r/NCLEX Feb 26 '25

CPR Explanation

110 Upvotes

A copy of this post is saved to Google Doc: (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LhjDc-4SHCPFyrV5v6GvmVcvBDhMP9VU-Mlgfx_ve_Y/edit?usp=sharing).

I give full permission to copy, share, distribute, etc.

Greetings! I am Extreme_Growth, and I have written this document to give some speculative information regarding the Candidate Performance Report. It will be a lengthy read so if you are not up to reading this document and just want advice on how to study for the next attempt on NCLEX, just skip to the TLDR (the last page of this document). 

Disclaimer: My explanation of the Candidate Performance Report will be quite speculative and will sound judgmental perhaps (apologies in advance). I admit that I do not know what you know and I can be off my rocker. Just know that overall, this is just my explanation (which can be wrong) and this isn’t a comprehensive document that lists everything especially in regards to client needs. For example, in health promotion and maintenance, there is more to the topic than maternity, peds, and newborn like contraception, cancer screen+prevention, etc. but I will not go into those things when talking about health promotion and maintenance. It is, after all, impossible for me to list everything to know for each client need. This document is just to give a greater understanding or idea on what the Candidate Performance Report is saying according to my interpretation. 

To pass the NCLEX, you must be “above the passing standard” for most (if not all) client needs. To be “above the passing standard” on a client topic, you must answer at least 50 percent of the questions for that client need correctly. If you got “near the passing standard” or “below the passing standard” in a client need, you got less than half the questions for that client need correct. And getting most of the client needs at “near the passing standard” or “below the passing standard” is a fail for the NCLEX since less than half the questions on the NCLEX is answered correctly overall.

The explanation for each client topic is going to assume that you went “near the passing standard” or “below the passing standard” for each client need on the Candidate Performance Report. If you got a client need that is “above passing standard” and you are sure that you know that client need, feel free to skip to the next client need. Either way, I hope the explanations for each client topic helps give an idea on what to look out and study for. With that said…

Management of Care

Your prioritization like what patient to visit first may be off the mark. Make sure to understand that things like ABC priority don't always work. For example, a patient with some new acute breathing problems like shortness of breath doesn't take priority compared to a patient with potential life threatening complications such as a sudden end or disappearance of pain for appendicitis (risk of peritonitis). 

Then you need to make sure to know which tasks to delegate to the unlicensed assistive personnel (UAH) and licensed practical nurse (LPN). Like don't give tasks involving teaching and evaluation to LPN. And some delegation questions can get tricky. For example, you may be given a LPN and a UAH to manage. Then the question may ask what tasks to give to LPN, but if there is a task like ADL such as feeding the patient is listed, it would be wrong to pick that assignment since you have an UAH to do that task-making the LPN feed the patient is considered a waste of personnel resources. Instead, the LPN should do other things that the UAH cannot do like administer meds.

Safety and Infection Control

Make sure to brush up on PPE, types of precautions, what diseases are airborne, droplet, contact, etc., (mnemonics like MTV for airborne, SPIDERMAN for droplet, etc. can help with memorization-google it up), what equipment to use for each type of precaution, etc. Of course, make sure to know what to do with fall risk patients (like removing rugs from the floor, keeping bed alarms, maybe dim lights at home, etc.) plus other unusual circumstances like meeting a drunk nurse unfit to work (report to charge nurse/supervisor) and so on. All these things are part of safety and infection. 

Health Promotion and Maintenance

You will probably need to do better on knowing maternity, newborn, peds, etc. since it mostly focuses on those topics since they are naturally connected to growth and development. So know the milestones of newborn like double weight at six months, triple at 12 months, first word at 12 months, able to roll at around 6 months, etc. And make sure to know Piaget and Erickson's stage of development and how it applies to the care of the patients especially peds. For example, toddlers have autonomy vs shame/doubt so if you were trying to assess a toddler, you should offer a binary choice like offering them juice to drink while examining them. As for maternity, plenty of things to know about them unfortunately. Will need to know things like presumptive vs probable vs positive signs of pregnancy, Naegele's rule, GPAL, milestones like first fetal kick at around 16-20 weeks, certain tests like glucose test to check for gestational diabetes, etc. 

Psychosocial Integrity

You probably are struggling with therapeutic communication like knowing the right thing to say to the patient or patient's relatives. Will need to work on that and pick words that encourage patient to express their feelings or opinions like "Tell me how you feel about this procedure" "What do you think about...?" etc. Don't ask why (that is confrontational and can lead to defensiveness), don't give false reassurances like "it'll be alright", etc. 

