Should I be worrying about NCLEX-RN?

[amc248, MSN, APRN, NP]

I graduated in May, magna cum laude, with my BSN. My mom is a nurse, and she basically told me not to study. Now I'm four days away, and I'm finally reviewing labs and doing practice questions with kaplan. I did the kaplan review course back in May. My diagnostic was a 65%, but then my readiness went down to 61.1%. Odd. Anyways, I'm freaking out. I don't know if I should be or not. I'm just afraid that I'll be the unlucky one who gets all the select all that apply and random off the wall questions. I probably shouldve studied more, and prior to the week before, but I can't go back in time now. I dont know. I guess I just need some advice and thoughts from anyone who is willing to share. Thanks alot. - Ashley

[anashenwrath, ASN, RN]

Well, you should have studied more. Yes.

HOWEVER, your scores aren't that bad at all. Above passing. even the readiness. But if those are the only tests you did (ie, you didn't do any qbanks, etc), then you don't really have a great sense of your strengths and weaknesses.

One thing to bear in mind though, SATAs and off-the-wall questions are good. They mean you are getting high-level questions! If you're just getting basic care and safety questions, then you're not at passing level.

Good luck! Those two scores seem fine to me!

[BloomNurseRN, ASN, BSN, RN]

There are certainly people that don't really study for the NCLEX that pass just fine. Heck, a classmate of mine got his ATT 5 days after our last final and scheduled his NCLEX for the very next day. The day following his exam was our graduation ceremony and he walked already an RN. Of course there are also people that don't study and don't pass. Most people would rather be over-prepared than under-prepared but since you're past that we won't dwell on it.

I took the Kaplan course and your readiness test is at a place that says you have a good chance of passing NCLEX on the first attempt. Reviewing rationales and lab values couldn't hurt or maybe focusing on alternate style questions (as Kaplan has that option). Good luck!

[srandall1492]

You and I are in the same boat...magna cum laude and BSN- congrats! Only difference is my graduation was yesterday; however, I haven't taken a nursing course since May! I am not proud to say it...but I only studied for 2 days. I got my ATT Monday, studied Tuesday and Wednesday, graduation Thursday, and NCLEX TODAY! I believe that you can do it. We didn't get our GPA's by guessing through school, we know our stuff. So, you know your stuff...be confident...stay calm...ask for the ear plugs! You can do it! Good luck to you!

P.S. There is really no way to study for the SATA...you have NO idea where they are coming from :/ Don't let yourself freak out because you know you guessed on some of them, a part of me feels like I guessed on all of them....but those guesses had to come from somewhere!