4/5th try and passed! My story!

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Hello everyone! This is my story.

First, I would like to thank this website for great support and wonderful encouraging stories that kept me going. THANKS EVERYONE! Let me start by saying, I hate studying and I never studied in school, which was a big mistake. I graduated back in April 2011 in the Philippines, signed up and waited for my CES evaluation for 4 months. While I was waiting, I took a Kaplan review class, which I really didn't take seriously, and after getting all my requirements and ATT, I signed up for my exam on the end of October.

My first exam I failed miserably ending at 75. I was sad but knew that I didn't really study so it was ok. I signed up again for the first week of February and knew that I had to be serious this time. I bought the 5th edition Saunders Comprehensive review and I read that page by page. Took a lot of notes but still fell short and failed at 185. At this point I was feeling really down and felt like a failure but after a few weeks I picked myself up and signed up for the Hurst review. Although this review course was very helpful, I failed once again but this time didn't finish at 245. I was soooo disappointed because I thought that time I really tried my best. I took a break for a few months and finally found the courage to sign up again. This time I was determined to pass. Since my sister had graduated recently that same month, I decided to study with her. I took my Hurst review book with my Saunders book and stuck with those two; Reading the chapter of cardio on Saunders with the cardio chapter of the Hurst book. Bought the PDA book too, did some questions there and some on Saunders. Took one month of studying and decided to take it with my sister but chickened out so decided to reschedule.

When I finally decided to take the exam, I was turned down by the lady at the test center because of my middle name. I was shocked and hurt because after three times of taking this exam with the same name and ID presented, this was the only time they had a problem with my middle name. So I called pearsonvue only to find out that my name has always been put incorrectly on my ATT; with my last name being my first and vice versa. I tried to make an appeal to NCSBN but they were no help and denied my appeal. I was soo angry because I put a lot of time on studying only to hear I can't take my exam because they messed up my name. on top of that, I wasted 350 dollars on, which should have been, my 4th exam. It took me a month to forget what happened and decided to ask my parents to repay. Gladly, they had no problems with lending me the money. After correcting my name at the Pearsonvue, I signed up again for the 5th and last time. Since I still had all my notes embedded in my brain on my 4th try, I didn't want to waste some more time on studying and set my date a week and a half later on Feb 5th. I buckled down this time and reviewed just my Hurst and PDA from 8-5 everyday with a little help from Saunders. Sat down at 1pm and finished by 2pm with 75 questions. When I left the test center, I knew I passed because the answers felt really easy but just incase, I went to church and did the pearsonvue trick and got the good pop up! I checked my local boards website today and found my name and license number on there. :)

I had a lot of priority question, SATA's, EKG's, put in order, diagram, and zero calculations. If you were to ask me which book really helped me on my exam, i would have to say first, the PDA book, second Hurst review, then third Saunders.

My study material:

PDA: number 1 review on question. study how they word the questions and know why the answers are their priority. 80% of my exam was exactly like all the questions on here. don't do case studies.

Hurst review: number 1 on helping you retain and understand your Core Content. highly recommended. My quiz scores: 62, 65, 70, 85, 80, 78. Don't depend on these scores, they're extremely hard questions. some very retarded questions, worry about rationales.

Saunders 5th Edition: helped me on my weak areas. very good content but go too much into details. remember nclex only questions us on our basic knowledge. no need to go on to that much detail.

All nurses 35 pages review thingy of random facts.

Now that i think about it, the exam was really not that bad. If i were to change anything, I would change my study habits. I should've read the saunders book first, then take Hurst review to help me remember what i read on saunders, then answer alot of question! about 5000.

And for tips: STUDY REALLY HARD, put all your problems aside, put all your friends aside, and think about yourself and your future. Don't worry about how hard this exam is, If your prepared for it, its not going to be that hard. When reading the questions, think about your answer first before reading the choices. NEVER GIVE UP! If i can do it, anyone can do it!

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CONGRATULATIONS & thank you so much for sharing study tips & words of encouragement

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Congratulation kabayan. I'm happy for you.

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Hello everyone! This is my story.

First, I would like to thank this website for great support and wonderful encouraging stories that kept me going. THANKS EVERYONE! Let me start by saying, I hate studying and I never studied in school, which was a big mistake. I graduated back in April 2011 in the Philippines, signed up and waited for my CES evaluation for 4 months. While I was waiting, I took a Kaplan review class, which I really didn’t take seriously, and after getting all my requirements and ATT, I signed up for my exam on the end of October.