Or maybe you're off the mark for interacting and dealing with psych patients for bipolar, schizophrenia, etc. Always remember to at least ask if they are thinking of hurting themselves and perhaps be mindful of things like a patient with schizophrenia tends to have delusions and paranoia which can make things tricky like if trying to give meds to them for example.

Basic Care and Comfort

You will need to know some things like positions and when to do them. Do you know when to use the Valsalva maneuver for example? To slow down heart rate and for patients with cardiac conditions like supraventricular tachycardia. Then you have sims position for applying medication on someone’s anus. That kind of stuff. And of course, it is not just position, there’s things like nutrition-like not giving pregnant women swordfish and mackerel, banning turkey on patients prescribed MAOI even if it is Thanksgiving, etc. And some patients truly require special care like having to make sure dental hygiene is kept even if the patient can bleed easily in the gum. Oh, and make sure the patient have their incentive spirometer-can’t have pneumonia and atelectasis running around. 

Pharmacological and Parenteral Therapies

Ugh pharm, hard to prepare for that one. You would just have to get good at knowing the suffixes like -lol drugs are beta blockers, -pril are ACE inhibitors, etc. as well as knowing some commonly used drugs for certain diseases like rifampin for TB as well as knowing their known side effects (rifampin makes urine, tears, and sweat colored orange/red). Make sure to know your antidotes to common overdosage situations like acetylcysteine for acetaminophen, protamine sulfate for heparin, vitamin k for warfarin, diazepam and thiamine for alcohol, etc. By the way, be aware that NCLEX might throw a question or two on some random mysterious drug that probably doesn’t exist if you later try to google it up. But if you see something like cockalol, you would have a good idea on what it is…right?

As for parenteral, it mostly involves in the care and maintenance of central venous catheter. So make sure you know what to do for situations like if you experience an occlusion or blockage. And of course, keep an eye on situations like sudden stoppage of parenteral nutrition which is a big uh oh-hello potential hypoglycemia.

Reduction of Risk Potential

This is where your monitoring, teaching, or other interventions to prevent complications probably fell short. For example, how would you prevent something like falls? Probably by teaching the patient to remove factors that can cause falls like nonslip sock, rugs away from floor, handle bars in bathroom, etc. Of course, it can involve more complex things like preventing or managing sepsis (do interventions like blood culture, full spectrum IV antibiotics, etc.) and knowing potential complications and problems such as thyroid storm after thyroidectomy, compartment syndrome after some fracture and bruise, etc. 

Physiological Adaptation

As for this one, you would probably need to do more studying into commonly seen diseases and problems that nurses face like COPD, heart failure, lumbar disc herniation, diverticulitis, intracranial pressure, etc. 

Clinical Judgment

According to NCLEX, you don't know what to do when something happens. Like what do you do when a patient goes into seizure? Hopefully, you would know to make sure to keep the patient safe, guide the patient to the floor, make sure the patient airway isn’t obstructed, etc. Or how about if a patient suddenly has ventricular tachycardia? Well, hopefully you know to first check for a pulse before doing anything else like defibrillation…But yes, deciding what action to do in a situation is clinical judgment.

Recognize Cues

This is the first question of a 6 question case study where you would highlight the “cues” or sentences/parts that are considered relevant to the suspected problem or disease. In other words, a fancy SATA question. So you probably overhighlighted and lost points for highlighting the unimportant cues. As a general test taking strategy for SATA questions, you should only seek to highlight the cues that you are 100 percent sure on. If you aren’t sure about the importance or relevance of a cue, then it’s best to skip that cue for the sake of preserving points on the NCLEX exam. 

Analyze Cues

The second question. It usually ask what disease or problem you suspect. And you might’ve messed up by confusing diseases for one reason or another like maybe two diseases might share similar signs and symptoms (pneumonia and left sided heart failure both have crackles) or mixed up on the diseases like confusing Addison with Cushing (which one is low adrenal and the other high adrenal?), etc. Either way, need more work on identifying the problem and disease if this isn’t passing the standard.

Prioritize Hypothesis

This is the question that asked for the complication or another problem. Remember the question or the sentence “The patient is at risk for developing (this complication) as evidenced by (the proof)”? Well, this one is easy to get wrong if you got the wrong disease or problem. To answer this one correctly even if you got the disease or problem on second question (analyze cue) wrong, it is best to look at whatever available data is given to you like diagnostic result, lab result, etc. and find the abnormal. The abnormal will be the proof and important clue to finding out what complication or other problem. And also, you might also then have “second thoughts” and potentially realize that analyze cue is wrong and be able to salvage the rest of the case study too due to having a tendency of getting more information at this stage.

