Hey guys! I'm here to share with you today how I passed my NCLEX-RN on the first attempt. Yes, you graduated nursing school and that is a huge accomplishment; however, you aren't done just yet. We must pass boards first to be able to work as a nurse, which has been the main goal for the past few years.
So I graduated March 28th, and scheduled my boards for May 8th @8 AM. I scheduled further out because I did not want to rush. When I first graduated, I took almost the entire month off: went to Vegas, vacationed, spent time with family that was in town for a week, etc. I basically took a step back and relaxed after the stress that consumed my life for two years was finally over. I finally got caught up on all the sleep that nursing school made me miss out on. It was lovely.
About three weeks before my NCLEX scheduled test date, I purchased the Uworld-90 day program that included 2 self-assessments (No, Uworld is not asking me to advertise or promote their product this is simply MY experience with the program). My goal was to divide the entire q-bank questions by however many days I had left until I tested, and complete that set amount of questions each day. Little did I know that it wouldn't be that easy, since I waited until the last minute... I was stuck doing 300+ questions most days, and I had little motivation left each day to even continue on just answering questions. I was burnt out. I wanted to ensure that I was not just answering the questions, I needed to makes sure I was reading rationales below the questions and writing information down that I did not know. SO I began to buckle down and focus more on the rationales to each question, and started to answer questions at a slower pace. I was completing the questions in big segments of 75 questions each for all topics under tutor mode. I would however recommend doing tutor mode, 20/30 questions at a time, and then picking specific topics to focus on each day. This is what I ended up doing instead and it ended up working better for me.
Why Uworld? I think that Uworld is amazing, and it is very similar to the format of NCLEX (almost identical), the questions are not the same, so you can't just memorize the questions; you must understand why answers are right or wrong, so that when the material comes up in a different way on the real NCLEX, you can answer the question confidently. My school had required the Kaplan program to be included in our tuition, however I do not believe Kaplan worked as well for me. It didn't resemble the NLCEX like Uworld did, the rationales were not as informative as Uworld, and the content just didn't seem as organized as the Uworld program. So when studying for the real deal, I just stuck with one program- Uworld.
Once I completed half of the qbank (2,100 something questions total) I took my first assessment. I was curious as I wanted to see how much of this material I actually already knew from nursing school content. So I took the fist assessment and it told me "highly likely to pass" out of high chance, less likely or unlikely to pass. So after this assessment, I continued on and completed all of the qbank. I did mark answers along the way with the "flag for review option" so that I could plan to go back and revisit these questions either the day before my NCLEX or the morning of. I learned throughout answering questions that there is a flashcard option on Uworld as well, which allows you to copy over material and paste it onto a flash card to go back and study when you need to! I found this helpful as I put a lot of EKG strips, and pictures/put in order questions for skills onto flash cards so I could easily find them to review closer to the exam.
So a few days before my test, I decided to take a break from questions and drive to the test center. I was scheduled at a testing center about 45 minutes from my house and the area was known for hectic traffic in the mornings. My test was scheduled for 8 am, so I wanted to ensure that I would be on time, without any stress of not making it due to traffic/construction on the test day. I drove there, found my building that I would be testing in, and drove home to continue my Uworld questions. Fun stuff, I know right... LOL.
So as I as trying to finish all of the Uworld qbank, I actually ended up getting sick, I think it was due to the stress and test anxiety leading up to me taking my NCLEX. It almost is like a mind game, (you graduate nursing school finally, but wait..nope.. you're still not a nurse until you pass this...) So the day before my NCLEX, I spent the day at the doctors office. I did study and do questions the day before, as I have heard the opposite, that you shouldn't study before however I felt I needed to. I just felt I still was not prepared. I did the second self assessment the day before my NCLEX and it told me "high chance" of passing, so my chances decreased slightly from 2 weeks prior. I was a little frustrated as I knew I had been rushing to complete these questions in time before my NCLEX, so I hoped that was the reason why I didn't do as good. I went to bed early that night, ate breakfast in the morning and headed of to the test center early in the morning.
When you are planning for your NCLEX test, I recommend that you wear comfortable clothes. I wore workout clothes with a jacket (the room gets cold). Keep in mind that if you do wear a jacket with a hoodie, they will make you take your jacket off, search your hood each time you go in and out as well as make you remove your jacket each time you go in/out of the room to inspect your arms. They even made me lift my hair up and show them behind my ears, crazy I know.. They take your picture prior to you going into the testing room, they give you instructions regarding the NCLEX and the rules that you must read over before entering the room. They pat you down, scan the palm of your hands, place you at a computer and give you headphones to wear. You do have a erase white board at the computer with you, with a sharpie. But, you can't erase the whiteboard while you test, so when you fill the board up, you must raise your hand for a new white board that is clean.
I started my test and was finished within 2 hours. I didn't take a break when it scheduled me to do so, I took my break earlier (about an hour and 20 mins in) when I felt I needed it. I raised my hand, took a bathroom break, said a prayer at my locker and got a sip of water. I went back into the room and hoped that I would be finished testing shortly, as I was starving LOL. I swear the lady could hear my belly growling on the recorder/camera system. Luckily, about 30 minutes later, my test shut off at 128 questions and I was finished. I completed the research section, got my things and drove home. I recommend bringing snacks (granola bar, crackers, etc.) to eat while on your break, because you really don't know how long you could be testing for...and you don't want the reason you can't focus to be because you are hungry.
My results were posted the VERY next day at 8 am sharp. I couldn't believe that I had passed. I think majority of nurses that walk out of that test, think that they failed. You know more than you think! & If you truly complete all of Uworld, you will do fine. Read all of the rationales, write all of them down that you have doubts about, and complete all of the Qbank! Once you test and you are waiting for your results, go do something to get your mind off of it. I know I stressed myself out laying around for an entire day waiting for my scores to magically show up early. Just relax and know that it isn't the end of the world if you have to retest as you have the option to do so. Best of luck! :)
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