So I decided I really didn't want to study for the NCLEX. When I heard you can just take it again, I thought: brilliant. I'll just give it a shot and see if I can do it. If not, I'll disillusion myself of what the test is not and I'll study a bit each day for the next month or so.
Luckily, I don't need to be working right this second, and I'm not in an embarrassing situation where employers are waiting on me to pass.
Wondering if anyone else decided to give it a whirl without studying.
My experience today:
I started out thinking, "Hey, these aren't so bad. Not so bad at all." But by question 50 I was quite ready to be done.
I have a hard time staying interested in tests. Mostly, I think, because they don't scare me, and they certainly don't interest me. I simply find them boring.
Having heard the test could end at question 75, I had high hopes. Real high hopes. These soon turned out to be hopes made of wishful thinking. Question 76 arrived. Then 77...99...110....150...180...I soon realized the test was on to me and I wouldn't be let go until I'd received every delicious question it had to offer.
Around question 240 I seriously just wanted to walk away, it was becoming so tedious. 265. Finally. Test ended. Whew. That's a lot of questions if you're not used to that kind of question load. Took me five hours. I didn't take any breaks because I didn't want to run out of time.
I've since learned you can run out of time and it will just look at your last 60 questions. I also learned that there is no way for the test taker to know whether he/she passed based on how many questions they received.
While I doubt I passed, I honestly have no idea. The fact is, the test kept giving me questions...so I was hovering somewhere around certainty--either just below, or just above. It was basically five hours of guessing.
Oh well. I'll either be very pleased I don't have to study for that test, or I'll frown for a second, laugh, and start going over some questions (and memorizing some lab values, etc.). I think I'd start with that "random fact" thread, only because it seems way more fun to read than actual practice questions.
But if I DID pass, I think it would be really funny. I think the ability to retake the test in 45 days is so generous. I wish I'd just taken the test right away, after graduating, instead of vacationing for a few weeks doing nothing. Then I could be even closer to my second test date. I'm telling my fellow students (who can afford the testing fee x 2) to just take it now and see if they manage--again, if they can afford the time off/fees.
Different strokes for different folks.
Oh yeah--I also had a classmate do this today. We just decided to do it the other day and signed up for the first available test. She scored a 75 (argh, so lucky to be done so quickly, either way) and was out of there.
Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
can u explain it to me again about whether you get the same or similiar question once again can mean that it was correct but computer need to make sure?? or most people tell me because once person get it wrong it will come back because person hasn't answer it correctly
Doesn't mean anything. You can get a question right and later on the computer can give you something similar so focus on what it is asking not that you had something similar already
thanks because I got so nervous when the question I answered about add.... disease which I know so well but then it keep coming back with very similiar question almost and I freaked out not sure I should if I should change my answer or not. Same with the drug! Most of side effects are listed on mult. choices and which one you want to tell patient. As a nurse, you want to tell everything about the drug, but nclex only has one to pick..
Algernon - thanks for this post. As someone who failed as well (with studying) - I am in definite need of perspective. Would I like to have not called my manager to tell her about my situation? Um yes of course. But at least I still have another job right? I can retake in 45 days and hopefully pass then. I think the worst is that it's screwing with my confidence - but I came out of my test knowing I did not do anything right and forgot all the stuff people told me when I was going through it. It was weird, it was like I winged it, which is unlike me, but what can I do? It's over with and I need to move on to the next plan.
Anyways, I just wanted to say I appreciated your perspective. 2nd times a charm, right? 8-)
Silverdragon102, BSN
1 Article; 39,477 Posts
Doesn't mean anything. You can get a question right and later on the computer can give you something similar so focus on what it is asking not that you had something similar already