8 years since RN school and 6 since NCLEX, still haven't passed.

Epona · Jun 8, 2010

I would take some refresher courses. I would also suggest Hurst (great review) and Kaplan (helps with answering the questions). GOOD LUCK!

HeartsOpenWide, RN · Jun 8, 2010

I agree with the HURST Review comment above. I would also look to see if there is a clinical review program in your area.

looking2hills · Jun 8, 2010

HANG IN THERE! The worst thing you can do is GIVE UP. You've made it through LPN and RN school. You will do it! You first must believe you can and then claim it.

A family member told me the other day, after my 2nd unsuccessful try, that she took it 3 times and a friend of hers, now a PNP took it three as well. Confidence and faith are key. Of course learning more decreases fear but believing rule out doubt.

Keep your head up as I will read my response to you and do the same. (take my own advice)

helpmepass · Jun 8, 2010

So you girls think Hurst would be better than Kaplan?

caliotter3 · Jun 8, 2010

If you think it would be helpful and you can afford it, take both Hurst and Kaplan. It can not hurt. Both of these reviews have positive recommendations. I suggest that you use the tried and true method of getting up a couple of hours before the rest of the family to do your study. I used to do this in high school and found that those early morning hours were very productive.

Faeriewand, ASN, RN · Jun 9, 2010

I wonder if it would work out if you could go back to school and do it again. Maybe things are really different in school now and different on the NCLEX now too and they could teach you what is expected in today's healthcare field.

And the benefit would be that you are a new grad again. I wonder if that would work out? It would be worth a try and you would have updated skills.

Leonardo Del Toro, RN · Jun 9, 2010

Read this carefully it might help you

This post is especially good for those who are struggling and have taken the test more than twice but also for first time takers. This post reflects my experience with the NCLEX and the changes I did in order to pass. The NCLEX is a passable test and perhaps not even as hard as most people think. I like to point out aspects which are not well explained or easy to miss for some people. Many people are so smart and have studied hard but have failed, so there must be something else they are missing, so read on carefully and you might find the key to set yourself free.

In the NCLEX world there are a few huge components: knowledge and how you apply that knowledge quickly are the two main ones. Another major component is how to take the test. I think that for those who are struggling is very important to start re-thinking the test in a brand new way; to understand what is being asked of you and realize that what you have been trained to do during your school years with traditional tests is basically useless. There are a few items I like to go in detail and it might be helpful to understand them well. It might set you free from the deceptions and traps of the NCLEX. If you are trying really hard and still not passing, it’s time to do a whole evaluation and change the way you think about the test.

1)TIMING: as they say, timing is everything. This might be one of the most misunderstood components of the NCLEX. The bottom line is: you must walk in the test room and even if you are completely clueless DON’T TAKE MORE THAN ONE MINUTE FOR EACH QUESTION, I cannot stress this enough. All the knowledge you have acquire is useless unless you can answer the questions fast and correctly; and remember that the NCLEX will not punish you for getting wrong answers, you only need to be at the knowledge level they are looking for. I am not sure about this but I now believe there is an algorithm which measures the time you use for each question crediting or discrediting you. The NCLEX really likes when you go fast. And that makes sense for nursing where emergency situations come up and you know little about them and only have a minute or so to make a decision. So when they say “don’t over think”, is more like you don’t have the time to – “over think”. Have you ever noticed how some questions keep coming back? Even though you might have answered them correctly but took too long, they (the NCLEX computer program) is not sure that you really know it well or just guessed. So if the questions keep coming back two things can happen: you get too tired which is not good because your performance suffers or, run out of time which is another problem that can cause you to fail. They want you to look at the questions, read it carefully, make a decision select, and move on. You must have the ability to answer the questions like you playing ping-pong game and be able to play a long game and not get tired. I know it sound a little fuzzy and fluffy but you have nothing to lose at this point; do you? Another timing issue is how long you delay to re take the test. Don’t. You are never ready for it; put that in your mind. If you take too long between the tests you get cold, so use your failure as a practicing match and go take it again while you still hot. So go to PearsonVue website and schedule that test right now and go face the beast!

