What are my chances to pass the NCLEX-RN tomorrow?

[frostrambler]

Tomorrow at 8am I am taking the NCLEX-RN in Manhattan. I graduated in June with a BSN, and have been slowly forcing myself to study more and more as the date approached.

Whether its sheer stupidity or just laziness, I forced myself not to study until July 20th. Giving myself one month to study is something I thought would be enough. I did very well in Nursing school, and I guess it gives me a small sense of comfort.

I started off by studying Saunders Comprehensive, the book has around 1200 pages, so I gave myself two weeks to do it. Every day I would do about 100 pages, including the questions at the end of each chapter, and going over it. I think overall the book has around 800 questions in the book (including the 75 question exam at the end). I averaged in the high 70s, low 80s for most of the content review.

My plan was to do the questions at the end of the chapter first, if I got at least a 75-80, I would only skim the chapter, if I got less than a 75, but above a 60, I would read it at a fast pace. If I received a 60 or less, I would take my time and go very slowly.

Out of all the chapters in the book, I only got less than a 60 on two chapters, both of them being medication chapters (opthalmic and skin I think) I had one or two 60-65 chapters. Three or four 65-70 chapters, and a bunch of 70+, a bunch of 80+ too. Even got a 100 on one or two.

Funny enough, after I visited this site (I had finished the book by then), I noticed Suzanne's first tip is also to do the questions first. I'm glad I did that, it helped me see which parts needed review.

I have to say though, the Saunders questions were a joke, I recieved an 84 in the cumulative final exam in that book, and I think it was extremely easy.

So two weeks ago or so, after I had finished the comprehensive book, I started Saunders Q+A. I did the first 200 questions and averaged somewhere in the mid 70s, maybe 76 or 77. My issue with the Q+A book was that not it was too easy, there were most definately a bunch of difficult questions there, but they were almost all focusing more heavily on recall knoweledge and medical surgical knoweledge, (even though Saunders said each question was either Application or Analysis) rather than Nursing knoweledge. I knew that the content review may be ok, but as a real study method for the NCLEX, I don't think it was the best book for me.

So I dropped the Saunders Q+A book after 200 questions and started KAPLAN Qbank and Question trainers. Various people on this board and some friends who have passed the exam say Kaplan is the closest you can get to NCLEX difficulty and question style. (Although many people on this board say Kaplan is more difficult than NCLEX questions)

I decided to do question trainer 5 first, and recieved a 67, which I felt was really good, since Kaplan says you need a 65 on trainers 4+5. That made me happy and gave me some confidence.

During this time, I did a few Qbank questions, about 10-20 at a time randomly. Most were in the 60s, but for some wierd reason, I got a 40 once, and yet another time I got an 85. I consider those two outliers.

Kaplan says you need at least a 60 on the Qbank and question trainers 6+7, and based on my current Qbank average (63) and the many forum posts related to this topic here on allnurses.com, I think thats a fine score. Seems that a good score is between a 57 to 66 or so on the Qbank, and my last Qbank test (50 questions) was a 66, which was yesterday, so I feel a bit relaxed knowing I'm ok on that.

As for question trainers 6 and 7, I recieved a 64 on trainer 6 and a 70 on trainer 7.

So my overall scores are:

Saunders Comprehensive review (high 70s, low 80s average) 800ish questions

Saunders Q+A (mid-high 70s) 200 questions

Kaplan Qbank (63) 200+ questions

Kaplan Trainer 5 = 67

Kaplan Trainer 6 = 64

Kaplan Trainer 7 = 70

I'm forcing myself not to study today, because I don't think I will learn anything on the last day. Mostly i'm worried about the extremely tricky questions, sometimes Kaplan has a question with an answer that is wrong because of some extremely wierd reason, I don't always think Kaplans rationales are right, and they do contradict once in a while. (Example: Kaplan says when you have too much fluid, a daily weight is good to measure it, but for dehydration it is not good, but another question on another test, Kaplan says daily weight IS good for dehydration measuring too, this happens pretty often.)

Sometimes I don't agree with their rationales, such as they seem to throw Maslow out the window whenever they feel like it. They explained some patient was admitted to a hospital and was agitated and acting strangely and the police had to use force to subdue her, and the two best choices were, tell her she is safe and no one will hurt her, or perform a physical exam on her. I chose perform a physical exam, since the police had been forceful with her, she was found on the street in the rain, barefoot, seems physilogical issues were a priority here. Kaplan disagreed and told me I should tell her she is safe first, to establish a good relationship and to not have her fight me during the physical exam. I kind of see it from their perspective, but at the same time, she might have been seriously hurt and I believed that was the priority.

Another example being passengers sick on a cruise ship, the two best choices were a guy with hearing loss and a low fever and another guy with very serious dizziness, the guy explained that everything was simply swimming. I knew that fever is important, but I thought the priority would be the guy with everything swimming in front of his eyes, since thats a risk for injury, but Kaplan said the feverish patient was more important since he was already sick. Maslow does put physilogy as a priority to safety, but in some instances Kaplan seems to override it, and I'm hoping the real NCLEX doesn't give these tough wierd choices.

Man, I think I went on too much of a rant there. I originally posted this to ask some people who had passed what they thought my chances were of passing, I guess this also turned into a bleeding off emotions thing, the night before the exam!

