Reflections on My NCLEX Experience

As promised, here are my thoughts, tips and suggestions related to NCLEX.

Testing Location | The Lynchburg, VA PearsonVue testing center was AWESOME! Relatively easy to get to and the two women staffing it were very kind and friendly. I am so glad that I switched from the Richmond location to the Lynchburg location. Rumor has it the Richmond location has room for over 50 people to test at their center (maybe even 75?), whereas the PearsonVue testing center in Lynchburg has room for only NINE people. While smaller does mean there are fewer available spots/times available on the schedule, the reason that smaller is better is that there are far less people making noises and creating distractions during the exam. PearsonVue administers over 100 different types of tests/exams and so there's no telling who you will be seated next to. Some of these other tests/exams require essays, so there could be extensive typing noises -- imagine that in a room with over 50 people. While waiting to be registered/admitted to the exam room, I learned that the nine of us were all scheduled to take the NCLEX-RN exam...so minimal noises coming from each mouse. PearsonVue sites offer earplugs...so take advantage of them if you are stuck testing at a location with lots and lots of people.

Scheduling/ Time of Day | When I signed up for the Richmond testing site, the only available time was 8am around the dates that I was looking for. Since it was going to take me about 1.5 hours to get there...plus I needed to be there at least 30 minutes early... I was looking at trying to leave my house at 6am (at minimum)...and so that meant waking up at 4:30am. Uh, no thanks! I could've gotten a hotel room... but who wants that extra expense and the possibility of a poor night's sleep in an unfamiliar, possibly noisy environment? So I was really happy that the Lynchburg site had an afternoon slot available when I checked their availability.

Scheduling/ Day of Week |  I did enough research in advance, that I learned that it's best to schedule early in the week and not right before a holiday. The reasoning is that you don't want to have to wait any longer than necessary to get your results. After taking the NCLEX, all you can think about for the rest of day is whether you passed or not. Do you really want to wait all weekend? Probably not. In Virginia, you are supposed to be able to call a phone number and get results the next business morning if you used your social security number at the time you applied with the Virginia Board of Nursing. Being the ever-conscientious me, I didn't want to use my SSN and therefore used my driver's license ID number to apply for licensure. I discovered several weeks before my exam that I'd have to wait until the second business day after my exam to find out my results over the phone.  WHAT I DID:  I scheduled on a Friday. Yes, exactly what I don't recommend. But my options were limited and my priority was to get an afternoon slot - even if I was going to have to wait all weekend (and possibly longer) to get my results. WHAT HAPPENED:  Well, I got my results on Monday via the Virginia Board of Nursing's website (so much for having to wait a second business day!) I also was not freaked out all weekend primarily because I was distracted with the big storm that blew through our area. The derecho hit Friday night and out went my lights, water, air conditioning, internet, etc... So I ended up packing up and heading over to my parent's house (45 minutes away) on Saturday to avoid the unrelenting 100+ degree heat. So I was at my parents house all weekend and the disruption to my normal routine was all the distraction I needed. And it was fun to be able to get my NCLEX results and be able to tell my parents right away and in person. So it worked out for me, but I'd definitely recommend scheduling for early in the week (also avoiding holidays like Memorial Day or July Fourth).

Mock Run |  I totally recommend doing a dry-run to the testing site. Ideally done at the same time of day and same day of the week that you are scheduled to test. I planned to go the Friday before my Friday exam, but something came up and I couldn't. So while I still made the drive (using Googlemaps and my GPS for directions) and got a rough idea of the time it would take and knew I could find the location, I still didn't absolutely know the timing on a Friday afternoon. However because my test was at 2 pm and I knew it would take roughtly 1.5 hours, I decided I would eat lunch in Lynchburg in advance of my test, and allowed myself an hour to do that-- which provided plenty of buffer time in case traffic was bad (accident) or if there was unexpected/new road construction. Another girl from my same school did not do a test run and she arrived several hours ahead of time to make sure she could find it... and then proceeded to camp out at the testing site. Boring, stressful, etc... I arrived 30 minutes before my assigned testing time - as instructed - and I was glad that I was not any earlier. A lot of the girls taking the test with me were really anxious and stressed out. You generally want to avoid that - it's not going to help you stay calm. If you arrive early...just wait in your car (unless a 100 degree day like it was for me!).

Here are some other thoughts:

• Take the Kaplan course, or at least buy access to Kaplan's Q-Bank. Doing 50+ questions in one sitting builds endurance. And you will need endurance for the NCLEX!  I feel that Kaplan's Decision Tree was very helpful--especially when I wasn't sure of the answer. And I'm not sure I would've really understood or used the Decision Tree if I had had to learn it myself. I'm SO GLAD I took the Classroom Anywhere (online) class!  I did not complete every QBank question, only about 750-800 qeustions. I simply ran out of time, but I did do all the QTrainers. While taking the Kaplan course, I posted about my experiences each day: Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four, and then posted my scores here.   Also, Kaplan's QBank and Qtrainer formatting and questions look EXACTLY like the NCLEX. So while taking NCLEX...you can calm down and pretend you are just doing Kaplan questions. :)
• Take NCLEX before starting your RN job. Starting may not even be a possibility for you as some hospitals require that you get your license before you start orientation (too expensive to begin orientation of a new grad only for the new grad to fail NCLEX). My hospital is not that way, they are willing to allow new grads to start without their license (which is permitted by the state of Virginia, of course!) Yet I knew myself enough to know that I would feel better having it out of the way. Orienting to a new job is stressful enough, not to mention 12 hour shifts! I'm relieved to have it behind me and to be able to start orientation without having NCLEX hanging over my head. However, I understand that some folks need to start work right away because of finances and in that case... just make a plan for studying for NCLEX. Pick a test date and work towards it...don't put it off. Get it over with as soon as possible.
• Before exam day, READ all materials on the PearsonVue and NCSBN sites related to NCLEX and testing center...especially the rules. No sense in being caught off guard that you can't chew gum during exam or that you cannot take lip balm in with you! No surprises...take responsibility and know the do's and don'ts and what to expect! 
• Don't study/cram the day of your exam or even the day before your exam. I found this particularly helpful in de-stressing. Reality is that you only know what you know. No amount of cramming is going to help! Also, looking back, there is NOTHING that I would have chosen to study that would have helped me on any of the questions! The material is to vast to even have a clue what you should cram for!
• Take deep breaths from time to time. There were times when my eyes glazed over while taking the exam and I ended up re-reading several questions multiple times - simple because I was having a hard time focusing mentally! I was aware of every little thing: the clock, the video monitors, the audio recording (yes, they do audio recording of you taking your test!) and the sounds of other test takers... and of course the voices of your head saying "what happens if I don't pass?" (despite trying to avoid that type of self-talk). So when I would catch myself being distracted, I consciously took a few deep breaths and tried refocus.
• Select your answer, then REREAD the question. No sense in getting a question wrong because you failed to read the question correctly. One of the things that doing endless Kaplan questions does -- is that it reinforces the need to really understand what the question is asking. It is looking for a positive or a negative answer? Is it looking for a psychosocial answer rather than a physical answer? While doing Kaplan I regularly went back and reviewed the questions that I got wrong and there were always a few questions that I failed to read the question correctly.
• The PearsonVue Trick (PVT) DOES work. Essentially by trying to sign up to take the NCLEX again, you can find out if you passed or not. I did the PVT trick within an hour of taking my exam. Here was my "good pop-up."  You can read more about the PVT here. 
• Other thoughts about NCLEX that I posted are here and here.

