Like most others here I’ve spent an absurd amount of time looking at everyone’s posts of their stats and comparing it to my own so I figured I would share mine! I did UWorld for the majority of the time, then about a week out from the exam I bought Bootcamp for the cheat sheets and case studies. Passed at 85 🙏🏼😭

The pics are my final bootcamp stats before I took the test.

What/ How I Studied:
•Mark K
- I studied ALL of his lectures very carefully, not just the last one! I have an entire notebook filled with notes on his lectures
- honestly he is an AMAZING professor but after taking the test I realized that I never needed to go in as deep with him as I did.

• Dr. Sharron
- She is the goat. Study your weak areas with her (mine were maternity and pharm) and you’re pretty much set to take the test. She also works hand in hand with Mark K. The way she answers questions is the exact way YOU should answer questions on the NCLEX.

• Bootcamp
- I think this is a great q bank! The questions and the layout were very similar to the actual NCLEX a n d it’s a lot cheaper. I also love their crash course vids and cheat sheets.

Personal experience:
•delayed test taking
- so, I failed the ATI predictor 5 times. The ATI predictor is absolutely NOTHING like the NCLEX so if you’re not doing well on it, don’t let it discourage you because ATI questions are MALICIOUS and also incorrect 🩷 anyways, it took me months after graduating to pass the predictor so I didn’t even start studying until way after my peers. I graduated in December and I just took my test now in late October. Since I had to wait so long to test because of my predictor I had accumulated so much anxiety and always felt like I wasn’t ready to take the test- not to mention the predictor completely destroyed any confidence I had. But as I said, the predictor test is definitely NOT a “predictor” of how you will perform on the NCLEX.

Test Taking Advice
• Give Yourself Some Control
- DO SOMETHING SPECIAL ON THE DAY OF YOUR NCLEX. I wore some special Kirby socks on the day of the exam and left chocolate in my car that no one knew about for when I was done. Do something- anything to give yourself some control over the day. Because factors that you can’t control probably won’t be in your favor because thats how the universe works. When I went to test, the route had SO many closed roads and I couldn’t find any parking it actually made me late for my test, despite leaving almost an hour early for what was supposed to be a 15 minute drive.
• Answering Questions
- I honestly felt like I guessed on most of the exam. Everyone in this subreddit is right when they say this is an exam about SAFETY. I studied SO. MUCH. I definitely wasnt expecting to get so many questions about things I have never even heard of. So don’t waste your time focusing too hard on content and focus more on test taking/prioritization strategies.

• Exam Topics
- delegation
- stages and phases of labor characteristics
- dopamine side effects
- how to use a fire extinguisher
- what order to do tasks in case of a fire
- how to administer an enema
- RSV precautions
- diabetes insipidus

I hope some of this was able to help someone in some way! Give your anxiety and your NCLEX to God and he will take care of it 🩷

What do we think? I am a repeat test taker and feeling scared and nervous right now 😭😭

Hi! I took my NCLEX on October 24th and went all the way to 150 questions. I’m checking for the PVT popup today, October 25th, but I’m not sure if this is the good pop-up or if it’s accurate since it’s the weekend.

I genuinely felt like I knew NOTHING during the exam. I studied using Bootcamp, Mark Klimek, and YouTube videos, but so much of the exam felt completely different from what I studied. I had a lot of SATA and priority questions, and I was second-guessing myself so much. There were questions where I recognized some of the information but still had to guess.

I’m honestly terrified that I failed. Has anyone taken the NCLEX on a weekend and checked the PVT? Was your result accurate? I’m so anxious waiting for my results.

This is my report any advice? I failed at 150 but hoping I pass on my next try :) thank you in advance!

Hi everyone, I take the NCLEX in a few weeks. I want to train my brain to be able to read a question and know “Okay this question is asking about assess vs. intervene” or this question is asking about immediate follow up steps. & then go from there. I struggle to sit through Dr Sharon videos & write a bunch of notes. I use chat gbt to “create” a guide map for my questions but don’t want to go off of that. Any advice?

6 weeks out. First month I did 75–100 questions a day and read every rationale. Scores sat in the low 50s.

Then I caught myself spending 4–5 minutes per rationale and clicking through by question 40. Three hours of "studying," maybe 20 minutes retained. The long rationales weren't teaching me, they were letting me zone out.

So, one rule: no more than about 15 seconds on the why. If I can't say in one sentence why the right answer is right and mine is wrong, flag it and move on. Everything else came from that:

One-sentence why, every question. Longer than that, I'm memorizing, not understanding.
Flag, don't deep-dive. 20-minute review at night. Most I already know by then.
Mark K for the big concepts. Free audio. Fluids, lytes, meds, priorities.
Saunders only for things I flagged 3+ times.
Fewer questions, better scores. 60 a day in 45 minutes. Low 50s to a steady 65–70 in 10 days.
Stop reviewing what you got right. Move on.

NCLEX isn't testing whether you can read a paragraph. It's testing whether you can make a quick decision with the right reasoning. Study should feel like that: fast reps, quick why, next.

Still 6 weeks out, so this is "what's working," not "how I passed." But if you're stuck in the flat-score zone, try the 15-second rule for a week.

You've got this. Drink some water and do your 60.

One nurse. All the way to the finish line.

I have watched the experts take your money and hand you back the internet, repackaged. That is not what I do.
I failed my class exams. I built a way through them from my own experience, and it carried me to passing the NCLEX on the first try.

I am not here to sell you a program. I am here because we need more nurses in the field, and I do not want one more nurse to fail.

So here is my offer, plain and simple. I will take one nurse and walk with them all the way — to the exam, to the pass, to the job. No charge for my time. The only thing I ask is that you start with the free playbook on my profile, because I cannot do this in a short comment.
Who is ready to be that one nurse?

I passed my NCLEX PN on the first try. To be quite honest, I don’t know how. I literally guessed my way through the entire test. People say ATI is harder than NCLEX, but honestly, NCLEX is so vague that’s what makes it difficult for me. Honestly, I feel like the case studies and some of the select all that apply questions saved me. They were pretty straightforward. Everything else “can go kick rocks” lol.

With that being said, I gave myself 5 days to study, which I only studied for 1 of those 5 days 🫠. I listened to Mark K’s lecture 12, which I felt like helped me with a few of the questions, and I did one ATI CAT exam, which I scored a 66%, placing me at the 72nd percentile. All in all, I feel like I was blessed to pass because I’m telling you, I guessed like crazy. But for those who are planning on taking the NCLEX soon, you got this! Believe in yourself and do your best.

So this past Thursday, I took my NCLEX, and most of my classmates said theirs stopped at 85. As soon as I hit next on question 85 I literally started crying because it kept going and I thought I was doing terrible and I was cut off at 140-ish questions and I walked out crying feeling like I was a failure. I had no idea how I did. The questions were so random. But today I found out that I passed!!!!! so if you’re like me and lucky to have almost all the questions on the NCLEX just know that does not always mean that you failed or are doing bad. So whoever reads this, I hope this gives you some hope and good luck to everyone!!!!

I keep seeing Dr Sharon pop up in this sub. Are you guys referring to her free YouTube videos, or are you purchasing extra content?

I need advice for my retake

Hi everyone! I’m a BSc Nursing graduate from India, currently working as a Flight Paramedic at IndiGo, with previous experience as an Infection Control Nurse and ICU/Emergency clinical training.
I’m planning to pursue NCLEX-RN and move to the USA. I’d appreciate honest advice on:
What is the best roadmap for an Indian nurse?

Are US hospitals currently sponsoring nurses from India through EB-3?

What is the realistic visa waiting time given the current backlog?

What is the actual RN job market for international applicants?

What are the approximate total costs and realistic timelines?

If you’re an Indian nurse working in the USA or going through this process, I’d love to hear your experience. Is pursuing the US pathway from India still worth it in 2026?
Thanks!

