Questions between 75 and 265

Hi all,

I know there are a lot of statistics for those who get 75 or 265 questions. I also know there are a lot of myths, but I would like to hear from others' experiences. Please answer the following questions and thanks for your input. Also, feel free to add related questions:

1. How many questions did you get (those who did NOT get 75 or 265)? 75

2. Did you pass? yes

3. Was your last question easy or hard, in your opinion? i think my last question is all about priritization

4. Do you feel you got your last questions right or wrong? i forgot

5. Did your questions in general vascillate from easy to hard, stay pretty difficult throughout or remain relatively easy? i got easy then hard, and plenty of select all that apply, prioritizations and needs follow up questions

6. Did you play any mind games with yourself during the test? For example, determining the level of difficulty of each question and wondering why it got easier, watching the clock or question number, panicking when it didn't shut off at 75, rereading the questions and/or answers over and over again, losing focus or any other forms of panic, etc.

I took boards back in the olden days of paper and pencil, but I teach so I hear from former students frequently about their experiences with boards.

I can say that the number of questions you take doesn't always mean pass or fail. I know that 75 questions signifies "pass" to many students and "265" means "fail" to many. However, I have talked with students who failed with 75 questions and passed with 265, so don't measure your performance by how many questions you take.

The computerized adaptive testing format (CAT) is structured so that once you answer a question correctly, you get a more difficult question. The object is to pass a certain number of questions at a certain level of difficulty or higher in order to successfully pass.Remember, that they can put in a test question that doesn't figure into your pass of fail outcome. The statistics used for NCLEX boggle my mind. I'll admit that I don't understand "logits" and probably won't ever master that concept.

I know it is hard not to focus on the number of questions taken, as I'm sure that I would have done that. The best prep advice that I can offer new grads is:

1. Study your nursing classes for retention, not for regurgitation on a test and forget it later. Study so you'll have recall for NCLEX (then if you want you can forget it after passing.)

2. Do as many questions as possible prior to taking NCLEX. Look at the correct answer and the rationle for it as well as the rationale for the three incorrect answers. Learn from those rationales.

3. Go to the testing center on a trial run prior to testing. See how long your commute will be, and get a grip on directions. That will give you a few less things to worry aobut on testing day.

4. Some of my students don't tell anyone when they are testing, as they don't want all the "attention" given to them by well wishers, as that made them nervous. They told after they took NCLEX that they had taken it, and just asked for good thoughts from people.

5. Don't let horror stories form others impact your NCLEX experience. It is usually not as bad as people say it was, and some just like to tell stories.

6. If you have test anxiety, develop some strategies for dealing with it.

Hope this helps!

1. how many questions did you get (those who did not get 75 or 265)? 75

2. did you pass? yes

3. was your last question easy or hard, in your opinion? i thought it was easy, but it was dealing with a subject that i knew a lot about

4. do you feel you got your last questions right or wrong? right, i think

5. did your questions in general vascillate from easy to hard, stay pretty difficult throughout or remain relatively easy? started out in pure knowledge based questions, then went to prioritization type questions.

6. did you play any mind games with yourself during the test? for example, determining the level of difficulty of each question and wondering why it got easier, watching the clock or question number, panicking when it didn't shut off at 75, rereading the questions and/or answers over and over again, losing focus or any other forms of panic, etc. i just paid attention to what kinds of questions i was getting once i got up into the passing (prioritization) type questions. i know i dropped down into pure knowledge based questions twice and was there for 2-3 questions, then back up into prioritization again. i only did this because there were a number of questions that i wasn't sure about so i kept thinking "ok, i must be doing alright, i'm still in passing questions".

1. How many questions did you get (those who did NOT get 75 or 265)? 91

2. Did you pass? Yes

3. Was your last question easy or hard, in your opinion? It was hard since it was a SATA question.

4. Do you feel you got your last questions right or wrong? I thought I got it wrong because SATA questions are really hard to answer.

5. Did your questions in general vascillate from easy to hard, stay pretty difficult throughout or remain relatively easy? It started with easy questions which I think are purely knowledge base then when I was in the 40th question it went harder.

6. Did you play any mind games with yourself during the test? For example, determining the level of difficulty of each question and wondering why it got easier, watching the clock or question number, panicking when it didn't shut off at 75, rereading the questions and/or answers over and over again, losing focus or any other forms of panic, etc. I concentrated in answering the questions to the best of my ability. I do admit that I got a little bit anxious when the test did not shut off at 75 but I prepared myself to answer all of the 265 questions so I took a brake after the 75th question for 10 minutes and then continued to take the test. I honestly thought that I will fail the test since I heard that a lot of people with 91 questions fail. However, contrary to these myths I passed with 91 questions. Whether a person gets 75 or 265 questions does not guarantee that they will pass or fail the exam. If the computer determines that your ability to be a safe and effective nurse is within the passing standard or below it then the computer shuts off. Also, just always remember that the length of your examination does not indicate whether you will pass or fail the test. I am a living proof of it. Good luck.

In this age of instant everything I wonder if NCLEX wasn't less stress when 750 questions were mandatory over 2 days with paper and pencil and the results arrived by US Mail in about 6 weeks. All we could do was sit on our hands and wait.