I hope there's something here that you might find helpful. I can only talk about it from my point of view and to   point out what I've read online (mostly at allnurses.com) that influenced me and my experience.

Whatever you do... keep a positive attitude. It will take you far and reduce your anxiety about NCLEX! Best wishes for those who still have NCLEX on the horizon. You can do it!

Registered!

It's official. I am a Registered Nurse!

I logged on to the Virginia Board of Nursing website to check my status. I went from "pending license" to having a license number issued! Woohoo!  Feels great!

In other great news, I got the job! My nurse manager just called with the official offer (I was told on Friday to expect it early this week). I'll be working on a 30 bed telemetry unit that is primarily cardiac and neuro patients. I'll be starting orientation on July 23!  Now, I have about two dozen thank you notes to write to faculty and friends who provided references and/or put in a good word for me with those looking at my application. Plus, then there are all those great nursing instructors who helped me from start to finish!

How cool to get license confirmation and job offer all in the same day! God is good! I must tell you that I am SO GLAD that I went ahead and took NCLEX before starting work. Starting a new job is always a bit stressful for me. There's always so much to learn and remember, that my brain is usually shot at the end of the day. I knew it would be too hard for me to manage starting a new job and studying all at the same time, so I really forced myself to study and get the NCLEX over with.

Virginia permits new grads to work without a license within 90 days of obtaining their ATT (authorization to test for NCLEX), but it's up to the hospital to decide how they want to handle it. The larger teaching hospital in town does not permit new grads to start working as RN's until they have their actual license. They hire tons of new grads and it costs mega bucks to train and orient a new grad, that they don't want to take the risk of having a partially trained new hire fail NCLEX and not be able to work. The hospital where I'll work does permit new grads without a license to begin orientation with the expectation that they will pass NCLEX within orientation. But thankfully I don't have to worry about it anymore. I'm registered. :)

So two great pieces of news today is quite a feat! Even better would be to get news that power has been restored at home. Been without power since Friday night. I'm presently crashing at my parent's home where they've got the benefits of electricity... WATER, AC, and internet.

Good Pop-Up

If a person were to trust the PVT (PearsonVue Trick), the following pop-up is a very good sign that I successfully passed the NCLEX.

I felt very good about my performance when I walked out. Many do not have that "feel good" experience when they walk out - regardless of whether they passed or failed.

The exam shut off after 75 questions and it took me a little under two hours (including tutorial and end-survey). Out of curiosity, I did the PVT within an hour or so of finishing and got the good pop-up. I've heard that for some people it has taken several hours for the "good pop-up" to show up (they get a "results on hold" pop-up instead).

I will be able to get results from the Virginia Board of Nursing early next week. I'm planning to write a full update with thoughts, tips, and reflections from my NCLEX experience. But not tonight.  I have some other good news, but I'll make you wait on that.

Signed,
Joy Hancock, RN (unofficially)

You Know You Are Ready When...

You know you are ready to take the NCLEX when you go ahead and offer to sell your prep materials BEFORE attempting NCLEX!!

Almost There

With only one more day to study for NCLEX, I finally finished the Kaplan QTrainers. I didn't get as many QBank questions done as I had hoped. They recommend doing all the QTrainers (1-7, which I did) and about 90% of the QBank questions. I think there's around 1300 QBank questions and I've only done 750 of them. I will do more tomorrow.

Below are my scores for Kaplan:

Diagnostic 69% (mixture of questions- taken before Kaplan course)

Readiness 69% (only passing level questions- taken at the end of the Kaplan course)

The rest of these were completed AFTER the Kaplan Course (on my own)

Q Trainer 1 63%

Q Trainer 2 76%

Q Trainer 3 62%

Q Trainer 4 69%

Q Trainer 5 74%

Q Trainer 6 67% (only passing level questions)

Q Trainer 7 72% (only passing level questions)

QBank Cumulative Performance  Score: 70%  (750 questions so far)

I'm happy with my scores. My Kaplan instructors told us the following: 

"Goal for Question Trainers 1-5 is 65%. Goal for for QTrainers 6 & 7 and all QBank tests is 60%...aim for 65!"...

"Remember that every candidate taking the NCLEX®RN examination gets 50% of their questions correct and 50% of the questions wrong. The difference between passing and failing is level of difficulty of question. If you are getting 50% of your questions correct answering passing level questions, you will pass. Passing questions are written at the application/analysis level of Blooms Taxonomy."

 All throughout my studying, I've kept a positive "I can do this" attitude. And while I've certainly gotten tired of studying, I've never felt defeated. I feel that I've prepared well and will do well and will pass. This is not a test that I have to ace. It's pass/fail  and it's adaptive in that it's designed to keep pushing you to a higher and higher level of questions. It'll be a good thing if I get a lot of the SATA questions (Select All That Apply) because those are generally considered higher-level questions and means I'm doing well enough that I'm staying in the higher level question zone. It'll also be a good thing if I get questions on topics I've never heard of - because again, these questions are likely higher level. My Kaplan scores show that I'm doing better than 50% and that's good! Lots of people post their scores at AllNurses.com and from what I've seen, my scores are comparatively high. So I am very hopeful.

On Thursday I am not planning to do any studying (the day before the test), so that means that tomorrow is my last day of studying! Woohoo!  I've completed nearly 4,000 NCLEX questions since graduation and I fully expect to top 4,000 by tomorrow (only 80 to go!).

Tomorrow morning I have my second interview. I shadowed on Monday and LOVED the unit. The staff was great and I can totally see myself working there. It will be challenging, but in a fantastic way! I'm hoping to have good news to share...possibly next week. We'll see.

And to celebrate the end of my studying, I am planning to celebrate a friend's birthday tomorrow night. I MIGHT go to the movies on Thursday evening (to do something fun and chill out) before my big test. I really don't have money to spend on this...but hey-- I've studied my butt off and need a brain-break! And then hopefully NCLEX will go well on Friday and I'll be able to get back to town to go to another birthday party that night.

