Welcome back to TCBSN! I'm officially writing to you all as a licensed registered nurse now and I cannot believe we are finally here. A ton of you were requesting my detailed study plan and statistics when it came to preparing for the NCLEX-RN exam. This post is being made to give you an in depth view of my studying time, habits, methods and statistics. I really hope this post can help some of you find a structured study plan to help you crush the NCLEX-RN! Here is what I did to prep and ultimately pass the NCLEX in 60 Qs:
1. The resources I used: I know its an age old debate on which resources to use for your NCLEX-RN prep. Honestly, I was so overwhelmed figuring out which would be best for myself. I heard about Kaplan, Saunders, UWORLD, etc. the list just continued on. I didn't know if I should use one, two, three, or all of them. Ultimately, I ended up purchasing the 60 day UWORLD plan. This plan retails at $159 and contains a test bank of 2000+ questions as well as one Self Assessment. I originally was between purchasing the 30 day plan (which has no Self Assessment) however I would strongly recommend making sure to purchase the 60. Although it is expensive, this is the ONLY you heard me... ONLY resource I used during my NCLEX studying and having the Self Assessment made all the difference in the end. I would highly suggest using one resource to study for your NCLEX. UWORLD is in my eyes the best of the options. The questions allow you to note your trends and weaknesses and practice NCLEX style written questions while you review. 2. Starting studying with UWORLD: I studied/used UWORLD for a total of 5 weeks. I began the week after I graduated. I think its really important to note to not give yourself too long of a break in-between graduation and studying for NCLEX. I'm really glad I was strict on myself with this as I was already in study mode from the end of the semester. It wasn't hard to continue on versus trying to motivate myself to start after being off if that makes sense. Originally, I was doing a mixed amount of 60 question quizzes. However, I highly recommend breaking these questions up into groups by specialty. I would tackle a specialty every few days i.e. OB, Med Surg, Pediatrics, Critical Care until I ran out of those questions. This really helped me see where my weaknesses were in each specialty when it came to reoccurring trends on disease processes or medications. 3. How I used the UWORLD quiz bank: I averaged around 120-180 questions a day. I felt like this was the perfect amount of questions as it allowed me to do 2-3 tests (60 Q per test) and really review the content. Its important to make sure to retain the information. Doing more than this amount a day caused me to lose focus and ultimately waste questions as I wasn't in the right mindset to retain anymore info. All in all this left me studying for approximately 3-4 hours a day. 4. Rationales, rationales, rationales: UWORLD rationales are seriously the BEST thing I have ever seen. Not to be dramatic, but this is what made all the difference for me haha. The rationales are set up on each question in the quiz bank to really help you understand why the answer you chose was correct or incorrect. The rationales break down the background knowledge and pathophysiology you need to answer the question. They also break down the rights and wrongs of each answers. Every time I finished a quiz, I would go back through and read through the rationale of the questions I missed. I created a binder in which I would write the main concept and then condense the information I needed to remember underneath. For example when it came to disease questions I would miss, I would write down the diagnosis, patho, symptoms, causes, treatments. This was a condensed version that was written in my own words. Writing and condensing the rationales in your own words really help to make sense of them in your mind easier and make sure you're not writing meaningless information. I would continue to read through my binder everyday and add more pages every time I took new tests. This ultimately is what helped me retain the information the most and helped me get further questions on the topics correct in the future. 5. My UWORLD scores and percentiles: Now this is what everybody asks. I am honestly so happy to share this information with you all in hopes that it will help you all feel motivated in your studying! I want to note: UWORLD predicts a pass when you score around 60s and upwards on your quizzes. When I began UWORLD, my scores for the first two weeks were averaging in the 50s. I had a few high 40s and a couple low 60s if I got a really good batch of questions. But I found myself really stressing myself out about how low I was scoring. I continued to keep at my method and eventually within the third week, I saw an improvement of my scores. By the time I finished my entire quiz bank, I was scoring around 65s-75s. After this, I decided to retake the quiz bank again. I wanted to see if I had retained the information I had been studying in my binder and from writing out rationales. Once I completed my quiz bank for a second time, I was scoring in the 75s-85s. I started my quiz bank in the 42nd percentile. I ended my quiz bank after the second time being in the 80th percentile rank. 6. Self Assessment and my scoring: The self assessment I took one week before my test date. I made sure to sit this exam as if it were the REAL deal with full concentration and no distractions. Now this assessment contains 100 questions that are timed. Once the assessment is over, it predicts your likelihood of passing the NCLEX-RN. I scored a "High" chance on this assessment which gave me confidence in the hard work I had put in on the test bank. However, although I received a high chance I still made sure I remediated. I did the same method of going back through my questions and reading/writing out the rationales. I continued to review this binder until 3 days before my test. 7.Days leading up to taking the NCLEX: De-stress yourself. About 3 days prior to my test date I would skim my notes (and I mean skim) and then go and spend my day doing fun things or self-care related things. It allowed me to feel as refreshed as I possibly could. 8.Day of the NCLEX: Manifest, manifest, manifest lol. I made sure to get to my testing center early. I made sure to sit in my car and take some deep breaths. For me, I called my family members and had them give me a little pre-test pep talks and I literally spoke the words into existence: I will pass this test. Although I was SO nervous and knew how much was riding on this exam, I made sure to pump myself up and get myself into a positive mindset. Confidence is 50% of test taking so making sure to chill out my anxiety was key. Deep breaths got me through my test as well. As the questions got harder, I grew more frustrated. I would pause and breathe and then get my head back in the game (as Troy Bolton would say). 9. After the test: I literally felt like sh*t I'm not going to lie to you guys. I was certain I failed. The test felt impossible and I was certain I just hadn't done it. The next 48 hours were brutal. I stayed away from the Pearson VUE Trick because I had heard of it being not 100% reliable. I didn't want to rely on a trick that could have been misleading. I took my test Saturday morning and on Monday morning I woke up to my name on my states DOH licensure lookup. This was a guaranteed way of knowing I passed my test and I was so thrilled. Once my quick results were released that evening I made sure to double check and saw the "pass" as well. 10. Final thoughts: The anxiety behind this exam is so real. And I want you to all know that it's ok to feel all of the feels. I felt defeated, confident, doubtful, nervous, anxious, disappointment, failure ALL OF IT. But at the end of the day my hard work paid off and so will yours! Continue to keep studying hard and reviewing your weak points. This is officially the last obstacle you need to surpass in becoming an RN. I hope this post was helpful in explaining more in detail of how I managed to pass in 60! As always, feel free to drop a comment or shoot me a DM on insta with any further questions. You guys have got this!
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