What I Did To Pass The NCLEX

Hello everyone! You're probably opening up this post to figure out how to tackle the NCLEX. Before I get started, I do want to say that I'm no NCLEX expert. Some of the things I mention below may work for you and may not work for others. I sure do hope you find this article helpful.

Just a quick background story about myself, my nursing school journey has been up and down. The subject that I found the hardest was Pediatrics and the class I haven't looked over since I passed it was Obstetrics. The easiest class I've had was Medical-Surgical and the class I passed a long time ago was Fundamentals. My overall hated subject matter was, of course, Pharmacology. As far as my work and social life, I worked for 3 days a week, 12 hour night shifts and went out once or twice a week with family and friends.

So now that I have told you a quick story about myself, lets begin!

I did not have my authorization to test (ATT) date just yet, but I evaluated my strengths and weaknesses and arranged my studying according to studying my weaknesses first. This was my order:

1. Pediatrics (weakness)

2. Obstetrics

3. Fundamentals

4. Pharmacology

5. Medical Surgical (strength)

I studied lecture and theory first until I got my ATT date. Once I got my ATT, I scheduled my NCLEX date a month out. Some people would like to take it as soon as possible, but because of work purposes, that was not possible for me. So I had my mind set of having a month to study for this exam. Instead of focusing on lectures, I decided to shift my studying to focus on NCLEX style practice questions. I used Kaplan and an app called NCLEX RN Mastery for NCLEX study programs. Both programs contains thousands of practice questions.

In the beginning, I used NCLEX RN Mastery and their study schedule. The first week, I had to do 20 questions every day. The second week, I had to increase it to do 60 questions a day. The third and fourth week, I had to to do 120 questions a day. During the third week, I decided to incorporate Kaplan qbank questions. The minimum amount of questions that Kaplan gives is 75 questions. After I did 75 questions from Kaplan, I switched over to RN NCLEX mastery until I did 120 questions a day. Now that I have done the NCLEX, I can safely say that Kaplan questions is the closest to NCLEX questions, however Kaplan is $350-$400. RN NCLEX mastery is only $29.99, however the questions are more so like the questions we had on exams for lectures. 

Once I finished my questions for the day, I studied 1-2 hours of lecture starting with my weaknesses. If I get tired of reading about one subject, I studied another subject until I am done studying for the day. I did that until it was the day before test day. My only break from studying was the day before the actual NCLEX day. The day before test day I decided to relax and pamper myself. The most important thing was to make sure to get a good night's rest.

In the morning, I made sure to cook a nutritious breakfast. I drank the most delicious coffee I've ever mixed up and decided to look at my quick notes. The only thing I looked at last minute was lab and drug toxicity values. And then it was time to start driving to the test center and take the test. 265 questions later... I passed!

For my nclex experience, click here to read!

Hope you guys found this useful. If you guys have any questions about anything, please feel free to comment below or email me direct me! Remember that you too will pass! Have a great one!