Surprised by nclex

decembergrad2011, BSN, RN · Aug 9, 2012

I also found that the NCLEX was tolerable. I went to 138 questions, but I came out of it mostly not worried about whether I passed. My nursing school exams were more in-depth and in NCLEX style, so that may have helped me. I also took Hurst Review and did a few of their practice exams before taking NCLEX, and that helped as well. Some of my friends that graduated before me advised me to not stress out about the exam, and I took it to heart.

tyvin, BSN, RN · Aug 9, 2012

I took it a year after I graduated and never looked in a review book. Had to do all the questions but passed the first time. My school was great...that's who gets credit. These days everyone is spending countless dollars on these NCLEX books in order to pass. I say if you didn't learn it in school, something's amiss.

bubblejet50 · Aug 9, 2012

My nursing school exams were more in-depth and in NCLEX style, so that may have helped me.

my tests were too. i feel that it helped me to critically think better.

bubblejet50 · Aug 9, 2012

I took it a year after I graduated and never looked in a review book. Had to do all the questions but passed the first time. My school was great...that's who gets credit. These days everyone is spending countless dollars on these NCLEX books in order to pass. I say if you didn't learn it in school, something's amiss.

my school was awesome too. i feel that by the time you graduate you either know the material or don't and all the studying in the world is not going to help by that time.

chris1309 · Aug 9, 2012

I felt the test was easier than I expected, but I studied TONS and did close to 4000 questions. 75 questions in 2.5 hrs with 22 SATA. Question #75 wasa a SATA and I spent like 10 minutes making sure it was right!

Lovemykids125 · Aug 9, 2012

I would like to know too, I'm taking the NCLEX-PN very soon and I've been studying on and off since May practicing questions too. For some reason I'm more anxious than nervous because a lot of my classmates who almost failed ended up passing and I kept 80s in school for the most part. I passed the HESI with stress of having 2 kids (one in the NICU) no studying at all and I heard that was harder?! I was convinced I failed cuz I really didn't even give a crap it wasn't a requirement and I had a lot of other things going on in my life but my teacher said to me afterwards "well if you know it, you know it!" How did the HESI compare to the NCLEX for those who took both? A lot of people are saying the NCLEX was a lot easier than they thought it would be but if that's so why are so many people posting about how they failed 2-3 times?

bubblejet50 · Aug 9, 2012

I only used hesi for the case studies. I thought those questions were worse than nclex but that is my only experience with hesi.

oztizz184 · Aug 9, 2012

i hated hesi, failed every year. EVERY year. i thought hesi was a lot harder than nclex. and nclex was hard but not as hard.

failed hesi exit exam too

BUT PASSED NCLEX!!! thats the BEST part!

oluchika · Aug 9, 2012

In my opinion, I feel that the NCLEX was easier than the HESI. That's probably due to me using Kaplan's review book, so I was sort of familiar with the format of the questions, even though they weren't exactly the same. Granted, I ended up having to answer all 265 questions and took the whole 6 hours, but I struggled with every HESI exam.

That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Aug 10, 2012

NCLEX is a joke. It is a terrible gateway point for approving/denying nurses licenses

I tell everyone to not study for it. At that point you either know it or you dont. You should be well versed in the stye of testing. At that point you only start to freak yourself out and psych yourself down.

nursingilove · Aug 10, 2012

yeh thats most important!!!