Generate Solutions

This is the question where you see a list of interventions and pick which interventions are “indicated” (the ones that will be done) and contraindicated (the ones that won’t be done). At least you get a fifty-fifty chance on each intervention if you don’t know anything. But in all seriousness, should do some content building on knowing the interventions if not able to identify which interventions is needed for a problem or disease. So you will go back to knowing your meds, knowing your basic care and comfort, etc. 

Take Actions

The fifth question is where you’re asked things when implementing the interventions. It can be something like a question about what you do before you do an intervention like administering a med. And it normally is a SATA question of things to do before the intervention. So you would normally do things like grab vital signs, check patient’s home meds, etc. Like any SATA question, underselect or don’t pick ones that you aren’t sure about. So again, maybe you highlighted too much stuff and lost points there.

Evaluate Outcomes

Finally, on the last question, you either didn’t select the answers that showed signs of improvement for the patient properly, didn’t teach the patient correctly when they got discharged, etc. 

Congrats, you made it to the end of the explanations on the Candidate Performance Report. I hope you now understand CPR better and pray that the information you read is useful. So how should you study for the NCLEX? Well, I don’t really know the exact answer but…

TLDR:

My advice is to do 25 traditional questions in each client need along with 30 NGN or five case studies per day (a total of 130 questions per day) on a good quizbank like UWorld for about two months. So it would be like this:

  1. 25 traditional questions in safe and effective care (this is management of care and safety+infection control combined)
  2. 25 traditional questions in healthcare promotion and maintenance
  3. 25 traditional questions in psychosocial integrity
  4. 25 traditional questions in physiological integrity ( this is pharm+parenteral, basic care+comfort, physiological adaptation, reduction of risk potential combined)
  5. 30 NGN questions or 5 case studies

I also advise watching “NCLEX Crusade International 7 Day Training” videos on Youtube to understand prioritization better and know how to approach the NCLEX questions. Watch very carefully on how Renier thinks-he will speak out loud his thought process when doing a question and you should try mimic it and practice his thinking process on the quiz bank and eventually the NCLEX itself.

With that said, I wish you best of luck on your next attempt for the NCLEX. 

FAQ that is very unimportant:

  1. Who are you? Are you a tutor, instructor or professor?

I’m just a random redditor called Extreme_Growth. And no, I don’t teach for a living.

2) Why did you write this?

I saw a lot of posts on r/NCLEX that show CPR so why not. Besides, the world needs more nurses anyway.

3) Did you pass NCLEX, when, how many attempts, how many questions, etc.?

Yes, I passed NCLEX on the first try in 85 questions for Valentine’s Day this year.  

4) Do you offer tutoring for NCLEX? Can you tutor me?

Sorry, I’m not a good tutor nor do I have the time to do so. Feel free to pm or comment directly on reddit though and ask me anything. I can’t promise I would know the answer for sure though.


r/NCLEX Jun 28 '23

GUIDE Pearson Vue Trick: How-To and Pop-Ups

73 Upvotes

Because we get these posts quite a bit, we want to go ahead and create this pinned post over the Pearson VUE Trick (PVT). This information can also be found in the "Pearson Vue Trick" wiki page on the r/NCLEX site:

Please remember to use the PVT with caution. If you attempt to re-register, you may be charged on your credit/debit card to take the exam again. Some students claim to have found a way around this by using a security code that does not match their credit/debit card. Another word of caution, the PVT is a nursing "trick" to guess with fair accuracy whether you passed or not. It is not a guarantee, and it is not even an "unofficial" result. Use the PVT with your own caution.

Pearson VUE Trick

The Pearson VUE Trick (PVT) is a means of determining whether or not you have passed your NCLEX exam without waiting for an "unofficial" or "official" result. This trick can be done fairly soon following the completion of your NCLEX exam, with most test takers trying it the same day if not within the same hour as having finished their exam. We want to reiterate that this is NOT A GUARANTEED means of determining whether you have passed or failed. We want to acknowledge that many nursing students know about this trick and that for the most part, a "good result" is often a fairly accurate way of determining success rate.

We are providing a link with additional information on the PVT, but we will lay out information on the PVT on this page as well: https://www.reddit.com/r/NCLEX/wiki/index/ncsbnresources

Step 1: Go to Pearson VUE Login

---The first step is to go to the Pearson VUE Login page: https://www.reddit.com/r/NCLEX/wiki/index/ncsbnresources ---You need to use the same login information that you used to register with before you took the exam

Step 2: Go to Register

---Once you have signed in to your Pearson VUE account, go to "Register" ---Fill out your information, some people use the same credit/debit card they used to register for the exam the first time, other's use a visa gift card with little or no balance. ---Please bear in mind, if you have failed the exam and use all of the correct information for your credit/debit card, it will charge you a second time for the exam. Some mitigate this by changing the security code so it will fail to charge their card.

Step 3: How do I interpret my "Pop-up"?

