everyone gets way too stressed out about nclex! we spend years in nursing school learning mounds of content and passing test after difficult test and still second guess our abilities. any decent nursing program should be sufficient to prepare us for nclex. every school mate of mind, regardless of how smart and together they were in nursing school, had a complete meltdown over this exam because they worked themselves into such a panic over it! we later had a good laugh at how unnecessarily unraveled we all became.
i personally studied for about a week for my test. i concentrated on content that i hadn't studied for a while to review (i used saunders book and cd practice questions). i looked over the contact precautions recommended by the cdc (link below) and familiarized myself with important values. i decided that if i failed i would have a better understanding of what the test was like my second time around. fortunately that wasn't necessary.
the test wasn't nearly as bad as i had thought it would be. i felt confident i knew the answers to some questions and with the others i use educated guesses to narrow the options. my weakest area is meds and my exam was 80% meds! but even though i didn't know every med they threw at me they worded the answers in a way that i was able to work it out logically. you don't have to know all the answers with this test; you need to be able to critically think a question through.
i'm convinced that people get themselves so unnecessarily anxious over this test they sabotage themselves. i was so panicked during the test i had to read the questions several times just to understand what they were asking me. i was hyper sensitive to every sound in the room and had a terrible time focusing. then after i took it i cried because i was sure i failed. not because it was too hard mind you, but because i thought it was too easy. i thought for sure i was riding below the pass line the entire test.
keep in mind nclex is measuring minimum competency unlike the tests you've already taken in school which were much more in-depth. also keep in mind that you will only get about half of the questions right because the computer program is assessing and reassessing your level of knowledge... so expect that and don't panic. also remember, for whatever reason; nearly everyone thinks they've failed, and that the vast majority pass!
my advice to all of you nclex takers is spend as much time de-stressing as you are studying and trust in your abilities. you just graduated from one of the hardest degree programs available which is an astounding feat in itself. take pride in that and know that this is just one more test... no harder or more tricky than any other test you've taken, and already passed. the big difference with this test is the enormous pressure you put yourself under. no one expects us to know everything nor should you!
go into the test confident and feeling good about who you are and all you've accomplished. and if for some reason you don't pass don't beat yourself up about it. you'll then know what you need to focus on and you'll take it again. it's not the end of the world... you've already been through the hardest part of becoming a nurse... nursing school!
my advice to all of you nclex takers is spend as much time de-stressing as you are studying and trust in your abilities. you just graduated from one of the hardest degree programs available which is an astounding feat in itself. take pride in that and know that this is just one more test... no harder or more tricky than any other test you've taken, and already passed. the big difference with this test is the enormous pressure you put yourself under. no one expects us to know everything nor should you!