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!

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!

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: 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.)

Preparing for Semester Two

Grades are back and I am grateful to have managed an A in the Dosage Calculations class. There was no certainty about it--as we left our last class with only one known grade (which for me was a B on our first quiz). So I was pretty giddy when grades were posted this past week).  So...another 4.0 semester. Yay!

I attended and passed the CPR certification (for healthcare professionals) this past Saturday. So I've FINALLY jumped through all the hoops of the initial stuff. Please do not stop breathing. That would not be good.

Fall semester (Semester 2) starts the week of August 23rd, with my first class on August 26th. I still need to buy textbooks and the "nurse in a bag" thing with all our supplies for the semester. Feeling oh-so grateful for my scholarship!! Still need to buy petite uniform trousers and sew on patch to the top. My to-do list is a mile long. The first thing on my schedule (the day after my last day of work on Wednesday) is a Dentist appointment...next thing is to get my car to the mechanic (exhaust issue, idle issue, oil change, state inspection...). Nothing urgent...just ideal time to do it. I also need to go shopping to pick up some "business casual" clothing items for the fall semester. My closet it rather bare--as it's currently more casual and less business...but then again, it IS SUMMER! And I'll also need to be enrolling in health insurance (I'm looking at doing it through the National Student Nurses' Association--accessible via www.studentinsuranceusa.com). I'll also probably be obtaining liability insurance through NSNA too.

My last day of work is Wednesday of this week. I have a friend who has invited me to dinner on Wednesday night--so it's a GREAT excuse to not work late my last night (& to celebrate a little). It's going to be a crazy week. I feel for the new hire--just too much to absorb. He'll do great--he just needs to get to know people and get a few Sundays under his belt. God is good.

Later.

Nursing School starts in 24 Days!

24 days until my first nursing class starts! ...but I've got to remain focused on microbiology for another 10 days. I have an exam this Monday on Infectious Diseases (including STIs) and then my comprehensive exam must be taken on/before May 8th (my birthday). So I'm feeling a lot of pressure, but not a lot of motivation. I'm sooooo ready for a break...even if it's only for two weeks. I wish I could quit work now, but I need the money and the insurance through the summer. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to cut back work hours this summer to make room for being on campus, which will be hard financially, but also because I need to start spending more and more time preparing to pass things off to my replacement.

I'm mostly through with the list of things to do. Gotta get my TB test checked tomorrow and get paperwork from my PCP turned in. Scheduled to take CPR class in early June. I've ordered all the text books and they'll be arriving in the next week. Still waiting to hear back about scholarships and if I'll have any help financially in that regard. That would be huge relief.

Good news! I have made plans to travel May 13-17 and go visit my sister and her family in Ohio. I need the break! Classes start back May 24th --so I gotta rest and build some excitement and enthusiasm for summer classes. I'm hoping to track down a "surviving nursing school" book that I've heard about. The trip is 8 hours and I'm hoping my parents do the bulk of the driving so I can rest and read.

May 10th is my goal to start back running. As a nurse I gotta practice what I preach, right? So I have some fitness/weight-loss goals for the summer and for fall semester. I also know the running will help with stress relief too. I just wish I had someone in my neighborhood to run with! Maybe I'll find someone in the nursing program who lives near me...or who would be interested in running the Monticello trail on Tuesday/Thursday afternoons after our summer Health Assessment class.

I also need to cook up a storm and get some food (soups) put in the freezer. It's just so easy to stop and get Panera or Chipotle if I know I have nothing in the refrigerator. I won't be able to afford eating out financially, and of course to lose weight I gotta start cutting calories and quantity. So back to the kitchen it is!

Until next time...

P.S. The nursing program opened another section of the Dosage Calculations class and I was able to register for it. Whew!