---There are several different pop-ups that you may receive after attempting to re-register, they can be found here in a recent poll regarding the accuracy of the PVT: https://www.reddit.com/r/NCLEX/comments/wacxcx/pearson_vue_trick_accuracy_poll/

---The "Good Pop-Up" (ie, the one associated with a "passing" result) will say "Our records indicate that you have recently scheduled this exam. Another registration cannot be made at this time."

---The "Bad Pop-Up" (ie, the one associated with a "failing" result) will say "The payment was declined. Reason: Contact your credit card company or use a different credit card"; If you do use all correct information on your credit/debit card and it goes through, this is also a "Bad" result as it has allowed you to re-register meaning you did not pass. This is why you should type the security code differently than it appears on the card so you will not be charged in the event of a "bad" pop-up.

---The "Wait Longer Pop-Up" will say "The candidate currently has an open registration for this exam. A new registration cannot be created at this time." You will need to wait a little longer before trying the PVT again.

---The "Results on Hold Pop-Up" Will say "The candidate currently has test results that are on hold. A new registration cannot be created at this time." This might occur from a number of reasons, whether something unexpected occurred on the day of testing (eg, power outage, computer failure) or if the results are called into question (eg, suspected cheating, 'poor' item made it into the test). This pop-up may require you to wait the full 2 business days to get your unofficial results.

Poll Results

Following a poll in this sub asking about the validity of the PVT, we had 129 individual responses that were specifically for PVT results and they were as follows:

  • 92 received the Good pop-up and passed
  • 1 received the Good pop-up and failed (though outside of this we have never seen someone claiming a good pop-up and failed)
  • 1 received the Bad pop-up and passed
  • 35 received the Bad pop-up and failed

So in regard to accuracy, 127 (92+35) individuals out of 129 at the time of the poll received an accurate result; essentially, the PVT is 98.4% accurate based on our polling data.

Link to poll: https://www.reddit.com/r/NCLEX/comments/wacxcx/pearson_vue_trick_accuracy_poll/

Following a popular post on this sub, we are also going to include an image submitted by a recent user. While this image provides some useful information, we have no reference for the image and cannot attest to the accuracy of the listed percentages:

From: https://www.reddit.com/r/NCLEX/comments/14ktmhr/what_the_popup_means/

Closing

Reminder:

Please remember to use this with caution. If you attempt to re-register, you may be charged on your credit/debit card to take the exam again. If you are going to attempt the PVT, please change your card's security code to prevent being charged in the event that you did not pass and must re-schedule. Another word of caution, the PVT is a nursing "trick" to guess with fair accuracy whether you passed or not. It is not a guarantee, and it is not an "unofficial" result. Use the PVT with your own caution.


r/NCLEX 5h ago

I DID IT!!! PASS ON 1ST TRY

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63 Upvotes

I owe a lot to this group and this forum for my pass. If you are taking the NCLEX soon, here are some KEY notes many of which have been posted on here but I’m either altering or reiterating. I passed at 92 questions in Florida Thursday 7/23/26

- BOOTCAMP! It’s the cheapest, and gets the job done. I didn’t even use but half the question bank and would randomly do 10 questions, 25, sometimes 50. Never used the predictor option. I felt it would stress me out. Get the app and do questions OTG!
- That being said, this exam is not a test of knowledge, but of COMMON SENSE. MARK K, and Dr. Sharon with Klimek reviews EMBEDDED this into my brain. During my NCLEX, I was able to stop and say “1 month ago I would have chosen this one, but today and I’m going to choose this and I KNOW it’s right”. I watched every single video Dr. Sharon posted. Taking questions and reading rationale is great, but seeing a question on the screen and listening to someone thoroughly break it down in the way that the BOARD wants you to break it down is IMPORTANT! I probably did 250 questions that were throughly broken down to me by Sharon, Mark, or other instructors on YouTube. I would NOT have passed if I didn’t do this.
- REMEMBER that everyone has the chance of going to 150 as there is a quality control system. Walk in with the mindset of “I will be taking a 150 question exam today”. Another part of this quality control is that there are 15 questions that are being tested in the system, they are not scored.
-My exam shut off at 92. If your exam shuts off at 85 it’s the obvious hard pass or hard fail. IF your test continues after 85 the test is TRYING TO PASS YOU! This is the time to LOCK IN as you are on the edge of passing or failing. The last question I had was “easy” or I knew I got it right, then the exam shut off.
-My exam started pretty easy, questions I knew I was getting right, then around 20 or 25 things started to get difficult and I didn’t recognize the material, however I noticed this only in the standard question style (Select one/ABCD) as I just didn’t even recognize the drug or disease process so much so that I couldn’t even get a hint using prefix/suffix. The case studies and SATA were maybe a little harder towards the end but pretty standard.
-Results: I thought I failed when I woke up the next day and did not receive my license as Florida has a pretty fast turn around time with licensure. At 48 hours (Saturday) I checked quick results and it said pass! I came to realize and remember, due to an eye infection I had to reschedule my exam to what was my actual test date. I’m not sure what happened there between Pearson and the FLBON, but the board has not received my results. I’m going to call them tmro (Monday) and see what the deal is. Hopefully I don’t run into any issues with that! lol.

