Very depressed and discouraged....,need help

Leonardo Del Toro, RN · Jun 29, 2010

These are my tips, take your time and have fun:

I wrote this thinking of those who are struggling and have taken the test more than twice but it could be useful for first time takers too. 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 of us. We all hear stories about students who are so smart and have failed, so there must be something these students are missing and it might have something in common, so read on carefully and you might find the key to set yourself free.

In the NCLEX world there are a few important 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 now basically useless. There are a few points 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 which ultimately reflect the nursing practice. 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, so read on and have fun.

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. The NCLEX is testing your knowledge but most of all is testing how well and how quick you can think through difficult situations you don’t know much about. So if you study a lot and still not passing you MUST improve in this area. All the knowledge you have acquired is useless unless you can answer the questions fast and (hopefully) 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 because you 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 the best one, 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. So there is not much to figure out at the moment of the test; you either are there or not. 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! Smile at fear.

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 and getting tired (which is a very important point). 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 per day 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 with 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)GUESSING: there is nothing wrong with guessing. You and everybody will guess about 10-20% of the test. The test is designed that way, otherwise you would know what to study for the test as you did in your nursing classes. So learn how to guess right, and in order to do it right you must be completely random and not go on a hunch. It is an irresistible impulse to guess following a hunch, that you know something about the answer which makes you feel safe. The problem with that is that you might fall in the trap set up the writers. So first eliminate as many as wrong answers you can than guess RANDOMLY. One safe way to do that is to always pick the first one bellow the last question you have eliminated, if you have not eliminated any of them pick up C or any other but randomly.

7)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.

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

Canggih1 · Jun 29, 2010

You might need more content review. I only read the Kaplan book and did questions and I failed the first time. Try Saunders Review 4th ed. That book helped me so much. I did a pretest a couple days ago off the ncsbn site and got a 69%. I just found out I passed my 2nd attempt with 75 questions!!

mystic33 · Jun 29, 2010

Awww, man!! I have to re-read and digest this information! The part about timing is shocking that you are scored based on how fast you answer the question. This information is exactly what I was looking for because I feel more energised and determined. All of this seem like such a big game, and i need to energise myself to fight it to the end. I cannot thank you enough for this. Off to printing, reading and underling - Thanks a mill:) :smokin: .

These are my tips, take your time and have fun:
I wrote this thinking of those who are struggling and have taken the test more than twice but it could be useful for first time takers too. 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 of us. We all hear stories about students who are so smart and have failed, so there must be something these students are missing and it might have something in common, so read on carefully and you might find the key to set yourself free.
In the NCLEX world there are a few important 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 now basically useless. There are a few points 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 which ultimately reflect the nursing practice. 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, so read on and have fun.
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. The NCLEX is testing your knowledge but most of all is testing how well and how quick you can think through difficult situations you don't know much about. So if you study a lot and still not passing you MUST improve in this area. All the knowledge you have acquired is useless unless you can answer the questions fast and (hopefully) 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 because you 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 the best one, 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. So there is not much to figure out at the moment of the test; you either are there or not. 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! Smile at fear.
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 and getting tired (which is a very important point). 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 per day 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 with 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) GUESSING: there is nothing wrong with guessing. You and everybody will guess about 10-20% of the test. The test is designed that way, otherwise you would know what to study for the test as you did in your nursing classes. So learn how to guess right, and in order to do it right you must be completely random and not go on a hunch. It is an irresistible impulse to guess following a hunch, that you know something about the answer which makes you feel safe. The problem with that is that you might fall in the trap set up the writers. So first eliminate as many as wrong answers you can than guess RANDOMLY. One safe way to do that is to always pick the first one bellow the last question you have eliminated, if you have not eliminated any of them pick up C or any other but randomly.
7) 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.
8) PRAY FOR ST. JUDE THE PATRON OF THE IMPOSSIBLE CAUSES AND THE BEST LUCK TO YOU.

mystic33 · Jun 29, 2010

Congrats!!!! Funny thing is, 2 months ago I did the dx test on ncsbn site and got a 62%. I wonder what my score will be now.