My first exam I failed miserably ending at 75. I was sad but knew that I didn’t really study so it was ok. I signed up again for the first week of February and knew that I had to be serious this time. I bought the 5th edition Saunders Comprehensive review and I read that page by page. Took a lot of notes but still fell short and failed at 185. At this point I was feeling really down and felt like a failure but after a few weeks I picked myself up and signed up for the Hurst review. Although this review course was very helpful, I failed once again but this time didn’t finish at 245. I was soooo disappointed because I thought that time I really tried my best. I took a break for a few months and finally found the courage to sign up again. This time I was determined to pass. Since my sister had graduated recently that same month, I decided to study with her. I took my Hurst review book with my Saunders book and stuck with those two; Reading the chapter of cardio on Saunders with the cardio chapter of the Hurst book. Bought the PDA book too, did some questions there and some on Saunders. Took one month of studying and decided to take it with my sister but chickened out so decided to reschedule.

When I finally decided to take the exam, I was turned down by the lady at the test center because of my middle name. I was shocked and hurt because after three times of taking this exam with the same name and ID presented, this was the only time they had a problem with my middle name. So I called pearsonvue only to find out that my name has always been put incorrectly on my ATT; with my last name being my first and vice versa. I tried to make an appeal to NCSBN but they were no help and denied my appeal. I was soo angry because I put a lot of time on studying only to hear I can’t take my exam because they messed up my name. on top of that, I wasted 350 dollars on, which should have been, my 4th exam. It took me a month to forget what happened and decided to ask my parents to repay. Gladly, they had no problems with lending me the money. After correcting my name at the Pearsonvue, I signed up again for the 5th and last time. Since I still had all my notes embedded in my brain on my 4th try, I didn’t want to waste some more time on studying and set my date a week and a half later on Feb 5th. I buckled down this time and reviewed just my Hurst and PDA from 8-5 everyday with a little help from Saunders. Sat down at 1pm and finished by 2pm with 75 questions. When I left the test center, I knew I passed because the answers felt really easy but just incase, I went to church and did the pearsonvue trick and got the good pop up! I checked my local boards website today and found my name and license number on there. :)

I had a lot of priority question, SATA’s, EKG’s, put in order, diagram, and zero calculations. If you were to ask me which book really helped me on my exam, i would have to say first, the PDA book, second Hurst review, then third Saunders.

My study material:

PDA: number 1 review on question. study how they word the questions and know why the answers are their priority. 80% of my exam was exactly like all the questions on here. don't do case studies.

Hurst review: number 1 on helping you retain and understand your Core Content. highly recommended. My quiz scores: 62, 65, 70, 85, 80, 78. Don't depend on these scores, they're extremely hard questions. some very retarded questions, worry about rationales.

Saunders 5th Edition: helped me on my weak areas. very good content but go too much into details. remember nclex only questions us on our basic knowledge. no need to go on to that much detail.

All nurses 35 pages review thingy of random facts.

Now that i think about it, the exam was really not that bad. If i were to change anything, I would change my study habits. I should've read the saunders book first, then take Hurst review to help me remember what i read on saunders, then answer alot of question! about 5000.

And for tips: STUDY REALLY HARD, put all your problems aside, put all your friends aside, and think about yourself and your future. Don't worry about how hard this exam is, If your prepared for it, its not going to be that hard. When reading the questions, think about your answer first before reading the choices. NEVER GIVE UP! If i can do it, anyone can do it!

Congrats!!!!!!! :) thanks for the study tips and sharing your story.

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Congratulations I need those tips all of your nos became a yes. God bless you.

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Congrats rn

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

AWESOME!!! Congrats!!!! :)

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very inspiring,,, thank you so much and congratulations on your success! may i ask which state did you take the exam?

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Specializes in public health, women's health, reproductive health.

Wow, congrats! That's so awesome how you kept trying! Best wishes to you as an RN!

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Specializes in MED/SURG, ONCOLOGY, PEDIATRICS, ER.

Good encouragement. Congratulations!!!!!!

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Congratulations kabayan! :) You deserve it.. after all the hardships that you've been through.God bless and welcome to the RN world. :)

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