2)YOUR KNOWLEDGE: of course the more you know about nursing the better, but not really. All you have to have is “NCLEX type knowledge” and that you can get by using the so many books available and listed by other posts in this site, Kaplan book/course, is a good source of that as well. Here’s an example of NCLEX type knowledge: when they ask about chest tube, they might want to know a, b, or c (about chest tubes) and usually it does not stray too far from a certain number of options: know these options by heart. These are the building blocks NCLEX is made of and you must know it well enough to retrieve it from you mind on a heart-beat. The more you have these building blocks in your mind the better because it will help you to answer fast and correctly without thinking too much. So the way to look at knowledge is not in the traditional way of really knowing it but using your NCLEX knowledge to play the NCLEX game.

3)STUDY TIME: don’t drive yourself crazy. I would practice 60 questions in one hour. Buy a timer and keep the pace, don’t ever take more than one hour. If you are getting above 65% in one hour you looking good but try to get higher. One day per week go all the way to 265 (ouch!) because most likely this is what your test will be like! So in essence you are building up endurance within that kind of knowledge rather than becoming a nursing genius. Have fun with it, if you drive yourself to pain you will also learn pain so when you get to the test that’s what you will remember.

4)THE TEST: it’s important to know about this test and its components. One fact I think is interesting is that the NCLEX will test everyone differently. The NCLEX has two ways to make a decision about you: (1) you will pass or fail with an “X” number of questions, so if you are really good you can pass as little as 75 questions and if you are doing really bad you will fail with 75 questions. (2) but at a certain the computer makes a decision, it can’t figure you out, you have missed a bunch of questions but you’ve also hit some important ones, so it decides that you need to be tested in the whole gamut of questions, so you are going all the way to 265 baby (ouch again). However remember, if you are not consistent and begin to do poorly because you are tired you can fail too and not go all the way, or go all the way and fail too. So you must stay in the game and perform consistently. If you are struggling forget about that magical “oh a passed with 75 questions”, be prepared to go all the way and most importantly be consistent throughout the entire range and that’s why is so important to train yourself to endure long periods of time answering these type questions. The NCLEX will be really impressed with your consistency and you will be credited for that. Remember, the NCLEX is not about getting questions right and building up points like in regular tests, the NCLEX is testing how you perform under stressful situations and in certain ways your ability to improvise. I believe the algorithm of the computer program is very sophisticated and can measure everything you do.

5)TAKING THE TEST: you must understand what is critical thinking. Some people are there already, but if you are not for whatever reason you should begin to pay close attention to “what is to critically think”. You must focus on that question in a way you never did before, you must zero in to that question only and not stray one bit from it. I developed this way of thinking in which I would imagine myself there, at the hospital with a real situation at hand and then think “what would I do here…for real” and make that decision in terms of what would I do in order to be the safest. When you take the test you must be confident in your intuition. Another way to interpret when people say: “don’t over-think” is that your mind goes into this overdrive mode where decisions are made quickly and without thinking but they are the correct ones. It’s like playing a video game where you only have a split second to make decisions but as the rhythm speeds up your mind speeds up and you actually make better decisions than if you think it over. This is the kind of mind set you have to have when you take this test. In my opinion this is exactly what they are trying to test: your ability to quickly decide emergency situations. How many of those did you get right?

6)GUESSING: there is nothing wrong with guessing. You and everybody will guess about 10-20% of the test. The test is designed that way, otherwise you would know what to study for the test as you did in your nursing classes. So learn how to guess right, and in order to do it right you must be completely random and not go on a hunch. It is an irresistible impulse to guess following a hunch that you know something about the answer which makes you feel safe. The problem with that is that you might fall in the trap set up the writers. So first eliminate as many as wrong answers you can than guess RANDOMLY. One safe way to do that is to always pick the first one bellow the last question you have eliminated, if you have not eliminated any of them pick up C or any other but randomly.

