repeat test taker - passed the 2nd time :)

4 Posts

hi everyone, wanted to share my NCLEX story to encourage all the repeat test takers out there!!! i remember they brought me a lot of comfort/encouragement when i failed the first time, and was preparing to take it a 2nd time. i want to share what did and did not work for me!

first time taking NCLEX: i failed in 75 questions! YES, i majorly flopped. i did the PVT trick right when i got in the car after my exam, and i got the bad pop-up. i kept trying to convince myself that maybe i was one of the few who the PVT didn't work for, but a few days later... no license on the BRN website, and i got my candidate performance report in the mail. i was only above passing in ONE category. i was shocked that i could do so badly, and had a little bit of post-NCLEX depression. i found it hard to motivate myself to start studying again. thankfully, my family already had a trip scheduled after my NCLEX, so i had a week of just unwinding and spending time with my family. after that, i was busy with a lot of other things in my life, so i took an entire month break after failing just to let my mind rest. what did i use to study/how did i study? i gave myself 8 weeks to study. my school had a 3 day kaplan course, and i used u-world. HOWEVER, i don't think i used u-world to its full advantage. i took 75q exams, but it was always random categories. i wasn't too diligent, and many days i would not be able to do the 75qs and remediate them all in an 8 hour study day. in retrospect, i should have done practice questions by system to learn my content better. also, i should have recognized that i have a pretty short attention span and focusing on remediating 75q exams day in and day out can become really tiring, so i needed to do questions at shorter bursts (15q at a time), and that i should have used different study materials. this is just me, though, everyone learns differently.

