Running out of time on the RN NCLEX 2019 what I wish I knew before taking the NCLEX

[RNnurse]

I’m here to share my story of what I wish I knew before taking the 2019 RN NCLEX. I was well educated on how the NCLEX works as I’ve taken the LPN NCLEX 5 years ago and passed with the minimum amount of questions. What I didn’t know was that you could run out of time on the NCLEX and still pass! I promised if I passed the NCLEX I would share my story to educate others on what I wasn’t told in school or on my HURST review and give people hope as they waited what feels like endless hours for their pass or fail. I never thought after clicking number 75 would I see number 76 and my heart sank as I’m sure anyone else’s would. Soon number 80 then 100 then 150...surely This would shut off soon...number 180 then 200...we’re doing this thing aren’t we...I’m about to get the whole test...my 6 hours of allowed time is now at 45 minutes and I was officially starting to freak out. If I get the whole test there’s NO WAY I can finish in 45 minutes at the pace I’m going. I reminded myself it could shut off at ANY TIME and to calm down and continue to give my all to every single question. I then reached number 230 and had 10 minutes left! The only thing that crossed my mind was if I am getting all the questions and I don’t answer them all I must fail!! Who has had 6 hours for THAT many questions and NOT finished!! I made a last minute decision and started looking for key words and picking an answer! And that’s what I did until I reached 247 questions and it TIMED OUT! That was it! DONE! I was devastated, exhausted, and angry. Nothing could hold back my tears as I looked at the lady in the booth and started crying in my hands. This POOR woman couldn’t be nicer after she pulled me out! When I left I had about 20 missed calls from my parents and fiancé thinking I was dead! They had no idea the test could be 6 hours because I had no idea it could be 6 hours! Surely I wouldn’t get all the questions! Surely I wouldn’t need the MAX amount of time! And SURELY I wouldn’t RUN OUT OF TIME! I was afraid to google what would happen if I ran out of time but I did it anyway and was SHOCKED to see what happens! If you run out of time that doesn’t mean you fail!!! Apparently they take the last 60 questions and grade your test off that! If you drop below the standard by ONE question though, you fail. Well, if being knocked down wasn’t bad enough I felt like I just got slapped in the face. I started GUESSING at the end because of the lack of time! If I wasn’t sure I failed before I was CONVINCED I failed now. When I got home I got the courage to google peoples stories and allnurses was the only thing keeping me slightly sane. My classmates who took the NCLEX had their names posted on the BON the next day. I took my test on a Friday and all weekend I checked the BON and I had no RN license. I was in a depression the entire weekend prepared myself to see the fail. Sunday night I decided to get the confirmation over with and paid to see my quick results. PASS! I PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now I was hysterically crying for a different reason!! 6 hours, 247 questions, and RUNNING OUT OF TIME and I PASSED!!!!!!!!!! I’m sharing my story because i feel like this information is CRUCIAL! I wish I knew you could run out of time and only the last 60 questions are graded! That doesn’t mean the last 60 questions need to all be select all that apply it just means you can have ANY drop to the lowest difficulty! I didn’t have many select all that apply questions that I remember at the end but I did answer one and then get another one that the test timed out and shut off on. There weren’t many stories and YouTube’s about the test shutting off but I read every story I could. I promised to share my story and that’s what I’m doing. DON’T give up! DON’T loose hope! TAKE YOUR TIME! TAKE THOSE BREAKS!!!!!!! DRINK SOME WATER!!!!! EVERY. QUESTION. COUNTS if you run out of time! Take the test as if that’s going to happen to you! And take a deep breath and get your mind off of it if you just took it and it timed out! Good luck, everyone!!!!!

[dianah, ASN]

Moved to NCLEX forum. Thank you for all your thoughts and tips!

[Nursefaith18]

Thank you so much for sharing, similar situation on yesterday so I’ll keep the faith even more because of you:) congrats and god bless!

[LPNtoRN2019CTJ]

I actually feel the same exact way you are feeling. Yesterday after the exam all I could think about is I didn’t finish! At the very end I was more focused on finishing than giving my all like I did at beginning of exam. Once I got home I started search topic to figure out did I fail because of incompletion, and to my surprise I ran into the ROOT rule. At this moment, I pretty much knew I failed because I rushed at the end. It would surprise me if I get a passing result in 2 days (quick result). Now that I am aware of the ROOT rule, I will take my time with each question and not pay attention to the number of questions Lastly, I will take all breaks as well being time don’t matter. Once the 95% certainty rule can not be determined, the ROOT rule kick in! The rule states when your time run out the exam is analyzed by the last 60 questions ??‍♀️ I am prepared to pay another $200 to Pearson and $100 to TBON!

[RNnurse]

It was the worst feeling ever and no one truly understands unless they’ve experienced it!! Good luck to both of you and take a deep breath! I don’t know why we’re not prepared in school for this possibility! Keep me updated!! ????

[Shanequa Jones]

Did you do the PEARSON trick after your test? I timed out at 200 questions and got the bad pop up! But was told I may get that and to keep faith because OF THE R.O.O.T rule ! The Pearson trick may not work in my case.

[RNnurse]

No, I convinced myself I failed so there was no point. I also saw the pop up might not be accurate and didn’t want to deepen my depression. The only thing I checked was the BON because if my license didn’t appear I told myself it was 0.001% possible it wasn’t uploaded due to the weekend. I fully anticipated to see a fail when I paid for quick results. I only did it to confirm my fail so if anyone asked me the next day I could pretend I changed my testing date.