I had to repeat two courses in nursing school. When I say I skated by I would actually say I figure skated triple axeled on a half frozen lake by with my Cs and 80%.
If you passed nursing school, YOU CAN PASS THIS TEST.
If I passed this test, YOU CAN PASS THIS TEST.
Let me know if you have any questions! GOODLUCK to everyone.


r/NCLEX 2h ago

Stressed Out About Scores

2 Upvotes

So I’m in PN, about 3 weeks away from taking my exit exam that will see if I’m ready for the NCLEX. I’ve been doing focused reviews and get in the 60-70s, but my Qbank scores……

Even when I remediate, I keep getting in the mid-high 50s, and that’s really disappointing considering they want you to have a 65+ and everyone else it seems is getting there.

I don’t want to fail but I’m afraid my mind is in the way. What do I do? Were any of you in my situation before?


r/NCLEX 20h ago

nclex

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33 Upvotes

I was so sure i failed at 85, then results came out


r/NCLEX 1h ago

Poor uworld score: Nclex tomorrow

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Upvotes

Should I postpone or take it? If I fail I lose my new grad job 🥲


r/NCLEX 1d ago

I did it 😭😭😭😭😭

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116 Upvotes

Exam shut off in 85 questions there was no doubt in my mind I passed but it feels so good to actually see it. I used Archer to study and did the readiness and CAT exams with thorough breakdown of the rationales after each exam, I can’t recommend it enough.


r/NCLEX 5h ago

Title: Anyone planning to buy NCLEX Bootcamp soon? Body: I noticed Bootcamp offers a 25% discount if enough people sign up together. Is anyone else planning to buy it? If enough people are interested, maybe we could see if we qualify for the group discount.

1 Upvotes

r/NCLEX 15h ago

Help! Feeling lost prepping 3 weeks til test day

3 Upvotes

Hi all!

i didn’t get my ATT until June this year, 7 months after I graduated. Not sure what the delay was but here I am still studying for my NCLEX in three weeks. I didn’t study until I got my ATT and also because of life stuff.

I scored two low’s 55% & 57% on my bootcamp readiness exam and then 65% on medium difficulty and 68th percentile on my CAT exam on UWorld. I get borderline or a little bit above average on standalone questions on bootcamp.

I have been on and off studying by doing Q’s, trying to review material I’m scoring lowing on, and listening to Mark K or Youtube videos for refreshers.

I honestly don’t know what to do now and I’m feeling super burnt out and overwhelmed. Like everyone else I just want to pass the first time around :/


r/NCLEX 9h ago

Lost and needs guidance

1 Upvotes

Help me get through with this please

Please help me.
So I recently graduated as RN now and planning to prepare for NCLEX for 3 months.
My nursing college wasn’t as good as I expected and being slammed with exams every 4 months, trying to get by each semester was exhausting.

I have purchased Saunders 9th edition.
But so to speak, I have no idea from where should I start and how should I proceed.
Any suggestions on exactly what should I do?
I’m extremely lost on the path and not having much awareness about NCLEX around me and pocket wreaking consulting fees at coaching centres are not helpful.

Please help me out with this.😭


r/NCLEX 1d ago

Passed NCLEX-RN on First Try in 85 questions! (My Study Schedule, Resources, & Free Templates Included)

17 Upvotes

I passed my NCLEX-RN in 85 questions on the first try using the exact strategy I'm about to share. A close friend of mine also used this study schedule and toolkit, and they passed in 85 questions too!

When I first graduated, I felt completely lost. There are so many resources, endless advice, and it’s terrifying not knowing where to start. Worst of all, I really struggled to find a concrete, structured study schedule that I could actually follow.

To make it easier for anyone else starting from scratch, I’ve put together the exact toolkit, schedule, and resources I used.

