"How do I compare..?" -My NCLEX story

[ohhai]

Summary: I passed my NCLEX the first time with 75 questions using only Hurst and NCSBN. I studied "seriously" for two weeks. I would like to share my experience with you readers as well as give my personal advice and reflection. Note: these comments and statements were not endorsed by the listed test review services.

My background: detailed info will be shared in a separate future thread. But I just want to give a quick rundown that focuses more on preparation of NCLEX itself. (I assure you I was not a stellar student-- I failed and had to retake 4th semester nursing school and have mostly C averages)

Why did I choose Hurst?: I wanted something laid out for me. I know that I have difficulty making my own schedule and guidelines. Where do I begin? What do I study? How do I study? I needed something to tell me what to do. I felt that by being familiar with content, I could use that to my advantage in test taking. Having a foundation on understanding content could possibly boost my confidence. With the whole "money back" guarantee, I was using it as a security blanket in some way. I liked how organized, easy to understand, and condensed Hurst presented the material.

I chose the live classroom option for Hurst. I thought that by being in a live environment, it could help me recall the lectures better or remember it more because I got to interact with my classmates. I graduated school in December. I took the 3 day live review course in mid December. I had a long delay of procrastination-- not opening the book at all for weeks.

My Hurst studying process: Then it was two weeks til NCLEX time. (Hurst book says: "It should take you a minimum of 2 to 3 weeks to learn it without a doubt or hesitation". I took it literally and tried to convince myself 2 weeks was okay... First week, I spent time reading the Hurst book only once. I read slowly and took notes. I watched the additional content lecture videos and filling out the notes that were not shown in live class. (I did not rewatch the videos over live lecture content). The second week I spent doing all the qpractice exams.

For Hurst's qpractice exams, they say " people who get 84/125 (67%) usually pass the NCLEX".

My results:

test 1: 80/125 (64%)

test 2: 83/125 (66.4%)

test 3: 74/127 (58.3%)

test 4: 81/128 (63.3%)

test 5: 86/125 (68.8%)

test 6: 82/125 (65.6%)

as you can see...I only scored at/above 84 only once in my practice exams.

I took the tests within a span of 4 days. Even if I didn't score near the goal of 84 in my first test, I still took the other exams and read all the rationales. Then, after all the practice tests were done, I glanced at the 5th day pdf handount materials online. To be honest I didn't look at all the extra documents. Only ones I thought were important to me.

NCSBN: NCSBN are the people who actually make the NCLEX questions. The job company that hired me offers NCSBN review for new grad hires (they paid for it). It didn't hurt to accept the additional review. I thought why not give it a try to get an idea how questions look on the exam. I used NCSBN as supplemental learning. I just did the qbank practice questions. I scored an average of 60-70% out of the 10 questions batches. I only did a total of 450 NCSBN questions. Halfway through the questions, I actually just stopped "trying" to answer it in a serious exam setting.

For time constraints, I selected random answers just to quickly "see" what the real answer and rationales were. I then proceeded to reread the answers. Was the actual answer an answer that I would have picked? Was there another answer that stood out to me that I could have chosen as the wrong answer-- and --why-- did I gravitate towards a wrong answer/ what can I do to stop that thinking the next approach?

Test day: It.. was hard. I felt like Hurst and NCSBN questions were more easier to deal with than the NCLEX questions. I was unsure. It shut off at 75 questions. I remember having a minimum of at least 6 select all that apply questions... But I read how other people had 9237928 select all that apply. I don't remember how many I had. I didn't keep track of all my exhibit and drag and drop questions, but it seemed like a lot less than people who had a lot and felt like they "passed". There were a lot of questions where I felt like I was -never- 100% confident about. I had to break down the answers and think about talking through what were the trends and patterns of the responses/ the reactions/ the outcomes/ pick what sounds the most critical or dangerous. Some never felt right to me, but I had to move on. I also was trying to think about my practice questions and how I could use the [trends/patterns] as a memory experience to tackle a new question I have not seen before.

Post-test anxiety:

After making an account on allnurses and reading post nclex experience responses... I felt like I was descending into more madness and despair. I didn't get 2378329 select all that apply responses/exhibit/drag and drop. I didn't study 15 hours a day for 1+ months. There were some days where I only studied 2-4 hours and other days I several hours in a study block. I only read the hurst core content material once. I only did a total of 1200 questions (which included practice exam questions). I felt like I failed. I felt like the process of what I was doing the entire time (my outlook, my preparation and studying process, my exam responses)- set me up for failure. I resented myself so much. I told myself... if only.. if only I had studied at least an extra week (3 weeks instead of 2), I would have felt more confident and more sure of myself.

I tried to researched trends of what people made on their kaplan and hurst qtest results vs their nclex result and how I compared to them. Was I meeting the passing standard? I looked back at all my practice test performances and felt like I was below the recommended passing standard. I felt very discouraged and was doubting whether or not I was prepared.

