Took me three tries...

[ePerfect]

CHEER UP!

Hello everyone, one year ago I posted a topic on here fretting about failing the NCLEX twice in a row. I am here to give some chin-up advice to those who may be in the same boat.

First of all, allow me to introduce my situation. Throughout the nursing program several things happened. I was in a car accident, a family member passed due to cancer, I lost a fiance, switched jobs 3 times and so on and so on. Somehow, by the skin of my teeth, I forced myself to finish the program and as of December 2012 I had my BSN. YAY! The worst was over, right? Absolutely not.

Now, I have anxiety. I'm not talking stress, like what you get when a big test comes up or bills are due or tax season is closing and you just realized you never turned yours in! I'm talking about clinical, diagnosed anxiety. That nasty stuff that sticks with you forever and a day. That said, I never had test anxiety before...

As the days to the NCLEX approached I began to feel more and more fearful. I became angry and upset at first and then it developed into physical ailments such as nausea, vomiting and a migraine headache. I went into the test, got all 200-something questions and failed.

The second time around I studied my brain off! I spent hours every day reviewing thousands of practice questions from every book and website I could get my grubby little hands on. The second test came and went and again, I failed.

At this point I was desperate. Michigan law says you have three tries before you have to sit before the board for them to tell you if you have three more chances or you need to take more courses! I panicked. I won't lie.

This time I stopped myself. I took a course through Kaplan and I sat after class discussing with my instructor about why I wasn't passing. I got all the questions in class correct and I had good reasoning behind why I chose the answers I did. I had the formua down in my brain and my priorities were spot on, so why wasn't I passing!? 4 years of school wasted because of... because of what?

My instructor would just smile and say, "Liz... you're fine. There's absolutely no reason why you should be failing this exam. You'll pass. You'll be fine, you just need some confidence."

So after that she would stop and tell me every single day that I was going to pass and that I had no reason to worry. I kept telling myself, every day after that class, "I will pass, I will get my license. I will pass, I will get my license. I will pass, I will get my license."

Before long I had forced myself to actually believe I was going to pass.

The best part was....

I did.

[RNfindingherway, BSN, RN]

ePerfect, Congratulations.

[such_sweet_sorrow]

Congratulations! You are inspirational. I'm taking it the first time tomorrow, and I too have clinical anxiety problems. I have lost so much weight/have had daily migraines/literally can't sleep etc for the last couple of weeks. I am trying to tell myself that I know more than I think I do, but it's just hard when you read about how hard this test is. Anyway, CONGRATS!

[amberdawn85]

Congratulations :)

[KeawanaPugh]

That is so inspiring I took it in Oct13 got to the testing center and I started vomiting prior to test, went in to take test and the sickness began, test shut off at 86 questions and I KNEW I failed,left testing center I was hysterical I was two hours away from home, my boyfriend and his cousin had to come and get me, and after that I got so depressed because I let so many people down, I am scheduled to take the test in two weeks I feel much better than I did the first time but If I fail I will pursue teaching

Thanks for that post

[ePerfect]

Congratulations! You are inspirational. I'm taking it the first time tomorrow, and I too have clinical anxiety problems. I have lost so much weight/have had daily migraines/literally can't sleep etc for the last couple of weeks. I am trying to tell myself that I know more than I think I do, but it's just hard when you read about how hard this test is. Anyway, CONGRATS!

:) No worries! Like the Kaplan lady said to me, You made it through the years of nursing school. If you can do that you can definitely pass this test! My migrain lasted me 13 days and turned out to be a scalp infection caused by a lowered immune system r/t my anxiety/not eating/lack of sleep routine.

Before you take your test, don't cram the night before. Relax, go out to eat, load up on some good food, good fun and good friends. Take your mind off the exam and focus on something else. Get lots of sleep, take a tylenol PM if you have to! But just relax and realize, you got this!

[ePerfect]

That is so inspiring I took it in Oct13 got to the testing center and I started vomiting prior to test, went in to take test and the sickness began, test shut off at 86 questions and I KNEW I failed,left testing center I was hysterical I was two hours away from home, my boyfriend and his cousin had to come and get me, and after that I got so depressed because I let so many people down, I am scheduled to take the test in two weeks I feel much better than I did the first time but If I fail I will pursue teaching

Thanks for that post

Don't give up! Every day you need to tell yourself that you're going to pass and even if you don't believe it at first, over time it will get into your subconscious and you'll believe it. the NCLEX is scary but it's worth it when it's over.

[2013rn2BScorpio]

Congratulations. Did you find the actual Kaplan course beneficial

[ePerfect]

Congratulations. Did you find the actual Kaplan course beneficial

It depends on what you need to learn before the test. Kaplan is useful for people who have the content down but need more practice with test taking. Hurst is better for people who need more content. (I did both.) Neither is better than the other and the both helped in their own way but my problem was not the content or the questions, it was my anxiety. I needed help with that in order to pass. Kaplan was very useful, though, when doing priority-based questions.

[amygarside]

Congratulations. Thumbs up!

[NurseKarrin]

It took me 2 tries...I know how you felt. Good for you for not giving up! Congrats!

[msygrnbw]

It sounds like the first time you just had so much going on that who could really concentrate on an exam at that point? Life dealt you a full deck of cards to deal with right there! Congratulations, it was well deserved =) Now go out there and get your new job and tell us about it.