7)PLAY TETRIS: and here’s why, Tetris is one of the first video games made for computers and in my opinion it simulates several of the brain functions required in for the NCLEX. It will help you with the brain stamina you need to endure all the 265 questions without lowering your performance. You have to make quick decisions in shorter and shorter amounts of time. It forces your brain to critically think faster and faster as the geometrical shapes fall down and you have to figure out where they fit. I was amazed to find out how much I improved as I started to play. If you don’t believe this is helpful, just play for fun and it will your mind from the study.

8)PRAY FOR ST. JUDE THE PATRON OF THE IMPOSSIBLE CAUSES AND THE BEST LUCK TO YOU.

TwilightRNurse · Jun 9, 2010

I wonder if it would work out if you could go back to school and do it again.
And the benefit would be that you are a new grad again. I wonder if that would work out? It would be worth a try and you would have updated skills.

Are you kidding? :rolleyes: Who wants to go to the time, expense and frustration of going through nursing school again just to pass the NCLEX? If she can pass the NCLEX-PN, work as an LPN, get through RN school then she can pass the NCLEX-RN. It's more a matter of learning how to answer the questions. What is it that they are asking? There are two good answers but which one is best? I think the Kaplan course is in order and also a book on how to take multiple choice tests. They exist. I had one.

llg, PhD, RN · Jun 9, 2010

Read this carefully it might help you
.

What are you basing these recommendations on? Where have you gotten this information about the test. What are your qualifications to give this advice? Given the extent of your recommendations, perhaps readers would like to know these things.

JustinTJ, ADN, BSN · Jun 9, 2010

Hurst review is great for refreshing content. I would do it, online as you have access for 3 months. Watch the videos multiple times, commit the information to memory. Learn the test taking strategies she teaches.

It's pretty much the major information on systems, with insight on key points that you need to know.

Best of luck in your next attempt!

Jazzy_nurse_SF · Jun 9, 2010

Good luck to you!! I too graduated in 2004 and attempted a few times, and failed up to this day. I have not scheduled my next date in which is recommended as they say to schedule it. I last retest March of this year. I am ready to review again, I know it is hard. you may not feel confident to take my advice, because I am in the same boat as you; but 1 thing important to know is that you are not alone. Me, you and several others are in the same situation. What is scary is thinking of the exam,and what you need to do is build that confidence to feel ready for this test, so you won't "feel" like tou will fail it. But first, make it a priority to build the content to make it your knowledge, and also get through the test taking strategies. Once you learn to gain the knowledge and critical thinking part, everything else will fall into play. It just takes small steps to make yourself stronger for the bigger steps. I have seen many on this site fail several times, post about it, and see their name again, and finally pass. They have motivated me!

I don't know if this helps, but on this site I have been highly advised to stick to Saunders and/or Kaplan. Don't use too many references to review and study. kaplan is good for test taking strategies, learning and building the skill in how to answer the questions. Saunders is a good reference when one is retesting and also haven't tested for a while and in need of a refresher in order to effectively review. The comprehensive book is excellent as it has questions and bullets for every body system and for all the nursing process. Lastly, I would read the rationales for all that is correct and incorrect.

I have a 3 year old and I work a full-time job. I don't have 3 little ones, but you have support with your husband. Utilize all the support and help, and open yourself up for the support. it will come a long way. I am a single parent, and I utilize personal time and study time as well as raising my little one on my own. but I wouldn't be able to do it without the support of my family.

Do take the hour of reviewing. I was advised to take 2 hours of each day reviewing and don't do more than 100 questions at a time. At this rate, you may need to read the Saunders book cover to cover, before you can start hitting the questions again.

hope anything I wrote here has helped!

good luck, and see you on the other side, as I too have this goal to accomplish!! :yeah: