After enrolling into the Kaplan NCLEX review, I decided to set up my appointment in July of 2012 to take the NCLEX. For those who are not familiar, the NCLEX is the exam that a nurse needs to take in order to become an official registered nurse. This test comprises of multiple choice questions, select all that applies, hot spots, and etc. The day before the test, I was so tired of doing practice NCLEX questions that I decided to blow off studying completely and went out on a date instead. LOL. There is only so much studying you can do before your brain just shuts down.
I went in to take the NCLEX the next day and the whole process is pretty intense. I had to do a palm scan for each hand and verify that I was indeed who I said I was. I went into the testing room and proceeded to take the test. Once again, if you’re not familiar with how the test works, here is a brief summary. The NCLEX is a computerized test. Imagine an invisible horizontal line dividing the passing questions which fall above the line and the failing questions which fall below the line. Your goal is to always try and stay above the line. The computer will start off with an easy question and depending on whether you answer that right or wrong, it will then determine what kind of a question to ask you next. If you start to see very difficult questions, you know that you are most likely passing since the computer would not give you hard questions unless you were doing really well. After the computer has determined whether or not you are a competent nurse, it will shut off at a minimum of 75 questions. This just means that you have a 50/50 chance of passing or failing. If the computer continues asking you questions going over the 75 questions minimum, it means that the computer has not gathered enough data to determine whether or not you are a competent nurse. It needs to ask you more questions to get a feel for whether you know your stuff or not. The maximum it can ask you is 265 questions. You have I think 6 hours to take the whole test. I finished my test within an hour and half and the computer shut off at 75. I was feeling pretty confident that I passed and was not nervous until I left the testing room and back into the room where I had to do the palm scans. The secretary behind the desk smiled at me and said, “All done already? That was fast.” Her comment was what made me immediately freak out on the inside. This made me second guess myself. Maybe I rushed through the test and had failed? Oh god. I had all that time to use and I didn’t even take my time! What an idiot.
After the test, I obsessively checked the BRN to see if my name had popped up on the site indicating that I had passed the NCLEX. I strategically took the test on a Monday hoping that since it was a weekday, I would get my results soon without having to wait through the weekend. It was torture waiting. Rumor is that if you try to register and pay to take the test again and if it kicks you out, you have passed. If the site allows you to pay to re-take the test, you have failed. I tried this trick and it kept kicking me out, but I was still not convinced I had passed. My friends and I had planned a trip to Reno that weekend to celebrate a friend’s birthday as well as us passing the NCLEX and becoming official RNs, but I just felt sick to my stomach. I didn’t want to get my hopes up in case I didn’t pass. I kept checking the BRN site for 3 days and no updates or results had been posted yet.
Finally at around 2 in the morning, I got a text from my friend saying, “It’s official.” I texted her back and said, “How do you know that I had passed the NCLEX. My name is pretty common in my ethnic group. It could be another Mon.” She replied, “I know it’s you because our license numbers are just a single number off.” I quickly searched for my name on the BRN site again and it said that the site was down for maintenance! My heart was pounding! I couldn’t go to sleep after that. I was still convinced I had not passed. I wanted to see my name on the site for myself. At around 0600, the BRN site was up and running again and that was when my name popped up on the screen with my nursing license number. That was when I had a huge grin on my face! I was at work, but couldn’t hide the news. I was soooo happy!! 🙂 🙂
Until next time, have a great night! 🙂
