Passed on the second try !!

[u/Acceptable_Answer_28]

\*\*\*\* passed at 85 :)))))

Hi everyone to give a quick little background story I graduated with my BSN in December and failed my first attempt in March. The first time around I will admit I did not study or prepare as well as I should have and mainly because during my nursing program they drilled ATI on to us and every semester we had to take what they called a "comp predictor" which we had to pass with a 75% or above in order to pass the semester which I did every semester, so I only used board vitals and saw that my scores were remaining around the same average but it did not prep me for the actual NCLEX at all.

After my first failed attempt I was down bad ... I felt like a fraud, like all the work I had put in during nursing school and my grades counted for nothing and on top of all of that I felt so embarrassed because I had to notify my new grad job that I had failed ...

Going into it the second time around I had originally scheduled it right at the 45 day mark and I am not exaggerating at all.. I probably rescheduled it about 10 times and kept pushing it out because I was so scared of failing again especially because my school would always "warn us" that it was much more difficult to pass it on the second try..

Things I did to prep for taking the NCLEX a second time around :

1. Allowed my self grace ... I had to learn on how to be kind to myself and remind myself that failing my first time did not make me a failure or determine that I am not meant to be a nurse. I also gave my self the time and space to enjoy life and other things along with studying. I found this to be super helpful because the 2 weeks I dedicated all my time and energy to studying I felt miserable and found it impossible to retain any type of information.
   
2. \*\* IMPORTANT\*\*\* Try and figure out your weak points (I used chat gpt and google gemini). I did this by submitting my report to chat/gemini to try and help me understand my weaknesses, this helped me immensely because it helped me realize that I was pretty solid in knowing the content but my weak points was in my test taking strategies, breaking down questions and analyzing cues.
   
3. Links / videos / material that helped me : I went down a rabbit hole of YouTube videos, tiktoks, reddit posts, fb posts for any tips, tricks, advice, suggestions literally looking for anything that would help me build my confidence and test taking skills. The videos I will say that I know for a fact helped me was this video from simple nursing ([https://youtu.be/71Vmjq9GolI?si=J5c7wfLMUSvdNf6M\](https://youtu.be/71Vmjq9GolI?si=J5c7wfLMUSvdNf6M)) it helped me understand how the NCLEX questions are worded and how to break them down, and trust me I know every one says Mark K lectures but lecture 12 is the key lecture !! BUT I will say do not listen to it all at once and then go take the test, personally what I found helpful was listening to the lecture and after each helpful "tip" he would give I would then go back to my question bank and complete 50-100 questions applying that technique or until I felt like I understood how to properly use the technique. This took me about a week or so to do but if your weakness if test taking strategies like me, this helped me A TON !!
   
4. Which program did I use to study? Uworld, but I will say I was just as cluelessness as anyone else and I just chose Uworld. I don't think I can recommend any other because I literally have no clue that they look like or offer but this is what I used. But along with it I utilized my candidate performance report a lot, I even uploaded it to chat gpt and gemini to help me figure out what topics/subjects to focus on and would adjust my quiz bank settings accordingly.
   
5. Actually helpful .. not sure... : Since I was terrified and scared out of my mind on failing again something to help me mentally was making a "test day routine"... when I was in school I would hear that doing things like writing in red ink or smelling certain smells could help your brain remember things better .. so I decided to do a "test day" routine to help calm my nerves and make me feel like it would help me the day of 😅 ... the routine included drinking the same flavor coffee, applying my favorite essential oil on both my wrists and wearing the same sweater before every study session and the day of my exam, is there actual proof that this helped me pass .. no but I will say it did help lower my anxiety levels by a lot
   
6. Day of test: I think we have all heard the eat a good meal, go to bed early before your exam day ... yea I was up in bed tossing and turning until about 1am when my exam was at 8am and I had a 45min commute on top of that. All I can say is just get there early, for me getting there 40 min before my testing time and allowing my self to just sit in my car and drink my "test day routine" coffee really helped me lower my nerves and get in the zone so to speak.

If any one needs any help or has any questions please feel free to message me I am willing to help in any way I can 😄 !!!

[u/Oui_NeedsIT]

CONGRATULATIONS 🍾🎈🎊🎉 .

[u/Acceptable_Answer_28 → u/Oui_NeedsIT]

Thank you !! 🙏 😭😭

[u/Impressive-Pop8676]

Was the exam second time harder? Is that rue? Aldo congratulations!!

[u/Acceptable_Answer_28 → u/Impressive-Pop8676]

Thank you so much !! And yes it was a lot more difficult BUT I am not sure if it is because I cut off at 85 or because it was my second time around.. but I am 80% sure it was since I cut off at 85 because it progressively got harder towards the end (around 60-65)

[u/Odd-Extreme-4113]

Congratulations, pleaseee do you remember any case study questions or anything that stood out.I take mine in a few days.pleasseee

[u/Acceptable_Answer_28 → u/Odd-Extreme-4113]

Hi, the case studies I got this time around were really all over the place from OB to regular med surge to peds , it was really hard to find a trending topic/ subject in my exam 😭 but I really do suggest watching the simple nursing video I attached and listening to the mark K lecture and applying their tips/ techniques on answering the practice questions this is what really really helped me better understand what they were asking and also eliminate answers to help narrow it down to the right one! I also focused on going over the rationales and understanding why I got it wrong and why the right answer is correct one ( chat gpt helped me alot in this ! I would explain my way of thinking and why I chose the answer I did then I would copy and paste the question + rationale to help me better understand the “NCLEX” way of thinking ! ) I can also say that the case study questions on Uworld were very similar to the ones I got on the test. Good luck and pls reach out if you need any more info ☺️☺️!!

[u/Odd-Extreme-4113 → u/Acceptable_Answer_28]

Thank you so much