Sharing my experience...from A foreign graduate.

[AussieRNinHI]

I had my exam today. I now feel what most of you guys felt after sitting it. I sat mine in Sydney, Australia. I got 75 questions, and have no idea whether i passed or not. I found it difficult! , ok to start off with, then got harder, then maybe a couple of easy ones, then harder again!!! It took me 1.5 to 2 hours to do 75 questions!! (OMG!!) i kept looking at the number of questions left, and when i was in the 70's i wondered whether it would stop at 75 and it did!!! but if it did go further i knew i was on the right track. I must have read the questions 4-6 times before choosing an answer! I had mostly prioritization, handful of drugs, maybe 3 or 4, delegation, 1 calculation and 2 or 3 SATA. and which patient you would put in what room questions, maybe 2 or 3.. It was really not what i expected, especially from the practice questions i had done. I was doing the Saunders practice questions on the disc and was getting 65 - 69 % , also the old kaplan 2004-2005 disc that accompanied the txt book, i got 120/180, and i thought was really easy, i also did a set of lippincott questions from the disc and goodness knows how many more..but i felt i bombed , because i felt like was just making guesses... i dont know... so here i am.. was going to look at the text book to see if i can recall any of the questions, but i cant even recall what they were!,

All i know is its been a long wait for me, to get to where i am now, and that is being able to sit this exam, have mixed feelings, keep telling myself that, there is no use worrying about it, as you just have no idea how you went....sigggghhhhh..

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

Good luck

[jessieka]

I bet you are a great student. May i ask how long you prepare for this exam... as in how much time you study a day and so on... please share your study tips... thanks alot.

[AussieRNinHI]

Hi Jessica, thanks for the post! its been awhile now since i sat the NCLEX exam, and hve been working as a traveller nurse, right now in AK. i have posted some tips for the NCLEX exam, you might have to do a search on it..ie, search for my postings and it should list it...well i think!

Anyway, i read saunders, memorised labs, and studied basic drugs. I then, just 2 months before the exam, i did lots of questions everyday..around 100-200, and made sure i understood the rationales, even the ones i had right. Hope this helps..oh and also make sure you familiarise yourself with the different strategies to use when answering questions. its all about critical thinking..