Then comes the long weekend of possibly not knowing if I've passed or failed. I'm REALLY hoping that I can try the PearsonVue trick on Friday evening or Saturday morning and get the "good pop up".  Otherwise it will be Monday or Tuesday before the Virginia Board of Nursing will acknowledge my results. I cannot imagine what it was like in the "old days" when you took the written board exam over the course of several days and official results took much longer than a few weeks to arrive. The was the case for my mom in the 1960's. Yeesh.

Better get to bed -- interview in the morning!

The Heat Is On

Four days, eighteen hours, twenty-four minutes... the heat is definitely on!

Today after church I drove down to Lynchburg to find the PearsonVue site and to scout a good spot to stop for lunch before NCLEX. It was a lovely drive and it was good to have some quiet time to think. My initial schedule will work great and I think I've built in enough time that even if I got a speeding ticket, I'd still be able to manage to get to the exam location on time (although I'll have to skip Panera and have to eat my pre-packed snack for my lunch). However, if my car breaks down, that will be a bit more challenging.


Note to self: locate numbers for Lynchburg taxi services!  (No surprise there... I'm a bit of a planner/control-freak).

Weather forecast is calling for 100 to 103 degrees on Friday- my NCLEX date!!!! Aaack! I HATE hot weather. I'm just not sure what to expect inside the testing site. Some places (buildings in general) are notoriously cold, some have HVAC systems that lag and have a hard time catching up to really hot or really cold days. I've read that it's suggested that you wear layers to NCLEX, that way you can be prepared for whatever the situation. However, my understanding is that if you remove a layer of clothing, you will be escorted out of the testing room by a proctor to your locker where you then have to be rescanned and so forth before going back into the testing room (same goes for bathroom breaks outside of unscheduled break times).  They won't let you hang your layers on the back of your chair. Also the clock on the exam does not stop if you take unscheduled breaks.

I'm very optimistic that I will do well on NCLEX. Hoping that I get the "good pop-up" at 75 questions...but I'm also trying to prepare myself for the worst--being that I have more than 75 questions, more than 100 questions, more than 200 questions. That's the joys of computer adaptive testing...the computer won't let you  stop until it's sure you meet the basic competency level... and hopefully you'll meet that competency level before question # 265 or six hours - whichever comes first.  If you don't know anything about NCLEX's computer adaptive testing... Kaplan has a FREE Strategy Seminar that they offer every couple weeks or so to explain how computer adaptive testing and NCLEX work together. Here's a link to where you can find these free events through Kaplan. I found this information very helpful AND very encouraging.

In addition to my continued NCLEX preparations, I am also shadowing (Monday) on the hospital unit where I want to work AND will be interviewing (Wednesday) there too. Gonna be a full, GREAT week! Here Goes!

You've got to be flexible!

Well so much for a trial run tomorrow to Lynchburg's PearsonVue site. Discovered Wednesday that my AC is not working. I haven't used it but maybe once for a few hours (a month or more ago), and now the outdoor unit fan is not coming on. Hopefully it's something small. Anywhoo, the repair tech is only available tomorrow afternoon...so if I want AC before Monday (and I do -- it's 80 degrees downstairs and 85 degrees upstairs!), I figure I'd better postpone my trial run. Thinking maybe I'll drive down on Sunday afternoon or early next week.  I have job interview on Wednesday, then I work all day on Thursday and then take NCLEX on Friday. Whew!!! I will be so relieved to have NCLEX behind me. Not sure what I will do with myself to not HAVE to be studying. And any "studying" I do will be related to my job and will be completely relevant to my patient population and related skills-- which is very motivational!


It's crazy to think that I've been out of school for almost six weeks!!!! Yay!

Another Countdown!

8 days, 13 hours, 33 minutes, 52 seconds until I sit for NCLEX!

Yesterday I reached my goal of 3,000 NCLEX-style questions. I still have a little over 1300 Kaplan questions left to do. And I'd still really like to do more prioritization/delegation/assignment questions via LaCharity's PDA workbook.

Since my test is a week from the day after tomorrow (Friday), I guess I should be heading to the Lynchburg site on Friday morning to do a dry-run. You know, drive there on same day of the week, same time of day to estimate drive time (r/t traffic) and of course actually FIND the location. Googlemaps says it'll take about an hour and forty minutes. Since my test is at 2 pm, and they suggest arriving by 1:30, I'm thinking I'll be eating lunch in Lynchburg, so I have to factor that in as well. I plan to sit down tomorrow and plan it out, so that I can do the dry-run on Friday.

The good news is that others from my nursing program have taken the NCLEX and passed. I'm expecting the same. I'm so ready to get this over with!

Nothing Much...

Been working (temp odd jobs: babysitting, companion care) the last couple weeks, trying keep my head above water- financially. It will be so nice to have a regular income again. I think I've decided that I will not turn the on air conditioning until I get a job. It's not been that bad yet, but still a long summer ahead, so hopefully I'll get the job/income thing figured out soon. Hey, I can always drag a mattress downstairs to sleep where it's cooler. On that front, I have a interview scheduled for a new grad position in great unit. This is a follow-up to the interview I had about a week and a half ago. Fingers-crossed.

Still on target for taking NCLEX end of June. And then, Lord willing, I will have my license...which makes me more legit when interviewing for jobs. I'm not worried about finding a job - but I am getting a bit nervous about my bank accounts. However, God has abundantly provided for my needs every step of the way these last two years of school, so I am confident He'll continue to provide what I need. And hopefully that's in the form of a job!

NCLEX Indecision

Yesterday evening I drove to Richmond to have dinner with my nursing school study partners who are taking the Kaplan Course live this week. On the way, I stopped by the NCLEX testing location (PearsonVue). It's nice to visit the location, make sure you can find it and estimate time (usually test runs are done at the same time of day and same day of the week as scheduled test).

My friend's experience with the live Kaplan course has been disappointing. Apparently the instructor just rushes through each question and starts eliminating answers using Decision Tree BEFORE the students have even gotten the chance to read the answers for themselves. Uh, hello? Obviously the teacher is very familiar with the questions (same for every course) and has forgotten that these students haven't seen these Q&A's before. Too bad. My friends said that they've gotten out of class early EVERY DAY (and were ahead of schedule) - which obviously points to the fact that the instructor is rushing through the questions. I feel so bad for them- sounds like a less than ideal experience and possibly a waste of money. My online instructor was really great about pacing our class and we never got out of class early.