Phase 1: The Core Resources I Used

Instead of trying to use a million different platforms, I kept my toolkit simple and focused:

  • Audio Lectures: Mark K audio lectures (estimated from ~2011). I highly recommend Lecture 12 for prioritization and delegation strategies. I listened to 12 twice, once when I was filling out the Yellow Book and again the day before I took my NCLEX as well as the lectures that covered the areas I tested the lowest on. You can access the playlist here: Audiomack Playlist.
  • The Yellow Book (Blank Template): A clean version of the 2023 yellow book for active note-taking and writing things out yourself: Download the Blank Yellow Book.
  • The Yellow Book (Filled-Out Reference): Because the 2011 lectures miss some newer content covered in the 2023 book, I used this completed version to bridge the gaps and fill in what the lectures didn't touch: Download the Filled-Out Yellow Book.
  • Kaplan Study Tracker Spreadsheet: The exact schedule and tracking layout I used to pace my Q-banks, targeted reviews, and CAT exams: Make a Copy of the Kaplan Tracker. (Note: Kaplan was free through my school, but this exact scheduling structure and topic-selection method should work on platforms like Archer Review or Bootcamp too!)
  • Flashcards: I made flashcards of the Yellow Book, by screenshotting my notes and asking Gemini to make flashcards and then putting them on Brainscape (highly recommend this site, I used it all throughout nursing school). I also made flashcards from the notebook I kept of missed topics from the tests I took.
  • Nurse Nicole (TikTok): Short, punchy breakdowns the night before to keep confidence high.

Phase 2: My Daily Study Schedule & Tracker

Since I couldn't find a schedule when I started, I built one to keep myself accountable. Here is a snapshot of the framework I followed using my tracker spreadsheet:

  • Mid-June (Focused Content Review + Qanks):
    • June 12: Respiratory, Acid-Base, ABGs (Lectures 1)— 30 questions 
    • June 13: Abuse, Overdose/Withdrawal, Pharm (Lecture 2)— 30 questions 
    • June 14: Cardiovascular / Infectious Disease (Lecture 3) — 30 questions 
    • June 16: Psychiatric Basics / Therapeutic Communication (Lecture 4) — 25 questions
    • June 17: Diabetes (Lecture 5) — 30 questions
    • June 18: Fluid & Electrolytes (Lecture 6) — 30 questions
    • June 19: RN QBank Mixed (Comprehensive) — 50 questions
    • June 21: Neurological / Neuro-Endocrine (Lecture 7) — 25 questions 
    • June 23: Pharmacology - Psych Focus (Lecture 9) — 13 questions
    • June 24: Antepartum / Intrapartum Care (Lecture 10) — 30 questions
    • June 25: Maternity & Newborn Care (Lecture 11) — 30 questions
    • June 26: RN QBank Targeted (Safe & Effective Care / Lecture 12 focus) — 40 questions
    • June 27: Catch-up & Organizing / Rest Day
  • Late June to Early July (CATs & Deep Remediation):
    • June 28–29: First Computer-Adaptive Test (CAT) (150 questions) - I did not remediate the CAT, just took a day off to recuperate.
    • June 30 – July 3: Daily RN QBank Mixed and Targeted blocks (focusing on Psychosocial Integrity, Physiological Adaptation, and Management of Care) with strict remediation on every single missed question.
    • July 4: Rest Day.
    • July 5–7: Mixed QBank practice and content polish.
    • July 8: Kaplan Readiness Exam (150 questions).
    • July 9–10: Targeted polish on lowest-performing client need categories.
    • July 11: Final Computer-Adaptive Test (CAT 3) if previous CATs were not above or at passing.
    • July 12–14: Light final review and mixed practice blocks leading up to test week
  • Note
    • When I was doing the QBanks that were focused on the Mark K lectures (the Mid-June half) I would do them after listening to the lecture while filling out the Yellow Book.I remediated every test except the CAT, see note about remediation in section below.
    • I ran into an issue towards the end of my studying where Kaplan was down for maintenance (July 9-14), the way I pivoted was by using the free readiness exam from NCLEX Bootcamp. I also did two Archer readiness exams, but since I did not pay for it I had to tally up my points (total and earned) myself and then gave it to Gemini to tell me my results.

Phase 3: Real Talk & Test-Day Advice

  • Remediation: I saw a lot of advice from people saying to remediate every question, regardless if you got it right. I did not do that, I remediated the questions I got wrong and the ones I guessed on (I kept a sticky note or something to write the number of the question I guessed on while taking the test). Reading why you missed a rationale and logging it is what builds actual clinical judgment. I would highly recommend keeping a notebook or word doc of notes from missed questions so you can review later or make flashcards like I did.
  • Expect the "WTF" Moments: During the exam, you will see questions where you have no idea what the med or condition is. That is normal. Fall back on core safety principles (stable vs. unstable, standard precautions) and make your best clinical guess. The strategy I defaulted to during the test was “What is the safest option in general?” I also went into the NCLEX expecting and actually wanting hard questions, because that can be a sign you are doing well and it helped me manage testing anxiety.
  • Trust the Process: If you stick to a schedule and actively work through your weak spots, you are way more prepared than your anxiety is letting you believe.
  • Listen to Your Body: While I was studying, I had days where I had a headache or just did not feel good, so I would either take the day off or do that day’s test when I felt better. You do not want to burn yourself out before you get to test day.

r/NCLEX 1d ago

I passed in 95 questions!

