Took NCLEX-RN Today!

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Hi everyone! I've been a lurker on allnurses throughout my years in nursing school. The tips and such I have learned through browsing these boards have been a great extension to education! I graduated in May and scheduled my boards for the end of July, but last week I randomly moved it up a week early to today! The appointment was for 2pm. On Sunday I then switched it to 12pm to take it even earlier (I'm crazy lol). I finished in about 50 minutes with 75 questions. Tons of meds and SATA. I was shocked by the amount of SATA. It even started me off with one and ended with one! Haha. :icon_roll

For studying, I started about 2 weeks before the test and did about 600 Kaplan qbank questions, read a couple hundred pages out of the Saunders comp. review, and googled meds and diseases in my free time. In my own opinion, I don't really think any of that truly helped me on the NCLEX itself, but it at least made me feel more confident going in and Kaplan's difficulty helped me to not be shocked by the level of difficulty when I got to the NCLEX. I keep getting the good pop-up with the Pearson Vue trick, so hear is to hoping!!

To future test takers, if you made it through nursing school, you can do this! Think like a nurse and don't let the test get you down. If you don't know the answer, use your best nursing judgement, move on, and forget about it! That's what I did to keep my anxiety from overwhelming me. Also, there is some great info on these forums but always make sure it's correct by skimming through your NCLEX study guides as well (Even though sometimes they differ on information too!) I would also like to thank whomever posted the precaution mnemonics. They are very helpful!! Good luck everyone!

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Congrats!!

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congrats!

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Yay! Congratulations! So happy for you!

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I wanted to post an update. I payed for my Quick View Results today and it verified I passed. With that, there is a few things I'd like to share (obviously all my own opinion):

Kaplan scores and all that only stressed me out. I barely paid attention to any of that. I know people who did good on Kaplan and still didn't pass or visa versa. This test is not Kaplan. Yes, Kaplan may help you to feel confident and reading rationals may help you understand things better, but I personally feel Kaplan did not help me very much when it came to my NCLEX (I took Kaplan because it was required with my program). I was required to do the diagnostic and readiness exams but besides that I just did some q bank questions when I felt like it.

What helped me most was keeping up in school and never leaving good enough alone. I went to an excellent program and I truly feel that is what best prepared me for this. The entire program they drilled thinking like a nurse into our heads and they really emphasized pathophysiology so we weren't just drones doing doctor's orders but we actually know what and why we are doing certain interventions and giving certain meds. I think it is beyond important to know why for everything. If I learned something in class and didn't quite understand the concept or "why", I researched the heck out of it until I did. You can not memorize this stuff (beyond lab values and such). The NCLEX really demonstrated the importance of critical thinking.

I would also like to add that the Pearson Vue Trick worked for me but I wish I hadn't done it. I spent the last 48 hours wasting my life like a crazy person trying to validate the accuracy to make myself feel better. It just made me panic more.

Good luck everyone. Use your nurse brains!:nurse:

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