Anywhoo, the title of this post alludes to my indecision over NCLEX. What is there to be indecisive about? Basically the when & where. Why? Well, last night one of my friends said she remembered hearing rumors that it was better to test in a location other than Richmond and that she's planning to test in Lynchburg. The reasoning? Something about someone (or multiple people) who failed more than once at Richmond, and ended up passing in another Virginia testing location. Well, I could see several scenarios where this could happen. 1) This person simply wasn't ready and therefore third time was a charm (regardless of location) and 2) this person simply needed a change of location to reduce anxiety and remain calm--thus improving her performance. So I'm not really sure what to think of this rumor.  Is this just one person's experience? Is it even feasible that there might be a glitch in the system that would make once testing center's experience more difficult than another? I have a hard time imagining that. Yet...I have rescheduled my exam...to the Lynchburg location. And because of the location switch, I had to move up my exam date. BUT that gave me a better testing time of 2pm rather than 8am. Which means I won't have to get up crazy early or get a hotel room. So now I can drive down late morning, grab lunch and then catch a snooze in my car before going into exam.

I didn't really want to test on a Friday (because it takes longer to get results from Board of Nursing website/phone), but I think because I used my driver's license (rather than SSN) when I registered with the BON, I probably won't get results the next morning anyways. I'm hoping that the PearsonVue trick will work for me (way to get unofficial results by trying to sign up to take the exam again; see allnurses.com), otherwise I'll just  have to wait until Monday or Tuesday of the following week to get my results. But whatever. Reality is that once the exam shuts down, there's nothing more you can do. Worrying about passing/not passing is not going to change anything.

But thankfully, I can still change my test date. However, the closer we get to the date, the fewer the options are for rescheduling. The good thing about moving up my exam is that it's done that much sooner! I've re-worked my calendar (and will have some Saturday studying to do), but it's still very doable!

It's a Process

Part one of the interview process went well this morning. I was impressed with how organized and informational it was and I'm still very hopeful to be invited to join their nursing team. I'm also impressed with their orientation process for new grads and what they offer. Next up includes shadowing and an interview with the nurse manager for the unit I'm interested in. We did discuss start date options and I chose second week in July. At this point I have gone ahead and scheduled my NCLEX exam for first week of July. Now to decide if I'm going to get up at 6am and drive to Richmond or if I'll just get a hotel (or maybe I know someone who will let me crash at their place overnight?). I can still reschedule my test up to 24 hours before hand...which is REALLY nice circumstances change.

So I guess this means NCLEX studying/review begins in earnest tonight!?!

My closest friends from nursing school are taking Kaplan (live) this week in Richmond. I'm thinking about driving down tomorrow night to join them for dinner. Will be good to catch up in person.

Kaplan: Day Four

And it's over. I'm kinda relieved. I'm ready to get going on my studying for NCLEX. Haha! Not really, but I'm glad to have Kaplan behind me.

For the last session today (the first session was for independent taking of the Kaplan's Readiness Test) included a review of questions from the Readiness Test. Not all 180 questions but just the ones that students generally miss (not just our section, but Kaplan-wide). Helpful, but many of the questions I had gotten right. But there were a handful that I had gotten wrong and were surprised by the correct answer.

For the last half hour of class, our instructor talked to us about what we need to do going forward before taking our NCLEX exam. Completing all the Question Trainers (1-7), completing at least 90% of the QBank questions (total 1300), and aiming for a cumulative performance of 60% or higher on the QBank questions. Expectation is for us to review every question and rationale in every Trainer and after every QBank test. They suggest doing no more than 150 questions a day so that we really spend time reviewing every question and rationale and spend time looking up content that we don't know or understand.

My head is spinning. But I've broken it down and here is my initial plan with the materials provided by Kaplan:

At this point, I do not expect to study seventeen days straight. No way. My goal would be maybe five days a week. Kaplan suggests answering questions every day. Eh. There certainly will be days when I simply can't. Plus, who knows what's going to happen regarding work. If I get the job, then this schedule will have to be modified in a big way. I'll know more after Monday's interview as to their goal for hiring and orientation. But reality is that if I'm offered a job it will be at least two weeks before I'd start work because there are drug tests and background checks that have to get done. So if I can get at least ten full days of studying done before starting work, that would be awesome. Maybe I really should push myself to study every day and then if I do get the job, I'll still be able to take the NCLEX in early July.

And of course this schedule is just reflecting Kaplan resources and does not take into account my earlier expectation to use Saunders and LaCharity resources. Maybe I won't need to? I will continue taking flash cards to the gym (this has worked REALLY well with the cards put on rings) and of course I can apply Decision Tree to the flash card questions.

So the question is... when to start?

At this point I am glad that I did Kaplan's prep course. I'm glad I did the "Classroom Anywhere" format. A few bumps (see Kaplan: Day One post) but these were largely due to the fact that I was going through my school for Kaplan and my school did not adequately communicate with us. Can't blame Kaplan for that. The Kaplan instructors and staff were all very good and very helpful and managed the online aspect very well. The only downside was the chat window and dealing with people who don't follow instructions. But that's life, right? I guess the true test will be whether I pass NCLEX the first time or not. But then again maybe I would have done fine without Kaplan. I DID get a good score on the Diagnostic before I'd even taken Kaplan course. Well, we won't know now will we? 

Kaplan: Day Three

Pretty much the same routine today. Just answering a bunch of NCLEX questions with the instructor walking us through each question using the Kaplan Decision Tree. Each day we cover a different area (see schedule on yesterday's "Day Two" post), so the content changes and there's still stuff to learn and to consider.

During our one hour break, I didn't really break, I just played on my computer and then got REALLY sleepy right before we were supposed to start back. So when class began, I laid back on the sofa, my head on a pillow...and oops! I dozed off for about 5-10 minutes. hahaha! Not good. So I forced myself to sit back up and drank some cold water...

Tomorrow's schedule has us independently taking our "Readiness Test" during the time period when we'd normally meet for our first session and then we meet back online for the second session late afternoon. My understanding is that we'll go through a select number of the questions from the Readiness Test - perhaps the most commonly missed questions--I'm not sure. But then they'll also generically discuss our results and what they mean for us and what we need to do to get ourselves ready to take the NCLEX using Kaplan's resources--based on the results of the tests within Kaplan's site.

I went ahead and took my Readiness Test this evening, so that I don't have to do it tomorrow. 180 questions in three hours! ugh. I'm glad it's over with! But I couldn't believe my eyes when I got my result!  My score was EXACTLY the same as what I got on my Diagnostic Test (which was the test required to be taken before starting this class). So, I'm not sure what this means. Possibly, that I didn't learn anything or possibly that it didn't really help me. But I'm just very happy that I didn't score worse, as I'd interpret that as I just got lucky on the first test or else Kaplan just screwed me up.

Kaplan explains that for NCLEX the goal is 50%. That's just the way the Computer Adaptive Testing works to determine competency above or below the line.  Below is the explanation we were given in class regarding goal scores:


"The goal score for Question Trainers 1-5 is 65%. For the Readiness, Question Trainers 6 and 7 and all QBank tests, the goal is 60%. Remember that every candidate taking the NCLEX®RN examination gets 50% of their questions correct and 50% of the questions wrong.  The difference between passing and failing is level of difficulty of question.  If you are getting 50% of your questions correct answering passing level questions, you will pass. Passing questions are written at the application/analysis level of Blooms Taxonomy."


