wendyevans9876

Many shimmering, glimmering thanks everyone! :) @Shiningstar123 - I didn't bother with the PVT and just waited the longest 48 hours of my life for the Pearson Vue quick results. lol.

@JustBeachyNurse - my thoughts exactly!

I'm really sorry catmom713. Do what is best for you, you are the best judge of your testing abilities. If you are American educated, then chances are they have statistically high 85% chance of passing. I was internationally educated, so Kaplan was greatly lacking in information. I even had to use LaCharity. If you are stressed during the exam, take deep breathing techniques. It helped it a lot because my heart was pounding throughout the test. There must be a way to control your anxiety. What if you are already a nurse? How will you deal with everyday stressful situation? What if you saw a hemorrhaging patient, a charred burned paitent, amputated body parts? Will you be then taken to the emergency department often because you cannot handle the stress? You read a forum statement that you felt was not favorable, then you were taken to the ED? Good luck and all the best on your next NCLEX attempt.

What propelled you to go into a nursing career when you are not able to handle your stress and have to be taken to the ER? You are aware I'm sure that the nursing job itself is stressful - patients you will be dealing with are in a life and death situation. If you can't even handle a simple NCLEX exam, how more will you handle caring for a dying or critical patient??? Ugh!!

I totally agree!

What were your Uworld overall average like? Were you getting sub-par scores like low 50s?? If so, that's probably why you failed. I suggest you re-do Uworld until you are getting a 60% or better average --> without looking up answers. I have done Kaplan Qbanks and did 10 rounds of the Kaplan Qbank, typed 100s of pages and still failed at 265 questions. My score on Kaplan Qbank was 65%. When I did UWorld, with final average 64%, the NCLEX looked amazingly easy. I passed without any distress on my 2nd attempt. You will be astonished at your improvement and you will even PASS...... I also have test anxiety, I even nearly vomited on my exam from the stress during my first attempt. However, my test anxiety got better on my second attempt because I was beyond prepared with UWorld. UWorld relieves the stress. If you feel good Kaplan, go ahead. But most likely you'll be failing because Kaplan rationales are lacking a significant amount of information. It also lacks critical thinking. Enjoy doing a highly probable 4th attempt at the NCLEX!!!

My personal opinion is that Kaplan sucks ass. I made the crucial mistake of using mainly Kaplan on my first attempt. My cousin who also used Kaplan exclusively failed as well. After using UWorld, I passed on my second attempt with 75 questions. I also had 43 SATA on my second attempt which were super duper easy. SATAs didn't even faze me. UWorld really prepares you. I killed the NCLEX on second try and it was absurdly easy. The thing with UWorld is that you have to really know it. If you're getting above or equal 60% average, an honest 60% (not looking up answers), there is high probability you will pass. Although there are many who had below 60% and passed. Basically, just know UWorld like the back of your hand and your NCLEX exam will be successful.

Thank you so much! My notes were directly copied from UWorld questions and rationales. As much as I want to share them, it wouldn't be fair or possibly even illegal to disseminate UWorld's intellectual property on-line. Just do Uworld and take notes. Taking your own notes is actually a good thing! I remembered information better since I remembered physically typing them. Best wishes on your exam!:)

I'm so sorry my UWorld already expired March 24th. I would have given it if my account was still active.

Thanks! Yes, I only used UWorld and PDA.

Guys, I can't believe it, I passed NCLEX-RN on my second attempt. ? Here's what I did on my NCLEX journey: 1st Attempt:SaundersDid 1550 questions 3 times and took lots of notes. Kaplan QbankFinished all the questions, scored 65% average, typed out hundreds of pages of notes and memorized notes 10 times over. Kaplan QTrainers 4 to 6Took it few days before exam with average score 61% I studied assiduously. I dedicated my days, afternoon, nights to NCLEX. I was thrilled to reach the desired "passing" score Kaplan recommends. Exam Day: December 8, 2015On the exam day, however, my NCLEX exam felt nothing like Kaplan. 15 questions into the NCLEX, my heart was pounding as I was guessing my way with each question. What a nightmare! It was as if I can almost hear Beethoven's 5th Symphony playing in the background. The exam churned out 265 questions, in which time I was no longer critically thinking from the panic and anxiety. I took breaks during the exam, but the breaks did nothing to relieve the stress. I felt like vomiting after finishing exam. A week later, I get my CPR results: 1 above passing, 1 below passing, the rest near passing. Failed! ? 2nd Attempt:Clearly, Kaplan did not work for me. So I decided to change my game plan. This time around I used LaCharity PDA and got a 3 month and 1 week subscription to UWorld. LaCharity PDA:This book is very helpful and a needed study supplement. I am foreign educated, so I had no clue about delegation LPN, UAP etc. I did this book 2 times, typed notes up to Chapter 9. I did not bother with the case studies in the back. UWorld:I only finished 1475 questions out of the 1840 questions with an overall average of 64%. My initial average was 56% and climbed very slowly to 64%. I was plugging in 10-12 hours a day studying for 3 and a 1/2 months. I would do a 75-questioned exam and then type out 100-paged notes (using font size 20 times new roman). I only did 75 questions every 5-6 days, but spent the majority of the time typing notes and memorizing the notes. For this, I did lots of active learning. I would close my typed notes and recite them out loud from memory. My Dad would check if my memory work was correct. I would memorize each 100-paged notes 5 times until perfect. As I do not have photographic memory - doing this helped me enormously. I retained information better and had faster recall. I had about 1300 pages of memorized notes. I went over all of them one last time 3 days before the exam. Reading the Qbank is only passive learning, I feel. Give the voluminous information, it is impossible to retain information just by mere reading. Also, cranking out 200 questions a day on the Qbank is not ideal. I believe in quality over quantity. I didn't even get to finish the Qbank. Exam Day: March 30, 2016My exam had 75 questions. 43 of my questions were SATA, 3 exhibits, 5 priority questions, the rest multiple choice, no math, 2 pharma questions. I thought the NCLEX exam was ridiculously easy. For over 3 months of grinding away at UWorld, the real NCLEX looked like child's play. There was not one question on the NCLEX that wasn't discussed in UWorld. UWorld discussed all topics to death and in such intricate detail. Even the UWorld SATA's were infinitely harder than the NCLEX SATA. By my 75th question, I was 100% sure the exam would shut down. Just got my exam quick results: PASSED Okay, for those of you taking it a second time or more. I hope this helps. Do not give up and be willing to put in the long hours of study. Your NCLEX success is possible. ?

62% in UWorld, that's pretty high percentage....okay, now I'm kind of scared to take the test. I guess high UWorld percentage is not a guarantee to pass the test. Did the test feel like UWorld or would you say UWorld was harder?

Sorry, it was a typo. Okay, I get it. Many people in this forum say the NCLEX looks or feels like UWorld. Others say UWorld was harder than the real NCLEX. But I suppose each individual's experience is unique. It is wrong to generalize.

Oh really? I'm using UWorld now. Finished 900 questions with 60% current average. I did LaCharity 2 times for reinforcement. Does this mean I'll have to rely on my ESPN to get the right answer? Great, wonderful, taking the exam in a few weeks. Scared!

Yeah what happened scaredpotentialNURSE? Did you pass??! I've been following this thread.