What to do now? Failed for the 2nd time! Help!

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Hi

Sad to say this isn't one of the success stories that says yay! I passed NCLEX :( I'm just writing down my experience so maybe someone can read it and maybe give an advice or enlightenment, because I feel like I'm losing track, making everybody disspointed with this but another failure. Actually this last May 10th was my another attempt to defeat the NCLEX-RN, but failed for the second time. I don't know what to do, I'm not a dummy I think, I answered all of Kaplan's Qbank, Question Trainers, mostly on my 60s, even the 3 sample questions. I said to myself, maybe, its time, I felt confident and decided to go with the date as planned.

When I walked in into the testing center, I felt confident, and when I got out i still felt confident. But you know what, I failed. You wanna know how I know?? Well, here is a little story. My first test stopped at 232 questions, my recent test shut off of 171, so I thought, hmmm, maybe, the test wasn't so bad, because, I was familiar to most of the questions, I really felt that I was strong on Management, i don't know, maybe I just felt that. I said, 171 maybe a passing number. and then there is trick at pearsonvue where you get to check whether you passed or failed and i've read hundreds of forums about it being 98% accurate. I know its accurate because the last time I checked it, it gave me the credit card page allowing me to pay again for the test, so that means I failed, because it was asking me that I can register again for a new test. if I passed It would've showed a good pop up that says, you can't register at this time, contact your board of Nursing for more information.

So after the test I went online to see if I got the pop up, I did get the pop up, but it was too soon for me to that, so that didn't mean anything, but for a second there, I was jumping for joy hopeful that that pop up wont change, that it'll just stay as it is... but then, when we got home, i checked again, and the trick died on me. It led me again to the credit card page, and I cant take this anymore, I cried, and just stayed in my bed, and didn't feel like eating. Its been 3 days, and I just feel like I'm such a big loser. Sorry that I have to rant here, but I just don't know where to start. I don't have the energy to go through another failure, if im going to take the test again, I wanna do this right, i want to know what I did wrong, and I can't see what I did to fail for the second time, I hope, if you're not too busy, you'll take the time to maybe reply, I understand that you are busy and all, I know my case is not that unusual, but if you can help, I'll really appreciate it so much... sooooooooooooooo mmuuuuuuuuuch. Thank you. :)

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Specializes in LTC.

Retake Kaplan, get a hold of saunders NCLEX book and just read it.

If you have test anxiety see if there are resources to help with that.

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Hang in there ! If nursing is your passion....don't let ANYTHING stop you. A close friend of mine passed on her 6th attempt.....and she is a nurse today ....and loves it. I would let her take care of anyone of my friends or family members. The NCLEX was hands down the most difficult challenge I have ever faced. I few thing that helps me : first I was told to remind myself " I choose this profession because I know at the core of who I am, I am meant to be a nurse" second...I treated studying like a job. I woke up to an alarm...I made coffee....and I sat in my study area for 6-8 hours at a time. I took the Kaplan practice exams as if it was the real deal....and then when I got my results...I went back thru the ones I got wrong and researched the content I needed to not make the same mistake. Sometimes it took me one whole day to take and exam and review the ones I got wrong. I also used Utube...this may not be recommended by others...but I would put in a topic such as DKA , HHNS, renal failure, heart failure....and i would spend an hour or so watching different videos on the topic i needed to better understand....some were helpful...some just funny:)

The night before my exam I scheduled a one hour massage....just to try and relax ....was hard to do:)

When I got into the exam I wrote down on my scrap paper in big letters " YOU CAN DO THIS".

The truth for me was ..... I know nursing is my passion....and if it took 10 attempts to pass it ...i would just have to keep trying....i said over and over ...pass of fail... I WILL be a great nurse someday.

I wish you all the best of luck in your journey. I believe that if you want something bad enough ...theres nothing that can stop you.

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First take a deep breath and pray I took the pn nclex and passed it the first time by Gods grace 1 study things you know you had troube with in school then know lab values and know some of the meds and procedures know when to wspot something wrong although the patient is in the hospital the stem maybe asking about the spouse and their needs review therapeutic communication learn who is stabe. And who you can delegate to whom you take care of unstabe residents pts learnprioritizing do as many practice questions as you can stay positive and sleep well the day before the test. Take your time figure out what the question is really asking you and by all means elinate as many answers as you possible can by process of elimination and you know what you know and practice your math god bless and I hope this helps

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Specializes in Critical Care.

You don't officially know you failed do you? When will you get the official results? How long does it take?

If you did fail, doesn't it give you some clue of what your weak areas were?

Don't assume the worst! Wait for the results and then if you did fail, review the areas you feel or they show you that you are weak in.

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Specializes in Hospice / Psych / RNAC.

Get ready and do it again. You remind me of my friend; she finally passed on her 5th attempt. I can't imagine the stress but I applaud you for your effort.

I know everyone tells you this but relax, it will happen.

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You need to make studying your job, at least 4 hrs a day. You should probably take a review course, sometimes its not the knowledge but a lack of understanding for what the questions are asking. Test taking is a skill completely by itself. If you dont know test taking skills, you will continue to struggle. If you do all of these things and still can't pass, you just might not have the ability to be a nurse. Not everyone can be a nurse just because they want to, if you cant answer the very basic minimum questions, you could be a danger to your patients. Just something to think about.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Moved to the NCLEX forum

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Don't spend too much time feeling down. Instead, make your plan and start preparing again. As long as you don't give up, you will pass.

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I am scheduled to take my NCLEX in 2 weeks. Im getting nervous but I took the hurst review and found it very helpful

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Specializes in Paediatrics.

i'm so sorry to hear how difficult it is for you...

LaCharity helped me a lot. So did endless questions using Kaplan. Those were my only 2 resources. Please stay strong; you WILL overcome this.

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Guys!! Thanks for your comments.. I really appreciate it.. Well, from what you said guys, I got inspired and you know what, I'm thinking of starting using index cards for each important bullets that I need to know in a disease for example Guillain Barre, I made bullets for Signs and Symptoms, its treatment, medications, diagnostics, and then after i write it down, I read it several times and then, I'm planning to review by system like Neurologic Disorders, Respiratory disorders using my Kaplan book, the one they sent with the Online course. I'm planning on getting the Hurst review? I'll be happy to hear what you think on this, just leave a comment :) Again thank you!! :) and also, I purchased La Charity and Kaplan meds book on amazon.com I hope that helps..

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