So for those of you who have been online and have seen people posting their scores on the Readiness and Question Trainers, understanding the above, will hopefully help. Kaplan does a great job of explaining how NCLEX determines passing/not passing.

So I'm sure you are wondering what my scores were? Okay, okay. On both my Diagnostic and my Readiness Tests, I scored a 69%.  So I'm well above the 50% and well above the 60% -- so that is encouraging. But I really don't understand why I didn't score higher on my Readiness Test after spending three days learning Decision Tree strategy. My theory is that I really just need to jump back into the content and review what I've forgotten or never learned. I've been surprised at what I have retained and how things will just jump back into my head when I'm working on NCLEX questions (even for the past two weeks). My biggest fear has been that it's been slowly draining out of my head. Review, review, review! Practice, practice, practice!

Well, it is late and I'm beat. Until tomorrow...

UPDATE:
My Kaplan instructor explained that the Diagnostic Test had questions from every level, but that the Readiness Test included only "passing level" questions. So the Readiness Test was actually harder, so the fact that I kept a high score was a good thing.

Kaplan: Day Two

So.... Class started at noon. Power went out at 12:30. hahahaha! Um, so what do you do? Well, after waiting a few minutes to see if the power might come back on, I called and reported the outage. Then I changed my clothes into something more presentable, all the while hoping that the power would come back on. I called a friend 2 miles away to see if his power was out (if not, I'd have run over there to use his internet), but his power was out too. So I shut down my computer, threw it in the car with a pair of headphones and headed to Panera (nearest free wifi). I texted that same friend and asked if he'd text me when the power came back on. I rushed into Panera (it's 1pm at this point) and find an empty table with a accessible outlet. I boot up my computer and then head over to the counter to order a drink. I head back to my table, pull out my headphones and log-in to the site. The audio is horribly choppy- I call it bit-mapped audio (again, Kaplan warned us about wireless being less than ideal). *SIGH* Then I get a text from my friend saying power is back on...it's 1:10 or so. The Panera connection is lousy and my power is back on...so I pack up my stuff and headed back home.  I had to laugh. That's all I could do. The *only* thing I could've done differently was to wait at the house and *hope* the power would come on soon. But, this is me we are talking about...I made a plan and stuck with it...but then reversed course when the plan failed. Thankfully Panera is less than 15 minutes from the house, so I was home and logged back in by 1:30... exactly an hour after losing connectivity.

Sure, I missed an hour. But what did I miss? Oh, about 12 NCLEX questions. And rumor has it that I can go back onto Kaplan's course site and find those questions and walk through them myself! Kaplan recognizes that life happens sometimes, so they have really done a good job duplicating resources so that we can get them one way or another.  I forgot to mention that yesterday, my online instructor lost video feed several times and had to reboot and reconnect. Apparently there were having pretty bad storms and tornadoes in her area. Thankfully the TA's are in a different location and were able to jump in and take care of the class details. I think we lost our main instructor for the last 30-45 minutes of the class - she just wasn't able to reconnect. But the TA's who are also Kaplan instructors were able to keep us going and getting us done on time.

Today I didn't do anything productive while watching/ listening to the class. I let the clothes sit in the washer (why???) and never pulled out any hand weights. I did get sleepy, but instead just got up and just got some cold water and sat back down. The class was was pretty much the same as yesterday. Six hours of answering question after question using the Decision Tree. There are definitely tips I'm learning - like questions to ask myself while going through the possible answers, but when I get a question wrong...it's because I don't know or can't remember the related content to justify that answer. I'm a pretty good tester in general and I surprise myself at times at how well I can guess, but sometimes I'm at a complete loss. I do think that having these isolated questions on a given topic, can somewhat help me with recall later for specific content areas--seeing as I've had to apply information or learn information after getting a question wrong.

I'll definitely need to do a fair amount of content review before taking the NCLEX. Kaplan's course site is going to help...but I'm a bit overwhelmed at all that I need to do before testing. Kaplan does provide several study plan schedules which can help. I think I'm still in a bit of denial that I really need to sit down and be ultra disciplined about studying for NCLEX. I suppose it doesn't help that I haven't selected a date to test yet, but I'm waiting until after my interview and until after I know what is going to happen with that job. I definitely plan to start studying for NCLEX in earnest next week, regardless of job, but having a test date will definitely drive the studying and give me a goal.

I should've posted the course schedule yesterday, but here it is:

Tuesday, Session 1: Orientation/Class Start/Decision Tree

Tuesday, Session 2: Pharmacology/Reduction of Risk

Wednesday, Session 3: Reduction of Risk/Physiological Adaptation

Wednesday, Session 4: Physiological Adaptation/Basic Care & Comfort/Mgmt of Care

Thursday, Session 5: Management of Care/Safety and Infection Control

Thursday, Session 6: Safety and Infection Control/HMP/Psychosocial

Friday, Session 7: Readiness Test (taken online at home during class time)

Friday, Session 8: Review of the Readiness Test/Roadmap for Future Study

Tomorrow I have Sessions 5 & 6.

Until then...

Kaplan: Day One

My Specifics: I am taking Kaplan's Classroom Anywhere online review course. My school integrated Kaplan into our program's curriculum, so I did not have to pay extra to take this review course. It's part of the package. I could have taken this review course in-person on my campus, but I knew I'd prefer to take the course online (I'd read some online comments at allnurses.com that persuaded me). Plus that's less time and gas traveling to campus and back.  I opted for the four day schedule with two sessions each day.

Below are some of my thoughts after Day One.

• There is a book (or two) that you need for the class...track it down! If you have access to Kaplan because your school has integrated Kaplan into the curriculum (like me), there's a good chance that your books will be shipped to your school. And if your school has not notified you, then you might be clueless that you are missing something (aka "class materials"). I got suspicious last week and tried to contact Customer Service about it and my school rep, but due to holiday weekend, I didn't get my reply until THIS MORNING. I literally picked up the "Course Book" from campus about an hour before my online course started. The only other book you'll want/need is "The Basics" book. My school gave this to me early in the school year when I signed up for Kaplan.
• There IS some stuff to do before the first day of class. I had received emails over the past couple weeks from Kaplan telling me how to log-in, test my connection, and to do a Diagnostic Test through the course site. But because I didn't have the Kaplan "Course Book" until this morning- I did not know that I should have also completed the online Question Trainers 1-3 and reviewed content areas where I was weak (based on Diagnostics and Trainers) using the Kaplan course site. They also recommend viewing the following videos: Orientation Video, Strategy Seminar, and Test Taking Workshop.
• Don't panic if you don't have the book/materials. After Day One (Sessions 1/2), I can say that I'm not lost and I'm not behind-even though I got my materials late. Reality is that it did not matter one iota that I had done/not done the Diagnostic Test or Trainers prior to today. Today was all about Orientation and the Decision Tree and beginning to answer NCLEX style questions using Kaplan's Decision Tree. In class, the instructor just encouraged those who had not yet done the Diagnostic Test to go ahead and do that tonight.
• There is homework for Day Two (Sessions 3/4). We are to read Chapters 1-2, which is basically the same stuff or a review of what they taught us today. The really great thing is that on today's classroom site (live classroom), they provided PDF's of Chapters 1-3. That way anyone who had not gotten their book yet, would still have the readings.

