have to take the NCLEX a SECOND time. My story and looking for some tips and advice!

[ascott614]

I went to take the nclex this past tuesday. I felt confident going in, i studied my butt off and i thought i had it!!! After 3 and 1/2 long hours and 265 questions I was feeling okay. I waited an hour before trying the Pearson Vue trick and i did NOT get the pop-up. I was feeling frustrated and stupid! Found out yesterday that I did not pass, which is heart breaking and truly shatters ones confidence but i prepared myself for the results because I tried the Pearson trick.

I am not sure where to go from here. I took a month and a half to prepare for the nclex and did an endless amount of questions. I completed the Kaplan Qbank questions which an average at the end of a 58% (which according to kaplan if you get a 57-65 you are good), i read the kaplan book TWICE, i did the entire saunders book, a mosby nclex book, and the nclex mastery app. Throughout all of these questions i would read the rationales even if i got the questions correct. I have no idea what else i could have done in order to prepare. I felt that the nclex questions were so much harder than kaplan and i felt that it was impossible to use the kaplan strategies on the nclex questions.

I know I am not the first person to fail and I won't be the last, which is keeping me going. Not everyone passes on the first time, its a horrible feeling but it happens! I just don't want to fail a second time!! Any words of wisdom, advice, tips are much appreciated!!

[prime11214]

I think Kaplan is great but it's not for everyone. The question style is similar to NCLEX but it doesn't give you much info on content. In order to utilize Kaplan effectively, you would have to build the core of your brain which is all knowledge. Kaplan teaches how to tackle a question but then again, if you read the rationales, you are also learning content. I'm not sure how you read 2 entire nclex books in the span of 1 month & and half (Kudos to you!). I think for the 2nd time around, you don't need to do that. Focus more on what you need to learn as opposed to how much you're learning. I honestly did not really use a content book because I took it right after graduation & I felt like Kaplan was good enough for me. I just focused on the questions/rationales and then opened up any content book I had and only studied the section I needed to brush up on (I probably read a total of 20 pages worth of content). It's not necessary to read the whole book unless you've been out of school for some time. You've made it this far to take the NCLEX... Finishing nursing school is a big accomplishment but you're next goal is to destroy the NCLEX and I believe you can do that the 2nd time around! BTW, I only scored in the 60s for my question trainers and the Qbank which I think is good.

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

You need to focus only on your weak areas. Think about when you were taking the test, were there any times that you said to yourself "not another XXX question" whether it be delegation, pysch drugs, diabetes, peds, OB. Taking volumes of questions from books is not going to help. You went to school and it was supposed to prepare you for NCLEX, now is the time to focus on areas that you had a hard time with in school.

[Graduatenurse14]

((((ascott614))))

I am very sorry that this is happening to you. I think this is another perfect example of how wacky this test is and I'm starting to think not necessarily a good assessment for any field. Luckily, you will get to see the areas that you need to work on for the next one.

One of my instructors in school said that if you come out feeling good, that's a bad sign but if you felt like you failed it was a good sign. Not sure if that's true though.

I've watched videos and looked at nursing stuff on Pintrest since I'm a visual learner, perhaps that may help?

Good luck!

[TAS1987]

I took boards a few weeks ago got 260 questions and failed. I did a Kaplan review as well and did all the qbank and my scores were 60-70% so I am back to square one trying to decide what to do next.

[jdl1982]

The Nclex was nasty for me, but it was even nastier for one of my classmates. They can pull questions from all topics, and he got bombarded with Holistic medicine questions. Like really obscure stuff. I however did not, I swear its up to the luck of the draw.

To prepare I wouldnt marry myself to any one nclex program. Do multiples, Kaplan, NCBSN, Hurst, Prep U, Nclex3500, Saunders etc They are all slightly different, some more than others, but I think by exposing yourself to each you will gain something too. You have time before sitting it again, just dont give up and keep pounding through, you got this far right? :)

Edit: I reread your post, and I would say that my exam was somewhere between Kaplan and the NCBSN course. But each program gave a little something whether it was reinforcing fundamentals, alternate format questions etc. But out of all the programs I used (I did about 7500 questions) NCBSN had the hardest questions imho, hands down lol.