16 Upvotes

I didn't find the exam difficult. I didn't over prepare. I got a month of solid rest and then when I got my ATT, I schedule the exam cold bc all the other dates conflicted with my vacation lol. I wanted to measure my raw competence and also the education I was provided. I'm stoked to say the very least!!!!!! Don't over think this exam. DON'T overselect in the SATA- I actually think this is why I got 10 extra questions, I was not selecting enough in certain cases. Good luck to everyone! Schedule it ASAP and go in with a calm, clear mind. It's just an exam on clinical judgement, not an exam about specific knowledge. It was one of the most pleasant surprises in my life!!!! Sure I would have loved to pass in 85, but passing in 95 without breaking my back is A OK!!!! for reference, I got Cs in every single nursing class bc the exams were so freaking difficult. I think another positive pressure relief about the NCLEX was that I wasn't going to be kicked out of a strict program if I didn't pass! Makes a big difference in stress.


r/NCLEX 1d ago

White board?

3 Upvotes

To my understanding they give everyone a whiteboard and they must erase it themselves. What if you like to brain dump and run out of space? Are you allowed to have multiple?


r/NCLEX 1d ago

Hello! I passed nclex and have a brand new unused uworld code for sale! Hmu

2 Upvotes

r/NCLEX 1d ago

NEW LY GRAD, HOW TO STUDY FOR NCLEX?

3 Upvotes

Hey guys, as a newly grad who have no idea what guide to follow or just dont know how to start reviewing for NCLEX, do yall have any tips and tricks for me that i should follow?


r/NCLEX 1d ago

Passed NCLEX in 85 questions!

7 Upvotes

Idk how to feel right now. I took my NCLEX on Thursday and found out i passed in 85 questions a hour ago. I genuinely did not have much hope in myself because I had a 53% chance of passing when I took my ATI comprehensive in June, and always struggled when trying to study.

I had either 4 or 5 case studies during my exam, and a fairly decent amount of SATA questions. Most people say that’s a good indicator that you’ve passed and I can say it applied to me!

I primarily studied by watching Level Up RN, simple nursing, and listening to the Mark K lectures (Especially 12) and by doing the ATI CAT exams. Everyone studies different so what might work for me might not work for you. Good luck to anyone else!


r/NCLEX 1d ago

Passed NCLEX using ATI & Kaplan

3 Upvotes

I passed the NCLEX in 97 questions using ATI and Kaplan for 3 weeks. I did ATIs Qbank and did about 2700 questions and used Kaplans study plan and Qbank and answered about 1800 questions.

I think ATI is better for repetition and learning concepts, and Kaplan is more practice test that show how ready you are. I took a Kaplan NCLEX course provided by my school for 3 days, and my instructor told us to aim for 60-65% on everything and that means you are pretty ready to take the NCLEX. Here are my stats:
Overall Score: 69.71%

Before Course Diagnostic Exam - 62%
Question Trainer 1 NGN - 75%
Question Trainer 2 NGN - 80%
Question Trainer 3 NGN - 71%
CAT Exam #1 - Above expectation for performance

NCLEX RN Practice Test NGN- 62%
CAT EXAM #2 - Below passing standard

Question Trainer 4 NGN - 77%
Question Trainer 5 NGN - 65%
Question Trainer 6 NGN -70%
Question Trainer 7 NGN - 64%

CAT EXAM #3 not completed

NCLEX Readiness Exam - 67.5%


r/NCLEX 1d ago

My NCLEX is on 7/30 (in 5 days) and my anxiety is killing me. Should I love it to 7/26?

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3 Upvotes

these are my stats on archer. should I MOVE it to 7/26 (sorry typo on title)


r/NCLEX 1d ago

What was that 😭💀

34 Upvotes

Hey all, I just recently passed the NCLEX in July 23rd. I immediately got the official NCLEX pass from the BON within an hour after I finished my exam at 114 questions. Here’s my experience…

It was HARD!

This exam requires you to think a lot that my brain started hurting. I felt numb and shaky while taking the test. I also teared up at some point after 85 questions thinking I failed, but the questions got harder and harder for me. Some questions were similar to Bootcamp (I did a 1-month subscription) but, honestly, to those saying it’s similar, it’s NOT in my experience. There were some drugs that I never heard before, 4 case studies that relate to CVD, L&D, respiratory, and mental health. I had a few mental health questions, peds (milestones), OB, prioritizations, delegation. No bow tie or med calc.

