Took my nclex, failed again

WEST1014, RN,BSN · Jun 5, 2010

Hi, I just got my unofficial greade and I FAIL. This is my second time taking the exam. The first time I was definetely unprepared but this time I studied very hard, did almost 4,000 questions and even took an ATI predictor test that said I had an 85% chance of passing. The first time I did 88 questions and this time I did 265 questions. It was pretty traumatizing. I'm not sure what to do, I was doing ATI that my school gave us. I was wondering does anyobody know any review courses that are good are even any good books for Prioritizing questions I would definetely say this new format for the NCLEX is full of prioritizing questions. I also wanted to know is Kaplan worth the money? HELP PLEASE

So sorry to hear that; but PLEASE don't give up. Buy the Lacharity book: PRIORITIZATION, DELEGATION, AND ASSIGNMENTS. It's full of those types of questions r/t the new format nclex.

lovepinks · Jun 5, 2010

Thanks, I will purchase it tomorrow !!!!

lovepinks · Jun 5, 2010

Do you know of any books with the new test format?

caliotter3 · Jun 5, 2010

Sorry to hear this. Take a small break, then get it together for your next go around. You can do this as long as you don't give up.

lkwashington · Jun 5, 2010

I taken Kaplan. It was worth my money. I also failed my boards twice. If you follow Kaplan and do what it says you should be okay. You was better prepared the second time. I agree with the above post about the book. Keep your head up.

wsuRN09 · Jun 5, 2010

I would take kaplan again. I took the NCLEX before the change but my kaplan instructor said that they would be updating their course to be current with the changes in NCLEX. Don't give up, you know your stuff, you wouldn't have graduated if you didn't :) Good luck

lovepinks · Jun 5, 2010

Thanks everyone for your support I'm going to take the weekend off and wait to during the week and look about the book by LaCharity and the Kaplan course. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers

Shondacat517 · Jun 5, 2010

did u try the pearsonvue trick? because i did and i went to the credit card page so depressed.

Leonardo Del Toro, RN · Jun 5, 2010

Sorry to hear. The fact that you went to 265 is a good sign, you have improved but read this it may help:

This post is especially good for those who are struggling and have taken the test more than twice but also for first time takers. This post reflects my experience with the NCLEX and the changes I did in order to pass. The NCLEX is a passable test and perhaps not even as hard as most people think. I like to point out aspects which are not well explained or easy to miss for some people. Many people are so smart and have studied hard but have failed, so there must be something else they are missing, so read on carefully and you might find the key to set yourself free.

In the NCLEX world there are a few huge components: knowledge and how you apply that knowledge quickly are the two main ones. Another major component is how to take the test. I think that for those who are struggling is very important to start re-thinking the test in a brand new way; to understand what is being asked of you and realize that what you have been trained to do during your school years with traditional tests is basically useless. There are a few items I like to go in detail and it might be helpful to understand them well. It might set you free from the deceptions and traps of the NCLEX. If you are trying really hard and still not passing, it’s time to do a whole evaluation and change the way you think about the test.

1)TIMING: as they say, timing is everything. This might be one of the most misunderstood components of the NCLEX. The bottom line is: you must walk in the test room and even if you are completely clueless DON’T TAKE MORE THAN ONE MINUTE FOR EACH QUESTION, I cannot stress this enough. All the knowledge you have acquire is useless unless you can answer the questions fast and correctly; and remember that the NCLEX will not punish you for getting wrong answers, you only need to be at the knowledge level they are looking for. I am not sure about this but I now believe there is an algorithm which measures the time you use for each question crediting or discrediting you. The NCLEX really likes when you go fast. And that makes sense for nursing where emergency situations come up and you know little about them and only have a minute or so to make a decision. So when they say “don’t over think”, is more like you don’t have the time to – “over think”. Have you ever noticed how some questions keep coming back? Even though you might have answered them correctly but took too long, they (the NCLEX computer program) is not sure that you really know it well or just guessed. So if the questions keep coming back two things can happen: you get too tired which is not good because your performance suffers or, run out of time which is another problem that can cause you to fail. They want you to look at the questions, read it carefully, make a decision select, and move on. You must have the ability to answer the questions like you playing ping-pong game and be able to play a long game and not get tired. I know it sound a little fuzzy and fluffy but you have nothing to lose at this point; do you? Another timing issue is how long you delay to re take the test. Don’t. You are never ready for it; put that in your mind. If you take too long between the tests you get cold, so use your failure as a practicing match and go take it again while you still hot. So go to PearsonVue website and schedule that test right now and go face the beast!