Tips for anyone taking the online course.

• Have a Post-It note on hand! There's a chat window for students to use.  It's basically for classroom participation. However, you can EXPECT that there will be idiots in the class who feel it's okay to chat while the instructor is talking. Despite clear instructions and repeated reminders about NOT posting questions or answers/guesses while she's talking, people still do it. There's a special, private chat box for asking questions where TA's privately answer the question. Obviously they don't *get* that their chatting in the public box is basically the same thing as talking out in class. No one would do this in a lecture hall or in a live setting, but somehow people think it's okay to post "wow, the storms are really bad here" and other stupid stuff. The worst is when these people prematurely post the answer to the question we are attempting to go step-by-step through. The instructors are trying to teach a methodology for breaking down the question to get to the correct answer... so it's really ANNOYING when people jump the gun and throw out their guesses before we've even gotten to step two (out of five). And it's unbelievably distracting to have a chat feed moving constantly while trying to focus and listen to the instructor. I found it very helpful to cover up the chat box. A Post-It note works like a charm.
• Utilize the breaks. They have a one hour break between the two daily sessions, but they also have 5-10 minute breaks every hour or so. By utilizing the breaks, I was less tempted to log onto Facebook or check email during class.
• Find something to do with your hands to help keep you awake. There were times when I got sleepy! So it helped that I had laundry to fold that didn't completely distract me from what was being said. Tomorrow if I get sleepy I may pull out some hand weights. For others, maybe knitting or a set of push-ups would work? Obviously nothing that will steal your brain too much and something that you can put down fairly quickly. During the first part of the orientation when there wasn't much for me to see on the screen, I opted for sorting and starting laundry, and emptying and refilling the dishwasher while listening to the audio.
• Take Notes! There will ALWAYS be terms, drugs or conditions that you've never heard of. Regardless of the Kaplan format (Classroom Anywhere, Live, or On Demand), having a notebook that you can write down stuff to look up later is ideal. But it's completely unnecessary to attempt to copy the online slides or questions. For the most part the text on the slides come straight from the "Course Book" and can be reviewed later. And trying to copy down the Q&A's is unnecessary because you'll never see these questions again. Just sit and absorb the information and of course actively attempt to use the Decision Tree for every question. Occasionally some trick for remembering something might be mentioned...so jot those down if you think they'll be helpful.

Until tomorrow (Kaplan Day Two)...

Ready, but not Ready to Schedule

I have received my Authorization To Test (ATT) -- which is the official document that I need to be able to schedule when I'm going to take the NCLEX. I've got until mid November to take this test.

My goal is to take the NCLEX in early July, however I have an interview in a little over a week, which, if I'm offered a job, may completely disrupt my plans to take it in July. Maybe not, but I'm not going to sign up to take it and then find out that I'm going to start work in late June and discover I haven't left myself with much time to study. So I'll wait. No big deal. It's just good to have the ATT in hand. If I don't get the job, I'll be sad, but then I really will be targeting early July as my goal.

I've completed 44% of my 3,000 NCLEX Questions goal- which is good.  Next week I've got my Kaplan prep course. I haven't decided yet if I will include questions from Kaplan in my count. This week I had planned to take the assessment test on the CD that accompanies the Saunders Comprehensive NCLEX-RN Review book, but time got away from me (and increased nagging scapula/shoulder/neck pain). I'm hoping I can get to it tomorrow afternoon.

Tomorrow morning I'm scheduled to donate platelets and RBC's at our local blood donation center. So excited! I haven't been able to donate for a year due to my travels to Haiti. It feels wonderful to be able to donate again! I am a little nervous that my hemoglobin will be too low, but seeing as I've waited a year to donate, I'm pretty sure that waiting another week won't kill me.

Now that school is over and my the balance in my bank account is dwindling, I'm super glad I've maintained these temp jobs. I've got a few days on the calendar with the artist over the coming two weeks. However, I'm really hoping my interview (scheduled for 6/4) will go well and I will be offered a job. I'm psyched to get started on my nursing career -- FINALLY!!!-- but the side benefit of a paycheck and regular income is a definite bonus and makes going back to a full-time job much more bearable. In nursing school I was working my tail off, but never got paid for it. How nice to think I'll be PAID to do what I love!

Next week I'll be busy with my Kaplan review course, but I'm hoping to do a few posts about that experience. BUT the big challenge between now and then is to hopefully get my internet working more consistently/reliably by then. I'm not sure if it's my wireless router or if it's the cable service. We've had a lot of rain the past couple weeks and I'm wondering if the underground cable has lost it's loving feeling (like it did last year). Worst case scenario is that I have to camp out in a free WIFI spot in town for SEVEN hours a day. But I really need a place that will be relatively quiet and low-traffic. Sigh.

Well, until next week...

NCLEX Strategy : Kaplan dates set

I got an email today from the Kaplan rep (for our school) and they are offering an on-campus version of the Live Review course. They are offering it the week after graduation, but it overlaps with my trip to Ohio. I didn't want to do the in-classroom review anyways, so I've sent them my preferred online course dates. So it looks like I will be busy the week after Memorial Day (Tues-Fri) spending every afternoon (12-7pm) online with Kaplan.

So it really looks like I will have about a week between Ohio and the Kaplan Course to sit down and make a study plan for the NCLEX and to get anything else out of the way (house cleaned, oil changed, seeds planted) because it looks like I will be entering NCLEX world as soon as I complete the Kaplan course. Still wondering if I want to push for an early July NCLEX date- which will give me about 3-4 weeks of self-study. Well, I've got a few weeks here to think about it. I can't sign up for NCLEX date until the VA Board of Nursing processes my paperwork--which is basically waiting on my school to send official transcripts/degree information.

Oh, I got my LaCharity PDA book in the mail from Amazon today and what a huge relief to discover that it's only 155 pages! That's compared to the Saunders Book which is 1200 pages!!!  I also got the Saunders Q&A cards in the mail... the margins aren't ideal for hole punching, but I'm going to try!

Okay, back to studying for OB test.