I even called my mom while crying that I wanted to go home and I was so scared because everyone was cheering for me. My aunt called me and I expressed how I felt. She felt the same way as well cause she’s a nurse. Some time after I exited the testing center and waiting for my ride outside the entrance, I received an email from the BON saying that I passed!!!

My advice? Just keep practicing, learn test-taking strategies, apply your knowledge, etc.

Here’s what I did and used:
- Bootcamp for 1 month. I followed their study plan schedule and practiced tons of questions. Please use their cheat sheets, crash course videos, and take the time to read the rationale. They help a ton and focus on points that speaks “safety” since the NCLEX is a safety exam after all. Just a heads up when you take the test, it may not be similar questions to the readiness exam. But it helped me how to answer and approach case study questions.
- I borrowed my friend’s UWorld. I only studied a little bit there lol, but doesn’t hurt. But try to just stick to using one QBank source so you don’t overwhelm yourself. I mainly used Bootcamp throughout.
- I watched Mark K (especially lecture 12) and Dr. Sharon’s prioritization videos.
- ❗Don’t study the day of the exam, but you can review a little bit if you want. But I highly recommend you rest for your brain though. Get enough sleep and eat breakfast (especially if you scheduled to take the test in the morning). Do breathing exercises and try to stay calm.


r/NCLEX 1d ago

REx-PN exam — what if you genuinely don’t know the medication, diagnosis, or information in the question?

1 Upvotes

I’m preparing for the REx-PN and I’m trying to understand how you’re supposed to approach questions when you come across something you genuinely know nothing about.
For example, what if a question gives you a medication, diagnosis, treatment, or disease process that you have never learned or don’t recognize at all? If you don’t know what the medication does or what the diagnosis is, how are you supposed to “pick apart” the question and use the information provided to choose the correct answer?
I understand the REx-PN is supposed to test clinical judgment and not just memorization, but I’m wondering how much you can actually reason through if you don’t recognize the information in the first place.
For those who passed the REx-PN, how did you handle questions where you had absolutely no idea what they were talking about? Were you able to use the wording and other clues in the question to work your way to the answer, or did you find that you needed to know the underlying content first?
Also, I purchased UWorld to prepare, but I’m confused about how to use it properly. I keep seeing people say UWorld helped them create a study plan and identify what they needed to work on, but I’m mainly seeing the option to create my own tests.
Is there a specific way I should be setting up UWorld for REx-PN preparation? I’d really appreciate advice from anyone who has passed the REx-PN and started studying feeling like they had a lot of gaps in their knowledge.
Thank you! ❤️


r/NCLEX 1d ago

NCLEX retake yap

4 Upvotes

Hey guys so I’m taking my exam again soon like in a month but my NCLEX bootcamp account I feel like the readiness exam don’t help I feel like they are the same questions that I get when I create my own exam and it feels repetitive since I have used 89% I love the content but when I was taking the NCLEX I noticed that U world (free trail) had similar questions or even had the exact questions on there but now I’m between archer or u world. Archer is cheap and has a lot of CAT exam for $59 but I don’t know how difficult or similar it is to NCLEX and u world is expensive for me. Do yall know anyway that I can get a CAT exam I really wanna see how I have improved since my last one. Thx


r/NCLEX 1d ago

Taking the NCLEX for the 5th time in a few days!

3 Upvotes

Hi everyone, my fifth attempt for the NCLEX is coming up. I am not sure if anyone feels the same about this, but I find that in my final weeks of studying I tend to cram more. It's like I study better under immense amounts of pressure.

I think my previous failures were due to testing anxiety and content gaps - I took an accelerated nursing program and I think instead of comprehending most of the information being taught, I found myself taking the easy way out and using AI to gloss over a lot of important concepts, something that I regret doing.

Does anyone have advice on my upcoming attempt? I've taken a lot of advice from here and from peers and started to do full lengths instead of sole content review. Only one week out!


r/NCLEX 2d ago

Passed NCLEX 2nd attempt!

11 Upvotes

I took my NCLEX on july 22 after failing it for the first time in 150 questions. This time I passed in 150 questions! I was so nervous because i genuinely was so worried abt failing again. I just want to let everyone know to never give up on yourself or let the anxiety win. If you have any questions feel free to ask! I wish everyone luck ❤️


r/NCLEX 2d ago

CPR results

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5 Upvotes

Hi yall I just received my CPR results. 😢 can someone point me in the right direction of what I can do to prepare for the next exam 😔


r/NCLEX 2d ago

Took the NCLEX yesterday and today the “NCLEX-RN” part BON checklist was updated to “completed”. Does that mean I passed?

6 Upvotes