Before I forget, overall I did 800 easy Saunders Comp questions, 200 Q+A questions, 600ish Kaplan Kaplan Trainer questions and 200 or so Kaplan Qbank questions. Around 1800 questions all together. Earlier in the summer for fun I did some NCLEX 3500-4000 questions, about 100-200 or so, found them easier than I expected, thats why I stopped using it, good for content review though.

So what are my chances here, can I pass tomorrow? I'm worried sick about those SATAs, since I did horribly with them in Kaplan and Ive seen people get 20+ on the NCLEX, far more than Kaplan did, so I'm worried about that.

Oh and do they give you a locker to put your cell phone during the exam, or should I not bring it?

Thanks for reading this, I appreciate any comments and suggestions. :)

[j0877]

hi!! well everything said..all u can do is just try to relax and focus...ur gona be perfectly alright..u did everything u can so give urself a break a day b4 tom.pray b4 u get in the test center...all my prayers with u..best of luck and i know u can do it!!!:wink2:

[j0877]

and yea they will give u designated locker for u to keep ur c.p just turn em off. and its a big one enough to put urself in and hide:D (kidding) just trying to make u smile and relax. again goodluck any Q's ask me hehe.

[frostrambler]

Thanks for the kind words, I appreciate them!

Heres a question then, thats bugging me for while now. What gets priority, too much/little fluid or fever?

I had two kaplan questions, both of which seem to prioritize fluid issues over fever. One was about cushings, and risk for fluid imbalance took priority over risk for infection, and the other question had one patient that vomited 6 times over 24 hours getting priority over another patient with a 39.4 celsius fever, because of fluid loss.

Kaplans rationale is fluid overload affects the respiratory system, so ABC's win here, and fluid defeciency affects other body systems (like the brain I bet), so that also gets priority over fever.

I know if the fever is like 105, and the fluid issue is mild, fever would get priority, but if both are evenly matched, it seems to go with fluid imbalance over fever, am I right here?

[smartypant]

the scores you posted for the saunders is it after reading thechp or before and is it the 4th edition and how can i get the kaplan questionaire and qbank

[j0877]

:)u r totally right..here's the tip always go wid fluids first. but if the choices includes airways..goes wid it..u will find question wid airways on choices..think about ABC... fluid over fever (actually wen it comes to triage fever is one of the least priority).and try to brush up infectious control..darn!! it, it is so tricky. dont answer the Q's right away coz somethings always missing wid those choices so think.

[j0877]

hi!! well u can buy it online..it will cost a bit much but it helps though..and if u want get saunders 4th edition review book..u can try suzanne plan.

[frostrambler]

Thanks for clearing that up!

I have one more question though. After a C-section, post op, whats the priority, bleeding or fluid imbalance? I remember having a Kaplan question on that and choosing fluid imbalance, and getting it right, since you lose so much fluid once the uterus is drained, etc, but my friend insists bleeding is the correct answer.

[Proverbs 16:3]

To the OP,

i think you have a very good chance of passing. i graduated in june but i had 3 weeks off before taking my exit exam in june and so i stopped studying in may.

I also kept pushing my day back in order to buy me time and each time i push it back cuz i'm working overtime the week before or something. Did i study for the exam? i did some psych questions, 267 of them on my nclex 3500 and my plan was to cram some peds content the day before the exam but i wasn't able to do it cuz i had to go to trenton with my parents and had a 6y.o nephew who just wouldn't leave me alone. Plus on the day before the test, i decided to get to the site early so i can review something in my car but i actually got lost and arrived at the testing center right at the time i was supposed to start so i started the exam a couple minutes late. Yes, i was doing 80 to 85mph on the new jersey turnpike.

What i'm tryng to say is that if you were able to get the time to study for a month, you should be be way better off cuz the only knowledge base i had was the one i had before may.

Also, if you think about fluids, remember fluids affect circulation so ABC fluids will take priority if AB is absent. Don't read into the question and start thinking fever affects the brain, yes it does but just stick to ABC, if airway and breathing isn't compromised, think circulation.

Don't freak out about the SATAs, i got 17 of them and 4 fill in the blanks and i passed at 75. I should metion that i practiced those SATA's while in school cuz the nclex 3500 had lots of those questions so i feel it helped. If you see a med you think you don't know, close your eyes for 5 seconds and clear out your brain. open your eyes and take a look at it again. Chances are, you think you don't know the med cuz you're not looking at the prototype, however, look at the ending and you'll recognize a medication similar to it. i had migrane med and while it wasn't the prototype for that class of meds, closing my eyes and refocusing helped me shift from "what kind of med is this?" to "oh, it's just like so and so drug".

I wish you all the best, relax, you CAN do it.

[j0877]

hi!! ok in C-section u have to analyze..it depends on how bloody bleeding it is..patient is on general anesthesia, post-op NPO until pt. bowel activity back to normal..so all u can do is IV fluids..which is as long as maintain regulations/infusions..no signs of fluid overload pt. is fine...most common is the bleeding so check for any signs or danger in bleeding/ loosing to much blood cause post op. hemorrhage. which will eventually cause loosing fluids too.so it depends on how much bleeding it is....free to ask o.k. i know ur having anxiety right now which is normal..but try to relax.:wink2:

[cubano30]

Hey Frostrambler,

Good luck to you on your test. I feel you will be fine. Let us know~~~

[jadu1106]

frostrambler--i wish you the very best for your exam. keep us posted on how you do, and remember to stay positive and take your time!