NCLEX Strategy: Just the beginning

* WARNING * This is a LOOOOONG post. I will be amazed if any of my non-nursing friends actually make it through the entire post. If you aren't in nursing school, this will probably be lost on you.  And if you aren't a S-T-J or aren't devoted to the theories of Myers-Briggs personality typing, you may think me insane. I am not. I am simply an X-STJ who is "...extremely talented at devising systems and plans for action, and at being able to see what steps need to be taken to complete a specific task."  Yep, that's me in a bullet point. However, here's my horrible, deep, dark secret:  I can devise plans and see what steps need to be taken, BUT I am also the worst offender of procrastination! The worst. But here marks the beginning of my strategy for studying for NCLEX!  (Feel free to stop reading here).

I've been doing some research regarding NCLEX prep and various strategies. Most of my research has been done via reading discussions/postings on AllNurses.com (a GREAT discussion site for nursing information in general). You can spend ALL day reading about what people have found helpful and not helpful (and sometimes there's little consensus --as what works for one person, doesn't work for another). It really comes down to knowing yourself, what you need and how you best study, but this site does provide helpful information/tips from those who have taken NCLEX and passed and those who have taken NCLEX and failed.

I don't have a strategy or plan yet for studying and I'm not actually going to sit down and really think strategy until I'm DONE with my actual classes and have graduated. But I thought I'd list out the resources that I expect that I'll be using to study/prep for NCLEX.

Saunders Comprehensive Review (4th/5th ed): During school I used the 4th edition and found it VERY helpful during school as I studied for tests. The content review is EXCELLENT and it has good NCLEX questions (along with CD allowing for focused review in the computer format (like the NCLEX). Every Q&A comes with rationales/strategy for how to figure out answer. I haven't purchased the newest edition yet because it's another $50 and I still don't have a definitive answer as to whether the NCLEX questions are any different from 4th edition to the 5th edition. However, I've read online that there is additional content in the 5th edition. I may still buy this. But this book gets RAVE reviews on allnurses.com for content and NCLEX questions (that's why I bought 4th edition for use during nursing school).

The CD also has an assessment test that will help determine weak areas and will create a recommended study plan based on how much time you've got to study before the NCLEX! Helpful.

Post-NCLEX thoughts: I did not end up buying the updated edition. I really didn't even use Saunders after graduating. I still wholeheartedly recommend it for nursing school. I simply did not have enough time to use Saunders in addition to Kaplan. Also Kaplan suggested not doing more than 150 questions a day so that proper attention could be given to reviewing the Kaplan questions rationales. Kaplan provided plenty of tests and questions...that I did not need more!

LaCharity's Prioritization, Delegation and Assignment (2nd ed): This too has been recommended on AllNurses. Prioritization and delegation questions can be challenging. I will certainly benefit from doing practice questions focused on PDA. 

Post-NCLEX thoughts: I did the first few chapters, but the Kaplan course really gave me the knowledge I needed to be able to answer the prioritization, delegation and assignment questions. Nursing school did not prepare us at all for these type questions. And Kaplan really helped. If you cannot take Kaplan, this is still an excellent resource.

Saunders Q &A Review Cards (1st ed) and Mosby's Review Cards (2nd ed): I've ordered these and I'm hoping that the Saunder's pack has different questions than what's in the 4th/5th editions of the Comprehensive Review books. These are not really flash cards because the paper is on the thin side (or so I've read). I plan to bundle these based on topic/content, hole punch them, put them on rings and then take them with me to the gym. I'm a little concerned about how they'll hold up as they'll probably hang out in my gym bag, but I might have to get creative in how I store them -- otherwise the thin cards will quickly become dog-eared and a bent up mess.

Post-NCLEX thoughts: I took full advantage of these cards! I did hole-punch them and put them on rings and it worked out GREAT! They held up fine, as cards did not sit around long in my purse or bag...I pretty much whipped through them quickly and returned the completed questions back to the box. I highly recommend either of these sets. I primarily used these between graduation and when I took the Kaplan course. I did manage to continue to use them after my Kaplan course, but pretty much only when I was at the gym.

Kaplan : Background: My program initially required my cohort to purchase ATI, but there were some problems with ATI's contract/agreement. So they cancelled ATI and contracted with Kaplan for this year. The first year students were required to purchase Kaplan, but the second years (my class) were not - because we'd already paid for ATI (but lost access when we cancelled). But because my school is contracted with Kaplan, I knew I could get a better deal which would INCLUDE a review course through Kaplan. So rather than paying $499 through Kaplan's website, I paid around $375 when purchased through my school. When I signed up for Kaplan through my school, they gave me a copy of "The Basics" book which is basically just content in outline/bullet format.  No NCLEX questions-- just content.

My purchase of Kaplan through my school allows me to sign up for one of their review courses. They have three basic formats for their review course. The course, whatever the format, is focused on teaching Kaplan's approach to answering NCLEX questions using their "Decision Tree."  During the course, their method is applied to various subjects (straight from Kaplan's website: Pharmacology/Reduction of Risk, Reduction of Risk/Physiological Adaptation, Physiological Adaptation/Basic Care & Comfort/Mgmt of Care, Management of Care/Safety and Infection Control, Safety and Infection Control/HMP/Psychosocial). There's no content or systems review done during this course, at least from what I've read from others who have taken the course. It's been rumored (but I'm NOT for sure) that there are some body system/content videos available if you sign up for one of the 3 review courses. If you buy one of the Kaplan review courses, you also get access to their question bank, online practice tests and diagnostic/readiness tests. If you want more info, go to Kaplan's website and also visit AllNurses.com and search Kaplan for a variety of reviews and perspectives.

Here are the three formats for the Kaplan Review Course. (OMG. Are you still reading?)

"Classroom Review" - this format takes place in a live/classroom setting. We no longer have a Kaplan location in my community, so I would have to travel to Richmond or DC to do this. It's 21 hours of teaching over the course of 1 week or weekend, or two weeks or two weekends. It allows you to plug in your zip code. But in order to find something further away, I have to plug in zip codes in those areas to have them come up. I have read plenty of negatives about the live classroom sessions--so I do not plan to do this (I initially thought I would because I knew one of the instructors--but since they closed our center, she's not teaching it anymore). Direct from Kaplan, this runs $499. Post-NCLEX thoughts: I had two friends who did this live course in Richmond the week after I did my online course. They were disappointed. The teacher ran through questions and answers and did not allow adequate time for the students to actually READ the questions for themselves and to formulate an answer. She basically read the question and then told them which was the right answer and why...did not really give them time to practice what they'd learned. They got out of class early EVERY DAY because the teacher rushed through the material. While I'm sure many of the live instructors do much better than this lady, there's no telling what teacher you'll get (perhaps just avoid the Richmond classes?)

