NCLEX EXPERIENCE so sorry it's so long

3 Hello everyone! Well, I promised myself that I would post on this discussion website if I were to pass NCLEX. I wanted to give my experience, some encouragement, and some light at the end of the tunnel. I recently found out I passed NCLEX yesterday, and that was honestly the best day of my life. I started on my journey 2.5 years ago at an amazing university which has one of the most elite nursing programs in the country. So, it was difficult to say the least. I want to share my experience:

For NCLEX, I took about 2 weeks to thoroughly study. And, when I say thoroughly study I mean 12 hours a day every day for 2 weeks. It was a terrible idea. Honestly, I do not recommend more than 6-8 hours a day for maybe about three weeks. I became obsessive with studying, I believed that I should not put the resource down. Well, it got to the point where I made myself sick, and I do not recommend over studying to anyone. I was continuously sick. I could not sleep, eat, or basically function at all. I walked into my NCLEX with the expectation that I would fail just because I felt so overworked and burned out.

Well, I do recommend HURST Review 100%. This book was my bible. I studied it, I remembered it, and make sure you give yourself enough time to go through the information a second time. The book is approximately 260 pages, a very easy read. It is very accommodating because the HURST book is split up into different systems. So, I was able to really focus on my weak areas when I was reviewing the information. People are continuously stating that you need more than one resource for preparation of the NCLEX. Judging from my experience, I beg to differ. HURST is all you need. You also have 750 questions that are divided into 6 practice tests of 125 questions. These questions are very hard, but completely worth it. When I was taking the test, I swear I could compare questions between the HURST book and the NCLEX. People that go against the HURST book argue that it does not teach critical thinking because it focuses only on core content. WRONG, the entire 6 practice tests were all critical thinking. They are hard, and they will make you feel like an idiot. This is normal. Now, it is recommended to make an 84/125 on the practice test. This does not mean an 84%, instead, it means you can get 84 questions RIGHT. This number is the median of performance of the students who have passed NCLEX. Most of my friends even got in the low 60s, some even in the 50s, and they went on to pass NCLEX in 75 questions. My grades were: 69. 71, 73, 77, 79, 84 all out of 125.

Everyone who I have spoken to thus far from my cohort only used HURST resources. ANOTHER POINTER: The resource documents are very useful. Many of my friends who have passed NCLEX did not utilize the resources and they claim they did not need them. However, I believe the resource documents under "5th day materials" are VERY useful. The documents really helped with infection precautions. I mainly focused on the core content. The last 70 pages of the book focuses on specialty content such as maternity and maternity complications, pediatrics, and neuro. I did not focus so much on this material, more-so the core content. My cohort uses this review course and since years ago our pass rate is about 98%. We have a very high pass rate, and we all honestly swear by the HURST material. Now, it is very pricey, like $350, but it was completely worth it. I have no experience with other review courses, so I am not sure of how successful they are in preparing you for the NCLEX.

When it comes to critical thinking: Honestly, there is no way to prepare someone to critical think. I do not believe in this. My idea of critical thinking is analyzing each word and content of the sentence is considering it either true or false. You really need to know your core content in order to critical think. The questions are tricky because they include key words such as "always, never, sometimes." In order to get these questions right, you have to know your core content in order to know if you can apply the "never, always. etc." This is where we, as nursing students, go wrong. We need to know the ins and out of every little detail. And that to me is critical thinking. We cannot miss a beat.

Now, perception of the NCLEX: I swear people are so dramatic when it comes to the NCLEX. They will scare you. They will try to discourage you. They will consider it SO HARD. And honestly, no, it's not. I considered the first of the test very easy. Was there information that I did not know, YES. Of course, that is 100% expected. We are not designed to know everything, this is how NCLEX people test our abilities. And if ya'll know the high level questions, then God bless you all. Because I remember thinking "What in the heck does this mean." Now, did I overwhelm myself and study the question for 30 minutes, no. If I do not know it 30 minutes ago, I will not know it now. So, I moved on. After the test, you will feel as though you failed. Did you fail, definitely not more than likely. We are so drained, that we all feel as though it was so hard. Our minds are programmed into feeling like because we are so tired this means the test was so hard so therefore we failed. No, stop. This is not the case. The test is long and draining. But, we did not fail. The NCLEX has 9 out of every 10 people pass. So, remember, this test is made so that we can pass!

The purpose of the test is get harder. You have easy questions, and you have hard questions. The way minimum competence is demonstrated is by answering half what is considered the "hard questions ie critical thinking analysis application based questions correctly." I remember thinking to myself before the exam, "What if I do not get the higher based questions." Nope, boy was I wrong. They shoot so many questions at you that you are bound to know how to answer one and eventually work your way up. If they have to ask all 265 questions, then they will, and that is TOTALLY FINE. You are completely still in the game. So keep tuggin' on. You will get 75-265 questions and you will pass. Whether it's 75 or 265 questions, the result is the SAME.

The pearson Vue trick is completely true. Wait 24 hours after the test and try to reregister for the NCELX. If your payment goes through, then you did not pass. However, if you get the pop up that "we cannot schedule an exam at this time, our records indicate that you have an exam currently in progress," or something to similar to that message, then you passed. The test is computerized, so your results will be programmed immediately. I even did it after the 1 hour mark, and I had the good pop up. But, they advise that you wait 24 hours. Do not use your card that actually has the $200 dollars on it to pay for the exam. I used a card with a balance of like $2, because I was not ready to pay the $200 then and there if I were to fail, and any card with any balance will help.

But anyways, good luck to everyone, and YOU WILL PASS.
Moved to the NCLEX forum