Words of encouragement

[Nick2you]

Hello all, I'm new to this site. I recently graduated from nursing school in May 2014. I started my first job as a GN and I was super excited, but then this is where all of my troubles began.

1) I was paired with a preceptor that I did not get along with, and made me feel so anxious every time that I could not think straight

2) I took my NCLEX for the first time and I did not pass it. After that I took some time to study and hit the books hard.

3) I was bumped down to a PCT at my job, and I would work in this position until I retook boards

4) I recently just retook my boards (8/26) and failed. Oh and to mention I no longer have a job

Right now I don't know how to approach studying. When I do practice test, I have a good understanding of the content, and I score well. I don't know if I need to focus on test taking strategies, or review the content again. I am determined that I will become a RN, and I plan on retaking the test when my 45 days are up. In the mean time any advice or words of encouragement would be helpful! Thanks

[RN yogi]

Have you tried any of the reviews like Hurst or Kaplan? I did Kaplan and although it's $$$ I thought it was well worth the money. And, they refund you if you fail. All I really did to study was the practice questions and read the rationales. If your problem is strategy and not content then I highly recommend Kaplan. I would also opt for the in person class as opposed to online. I passed the first time. Good luck. If you made it through nursing school I'm sure you can pass your boards.

[Nick2you]

I haven't tried any of the live review courses. i have a Kaplan Strategies book, which i read through and applied the strategies, but maybe I should have done more questions applying those strategies.I haven't tried Hurst before but I heard it was good. Thanks

[tarotale]

do kaplan question banks. do those questions over and over and read rationales over and over. they are gold

[Mr. Murse]

I found the "decision tree" (Kaplan I think?) to be very helpful because, frankly, there is absolutely no way you can completely prepare for the content on the NCLEX. I'm not saying don't study content, but given they're pulling from a bank of a few thousand questions over every possible aspect and field of nursing, you simply can't just go into it like you would a sectional test in a normal college class or whatever. You have to be prepared for the questions which you don't know the content very well. The decision tree helped me understand how to approach questions in which I wasn't familiar with the content.....how to answer questions I didn't know the answer to. Other people I talked to didn't feel it helped much, but for me and the way my brain works I think it was essential in my passing.

[tarotale]

I found the "decision tree" (Kaplan I think?) to be very helpful because, frankly, there is absolutely no way you can completely prepare for the content on the NCLEX. I'm not saying don't study content, but given they're pulling from a bank of a few thousand questions over every possible aspect and field of nursing, you simply can't just go into it like you would a sectional test in a normal college class or whatever. You have to be prepared for the questions which you don't know the content very well. The decision tree helped me understand how to approach questions in which I wasn't familiar with the content.....how to answer questions I didn't know the answer to. Other people I talked to didn't feel it helped much, but for me and the way my brain works I think it was essential in my passing.

in my case I tried using the tree but the scores kept coming back lower compared to using my "judgement/feel" so I done away with the tree and passed first time with 75. but you're right, I think kaplan question bank is much better compared to Hurst in that sense, that one can't study for it in sections. What really helped though was not only doing thousands upon thousands of questions, reading rationales, but also googling the rationales.

for ie, I had question about what to do if pt had blake-sangstaken tube (think it like foley for esophagus?) The answer was have scissors ready abs, and the rationale wasn't quite clear, so I googled it, and showed that in emergency cases to pull the tube out, you must cut the outer cord to deflate the balloon that's holding the tube inside (just like foley cath). so yup, try that, and wish you best luck OP

[Nick2you]

I'm going to purchase the Q bank, and try it. Hope it works for me. Maybe the third time is a charm. Thanks everyone

[Nick2you]

I'm going to purchase the Q bank, and try it. Hope it works for me. Maybe the third time is a charm. Thanks everyone

[RN yogi]

Just remember when you go to take the test again not to psych yourself out. Visualize passing in 75 questions. Fifteen of those 75 questions are throw away questions, which leaves 50. You only have to answer 25 of those 50 questions correctly. You CAN do it!