"Classroom Anywhere" - this is live setting also, but it's done from convenience of your bedroom, office, library, or wherever you've got internet access. Because these are still live teaching sessions, you have to clear your schedule to attend the online classes. Schedule is similar to the live settings. You can choose to get the 21 hours of instruction during early, mid-day or evening over the course of 4 or 8 days--depending on the schedule they offer. Because this course runs similarly to a classroom setting, there is a chat feature and there are TA's that can help answer specific questions, so as to not interrupt the entire online class. Direct from Kaplan, this runs $499. This is the likely format for me. Now I just have to pick the dates/schedule that I prefer. Right now I'm looking at late May or early June. Post-NCLEX thoughts: Chose this one. Highly recommend! My instructors were great! They gave us tons of helpful hints (even in written form for us to copy-paste off the classroom site!) Each day during Kaplan, I wrote down my thoughts.  You can search Kaplan using the search box above to find all my Kaplan-related posts, or you can simply go look for my archived posts from May 29-June 1.

"On Demand" - these are prerecorded "classes" - and you chose WHEN you want to watch them. There's less accountability to getting them done and it would be easy to procrastinate and possibly never get around to doing them. I'm not sure if this format has the content videos or not, as it's not entirely clear from the people discussing it online. Because I have a real issue with procrastination, this format is not ideal for me. I think I need the accountability of the live schedule. Direct from Kaplan, this runs $418.

There are TONS of other resources available online for NCLEX prep. Someone on AllNurses.com has even posted a helpful (yet disorganized) NCLEX Study Guide with tons of mneumonics and tricks to help with remembering, along with things to remember to study (lab values, meds etc...).  I also like the ABCDZ Strategy that someone posted (follow link and scroll down to it).

So... these are the resources that I plan to use. I will definitely need to develop a strategy and schedule of how, when, and in what order or combination I will use these resources. I may start with the Kaplan review course and based on how that goes, develop a study plan/schedule. Some folks online suggest 100, 200, 300 NCLEX questions per day. I think I could manage a 100-150/day. Not sure I could manage 300 per day. I've heard that with Kaplan, they provide a suggested study schedule/plan based on how far out your are from taking the NCLEX. Six week plan, four week plan, two week plan.  I've also heard, statistically speaking, that taking the NCLEX more than 45 days after graduation leads to far higher failure rates.  Of course I don't have a source for that...but it seems reasonable enough.

Here is a sample plan of study posted on the Kansas Organization of Nurse Leader's website. There's also an interesting list of questions recommended be posed to students who failed and are retaking the NCLEX (it sounds like they are recommending 3,000 NCLEX questions before taking NCLEX--Good to know!). They've got a handful of other good resources here--even article about foods that can help with memory/learning! When you get to the website, follow KNEP Commission link on left sidebar > Graduate Nurse Toolkit > Graduate Nurse Index... you might find some helpful articles/resources... Check it out.

I've heard from nursing faculty and possibly somewhere else, that there's a correlation between GPA and pass/fail of NCLEX. I've done a search of academic nursing journals online and can't find anything recent or specific. But my nursing school GPA is around 3.75. And if you take into account A&P, Developmental Psychology and Microbiology (all required prereqs taken a year within starting school), I have a 3.8 GPA. I have consistently tested well in nursing school. I've never missed a question because I didn't understand the question, it was 99% me not knowing the content to be able to answer the question (lab values). So because of that, I'm not too worried about NCLEX style questions. Rather I'm more concerned about my retention of information related to diseases and pathophysiology. It feels like every semester I pack my head full of information only for it to leak out the next semester. Ack!  My nursing school has just recently changed their minimum requirements for passing nursing courses. For us, it used to be that you had to earn at least a 75% or higher to pass a class (and stay in program) but now it's 80%! And I think they've also changed the grading scale as to what is considered an A, B, etc... So things just got tougher!

So after graduation, I will work on my NCLEX prep strategy. What's my goal date for NCLEX exam? When is Kaplan available and when do I take it? How many weeks do I have to study? How many days a week will I study? How many hours a day? How many NCLEX questions/day? WHERE will I study (home? campus? library? coffee shop? Study Center?) and what time of day will work best for me? Study partner/ no study partner? What about an accountability partner? Who would that be? How would that work?

Overwelmed? Not at the moment, but without a plan I am certain to be quickly overwelmed and certain to procrastinate! I have a few days between graduation and my trip to Ohio that I can sit down and really sketch out a preliminary plan. I think I just saw May and June slip away :( Boo hoo hoo!

And if you are a lurker here who is in nursing school or graduating and thinking about the NCLEX, I hope you've found some helpful resources or links. Leave a comment and let me know!

Update 20 July 2012 |  So what actually happened?
Graduated May 11 | Kaplan Course May 29-June 1 | NCLEX on June 29 and PASSED at 75 questions! If you scroll to the bottom of this post, you can click on the NCLEX label and it should pull up all other NCLEX-related posts.



(I don't drink coffee, but there are times when I wish I liked it.)

$390 Investment

Just forked out $190 for application to be licensed as an RN in the state of Virginia. Then forked another $200 to Pearson Vue to register to take the NCLEX exam (nursing boards).  But hey, what's $390 when it holds the key to an RN job????

I can't apply for an NCLEX testing date until after my school sends an official transcript declaring my degree in nursing to the Virginia Board of Nursing (Va BON). I've heard that the time from graduation until paperwork is dealt with at the VA BON is about 30 days. Then once I've been deemed as a valid candidate, I'll get more information as to signing up for specific testing date.

I'll be taking an intensive prep/review course through Kaplan prior to taking the NCLEX...but since I don't know when I'm taking the NCLEX, it's a little hard to be strategic about when sign up for the review course. And lucky for us...they no longer offer Kaplan courses in our town! So now it looks like I'll be heading to DC (where my sister lives) or to Richmond.

**For those of you lurking here because you are in nursing school or applying to nursing school, this NCLEX book has been an awesome addition to my study materials DURING nursing school. A great investment. Not only are there loads of NCLEX practice questions...but the book provides a comprehensive subject review for each body system (skin, cardiovascular, respiratory) and other related content (pediatrics, maternity, psych). For each body system chapter, there's loads of great content including assessments, signs/symptoms, diagnostics, disease processes, medications and treatment info...pretty much the same content you are getting in your lecture courses in nursing school...but in a more condensed, no nonsense fashion. Then at end of each chapter there are NCLEX questions for that section--which is a nice way to test content knowledge in preparation for tests. I've known some students who have skipped their textbooks entirely and studied directly for lecture tests from a similar NCLEX prep book. I do not recommend this... but rather highly suggest it as a good supplement for test prep.  FYI- the pictured version is what I have, but I know there's a more recent edition on the shelves (green book, I think).

Cheers!