Studying after not passing

[mr419]

Hi everyone I took the NCLEX about two weeks ago and unfortunately did not pass. I don't think the feeling of failure will go away until I pass this exam but I took these last 2 weeks to "mourn" just take a break and get my mind right before starting back up again. I took Kaplan when preparing my first time around and my instructor stressed "NOT TO STUDY CONTENT" even though I felt like my content was weak. After each Kaplan practice test I would take notes on each question (regardless of right/wrong) and try and understand completely why it was/wasn't the right answer and if I felt like the rationales didn't provide enough "need to know" information I would look it up on Saunders or another resource. (This took so long and was against what my kaplan instructor told me but it was the only way I could review content while knocking out questions) When i was taking my NCLEX I had hard questions but I felt like I got a lot of line or below the line questions especially towards the end. Now I'm here ready to start studying again but I have no idea where to start. Pharm, reduction of risk, and basic care were some of my lowest scores but I really wanted to get people's advice on how they started studying again after not passing the previous time. CONTENT is definitely something I'm spending A LOT of time on this time around I even enrolled in a NCLEX content class which I plan on completing before I start doing questions again. Any advice/tips would be greatly appreciated. Thank you and God Bless!

[JaaaeyRN]

Have you tried ncbsn review course? Since you said you are weak at your content and you are unorganized. Ncbsn organizes the materials the way nclex test us.

I didn't pass on my first attempt because I was unorganized as well. But I studied about 2 months with ncbsn, brilliantnurse.com and lacharity Prioritizing book.

It worked for me.

[mr419]

I was considering enrolling in that because I did hear it had a good balance of content review as well as questions and for a good price! How did u break down your study time if you don't mind me asking? I've seen people who use NCSBN review content videos and then do questions over and over

[JaaaeyRN]

I don't see any video on ncbsn. Only thing I saw was pure "reading" materials.

I tried to study one to two sections at the time. Depended on how long of those section. Finished each section by reading and taking note and then did questions at the end of the section.

It took me about 2 1/2 weeks to finish everything. There are about 1200 q bank at the end with random questions. I did pure questions at least 100 questions everyday. Someday less, the other day more depending on my brain and activity level.

So in one day I studied content and did related questions. Plus PDA questions for at one chapter or less. 2 days prior to testing, I reviewed my note on the topic that I was weak on. And tried to relax bUT still did some questions until I felt tried.

But really it depends on your life schedule and ability to function fully when studying. I can only study 30 min to an hour at time. Then I have to walk away and do something else. I spent at least an hour daily. And I committed to myself that I would study everyday until I passed the test.

I still study to refresh and prepare to be in the workforce.