140 Q, NCLEX forum posts, Cali vrs another state, study rec., & pass with CONFIDENCE!

i am certainly glad that i did not find this site (as great as it is) before taking the nclex. in fact, i happened across this site, only because i typed in the google search engine an hour and 1/2 after taking my exam: "140 nclex questions + pass rates". i will say i felt a whole lot better reading some of these post... many that made me laugh, especially after just taking the exam myself. i want to say, that i can imagine the stress that some of the "diagnostic" approaches to the exam would have caused me to have experienced if i had read some of these posts before the exam.

i'll be honest, i was ready for the nclex. i highly recommend joann zerwekh and jo carol claborn's illustrated study guide for the nclex-rn exam (6th ed.), with cd rom (inexpensive on ebay/amazon). my best advice: i hit every one of my weaknesses!! yes, i took drexel 3 day course (i had the money & oppurtunity and i feel it only helped me understand the nature of the nclex questions and provided a "crash" course review that i am not certain i really needed right before graduation as the course was voted by class majority to take and get over with asap).

i graduated with my bsn in alabama and went back to my home state to take the exam. to my surprise (and my heart goes out to all californian test seekers/takers) 4 weeks had passed where i was studying as if to take the nclex on every monday...thinking "what is taking so long!?". i had classmates that graduated dec. 14 and taking the exam on jan. 10 and passing by the 12 of january! i found myself registering for the alabama nclex where i too, got my att, test date, and have passed the nclex all within two weeks (well done alabama).

but the "dissecting out" the exam in some of these posts really made me feel a lot better after my exam. certainly couldn't imagine before hand, because i am an overthinker and my exellent imagination prooves that i would be freaking out while taking and analyzing the exam, after reading some of these posts, hands down.

my best of best advice: i was so bloody angry at cali for not getting it together fast enough (by the way, i got the cali att and temp lic together which does us no good, just one day before flying out to alabama) which means my focus was: "i'm going to take that exam one way or another!"... hence i had a positive experience. i truly can not stress how important your attitude is and it's affect on your ability to perform and endure the dreaded wait for results.

i am one of those few (according to reading many posts) that thought the nclex was easy and i am saying that i walked out of there knowing i passed. but then came the calls from other exam takers.... saying "it was soooo hard and omg"... and then my feeling of.... hummm, what if i didn't pass because the test was trying to help me with easier questions? (all normal feelings s/p nclex) and the story unfolds from the above mentioned.

fact is, i was ready. the worst case secenario... is that i'll take it again. don't get me wrong... i was scrapping the whole way through nursing school, with an instructor telling us... you won't pass the nclex with c's and i had many test anxiety moments (no kidding). i was determined and hence, i was a little confused as to why i felt so comfortable when approaching my test center. but then again, it paid off.

spend some time eating turkey... meaning to relax! and keep a positve attitude (no need for good luck... cause you are going to do just fine)

:typing