You might need more content review. I only read the Kaplan book and did questions and I failed the first time. Try Saunders Review 4th ed. That book helped me so much. I did a pretest a couple days ago off the ncsbn site and got a 69%. I just found out I passed my 2nd attempt with 75 questions!!

Leonardo Del Toro, RN · Jun 29, 2010

Awww, man!! I have to re-read and digest this information! The part about timing is shocking that you are scored based on how fast you answer the question. This information is exactly what I was looking for because I feel more energised and determined. All of this seem like such a big game, and i need to energise myself to fight it to the end. I cannot thank you enough for this. Off to printing, reading and underling - Thanks a mill:).

No problem, I'm glad you liked it. If there is any question I could be helpful with don't hesitate, send me a message.

Canggih1 · Jun 29, 2010

Marcos9999,

I wanted to thank you for the tips. I believe they helped me pass. I also found playing Tetris helped me to think more quickly and it was fun!

caliotter3 · Jun 29, 2010

Do not focus on predictor test scores. Focus on learning any concepts you may still be having problems with and answering as many questions correctly as possible before your test date.

wannabHishands · Jun 29, 2010

I would question Marcos9999 on his timing theory... I do not know where he got this information, he even states that he doesn't know but thinks that there must be an algorithm used on NCLEX about how much time you take...

I would NOT recommend just trying to be fast and guessing just for the sake of being fast... timing is only important in that you don't run out of time, for that could be a deadly mistake on this test.

You'd do better to study, and to try to not spend too much time on the questions in order to not run out, but not because NCLEX is timing your answers. Who wants a nurse who makes fast decisions, but the wrong ones?

astia · Jun 29, 2010

Mystic33,

honestly I probably cant make you feel better right now, but when you go into that test, you will be surprised. I was as worried as you before I tested and one of my friends allowed me to try one of her q bank 50 questions and I scored a 56% and I the NCLEX is far easier than kaplan. It was much more stressful to do the kaplan 50 questions than the NCLEX 75 questions. Nclex is far easier than kaplan. Dont stress too much, it is not that bad. Just be rounded on your areas. I dont think you should stress too much over the pharm. Hope you feel better.

mystic33 · Jun 30, 2010

Awww, thank you all so much:redbeathe:redbeathe. I feel so much better now. I cannot imagine taking this exam without the support of this site. You all helped to take a ton of brick off my shoulders and I appreciate all your responses so very much. Astia, hearing that you got a 56% and you still pass the NCLEX helped tremendously. I will just continue to work hard and try to stay as positve as possible.

No problem, I'm glad you liked it. If there is any question I could be helpful with don't hesitate, send me a message.

THANKS FOR THE MESSAGE OFFER!!

Do not focus on predictor test scores. Focus on learning any concepts you may still be having problems with and answering as many questions correctly as possible before your test date.

Mystic33,
honestly I probably cant make you feel better right now, but when you go into that test, you will be surprised. I was as worried as you before I tested and one of my friends allowed me to try one of her q bank 50 questions and I scored a 56% and I the NCLEX is far easier than kaplan. It was much more stressful to do the kaplan 50 questions than the NCLEX 75 questions. Nclex is far easier than kaplan. Dont stress too much, it is not that bad. Just be rounded on your areas. I dont think you should stress too much over the pharm. Hope you feel better.

mystic33 · Aug 1, 2010

UPDATE!!

I passed the Nclex test:yeah: :yeah: . To be honest, the test was surprisingly easy; During the test, I was confident it would shut me off at 75 questions, so when it happened I knew right there and then that I passed; got home and got the good pop up. I was very surprised at how peaceful I was during the test, and was confident of my answer selections because they were to the point and direct. I was expecting the questions to be similar and at the level of Kaplan's difficult questions, instead they were more comparable with the Nclex 4000. I would recommend doing hard questions as in Kaplan because it helps to make the Nclex test seem easier.

Thank you everyone for all your advice and encouragement. It got me through the days of uncertainty.