3rd time is a charm-My NCLEX Journey

[achmRN]

These discussion boards helped me when I was struggling with the NCLEX and I wanted to post my journey when I finally passed!

1st time: I just bought a Kaplan book and thought if I read through it and did the questions in it then I should be good. I did that and studied some content. In the meantime I had also moved in with my grandmother who was diagnosed with terminal cancer and was taking care of her. I was also planning a wedding and trying to gradually move my stuff from my hometown to my finane's home 3 hours away. I took 75 questions and flat out did not pass. My professor says I had way too much going on outside of studying and probably had no business trying to take the NCLEX. I think it was that and I didn't have a good understanding of what I needed to do to properly be prepared (I know now that I didn't do enough questions).

2nd time: My grandmother passed, I'm married, and moved into my new home. I feel prepared to give all my attention to studying for the NCLEX. I bought "how to pass the NCLEX" and lippincott Q&A. I read the first book and did questions out of Lippincott. Took 158 questions in 5 hours and failed.

3rd time: I am determined. I found a tutor on wyzant.com and did questions with her once a week via Internet camera. She also decreased my underlying test anxiety by telling me what I was doing wrong in my thought process as I was talking through the question. I found that I was over-analyzing the question and answers and talking myself OUT Of The Right Answer! She also told me a big mistake is doing the questions (like out of lippincott) right out of the book. Take all questions on the computer since you'll be taking your test on the computer. It relieves some test anxiety if you have it. I also bought the 1-month Kaplan Q-Bank online and set a goal of finishing every question. I took all 265 questions in 5.5 hours and passed!

Personal suggestions: Resolve any personal events in your life first before going in and taking the test.

Do as many questions on the computer as you can get your hands on.

Talk out your thought process with a fellow nursig student, professor, or tutor and that could help you (like it did me) pinpoint if you are over-analyzing the question and answers.

Good Luck!

[xuichloe]

congrats for passing NCLEX! i just want to know about the tutor, i failed twice already and still hoping for the best on my third time.

[achmRN]

Hang in there and keep going!

My tutor through Wyzant.com was DeLois. You can't miss her on the site because she has had ton of reviews. She's $45/hour. She'll look at your NCLEX Report and set up a schedule of topics y'all should discuss first. She'll pull questions from her various Q-Banks and makes you talk out your thought process while answering. And she'll tell you what you did that was good and what you did that was not so good. I truly feel like this helped me. Plus she talked about ways to reduce my test anxiety and I think all of that helped for my 3rd attempt.

Let me know if you have other questions!!

[awood924]

Hi there. I was wondering what tutor you used on Wyzant?