Preparing to take the NCLEX can be overwhelming and easy to go down a few dark deep rabbit holes. It doesn't have to be. Let's face it, we studied our butts off during nursing school and finished. We've gotten ourselves to this point....we can do it, right? Nonetheless, it's still anxiety provoking. I'm here to hopefully ease your anxieties and endless worry.
Here are the steps I followed and I passed my NCLEX, 1 month after graduating nursing school with only 60 questions....AND you can too!
I scheduled my NCLEX exam and worked backwards. I allowed myself two months to review and set my timeline based on my exam date. It was the earliest date available, unless I wanted to take it in 2 days which I definitely did not feel ready for 😩.
First and foremost, like many others, I reviewed content on UWorld. I first focused on areas that I needed to review the most. Soon after, it became overwhelming to focus on the items I was the most fuzzy on. It was disappointing to see low scores and I quickly became discouraged. I questioned myself if I even learned anything in nursing school. How can this be? UWorld is a great learning tool, but it can also be anxiety provoking and discouraging, at least it was for me. I quickly realized that I needed to change gears if I wanted to be successful. I changed my setting to do questions from all of the systems and that went much better. I was able to see that I knew a lot and my confidence shot up. I studied daily from 8:30am to 1:30pm and sometimes at night as well for an hour or two for 3 weeks. At this point I took the Self Assessment test and got a "High Probability" of passing my NCLEX 😊.
In addition to UWorld, I bought and used the NCLEX-RN Cram Plan book to help me get a better understanding in certain areas. I found it really helpful as it explains the content in a simple way that I found easy to understand. I read through this entire book! Check it out and I hope it helps you as much as it helped me.
The other book that was helpful was the Prioritization, Delegation, and Assignment book.
My NCLEX had a LOT of prioritization questions and I highly recommend this book if this is something that you struggle with.
~I purchased these books with my own money and they are not sponsored~
Throughout this time, I checked Pearson Vue for occasional new exam openings, as I didn't want to wait 2 months, and I was able to schedule the NCLEX earlier than originally planned. At the time of taking my NCLEX, I had about 600 questions left to do in UWorld. I decided that I studied enough, feel confident in myself, and needed to do some self care and de-stress the last 2 years 😬.
That's exactly what I did! I enjoyed spending time with my husband, daughters and myself. I would wake up in the morning, drink my coffee, do a light workout and try to not stress about the NCLEX. The night before the exam, I kept my regular routine, and went to sleep by 9:30pm. The morning of my NCLEX, I ate a light breakfast and held off on my coffee as its diuretic properties get to me 🤣, and did some deep breathing exercises. I went in nervous but confident and the rest is history. The exam cut off at 60 questions (that was the minimum during the COVID-19 pandemic) and I felt pretty calm. A few days later I got an official confirmation that I passed! Time to celebrate! 🎊
Stay blessed!
💗 Nurse Agnieszka
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