What I did to pass the 2nd time

[Black Jade]

i just want to say to those who failed the nclex to not give up. i failed my nclex the first time with 265 questions after completing 6 hours (had too many distractors). i had taken one month off from work and studied for 8 hours pretty much every day. in other words, i studied really hard.

i took a two month study break before i decided to hit the books again. this second time i didn't studied as much. i reviewed kaplan for about two months for 5 hours each day focusing on strategies, while working 20 hours/week. three weeks before my scheduled exam i just focused on answering 100-200 questions each night before i went to sleep.

the following resources that were useful to me were:

1. frye's 3300 nursing bullets nclex rn by charles m. frye

2. prioritization, delegation assignment by linda a. lacharity

3. learning extension***

4. listening to tapes to relieve my anxiety

5. drink chamomile tea the night before and the morning of the exam (make

sure you test it before or otherwise you will be too relaxed).

***my friend had recommended the learning extension and i registered for the 3-week review course, since i only had 3 more weeks to study before my exam. at first i was hesitant, because i already had so many other books to study from. however, learning extension helped me since the questions were similar to nclex. i felt going into the exam as if i was practicing the same questions that i practiced each night. what i didn't like was the outline format and the fact that they give you rationales for the right answers only. other than that, in my opinion, it was worth the $50. i passed the nclex with 80 questions after 2 hours.

i hope this helps some of you. what i also did differently is that i didn't tell anyone when i was going to take my exam. this is to prevent my anxiety from building up. :wink2:

good luck to everyone!

:prdnrs:

[color=#bf00bf]character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved. ~helen keller~

[sweetmya]

Would you say learning extension helped you the most?

[jadu1106]

congratulations and all the best to you!! yeah for you!!

[Black Jade, BSN, RN]

Thank you, jellypopsies! Good luck to you on the 28th. Will cross my fingers for ya!

[Black Jade, BSN, RN]

Thank you, Jadu! Best of luck to you too!

[*shalom*]

congratulations!!! even though i don't know you, i'm PROUD. i guess i'm proud of anyone who passes nclex!

[Black Jade, BSN, RN]

Would you say learning extension helped you the most?

Hi sweetmya! Yes, learning extension helped me the most. I studied Kaplan the first time (very hard questions), but didn't helped me much for the test except contentwise. When I tried to study Kaplan again, I forgot what I had studied. I was stressing out when my date for the 2nd exam was coming closer, because I felt like I didn't know anything even though I I had studied the material before.

With learning extension, in my opinion, the questions are similar to NCLEX. Like I said, I felt like I was still doing my practice questions except this time I was doing it at Pearson Vue center. The fact that I was thinking "practice mode", made me less anxious going into the exam.

I would recommend that you do 100-200 questions each day and review labs. As far as medications go, it's impossible to remember all the medications so study based on categories (ie. anticoagulants; important interventions, patient teaching, etc...). It's also very important that you know dosage calculations. I had three similar ones and I just guessed at the answers because I forgot to study for those type of calculations. Whatever can give you points matters. Check for any websites that focus on calculations if you don't have a book. Hope this helps.

P.S. I hope I don't sound like your classmates whom you hate :wink2: They are just trying to help and I know it's overwhelming when you have so many different information from different people and you don't know what's best for you. Good luck!

[mystic25]

Hi!

Congratulations!

What is Learning extension?

How do i enroll?

[Skates]

congrats!

[Black Jade, BSN, RN]

Thanks mystic! Learning extension is one of the NCLEX review courses offered online. From what I've been told, the ncsbn are the same people who make up these questions for the NCLEX. You can go to this link to find out more:

https://www.learningextension.com/students/

[mystic25]

thank you for the information.

i'm actually using it for my review.

[mystic25]

do i have to pay for it?

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

learningext you have to pay for but I didn't think the fees was too bad compared to others