2)YOUR KNOWLEDGE: of course the more you know about nursing the better, but not really. All you have to have is “NCLEX type knowledge” and that you can get by using the so many books available and listed by other posts in this site, Kaplan book/course, is a good source of that as well. Here’s an example of NCLEX type knowledge: when they ask about chest tube, they might want to know a, b, or c (about chest tubes) and usually it does not stray too far from a certain number of options: know these options by heart. These are the building blocks NCLEX is made of and you must know it well enough to retrieve it from you mind on a heart-beat. The more you have these building blocks in your mind the better because it will help you to answer fast and correctly without thinking too much. So the way to look at knowledge is not in the traditional way of really knowing it but using your NCLEX knowledge to play the NCLEX game.

3)STUDY TIME: don’t drive yourself crazy. I would practice 60 questions in one hour. Buy a timer and keep the pace, don’t ever take more than one hour. If you are getting above 65% in one hour you looking good but try to get higher. One day per week go all the way to 265 (ouch!) because most likely this is what your test will be like! So in essence you are building up endurance within that kind of knowledge rather than becoming a nursing genius. Have fun with it, if you drive yourself to pain you will also learn pain so when you get to the test that’s what you will remember.

4)THE TEST: it’s important to know about this test and its components. One fact I think is interesting is that the NCLEX will test everyone differently. The NCLEX has two ways to make a decision about you: (1) you will pass or fail with an “X” number of questions, so if you are really good you can pass as little as 75 questions and if you are doing really bad you will fail with 75 questions. (2) but at a certain the computer makes a decision, it can’t figure you out, you have missed a bunch of questions but you’ve also hit some important ones, so it decides that you need to be tested in the whole gamut of questions, so you are going all the way to 265 baby (ouch again). However remember, if you are not consistent and begin to do poorly because you are tired you can fail too and not go all the way, or go all the way and fail too. So you must stay in the game and perform consistently. If you are struggling forget about that magical “oh a passed with 75 questions”, be prepared to go all the way and most importantly be consistent throughout the entire range and that’s why is so important to train yourself to endure long periods of time answering these type questions. The NCLEX will be really impressed with your consistency and you will be credited for that. Remember, the NCLEX is not about getting questions right and building up points like in regular tests, the NCLEX is testing how you perform under stressful situations and in certain ways your ability to improvise. I believe the algorithm of the computer program is very sophisticated and can measure everything you do.

5)TAKING THE TEST: you must understand what is critical thinking. Some people are there already, but if you are not for whatever reason you should begin to pay close attention to “what is to critically think”. You must focus on that question in a way you never did before, you must zero in to that question only and not stray one bit from it. I developed this way of thinking in which I would imagine myself there, at the hospital with a real situation at hand and then think “what would I do here…for real” and make that decision in terms of what would I do in order to be the safest. When you take the test you must be confident in your intuition. Another way to interpret when people say: “don’t over-think” is that your mind goes into this overdrive mode where decisions are made quickly and without thinking but they are the correct ones. It’s like playing a video game where you only have a split second to make decisions but as the rhythm speeds up your mind speeds up and you actually make better decisions than if you think it over. This is the kind of mind set you have to have when you take this test. In my opinion this is exactly what they are trying to test: your ability to quickly decide emergency situations. How many of those did you get right?

6)PLAY TETRIS: and here’s why, Tetris is one of the first video games made for computers and in my opinion it simulates several of the brain functions required in for the NCLEX. It will help you with the brain stamina you need to endure all the 265 questions without lowering your performance. You have to make quick decisions in shorter and shorter amounts of time. It forces your brain to critically think faster and faster as the geometrical shapes fall down and you have to figure out where they fit. I was amazed to find out how much I improved as I started to play. If you don’t believe this is helpful, just play for fun and it will your mind from the study.

7)PRAY FOR ST. JUDE THE PATRON OF THE IMPOSSIBLE CAUSES AND THE BEST LUCK TO YOU.

sunshine999 · Jun 6, 2010

Lovepinks I also failed twice. I am an international grad, married with a baby and also working full time (40 hrs/wk). I took Kaplan (Live and online) and NCSBN, bought a lot of books. To make it short, I spent a lot in preparing for my NCLEX. I am now doing Hurst review and taking my chances again. I am not giving up and I hope THREE'S A LUCK! Goodluck to us!

Truth35 · Jun 6, 2010

You will succeed:up:. Do not give up!!!!. I too took the NCLEX today for the 3rd time. Got the bad pop up and I'm devastated. I'm not sure how well this trick is, but from what I've read, it is accurate. I will keep studying and retake ASAP. I'm not a good test taker, but I'm an A student. The A doesn't prove much with NCLEX. I feel stupid, but I won't give up. Where are you located? Maybe we can study together.....