Published Jul 5, 2015
nursebabyxoxo
50 Posts
Hey guys!!!
I take my test in 10 days and I am nervous (like everyone else). I have been studying every single day for 1 1/2 months for about 4-8 hrs depending on the day. Literally would wake up eat, study, eat, study, eat, study sleep. I know I sound crazy But I am not the best test taker so I have to go the extra mile and study more :) Thankfully my school provided Kaplan for us this year. My studying has been mainly focused on Kaplan. My scores so far have been this:
-question trainers: 66,60,46,57,61,56
-qbank: 62
-sample tests: 60,62,90,40
- readiness (we took this in school rushed and i didnt know anything): 64%
I still have 200 qbanks to do and Im doing qt7 tomorrow. I know my ques trainers have been fluctuating but ive been doing better on the qbanks. I started out getting 45-60% a month ago and now have been getting 65-80% on them. I am worried that my qt are too low and that I'm not being consistent. I also have a couple friends i work with who graduated last year and still cant pass and They scare me and tell me that i would be lucky to pass because its horrible. I have friends in different states that i graduated with who have passed with flying colors without putting much effort into it.
I also came across Uworld and have been starting a couple ques. Is kaplan or Uworld more identical to the testing format on the nclex? I also read the ati cumulative content book, did a couple questions from the Kaplan book, some ques from the lippincott alternative book, and a couple chapters in the Q&A Davis Success Comprehensive book.
So to summarize this all.. Am i doing okay?! What did you guys use to study that was helpful? Sometimes I feel like Im playing Russian Roulette with these Kaplan ques since theyre so hard! Worried that I'll guess wrong. I am definitely more confident in myself now than I was a month ago, but I still feel like I dont know a lot.
Thanks guys :)
PacoUSA, BSN, RN
3,445 Posts
STOP studying and just do questions!! That is all I am going to say about that.
And BTW, I never got above 70% on ANY practice test I completed.
I passed with 75 questions.
You just have to PASS this test, not ace it!
Sent from my iPad using allnurses
my studying has been mainly focused on the rationales from the qt/qbanks but i feel like i don't know any content! this week im doing 200 questions a day. before this week i did 50-100 ques a day and focused on rationales. ahhhh this is nerve wrecking haha :)
Listen, sounds to me like you have done about 2000 questions so far, correct? Do 75 or even 100 MAX a day for the next 10 days (actually, I dare say 9 days because honestly you should NOT be doing questions on July 14, you should be watching some trashy movie that day and letting all your NCLEX practice simmer in the background -- I recommend Ted 2 lol 😜). When you microwave something, dont the instructions say to leave in the microwave for a minute before taking out? Same concept :) You will need to relax the day before the test, the testing environment you will enter on July 15 with palm scanning and cameras around you during the test is stressful enough to endure without having to worry about what you know and what you dont know. You cant predict what will be on your test, everyone's is different. What you can do however, is practice questions and get a grasp on the kind of thinking to tackle any question that comes your way. You wont get all the answers correct, but the key is to get enough correct to be above that threshhold that the computer decides is enough to pass. Just pray that you wont be the lucky one that the computer decides to shell out 265 questions no matter how you are doing. It happens but thankfully not common.
Do 75 to 100 questions, read the rationales of wrong answers and call it a day.
missmollie, ADN, BSN, RN
869 Posts
If you feel like you don't know any content, Hurst has a great review program. I did it in about 8 days, so you should be able to do it in 10. That being said, I didn't see anything from Hurst on my NCLEX test. Remember, the NCLEX isn't there to test your knowledge, it's there to test your critical thinking.
Your scores are on par with my Kaplan scores, and I passed in 75 questions. Hope that helps!
yes ive done about 2000 questions so far! including kaplan, uworld and davis and a couple other ones ive experimented with. you're right!! i need to relax the day before my exam and take it slowly!!! ive been practicing questions and reviewing i think way TOO much! i havent had much of a life outside of the library this summer. just hope its all worth it in the end!
thank you missmollie! ive been practicing but still struggle with the "what do you do first" ques. I always seem to pick the opposite ones! and i know some questions you cant always assess first and sometimes you need to implement. my friend told me to pick the safest and quickest answer. i hope i end up like you soon! :)
strawberryluv, BSN, RN
768 Posts
Hang on, girl. I'm taking my exam in 9 days.
I'm using: Saunders Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX-RN 5th edition, PDA by La Charity, Hurst Review (5 more Q-Review Exams to take), NCLEX 4000, NCLEX mastery app
My Kaplan Q-Trainer scores were in the 67-77%. I've seen people with Kaplan Trainer scores in the high 50's to low 60's and still pass on here. Make sure you remediate ALL the questions you got wrong to internalize the content which is what I am doing.
ChutneyFries, BSN, RN
153 Posts
My test is also on July 15th! Good luck to us! We have prepared and made it out of nursing school. I think we can pass this test on our first try! Ive been studying hard as well.. With questions from ALL over the place. We will make. Pray for confidence because you know your stuff.
Good luck! Keep me posted!
blackribbon
208 Posts
The best advice I can offer is to realize that almost nobody feels good walking out of the NCLEX...even if the computer shut off at 75. Have a support person ready to meet you and allow you to vent afterwards. To be honest, you sound ready. My computer shut off at 75 and my only "hope" was that I was sure I hadn't bombed to the point that it wouldn't give me a few more opportunities to prove myself. I certainly didn't feel like I had "done well"...was making educated guesses all over the place. I also know a fellow student who is smart and an EMT but had to answer every single question to pass...he also is an RN now. Try to find a way to reduce your anxiety over the next few days and get enough rest so that you go into the test with the mental health to do your very best. Good luck.
mariafrances03
3 Posts
I just took the exam this morning and I feel like I am going to puke until I get a definitive answer of pass or fail. My exam shut off at 75 questions.
My advice to you would be that there is such a thing as over-studying and it sounds like if you are studying 8 hours a day, that is too much. Limit yourself to 4 hours because I was doing that - studying for 8 hours - and I found myself messing up stuff and mixing things up and getting confused.
I also agree with the poster who said just do questions at this point. If there are specific diseases that you don't really remember that come up on a question then look those up, or if it is a med that you do not know. But really the material is so vast that trying to "study" everything will make you crazy.
I did the Kaplan review and completed all the question trainers and the qbank. My advice to you with these would also be to review all the questions when you finish a set - not just the ones that you got wrong. I started out doing that - only looking at the "wrong" answers but I realized that if I was unsure of the question and didn't know I got it right then I would be unsure about it again on the NCLEX.
Also, our Kaplan instructor explicitly told us to NOT study the day before the exam. And that was the best decision I think I could have made. I suggest you do the same and try not to make yourself crazy.
Good luck - my scores were about the same as yours on Kaplan.
Thank you!! Crossing my fingers!! I got a 59 on qt7 and finished all the qbanks with a 62%. I redid the readiness test and got a 76%. I feel like there is just so much to know it is impossible to know everything. at this point i think im just gonna go with my gut and pick the safest answer