...so I'm (re)taking the NCLEX at the end of the week. I've read a lot of the advice on this board, and thanks for your replies.

So I have another question...What did you (or wish you did) write on your board before the test even began? Labs, memorization tools, etc.

What did you use? What should I use?

Thanks.

I was gonna dump my brain but when I got in there, it all went out the window so I wrote " Dear God, if your not too busy..." The tester looked at me when she picked up the board and said, "haven't seen that one in a while, was He busy?" to which I replied, "I don't think so..." She laughed and I went on my way. Really, in my opinion, if you still need to write things down, you need more practice. You have to trust yourself and just take it and smile. :) Good luck and may God be with you that day...

I planned to do the same...write down every lab value I could think of the moment I got there...instead I wrote down:"Today I start living the life I imagined".

its something in the room that just erases your mind as you enter....

I used my board to keep track of the number of questions i thought I had right, the number of questions I had to flat-out guess on, and the number of questions I was able to narrow down to a 50/50 chance. Based on the number of questions I knew plus the 50/50 questions, I was pretty sure I passed. I was the first person in my class to NOT go home crying.

I also kept track of how many medication questions I got (15).

i wrote "GOOD LUCK. just relax"

then i wrote all the lab values which i did not used

and then started to keep track of SATA and meds

in the middle of my test i took a mental break. I notice I was sitting in seat #2. So I wrote on my board, "lucky #2"

I passed my NCLEX RN with 75 questions, 10sata, and 15 meds.

i wrote "i can do this" like 8x or something. i gave up in the middle of my test though. i knew i was doing so bad that it would stop at 85 and it did. i thought i was so ready and got it on lock and then the questions came and i never felt so stupid. *sigh*

anyhow, i agree with itsmyturn, if you have to write your values and stuff, it kinda means you're not so ready to take the test yet. good luck!

I didn't use my scratch board. Never knew I could write stuff to remember on it.

Well I took the test and passed, not sure (doubt) if the scratch board played any role in that.

I put a few of Erickson's stages, Maslov's pyramid, and then an elimination pattern I use for prioritization questions.

Up top I wrote

"relax"

"one question at a time"

"I said relax"

"you can do this"

in that order in the top left.

Thanks for all of your responses...and goodbye to the NCLEX forum. Phew.