How to Pass NCLEX RN in 75 Questions: My Experience

Hello, fellow colleagues. If you opened up this post, either you’re in the stages of studying for NCLEX and in need of all the help you can get or you’re up way too late lurking instead of getting ready for clinical or writing your papers.

Either way, thanks for reading.

I’ve been lurking on this subreddit for the past four years of my undergraduate studies, and reading testimonials helped encourage me to persist through the hard times and celebrate in the good ones. We’ve entered this profession because we share a common thread – our love in helping others. Do not lose that first love you had for this profession. As this subreddit helped me, I want to give back! To give some background..

I am from BC, Canada. I graduated August 2017, and wrote and passed my NCLEX on my first attempt (103 questions) on Oct 2017.

To the student nurses who are still in school and not done their degree yet… — I would highly recommend NOT studying/preparing for NCLEX until you are graduated. NCLEX is a completely new world and studying during your undergrad imo is unnecessary. You will need to dedicate 1-2 months of pure NCLEX studying. It’s hard to do so when you have clinical shifts, on top of papers and group projects to manage.

To the graduates who are just starting to study for NCLEX… — Hurst and UWorld! I will say it again.. Hurst and UWorld!

Hurst: Core content was broken down in such easy language. It was a good refresher for pathophysiology. If you paid attention throughout nursing school, Hurst will not be a time of learning but a time of review. I found Hurst to be too basic for some topics so I utilized Saunders (which I borrowed from a friend). Saunders was also great in supplementing knowledge from Hurst – but went into too much (unnecessary) details. The thickness of the Saunders book can also overwhelming, but don’t let that fool you. It’s a great resource. If you don’t have it, you don’t need it so don’t worry.

UWorld: Mad props to the founders of UWorld and allowing RNs to pass their NCLEX! The rationales to the questions were so detailed and clear. The format of UWorld was almost identical to the actual NCLEX testing program used. Same colour, same font, same layout, same everything. I forget what subtle difference I noticed when writing the NCLEX. All in all, the rationales were incredible. If you don’t get a question correct, don’t worry. Read the rationales and try to understand them inside out.

UWorld Self Assessment Tests:

1st Test: – I wrote this once I covered all my core content on Hurst. I scored “high chance of passing”

2nd Test: – Wrote it a week before my scheduled NCLEX date and scored “very high chance of passing”

I did the entire QBank and went through the incorrect questions and the rationales.

(Q) How much time did you devote to studying?

• I gave myself approximately 1.5 months to study. Started studying beginning of Sept and wrote mid October. In hindsight, I think 1 month would have been ideal. I studied about 6-8 hours every day (+/- 2 hrs). I went very slowly for the first 3-4 weeks.. it wasn’t really only the last couple of weeks that I felt the pressure and made sure I maximized my studying time.

(Q) What was your average on UWorld?

• I initially started off at 65-70% but dropped down to 48% at one point (when I did psychiatric and oncology – my two weakest subject areas lol). Do not worry about the averages. Just be sure to read and understand the rationales. Sometimes you just don’t know the content so you need to go back and brush up. Other times, it might be because you misread the question. READ THE QUESTION CAREFULLY!

Any advice…?

• Be prepared to write all 265 questions. Honestly, my heart dropped when the computer didn’t shut off at 75 questions- and I remember becoming tachycardic from question 76 and onwards. By going in with the mindset of “I’m writing the full 265,” you will not be surprised if it doesn’t shut off at 75, etc.
• I have friends who passed at 75, 90, and those who wrote the full 265 and stayed in the testing centre for the entire duration. We all left the testing centre thinking we failed because it was such a stressful exam… if it brings you any comfort, you can do the PearsonVUE trick – google how to!
• If you did not pass.. do not worry. You can always write it again. You’ve made it through nursing school. You can do anything. It sucks that this one computerized exam determines our competency as a nurse– but if you look at it this way, it’s just another exam. You’ve written and passed many in your 3-4 years in nursing school. You can do this one too. Take time to care for yourself and relax. You can do it!

If you have any questions, please comment and I hope I can be of any help to you!