Successful NCLEX 2nd time with UWORLD

Nursing Students NCLEX

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Specializes in MedSurg/PCU, Preop.

HI guys I wanted to post my experience with taking the NCLEX to help anyone else.

So.....I graduated from an accelerated nursing program in December 2015 with fairly decent grades. I started to begin my studying for my NCLEX. I used Kaplan that was provided through my school. I took about 30-40 Obank questions every day and reviewed the answers, I took 4 of the question trainers, I also took the 3 day class through Kaplan, and studied the content book front to back. My avg for my tests were between 50-60s never really getting above the mid 60s. I spent about 3-6 hrs a day when I wasn't working to prepare and I felt like I was ready when I took it in March about 3 months after graduating.

Well I wasn't successful....I had 265 questions and I was in there for 4 freaking hours. I could tell that I wasn't doing well because I was getting the same questions over and over again. I walked out and knew I didn't pass. I was pretty bummed because I knew I could pass and wonder where I went wrong in my study process. Well I took a lil break and started my studying again, but I tired some different tactics this time.

Kaplan

-I gave this up for most people I know Kaplan isn't that great it never explained why the answer was correct and why the others weren't. I needed to understand my thinking and understand why my process was wrong and Kaplan never gave me that. I only took question trainers to get my endurance up in case I was in there for the whole time again.

NCLEX Mastery

-I loved this because I was able to do questions anywhere, and they were easy to understand and work through. The rationales were simple and straight to the point. I was able to learn things that I forgot about or Kaplan didn't teach me. My overall avg was above 70%

UWORLD

-THIS IS AWESOME!!! I suggest everyone who is taking it to purchase because it really helped me. I was able to understand where my thinking went wrong for each question. I was able to think through each question understand, and figure out what the question was looking for. THe rationales are great, it breaks down each equation and answer. I was able to learn from my mistakes. It has graphs, pictures, and tables. I studied this everyday even at work, I made notes from the questions I thought were hard. I made practice tests and timed tests. When I started my avg was in the 55-60s when I was done it was in the 70s-80s.

When I took the NCLEX again 3 months later I passed with 75 questions I was only in there for an hour. I had about 35 SATA (I counted lol) UWORLD definitely helped me prepare better this time. There were specific questions from UWORLD that I remember that showed up on the NCLEX. I would have to say that UWORLD stemmed identical to the NCLEX, and this time it even seemed easy.

Anyone that is struggling with studying or is needing to take it again....never give up its ok you didn't pass the first it happens to alot of ppl this test wont define you as a nurse! I suggest to anyone that UWORLD WILL HELP YOU PASS!!

Happy studying Nurses!

Thank you for this post. I'm taking my nclex in a month. How many questions did you do a day??

Specializes in MedSurg/PCU, Preop.

I did about 50 to 100 a day

Thats really awesome to hear! And congratulations :). So envious

I also didn't pass my first time (265 questions, 4 hours, getting the same questions over and over). And now I'm using Uworld and sometimes the Nclex Mastery App. I currently have a 68% average on Uworld with about 450 questions left. But for the life of me I cannot stop worrying haha. I feel like I'm forgetting information and just cant study anymore. I'm doing 75 a day but I started so early and feel like I'm just not retaining anymore information. Brain fried.

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