I graduated nursing school in 2007. I have taken the dreaded NCLEX 3 times now and i am completly out of things to do to study or prepare for the test. The first time i took the test i took the full week class for Kaplan Nursing. I was invited back, then took it again in 3 months. This time i studied the book and other material given by the teacher. The 3rd time i took the online review for Kaplan again. Again i got the dreadful news again.
So now i feel as though i am out of know hows. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on review classes, new ways of studying, or just any great advice? I am open to any ideas big or small. I am willing to try anything at this point. I have got several things off the internet to study by, however nothing has helped yet. So please HELP......
Alisha
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January 26th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Alisha, I also took the NCLEX 3 times and failed. The first time I did the Kaplan Review and the second time I did the Kaplan Review along with the ncsbn review. Those didnt work and the third time I tried every other review you could think of. But the last time I took it the 4th time, I completed the HURST review and I passed with only 75 questions in 1 hr and 45 min. Despite all the other times I had 265 questions. It was a 4-5 day live review and the review just made everything come together and easier to comprehend. I guarantee you if you completed this review, HURST Review, you will pass!!! Good Luck!!!!
January 27th, 2010 at 11:49 am
Hey Alisha, I feel your pain. I unfortunately didn’t pass the NCLEX the first time myself. But what I did before the second time certainly worked. I hired a tutor. We met for a couple of hours each week and she would give me assignments to complete and study all the way up until the test date. Basically it kept me accountable to my studying and helped me greatly at comprehending some things I frankly didn’t have straight in my head. Because, and I’m being honest, although I did some of the things you did, I was kind of slack at times and the extra umphf of a tutor kept me focused. Make sure too that if you get a tutor they are somewhere you can meet in person, no online. That whole accountability thing. It’s a lot harder to lie about your studying to someone when you have to look them in the eye and tell them you’ve been being slack.
Another piece of test taking advice my tutor offered was you want more than 75 questions. The computer will only keep going if you’re getting the majority of questions right, so therefore if you go to question 76, the computer knows you’ve gotten enough right to keep on trying and thus help your chances at passing.
Now since you’ve taken it 3 times, chances are you’ve gone past 75 by now and that’s infuriating to say the least. So here’s the other bit of advice she gave me. Once you take the test again and it shuts off, see if you can remember the last question and remember if you got it right. The reason being, if you feel even 90% sure the last question was right, that’s a pretty good indicator you passed because if you did pass the test will only end on a question you got right. It’s not going to end on a question you got wrong unless you failed. I know that’s not the greatest way to decipher, but it certainly helped me.
The biggest thing for you to realize is you have obviously finished school and been awarded an RN degree, so your school thinks your capable of performing this job, you just have to prove it to the state now. Don’t give up. My aunt once told me that one of the best nurses she ever worked with at the hospital I currently work at failed the NCLEX 6 TIMES!! And that was in the old days where it was all written and might take several days to complete, so it certainly could be worse.
Just stay calm, relax, find yourself a tutor to help you study and with test taking strategies and trust me, you’ll pass that test!
Hope that helps.
February 10th, 2010 at 11:59 am
I feel you girl i have taken the nclex several times and it has been so stressful. I also took HURST review but did the online review. This program was awesome and I wish I could of used this review while I was in school.. anyhow don’t give up because I haven’t! Just keep trying that’s all you can do right:) I will retake in March so keep me in your thoughts. Good luck you can do it–Heather
March 28th, 2010 at 3:44 pm
I haven’t had any experience with HURST but we have been using ATI in our school and I really like it. Sounds like you might have a learning disability that is preventing your from passing. Perhaps you should considered being tested for reading disorder or ADHD. Usually you can do that through a local college or University.
March 29th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
I took the HURST review and absolutely loved it! We had someone come out to our school and present the information in person. I think it was the best thing for me! My school also used ATI all throughout nursing courses, but I didn’t find that to be too helpful, although it did prepare me for taking timed tests. In addition to these preparations, I studied several NCLEX books and flash cards. I seriously locked myself in my room for about 3 weeks straight studying for it (I went through the HURST book until it was memorized), but I would say it was all worth it. I wish you the best of luck!