2 and a half months everyday from 8am to 9pm. During the first 3 weeks i read the Kaplan content review guide textbook twice and did no questions. I just focused on understanding the content, which i believe is just as important as doing questions. Additionally, i graduated from an accelerated BSN program so reviewing content was a must for me. After those 1st 3 weeks i started doing 100 questions a day, 50 ques from Kaplan, 25 ques from NCLEX 3500 and 25 ques from LaCharity. I had about 4 notebooks that i used to write down rationales BOTH for correct and incorrect questions. For example my blue notebook was for Kaplan rationales, red notebook for LaCharity rationales etc. I read one or two notebooks a day, this helped engrave what i wrote down in my mind. I also had index cards of important things to remember like stages of labor, order for donning & removing PPE, different insulin types; their onsets, peaks, duration, addison's vs. cushing's, basically anything that i had difficulty remembering. Between 8pm-9pm at night i studied a class of drugs. When i woke up the next morning i studied the same set of drugs for 2hrs. I think this technique made pharm one of my strengths. When i saw med ques on the NCLEX they kinda made me calm down because they were all easy to me even the ones that were SATA. Looking back, i guess i was doing well throughout the exam, i had about 25 SATA, 3 med math ques, 3 ordered response, about 5 meds, and 2 ECG ques. Everything else was priority and delegation. I had one or two safety and infection control questions, they weren't too bad since i studied that section religiously, and i would highly recommend you do so as well! In general, the questions i saw did not remind me of any of the study materials i used, but clearly they helped me tremendously since i passed with the minimum amount of questions. Most of all, the one thing that helped me pass is prayer. I prayed everyday that i would retain what i studied and prayed while i was taking my exam. It's funny how the NCLEX has helped strengthen my faith and relationship with God, because personally i was going through a realllllyyy rough time while preparing for this exam. However, He carried me all along this journey and i owe everything all to HIM! Please feel free to ask me any questions and i wish all of you upcoming test takers the best of luck! You are all in my prayers!!! You CAN and WILL pass!!! :)

Well 2 days and 75 questions later I can say that I am officially a Registered Nurse!!!!! Thank you for all your prayers and well wishes!!! I will post my story when I get down from cloud 9!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you so much Lillian11!!, and thanks for clearing that up for me :)!!

Thanks again everyone! I'm trying to remain calm by reading scriptures and meditating. Keep me in your prayers!

Good Luck!!! Im taking mine on thursday! Think I'm going to review ECG strips now that you mentioned it!