What's up with all the 'failed NCLEX' posts?

springchick1, ADN, RN · Mar 27, 2016

There isn't any way for an employer to verify how many times someone wrote the NCLEX, but CVs and job applications include (and employers can easily verify) the date that one graduated from school and the date one's license was issued; if there is a significant gap in between, employers are certainly free to draw their own conclusions.

This! It's like when people come and haven't kept jobs for longer than 6 months. It's a huge red flag. Someone who graduated a year ago (or two or three in some cases) and is just now liking for their first nursing job is a huge red flag. At least to my manager anyway.

Jensmom7, BSN, RN · Mar 27, 2016

No review course needed here. We got together the night before the first day of the test and fired questions at each other for a while, then fell asleep. The night before the second day, we went out to eat and just relaxed.
I think we all thought that there was really no point to studying; we either knew our stuff or we didn't.

^^^This.

I sat Boards back in the time of the dinosaurs (you should have seen the T-Rex trying to get pencil to paper. This was long before testing centers had to provide accommodations).

The torture was 5 books of questions (Medical, Surgical, Peds, OB and Psych), one topic per book, 3 books one day, 2 the next. For some reason, in 1979 the Peds book zoomed in on biliary atresia, of all things. Seriously??

Anyhow, I brought my text books with me, but that was just so I would have something to put against the hotel room door. The two nights I was in the hotel, I snacked, got room service dinner, read trashy novels, and was in bed by 10 pm, sleeping like a baby.

My feeling was, if I didn't know something by then, cramming wasn't going to do much good, and might actually push needed knowledge right out my ears.

synaptic · Mar 28, 2016

probably sucky teachers teaching awful students who go to horrible for profit schools

i remember the NCLEX... all 30 minutes of, 15 of which was the tutorial.

America is getting dumber, I watched a documentary conspicuously named "idiocracy" and recognized a few people in the movie working at my old hospital.

But its got electrolytes.

debi49 · Mar 28, 2016

When I took boards in 1993,(back when it was still pen to paper) was taking the test for the third time, so it was happening then, to some extent. 100% of our class passed, 100% of our class that started semester 1, finished. Took 6 weeks to get results of NCLEX. Didn't have one doubt in my mind that I would pass.

One of my coworkers is in nursing school now. Started with 30, and by semester 3, they are down to 18. (for-profit school)

elijahvegas, ASN, RN, EMT-P · Mar 28, 2016

Contrary to popular belief of "its your fault because you suck" I believe I read on my BON website that they recently raised the standard of passing as of 2013 for RNs, so the test has in fact gotten slightly harder..

Or rather, the window of passing has gotten tighter, and the passing standard is higher. That would be more accurate. So it's a bit inaccurate and unfair for nurses that were licensed pretty much anytime before 2013 to dismiss failures on the difficulty of the exam.

But I surely blame it on diploma mills and ill-preparedness.

roser13, ASN, RN · Mar 28, 2016

When I took boards in 1993,(back when it was still pen to paper) was taking the test for the third time, so it was happening then, to some extent. 100% of our class passed, 100% of our class that started semester 1, finished. Took 6 weeks to get results of NCLEX. Didn't have one doubt in my mind that I would pass.
One of my coworkers is in nursing school now. Started with 30, and by semester 3, they are down to 18. (for-profit school)

Poor, poor, nursing mill. Not much profit there. Maybe their standards are too high.

jena5111, ASN, RN · Mar 29, 2016

I paid $350 (on an installment plan over three months) for the live Hurst review the summer before graduating from nursing school.

Honestly, I think the content review helped me more in my final semester of nursing school than on the actual NCLEX. My program administered NCLEX-style exams from day one including SATA. Thirty-nine of forty students in my cohort passed on the first try, most in 75 questions (including me).

I attended a good nursing program that's maintained a high-90% NCLEX passrate for at least 20 years. I think a strong, reputable nursing program--even at a community college like mine--means more than any NCLEX review course.

AGACNPTX · Mar 29, 2016

Why? They didn't trust their program?
Or they wanted to up their stats?
Or they were in cahoots with the review course and made $$$?
Not sarcastic. I just don't see why they wanted a receipt.

We took a standardized test (I think it was called ATI)every semester prior to graduation. Each semester was a different "level." We were given study guides and those who did not pass were required to go to remediation. I seem to remember your grade for the semester was also lowered one letter grade if you failed.

Simonesays, BSN, RN · Mar 29, 2016

Canadian nurse who wrote the NCLEX in 2014 checking in! I did well on the test (cut off after the minimum number of questions, passed my first try) but did not feel confident after I had finished. The test is definitely different than the Canadian RN exam. There is more of a focus on integrated pathophysiology questions that challenge critical thinking. Personally, I found the Canadian RN exam to be a bit fluffier. It seemed to focus more on psycho-social scenarios. I wonder how I would have done on the multi-day exam some of you guys had to write :nailbiting:

I could definitely see how Canadian nursing students would find this test challenging, and not pass on their first tries. It is still relatively new to us and (perhaps) not yet integrated into the curriculum. I am curious how many of these posts were made by Canadians.

As some of you mentioned, these posts may have been made by students who attended for-profit nursing schools. It makes me sad/mad to think about the for-profit post-secondary education system in general. But that is a rant for another time. I feel lucky that my nursing program left me so well-prepared for the workplace. Nursing programs that don't strive to produce competent graduates are doing a huge disservice to these students.

elkpark · Mar 29, 2016

Nursing programs that don't strive to produce competent graduates are doing a huge disservice to these students.

... and the larger nursing community, and the general public.

niccikatie · Mar 29, 2016

probably sucky teachers teaching awful students who go to horrible for profit schools
i remember the NCLEX... all 30 minutes of, 15 of which was the tutorial.
America is getting dumber, I watched a documentary conspicuously named "idiocracy" and recognized a few people in the movie working at my old hospital.
But its got electrolytes.

It's got what plants crave!

As for the NCLEX, there are some specific things that people need to know to be able to answer the questions. That's true for any standardized test. When I took the GRE there were tons of review guides that explained how the questions were structured, etc.

They have raised the passing standard and new questions are added every year. I took it in 2004, when they were trial-ing all the SATA, body diagram, etc.

I think that program and individual student is far more important than blanket statements for any one degree preparation.

My advice to those seeking nursing is always to find the least expensive but most highly rated program they can get into.

Graduategalen · Mar 30, 2016

Coming from a "for profit" school....

I decided to go to the program I did due to time constraints and the prohibitive requirements of the not for profit schools...

I did not have a CNA, though I did have a BS, there was a four year wait, and when all was said and done my "for profit" school was going to be cheaper..when costs of loans, interest, earnings accrued etc were factored in.

one of the things I learned right from the start, was that it was a school for self learners, or people who already had experience. Not a lot of hand holding. Second, there were a few younger students that had no critical thinking skills...they either failed quickly, or passed by the skin of thier teeth. Thirdly, due to the backround of most in our class, we had more clinical experience, and real world experience than many of the students we met from other schools in the clinical sites. We were also as a group much more ready to be hands on than many of the other students we encountered in the halls and bathrooms with cell phones, or gossiping etc.

IMHO, education is what you put into it, and you get out of it what you put into it. Those who came out of our school, that did not pass boards first or second try, had a huge range of issues. These poor souls had, bad study habits, too little self confidence, bad test anxiety, poor test taking skills, waited and did not review, you name it!

I think each school will have its own pros and cons when it comes to why people do or do not pass right off.