My NCLEX Exam was Under Investigation

This is it. You passed your exit exam. You graduated from nursing school. You have the BSN or ADN behind your name, now just need two more letters to make it official. The last thing you need to do is pass the NCLEX. Every single sleepless night and all the grueling hours of studying and careplanning have been building the foundation for you to take your NCLEX exam. 

The NCLEX has been modified since the panini so things are different now compared to when I took it. MA couple of things to remember is that the NCLEX includes 15 questions that don’t count because they’re pretesting them for future exams, so it can give you some leeway. The exam is 6 hours long, answer a minimum of 75 questions, with the max being 265. 

Nursing schools do help prepare you for the NCLEX. They have NCLEX review classes and also have an NCLEX practice exam which helps gauge your knowledge. It’s important to take a break and give yourself time to relax before you even start studying. I relaxed for about 2 weeks before I started my grind. 

There was a lot happening for me in my personal life when I was studying for the NCLEX. Five months before I graduated I was going through a breakup with my ex of six years. I’ll talk about the importance of mental health, my breakup experience, how I got through it in a different blog post. I decided to also get a part time job to help keep myself busy and went to therapy all at the same time. I had a full schedule of working, therapy, studying, family time and me time. This is also a time to start finding new grad jobs. New grad jobs can offer you a position with the expectation that you’ll get your license. I loved being busy and having things to do all the time because I felt productive in life. 

The most important thing you need to do before studying is schedule your NCLEX exam date. Why? It’s to help set a goal and give you a timeline of studying. You can’t keep studying without having an end date in place. I knew that I wanted to study for about 4-6 weeks. I studied for about 4-5 days a week for 4-6 hours either before or after I had work. I made sure that I had time for breaks and me days where I didn’t study at all just so I didn’t burn myself out. 

I cannot for the life of me study at home. Every single time that I attempted to study at home I napped during my hours of studying because I was always tempted by my bed and the idea of just chillin’ out, maxin’, relaxin’ all cool. (I hope you get the reference) Coffee shops were always my favorite places to study. I studied at them during school, so it was no different for the NCLEX. I tried different coffee shops around my area but Starbucks was always my favorite. I went to the same Starbucks every time I studied and I knew all the baristas, they knew my orders, where I sat, my routine. I had my Starbucks blanket, which is essentially a knitted blanket dedicated to coffee shops for me because I was cold all the time. I spent a lot of time and money at starbucks, but it was one of my happy places that I was comfortable in.

Everyone and their mother will most likely use UWorld, including me. I bought the 90 day subscription question bank with 2 self assessments. I didn’t really do anything different in how I studied. Before I started with the question bank, I went through my nursing notes as an overview just to review. I had all my exam study guides and just went through it. I knew there were some areas I sucked at but some I felt great in. With the areas I wasn’t confident in, I would create my cheat sheet for them just to help me review them in detail. I went through the question banks over and over again. The questions did get repetitive but it was helpful because you can’t remember all of the answers. When you get a question wrong, the program explains the rationale on the bottom. I wrote down every question I got wrong and the rationale and hyperfocused on the subjects that I needed a review on. The questions I got kinda right I would still write down and study those specific topics. With the questions I got right and felt confident with, I didn’t bother to write down. My rationale was “if I got it right the first time, then I know and don’t need to worry about it so much.” It helped decrease my stress and gave me confidence in certain subjects.

I did follow my Pomodoro Method of 60 minutes of studying with a 30 minute break that I learned in nursing school. I adjusted to how I know I study so adjust it to your needs. 60 minutes made me feel productive enough that I actually studied without losing focus, and a 30 minute break was just enough for me to get my mind off studying and focus on whatever I wanted to do. Since I was studying at a coffee shop, YouTube is how I spent my breaks, but spend it however you like.

Fast forward to the day before my exam. You may have been told to not study on the day before your exam. It’s probably true to do that but I was having anxiety. For me to calm down, I went over my notes and topics of the questions I got wrong and I felt better. I did it for about 2 hours and for the rest of the day I did whatever I wanted and went to Target (my local Disneyland). 

