Passed in 92 questions!
I took my NCLEX on May 20th and passed in 92 questions. I was on this subreddit a lot reading other people’s experiences to encourage me so I’ve been really excited to share my experience for those waiting to take theirs!
A few details that may be useful. I’m a Canadian RN registered in BC but I wrote in Alberta (for my Canadian RNs). I finished nursing school on the 21st of April. I was studying unseriously for the month of April. Nothing super consistent. I couldn’t find a way to study. I was trying to read the Saunders book completely (PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS IT IS NOT EFFICIENT). I locked in for real about 3 weeks before my exam studying about 8-12hours a day every day. Some days I took breaks maybe two days but I was pretty consistent. What worked for me:
Lots of prayer. If you pray please pray you’re going to need it. A lot of my study strategy came from the Holy Spirit.
BRAIN FOOD!!!! I can’t stress this enough omg!! I was on a brain food strictly diet for about 3 weeks. I literally picked up a pizza after my exam🤣 i was HUNGRYYY for fun food after but eating brain food strictly for 3 weeks helped A LOT! Whenever I wouldn’t eat brain food I literally felt my brain get sluggish while studying. When I noticed a pattern I locked in with my diet. I also took omega 3 supplements.
For what you’re really curious about. I studied system by system. A lot of people were saying just do practice questions but I was like that doesn’t make sense if you’re not familiar with the content first and understand it. I think that’s why people fail is they base their knowledge off their practice test scores not what the actually understand. Study neuro first then take 60questions on neuro. Study respiratory then do 60questions on respiratory . Then do 60 questions of neuro and respiratory mixed. Then another day study cardio, do 60questions of cardio then do 60questions of neuro, cardio and resp mixed. Keep going like that! each day you can cover about 120 questions.
Simple Nursing videos(I paid for the subscription bc I’m a visual and auditory learner), Mark K lecture 12, and Saunders text book were my go to!
I used Uworld. I loved it. I used about 25% of the test bank. I did one CAT and two self assessments on the days leading up to my exam. My practice score ranged from 75-82%. My self assessments were mid 80s with a very high chance of passing. I was always shocked at these scores. You know more than you think you do!!!! You’ll feel like you’ve forgotten everything but no you haven’t! Read ALL the rationales and understand them whether you get it right or wrong just read it and watch the videos attached. The goal is understanding not memorizing. Don’t be lazy! I was a bit lazy but I kept reminding myself it’s better to know than not to know so just watch it and now you don’t have to learn it again.
I can’t stress this one enough!! UNDERSTAND THE MATERIAL. UNDERSTAND THE MATERIAL. Explain it to your cat, your boyfriend, your mom, your neighbours idc just make sure you understand before moving on. This isn’t a test on the knowledge it’s testing you on understanding and critical thinking. You’ll start to notice patterns once you put time to understand the content.
For the ACTUAL exam: Omg this may sound crazy but that exam was the wild wild west. Only 20% of what I studied was there BUT I think understanding of the patterns and concepts helped a lot!! So please study!! It was hard icl. There were two answers most of the time😭 I just answered the safest answer and moved on! Don’t rage click please. Once you start rage clicking just take a break and rest and reset then come back. I noticed from practicing, I rage clicking when I get tired so I built stamina. Read the questions carefully please. Acute>chronic, 12hours>2days, give children more time, safety first.
Please rest as much as you can prior to your exam. Remember you already went to school for 4years for this and now you are just reviewing. Once you understand the content everything clicks! You can do this, you’re already an amazing nurse!! 🩷🩺