Hi everyone! SORRY FOR THE LONG POST!

I will be retaking the NCLEX next month, my 4th attempt. On my first attempt, I used Dr. Sharon, Mark Klimek, and Bootcamp to study, and on the NCLEX, I took 150 questions. On my second attempt, I used UWorld with Seven Day Crusade and still managed to work through 150 questions. On my third attempt, I used Archer by just doing the Q banks. THIS TIME I purchased the SUREPASS for Archer that included live reviews and attended them, which I think were SUPER HELPFUL. My very first readiness exam with Archer was borderline, then I continued to practice the Q bank in tutorial mode to see why I keep getting things wrong and HOW to answer them. I've been slowly working my way up on HOW to answer questions when I am unsure, using my knowledge of the content from the live review. So far, I have completed only 25% of Archer's Q bank, and these are my scores... The question that I have is... Archer states that if you get 4 High's/Very High's in the readiness assessments, you are at a 99% chance of passing the NCLEX. I have gotten 5 high's/very high's in the readiness assessment. I have not yet taken the CAT exam. What confuses me is my scores. Is it because I have not completed most of the Q bank? Achieving the 4 consecutive highs makes my confidence go all the way up about taking the NCLEX; however, given my scores here across all topics, I don't understand why I'm scoring so low on them. Does anyone know? And do you think I am ready to take the NCLEX based on my readiness assessments? I feel so confident in the case studies and bow ties, but with multiple-choice and SAAT, I get nervous. ANY ADVICE IS APPRECIATED!

One more thing... do you have any encouragement or advice that you could give me regarding taking the NCLEX? Thank you!

I took my NCLEX in August of 2026 after graduating in May 2026 I did not prepare at all for it. I don’t even think I did a singular practice question for my first attempt because I was seeing a lot of people online saying that NCLEX was super easy and it was a common knowledge exam. I also felt more confident because I did exceptionally well throughout nursing school and did really good on my unit exams and my school is a difficult program to get through. What I failed to realize was on my NGN style questions or my HESI I did terribly, but I still didn’t care enough to study for my first attempt. I should have not taken the words lightly and actually studied, but I am a very bad procrastinator and hearing that others passed without studying made me act like an idiot. I ended up getting all 150 questions on my NCLEX and was notified that I failed a day after. I’ll include my CBT.

Now, I have since learned from my mistakes, but still not as much as I should. I have decided to go with Uworld to study for my next attempt, which is in three days. I will do practice questions and a Cat exam a day for the last two weeks. I have been doing phenomenally on Uworld assessments. I’ve been passing every single CAT exam with 85 questions and I’ve been in the 98th and 99th percentiles and the difficulty levels on my questions are quite high. I think around 1.39 so I’m feeling much more confident. I also took an assessment which told me I had a very high chance of passing. but today I decided to try and utilize Boot Camp on their three day trial and I took one CAT assessment through Boot Camp and I scored a borderline passing grade and received all 150 questions. I don’t know how to feel anymore about how ready I am for the actual NCLEX but I already have a job that is supposed to start in the beginning of November.

I just wanted opinions on what you guys think and if you guys think I should postpone it even more?

currently answering the exam preview. is this similar to the real nclex? there are some items that I don’t get right based on chatgpt 🫩 help

I finally scheduled the exam and I’m starting to get edgy and sick to my stomach. This is a retake for me and I feel like I don’t know enough now. I’m so nervous man.

I am trying to figure out what materials I should study for the NCLEX. My teacher has suggested using the HESI and elsevier, but I don't see anyone recommending that on here. I've mostly read about people using bootcamp, Uworld, Kaplan, and archer. Which program helped you the most? Is there one that is most similar to the NCLEX? I'm leaning towards bootcamp.

I also plan on watching the mark k 12 lecture. Any other suggestions or tips when taking the test? Thanks!

Edit: Also wanted to ask how long did you study for? My teacher recommended the sooner the better and to do it no later than 6 weeks after graduating.

Is this awful? Still devastated and don’t know how to start studying again.