"So how do I compare to...?" The answer is, you don't. I am trying to use my experience to tell you guys all this. If you are in the habit of comparing yourself to others like me, please don't stress about it so much. I thought I had to do things a certain way - perform a certain way to have a guaranteed success or at least make myself feel better. I was trying to look at the discussion boards for inspiration and guidance, but what I did was try to compare myself to other people and it discouraged me and made me doubt what I was doing.

I've always had low esteem and low confidence in my capabilities. I felt like no matter what I did, it wasn't good enough. I was also scared to face my fears-- thus causing that horrible procrastination experience. The first week of studying, I didn't have much worry. I thought that as long as I was doing at or above 60%, it was decent for me. The last few days of studying was when my nerves hit me and I kept second guessing myself.

I've learned that you should do things that make you feel comfortable-- like in a safe, more prepared, realistic manner and not worry about how other people are in comparison to you. There will be people that study differently and will have different outcomes. People will receive varying types and number of questions on the nclex, but don't let things like that measure how your performance will be.

I am one of those people... who didn't think I could do it. But I passed. Remind yourself and know that you are smarter than you think. It is better to think about having "false confidence" and using that to help you answer those "few crucial answers" correctly rather than embark with fear and have that mess up your whole exam taking experience.

And if you don't believe in yourself, believe in me who believes in you!

***Tips***

Please do yourself a favor and give ample time to study for the nclex (I recommend 3 weeks at least lol) so you won't have... regrets. Even if you find that you may have failed, it is better to end up failing with hard work and appreciated effort than fail and have regrets that you could have done more.

If you come across a question that you can't answer, just try to talk it out recalling learned, trends/patterns/core knowledge. Read how each answer relates to the question and the "intent" of the effect.

You are a special and unique individual. Even if you don't think it... you -do- have the capability and potential to succeed.

[nurse_w91]

Can you give us an example of the trends that you looked for??

[loveSBK]

This post is awesome . Thank you so much. I take NCLEX soon and I'm always looking for success stories for people who has used the same resources as me and did the same as me as far as questions go. Ultimately, everyone is different and things work different for everyone. I'm scared but I'm feeling confident that I will pass. Thanks so much for your post!!!!

[ohhai]

Can you give us an example of the trends that you looked for??

just things like how answers relate.

Example 1: Four answers could have the intended effect of either making something increase or decrease, fast or slow. Which three are the same and which one is different? I Chose the different answer. I only did this approach if I had no clue or alternate strategies to do before that.

Example 2: group systems or key words together. In core content, there are a lot of things that have trends and repetitions. Organ systems will have certain labs or fluids associated with them. Calcium+bone+blood, aldosterone+salt+water . If you you can see the relation of it, you can use one part of it to help you determine an answer. A question could ask for something that contains or might affect "X"-- it may be hidden deep in the context and not spelled out. If one answer has "X + Y + Z" as an answer and another answer had "A + B + C", I would choose the "X + Y + Z" answer because that answer part has "X" in it. The question was looking for something dealing with "X". Does that make sense?

maybe you don't have time to know what they do together or how they exactly work on a pathology level, but to know that they are at least related and have an inverse or direct relationship can be better than nothing.

questions will always be worded differently, but the what remains constant are the drug effects, signs, symptoms, lab critical effects etc.

Example 3: I went with my gut. Even if I didn't know the correct definition of label, I chose something that sounded familiar. I remember in nursing school, some signs and symptoms were "red flags" and meant a danger to the client, so I tried to pick out the answers that were more critical to the client. I try to recall what those words and pictures were. Google "nursing disorders cartoons". I don't know if you have seen those before. That might help forming a picture memory with diagnoses /symptom words.

Example 4: this is just a whim approach for me when having no idea whatsoever. But I remember in nursing school , some teachers would say things like, "well if you don't know the answer ... Just pick _____ because that usually could be the answer seen on the test".

_____ could mean any answer.. I was using the idea the teachers have answering specific question example that students felt stumped on, they said to just pick their recommended answer if you see it again related to that certain question/answer.

Some questions you can't really prepare for Or know. All you can do is try to narrow it down

[CSULB_RN_GRAD]

This is such a great post! Like you, I've pretty much utilized Hurst as well. And I must say it's a great review! Thanks for all of the tips too! I take my exam next week and anxiety is gradually hitting me.

[nurse_w91]

Thank you sooo much for such a detailed reply.

My content base is good, i just feel i need more critical thinking...

[CSULB_RN_GRAD]

Thank you sooo much for such a detailed reply.

My content base is good, i just feel i need more critical thinking...

SAME HERE! Are you taking the NCLEX soon?

[18nurse]

Thanks for this post. I test Friday and this has gave me a sense of relief.

[nurse_w91]

Yes Im taking it next week 😁

[CSULB_RN_GRAD]

Yes Im taking it next week ������

Me too! Good luck to you! :)