MidwestFutureRN

Hello all! I graduated from nursing school in May and I have taken the NCLEX twice now in the state of Iowa (which is the state I attended school in). Now the third time around, I would like to try for my license in IL, which is where I currently live. The IL BON website is SO confusing, so I was just curious if someone could list what all I need to do in order to complete the application for Licensure by Examination. I know there's an ED-NUR form and the actual application, on top of the Pearson Vue fee. Can I do the ED-NUR online? Do I need to do finger prints? So many questions! Thanks!

I took NCLEX yesterday and it took me all the way to 265 as well! I had a lot of priority questions (most of which seemed repeated), 3 med calcs (which kept getting harder), at least 20 SATA's, and a really good amount of meds and delegation. This is my second attempt, I failed in 75 the first time around. Was always a good student in college, but waited too long after graduation to take it (maybe 3 months) and barely studied. Hopefully when I look at the Quick Results tomorrow morning, it will say that I passed!

Hey there! Congratulations on passing! You are going to be a wonderful RN! I took my NCLEX for the second time yesterday (Oct. 1) and I went all the way to 265 questions as well. At 75 questions I was just thinking to myself, "Please shut off!" But nope! It didn't! I had a LOT of priority questions (a lot of which seemed like repeated questions), 3 med calcs (which kept getting harder), at least 20 SATA's, and a good amount of meds and delegation. The first time I took it I failed in 75 questions, but I honestly barely studied for it, so I'm not surprised. I have a Kaplan Integrated Program through my college, so I utilized that as much as possible! I live in IL, but tested for the state of Iowa because that's where I have a job lined up. I looked on the NurSys license verification site and looked myself up, nothing yet. I also looked on the Iowa BON, nothing yet there either. Not sure how long it takes for Iowa to do all that though! I'm hesitant to do the PearsonVue Trick because I don't have an expired Visa card or anything like that. Anyways, I'll look at the Quick Results tomorrow morning and see how it went! I'm making my mom look for me because I'm too nervous! Congrats again on passing the NCLEX and best wishes to you in your nursing career that has begun!

Hey everyone, I took the NCLEX-RN exam this past Saturday and found out this morning I didn't pass. When I initially found out, I was in extreme denial. But as the day has gone on, I've been having feelings of anger and sadness come in waves. However, after talking to some friends and family, I have come to realize that just because I didn't pass the NCLEX the first time around doesn't mean the world is going to end. I can always take it again and give myself another chance at becoming an RN. A little bit of background on my nursing education, how I prepared for the NCLEX, and what happened during my exam. I went to a small school in the Midwest and graduated in May of 2015 with my BSN. My nursing program has always been known to be very prestigious and selective, with the first-time pass rate on the NCLEX consistently being any where from 95-100% within each class the past couple of years. I was never the best student in my class and I know I could have studied more throughout my time in college, but I definitely graduated thinking I had learned so much from my nursing program and prepared to be a Nurse in the "real world". My nursing program used Kaplan and we started using it our sophomore year in the program. At the end of each semester, we would take the lovely Kaplan exams based on what classes we were taking that semester. I would usually get in the 60s, sometimes 70s on these exams, but I know some of my class mates got in the 80s and 90s. Not sure if this is realistic or not! Before graduation, we each took the Secure Predictor exam which I hear is the newer version of the Diagnostic exam. I was told I had a 95% chance of passing NCLEX the first time. Once I graduated, I took the Kaplan review course immediately and found this to be very helpful. However, over the course of the summer, I have to say I barely studied. I'm assuming this is what led me to fail the NCLEX. I would do some Q-Bank questions here and there, but that was all. As for my actual exam, my test shut off at 75 questions, which makes me feel like I shouldn't even be a Nurse at this point. I had a fair amount of SATA questions, maybe 6. I had a lot of prioritization questions, but no delegation of anything of that sort. I had one calculation question that was really easy. Other than that, I've tried to block most of this exam out of my memory. I felt like I was getting some more basic questions in the middle of the exam (i.e. what would you look for after this surgery), so I was getting that feeling that I didn't pass. Sure enough, I ended up failing. I guess my question is... Now what? Obviously, I'll need to study my butt off so that when I take this exam again in 45 days I'll be 100% ready. But I was thinking about working as a CNA in the mean time. I don't have my CNA license because my nursing school didn't require it, but since I graduated with my BSN, it's hard for me to believe that it would be difficult to get this. I just need to have some source of income in the mean time, since the job opportunities I had lined up will more than likely go down the tube now. If any of you nurses out there have any tips or even just words of encouragement, I'd appreciate anything at this point! Us nurses have to stick together! Thanks for reading until the end!