PCUpossum

It sounds like you have a local hospital nearby. Have you considered looking into Nurse educator positions there? A position where you keep bedside RNs current in their CE credits, and ACLS certification current, etc,

I'm 43 and almost 1 year out since I graduated and passed boards. I wasn't even the oldest in my class. It is NOT too late. I like to think my previous work history and life experience gave me a different perspective and I brought that perspective to class and clinicals.

8 hours a day may lead to burnout. It depends on your endurance. I never had to deal with test anxiety, and I was solid as a student, so anything more than a few hours a day exhausted me. How much you study will depend on how long it takes you to get through your goal number of questions, and reading through the rationales. Take breaks. And 24-48 hours before your test, dont study. I burned out early and didt look at anything for a week before I tested, and I don't recommend that. So be careful of burn out. And one more thing I forgot to include: When reading through rationales, I would take notes. I had different sections of notes: drugs, disease processes, pediatrics/maternity, etc, and would write notes on any questions I was unsure about, and also study those little notes. Another friend of mine did the same thing and one question on her NCLEX she got right b/c she remembers writing down the disease in her notes.

You know you're a nurse when your unit keeps a chocolate stash in a clean bedpan and no one bats an eye when stealing a few pieces

I took boards this past June, and my school used the Kaplan program. They built the fees into our semester payments and so we had the advantage of using it regularly throughout our education. If you can get your hands on a Kaplan review book, that should help. I can't imagine that the review book would be more than $50?? In addition, I also used NCLEX Mastery app (about $30?) on my iPad. It felt more like a "game" in that I wasn't always with my nose in my book, and I could soak in my tub ("relaxing") while studying. Finally, I also used the LaCharity Prioritization and Delegation book, and I've seen it recommended many times. I would call it a must have. Commitment is key. Set yourself a goal of 50-100 questions daily. Always READ THE JUSTIFICATIONS to why the answer is correct. It will give you information to apply to other questions, and help you figure out either why you are missing questions or if you got the question correct, if your reasoning was right. If the NCLEX is scheduled in a town more than an hour away, I would consider staying some place close to the testing center, and find the center before you go in, this way you are not getting lost and increasing your stress levels the day of the test. Eat some breakfast,it can be a long test.

I did in fact share my first nursing job on FB, as did most of my nursing school classmates. In fact, many of us were hired by the same facility. It's nice to see familiar faces at work. Most of my FB friends are people I know in real life, and have watched me go through the trials of nursing school, so I had to celebrate virtually with them!