Day of my exam. My exam was at 8 AM. I slept early, made sure I had breakfast, and had a positive attitude. I dressed in my grey sweater, which was my superstition for a good grade on an exam. My mom gave me a pin that was her good luck charm for me. I got into my car and started my exam playlist that I made before that was full of energetic music. The first song that came on was Titanium by Sia and David Guetta. I felt good, felt confident even though I was so nervous. That song now holds a special place in my heart because of that moment. I got to the testing facility at 7:30AM and noticed cars that I knew from school. I knew two of my friends from college were there because it was the closest facility for them. It made me a little more nervous, but it was also comforting that I wasn’t alone.

When you first get there, you put your belongings in a locker and get verified that you are who you say you are and practically get patted down to make sure you have nothing on you that you can cheat with. You sit in your little cubicle with a camera and a mic on you. It feels like you’re in a fish bowl because the proctors are watching you through glass windows.

I sat at my computer and stared at the screen terrified of what’s going to happen after my exam. I verified who I was one more time and saw the begin button for my exam. I prayed like I usually do before any exam, took a deep breath, and started my exam. My exam was going, I wasn’t sure how I was doing but I felt okay about it. Everything was fine and dandy until I was on question 68. I pressed the next button but the loading screen was just going and going and eventually froze. I stared at it for 5 minutes because I didn’t know what to do but I finally raised my hand for help. She took a look at my computer, told me to stay here while she did something. My computer shut down and I sat there for about 15 minutes, while everyone was doing their exam. I was freaking out. I wasn’t sure what’s going to happen next and had these thoughts running through my head: “Do I have to restart my exam?” “Am I in trouble?” “This is going to mess me up since I had a long break.” “Why me?!?!” After the longest 15 minutes of my life, my exam restarted. They had to log me off of my computer and relog me back into the system and my exam because the computer froze. Luckily I restarted exactly where I left off. Question 69 now. lol

Question 75 is crucial. After pressing next, the computer can just stop the exam and at that point you either pass or fail. Or you can continue onto the next questions if you are in between scores.. I completed question 75 and anxiously clicked the next button.

Question 76. I felt a little disappointed but my professor said something that provided me comfort. Progressing after 75 questions means that you are not quite there at the competency level, but very close. During my NCLEX review classes, my professor told me that the exam is giving you more and more chances for you to pass. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and thought “thank you for the opportunity to let me continue and pass this exam.”

I’m not gonna lie I had thoughts of giving up and just thinking “ehh I can retake the exam.” I knew I didn’t want to so I had to keep focus and remember my goal. My exam finally shut off at question 186. I felt relief but at the same time worried that I failed. I left and sat in my car and just cried. I cried because of how much I felt like I didn’t pass. All that work to not pass. Usually people go out and enjoy their day after the exam. I didn’t, I was exhausted after the exam. I drove home and took a fat nap. 

It doesn’t take long to find out if you pass or not. The next way to know that you passed is looking up your name on the Board of Registered Nurses. It takes about 48 hours for it to pop up to make it official. The other way you’ll hear about checking is the Pearson Vue check and either getting the good pop up or the bad pop up.

I took my exam on a Friday and things didn’t update during the weekend. You would usually have to wait 2 days, but since I took it on a Friday I had to wait Saturday, Sunday, Monday, AND Tuesday to know whether I passed or not. Monday and Tuesday pass by and nothing for me. I saw one of my friend’s name who I saw at the facility the same day I took my test. I was freaking the hell out. I was completely sure that I failed since my name wasn't on the board. I waited and waited and just accepted the fact I failed. 

I waited a whole week and I decided on Saturday night at 2AM to check the board. I saw my name. It took me quadruple checks to realize that I was officially a registered nurse. I did it. I FINALLY DID IT. I was crying and jumping. I woke up my parents from their sleep to tell them the news.