Some thoughts on the NCLEX

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Hi guys. This is my first topic on allnurses. I noticed a lot of people scan over all of the NCLEX success stories in order to try to glean some little nugget that will push them over the passing line when they take their own. You see other people posting about how they've purchased every NCLEX trainer known to man and run through hundreds of questions per day, for months. Still other people are re-reading their entire set of nursing books looking for the magic "click" that happens when you KNOW you're ready to take it.

I've recently passed the NCLEX myself. My exam shut off at the 75 question mark. Personally, I never felt like I was ready to take this test. But also, I never felt like I -wasn't- ready. I walked away from the test a little mad because the palm reader guy was rude, but I didn't walk away with a sinking feeling like I'd just completely bombed it.

Some thoughts:

-When I received my ATT, I immediately scheduled my NCLEX. I figured I would get it done while the horrors of nursing school were still fresh in my mind. I suggest you do the same, as soon as you can. The date was 2 or 3 weeks after graduation due to earlier test dates being booked up. I would have scheduled the day after if I could have though.

-Don't buy every NCLEX trainer you can find. It's a pick-your-poison thing. NCLEX trainer books and programs are big money business, so these people will put out questions as FAST as they can so they can be the biggest NCLEX company out there, with little regard for quality. Case in point being the Lippincott book, which I happened to purchase and tried to use. Fifty dollars down the drain. There were a lot of typos, in every other question. Most of the questions were vague and you would have never guessed the answer was even related to the question. Other questions were so simple you'd probably never see it on the NCLEX. And this book boasts over 4000 questions! It was crap. I did a good 200 of them and couldn't take it anymore.

-If you have the ATI program from school, USE THAT. That was the closest thing to NCLEX I could find. Do NOT dump hundreds of dollars on some question banks or in-person review unless you have the money to burn. ATI works great, it gives you a VERY accurate replica of the NCLEX, and you've already paid for it! Schools are using it for a reason. It's great.

-Don't burn yourself out on these questions. Everyone's needs are different, but my total was approximately 400-500 questions and I felt that was overdoing it. I took a week off of questions before NCLEX, and did a warmup set on the ATI site on the day of the test. Approximately 30 questions, to get my mind in the mode. Everyone is different, but I think a lot of people overdo it.

-NCLEX questions are simpler than you think. They aren't very wordy and they are pretty much straight to the point.

-If you're on the right track, you're probably getting a lot of SATA questions and critical thinking questions.

-Know your infection control.

Also, I never tried the pearson vue trick so I can't testify to that. I will say that studying with some booze works for me though :p

Hope this helps.

Good luck on yours.

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Finch thank you so much for your input what would you suggest for someone who is going to test for the third time and has been out of school for four years ??

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I appreciate your honesty! This post made me lol because I had the epiphany today that I was doing too much and getting burned out. Trying to complete 200 questions a day over the last two weeks has just been exhausting. So Im going to review for a few more days and just let it flow!

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This is exactly how I feel. I felt comfortable enough to take the test until I came on here and read all the stuff people were doing. I don't know everything and I never will but after spending the last week with an exploding brain I realized this is ridiculous. I'm not helping myself by working into anxiety. I passed Nursing school. I can do this. I just have to give my best.

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So thank you :)

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