NCLEX in Review

Everything I have done since 10th grade has brought me to this moment.. the day of my NCLEX. And in all honesty, I believe I totally bombed it :(

I have pretty much known I wanted to be a nurse since I was 10 years old. In high school, I was given the opportunity to take part in a vocation program for nurse aide training in addition to my normal high school curriculum. I wrote the essay and waited for an acceptance letter that came in the middle of July the summer before my junior year. That year was a whirlwind of learning, not only the material, but about myself as well. By the end of that program, I was certain that it was the job for me. I have never stopped chaising that dream. Nearly four years and 2 kids later, I feel lik eit has all come to a screeching halt.

I have put my all into this LPN program. For goodness sake, I went into labor with Caeden while I was taking an A&P test last fall. I know hard work and dedication. I have endlessly been preparing for this NCLEX. I woke up early this morning with the confidence level above any that I have ever experienced. All of my friends have taken the test and passed. I carried with me words of advice and at 7:45 AM I began my fight with the computer.

The first 50 questions were a breeze. I was in shock how easy they seemed and how quickly I breezed through them. I had alot of maternity and pediatric questions. I even had 3 very basic I&O questions. All of a sudden I was hit with medication questions. AHhhh! I had been dreading this. After the first 5.. “This is the medication, what side effect should you report immediately”.. with the answers being all the same.. I wanted to die. After the 15th, yes, 15th medication question in a row, I was convinced the state was trying to punish me.

Needless to say, I trudged through them. When question 85 came I was hoping that the computer would turn off an put me out of my misery.

Nope.

In case you are unaware, the NCLEX is a progressive test. There is a minimum of 85 questions and a maximum of 205. If at 85 questions, you are significantly above or below standards, they will shut you off. If not, you can continue through the questions, and the computer will shut off when you have reached the necessary level. The degree of hardness increases as you continue to get questions correct and decreasing when you get them wrong. You need to get a certain degree of hardness correct in order to pass.

Yea, you guessed it.. I did ALL 205 questions!!

At question 100 I was still pretty confident. At question 150 I was losing faith, but not enough to be distracted. At question 200, I burst into tears because I just knew it was over for me.

Needless to say, I have not received my official results. I am compusively checking my name on the Ohio Board of Nursing even though I know there will be no change in my status until AT LEAST sometime tomorrow. People have tried to make me feel better about this, but I am seriously doubting my chances. I have a hard time with tests, and due to my ADHD, I have a hard time memorizing material so it takes me longer. I feel like all the studying in the world could not have better prepared me for the information that was on that exam.

I guess we will just cross our fingers and wait for tomorrow.