second time taking NCLEX: i gave myself 4 whole months to study. yes, i felt pretty behind as many of my nursing school friends had already passed and were getting jobs, but i knew i needed to give myself time so that i could really pass the 2nd time around. after failing so badly, i knew i was extremely weak in my core content and needed to start all over. i knew i couldn't go into the NCLEX the 2nd time around not doing content review again, so i decided to purchase hurst. i know hurst gets mixed reviews, but i personally cannot recommend it enough!!! if you are weak in core content and pathophysiology is hard for you (it's hard for me too, but patho is EXTREMELY important for the NCLEX and for your career as a nurse!) please please please get hurst. it is going to give you the core knowledge you need to pass the NCLEX, and it's going to give you that "nursing brain". they explain difficult nursing concepts in a very accessible way! i went through hurst pretty slowly (i spent 3 weeks just watching the videos), and after i completed all the modules, i made quizlet flashcards for each system. i reviewed these over and over again - i reviewed these flashcards every week for the whole 4 months leading up to my NCLEX. i reviewed them over and over again until i knew them like the back of my hand! now, hurst doesn't cover every system, so for the systems that were not included, i read those chapters in saunders and took notes on them. saunders is also CRUCIAL for knowing your fundamentals. what hurst does not cover is nursing fundamentals like skills/procedures, positioning, etc. so i think it is INTEGRAL to read and take notes on all the fundamentals chapters in saunders. what did i use to practice questions? a mixture of things, which i think was the KEY to me passing the 2nd time around. for the first 3 months, i used different resources to focus on different types of NCLEX questions. i went through many chapters in the lacharity book to focus on prioritization and delegation. i did saunders questions at the end of the chapters of those systems that were not included in hurst, OR systems that were included in hurst but i felt weak in and just wanted to learn more about. i did saunders Q+A questions (the flashcards), specifically the fundamentals questions - i did ALL of them. i did the 4 hurst practice exams that were 125 questions/each. the great thing about hurst practice exams is it breaks down the % you got correct/incorrect in EACH CLIENT NEED CATEGORY exactly like on the nclex (health promotion and maintenance, safety + infection control...) so it shows your weak spots pretty well. when i was scoring below 50% in any category, i would do questions on hurst in tutor mode in those specific categories - for example, i was scoring 30% in health promotion + maintenance and management of care, so i ended up doing about 125q practice questions in EACH of those 2 categories to expose myself more to those types of questions. hurst rationales are excellent in teaching you TEST TAKING STRATEGY. finally, 6 weeks before my exam, i went back to u-world, but i used it very differently from the first time. i did practice questions on tutor mode by SYSTEM, and did very small amounts of questions at a time. most of the time, i would only do 5 questions at time (seriously!) so as not to burn out and have a fresh restart pretty often. i would end up maybe doing 25-30 questions from each system (yeah, not a lot) - but i found even in that small amount, i learned a LOT because my studying was more focused/intentional. the first time i used uworld, i was just focused on how many questions i did, feeling that if i did enough, i would be able to pass. this time, i only completed about 800 q-bank questions, but i learned a lot in those 800 questions because my studying was very focused. other things i did: i watched registerednurseRN videos on youtube for concepts i found difficult to understand. i made flashcards for positioning, safety + infection control (PPE), lab values, cranial nerves and i reviewed these on a WEEKLY basis. the week before my NCLEX, i made sure to practice med calc and know my basics on fetal monitoring and EKG. these are EXTREMELY important for NCLEX and you need to know them. plus, knowing that you've "covered all the bases" will make you feel much more confident on test day. make your flashcards very early on in studying so that you know these like the back of your hand. NCLEX day, take 2: still, with all that preparation, i was extremely nervous the day before and the day of my NCLEX. i tried to relax the day before, and i did - went out to get donuts and coffee, read a book, but i felt restless so i still did some last minute studying. the day of my NCLEX, (i was taking it at 1pm), i had a nice slow morning where i got coffee and breakfast with my dad, and read my bible. but even the 1 hour before i was last minute reviewing my lab values and EKGs to put my mind at ease. my 2nd attempt ended up being 136 questions and taking nearly 4 hours. during the test, i didn't feel that confident and found myself trying to figure out if i was getting an "easy" or "hard" question - i don't recommend doing this, just focus on the question in front of you! i took my time on every question, almost 2 minutes on each one - because i wanted to make sure i was thinking through each question carefully. i wrote on my whiteboard my name and "RN" after it, with an encouraging note saying, "you can do it!" i took a break at question 65 because i felt like i wasn't doing well, and needed to stretch and go to the bathroom. i took a REALLY long time answering question 75 because i was extremely nervous that it was going to end there, but then the exam kept going, and i felt so relieved! after question 75, i really prepared myself to be there for the whole time. during the exam, i was on an emotional rollercoaster. i would feel confident as i got a question i was confident and knew the answer to, and then i would get something random that i hadn't studied that i basically would have to guess on. at around 3.5 hours, i took another break - again, i thought i was gonna be there for awhile, so i made sure to eat a snack, drink some water, and go to the bathroom. after returning from my break, i did about 3 more questions and the exam ended at 136 - i was surprised and not sure how to feel! i didn't think my test was easy, but i also was worried that i wasn't getting "harder" questions, although i did get a decent number of SATAs and priority questions. i went home and kept myself busy hanging out with my family and friends over the next 2 days, and did NOT do the PVT trick - i decided to just wait on official results. 2 days later.... i checked the BRN website, and there my name was!!!! i couldn't believe it. all the hard work had finally paid off, and i could finally put this darn test behind me.

sorry, that was super long, but wanted to share this as an encouragement to people! my biggest tips are:

-do NOT underestimate the NCLEX and overestimate your preparedness. if you struggled through nursing school, give yourself a LOT of time to study for your boards. do not feel pressured to take it 1 month, 2 month, 3 months after graduation like the rest of your peers if you think you need more time. in restropect, i would have given myself 5-6 months to study for the first attempt.

-use multiple resources, but not in their entirety. using it in its entirety would be overwhelming, so use them as supplements to each other.

-remember that not passing this exam the first, second, third, time does NOT mean that you are not fit to be a nurse... it is JUST an exam, and it's hard. if you failed, just try again. i'm convinced the failure will make us much better nurses in the future :)

-have other things in your life other than the NCLEX. for me, i was involved in church and spent time with my housemates and friends. i made sure i ate well and exercised. these things kept me sane and reminded me that there is more to my life than just this darn exam.

hope this was an encouragement to somebody! YOU CAN DO IT :)