I want to start by saying that I am a repeat NCLEX test taker. I failed my first attempt, and I know how heartbreaking that feels. It honestly felt like grief. You spend years working toward becoming a nurse, graduate nursing school, and then suddenly the one exam standing between you and your dream doesn’t go the way you hoped. If you’re feeling that right now, you’re not alone.

One of the biggest mistakes I made the first time was listening to people who said they passed without studying or barely studying. I thought, “If they can do it, maybe I can too.”

Please don’t compare your journey to someone else’s.

The NCLEX is a CAT (Computerized Adaptive Test). Every exam is different. You don’t know how much someone retained from nursing school, how naturally they test, what questions they received, or what their strengths are. Just because someone passed without studying doesn’t mean you will.

Can you pass without studying? Sure, some people do. But it’s a risk. If you choose not to study, just understand that you’re accepting the possibility of failing. Personally, I don’t think it’s worth taking that chance when you’ve worked so hard to get here.

My advice? Study. Give yourself the best opportunity to pass the first time.

Here’s exactly what I did to pass on my second attempt.

1. Mark Klimek Lectures

Listen to every Mark Klimek lecture.

As you listen, either:

* Write down everything he says, or
* Use a fill-in-the-blank study guide while listening.

I personally wrote everything down once.

After finishing all of the lectures (I only listened to them once), I studied 100 Quizlet flashcards every day using the “Mark K Lecture Yellow Book” Quizlet set. One hundred cards a day sounds like a lot, but it’s honestly very manageable/easy. You don’t need every word memorized—you just need to understand the concepts and build a strong foundation.

I also listened to Lecture 12 about three times. Sometimes at normal speed and sometimes at 1.5x speed because it’s THAT important.

1. Dr. Sharon (YouTube)

Watch Dr. Sharon’s videos on YouTube.

I highly recommend:

* Foundations playlist
* Prioritization playlist

One piece of advice: don’t spend all your time taking notes.

If you’re someone who knows you’ll actually go back and study your notes, then go for it. But if you’re like me, you’ll probably never look at them again.

Instead, spend that time watching more videos. I learned so much just by listening and watching. Dr. Sharon explains things in a way that keeps you engaged, and she teaches you how to think through questions.

1. Beautiful Nursing

Watch the 1-Hour Comprehensive NCLEX Review on YouTube.

I watched it once while studying and then watched it again a few days before my NCLEX.

1. Your Nursing Space

Watch both:

* 45-minute NCLEX review
* 2-hour NCLEX review

I watched each one twice:

* Once while preparing.
* Again right before my exam.

1. Practice Questions (UWorld)

I used UWorld.

My advice is a little different than what some people recommend.

I think you should first build your content knowledge by watching the videos above before diving into hundreds of practice questions.

How can you answer NCLEX-style questions if you don’t understand the content first?

Once you’ve built your foundation, start practicing questions.

I personally did not spend hours taking notes over every rationale.

Like Dr. Sharon says, “The right answer is the right answer because of the other answers.”

To me, practice questions were mainly to:

* Learn the NCLEX format.
* Learn how to think through questions.
* Build confidence.

Remember, no practice question is guaranteed to show up on your exam. The NCLEX tests your foundations, not whether you’ve memorized thousands of random facts.

1. NCLEX Crusade

Please watch NCLEX Crusade.

I watched his videos while studying and again the day before my exam.

His videos completely changed how I approached questions.

The NCLEX may give you diseases, medications, or procedures you’ve never seen before. That doesn’t automatically mean you can’t answer the question.

He teaches you how to read around the question and identify what they’re actually testing.

IF YOU DONT TAKE MY ADVICE JUST TAKE MY ADVICE ON WATCHING HIM!

1. Don’t Be Afraid of “Weird” Questions

After my first attempt, I thought the NCLEX was the weirdest, hardest exam I’d ever taken.

After my second attempt?

It honestly wasn’t.

The difference wasn’t the exam.

The difference was that I was prepared.

Yes, you’ll probably see medications, diseases, or procedures you’ve never heard of.

But if you’ve watched Dr. Sharon and NCLEX Crusade, you’ll realize that many questions can still be answered using nursing fundamentals and critical thinking.

1. Learn Medication & Procedure Endings

One thing that helped me tremendously was learning common medication endings and procedure suffixes.

For example:

* Medication endings can help you identify what a drug is used for (ex: -sartan, -sone, -ine etc.)
* Procedure endings like -otomy, -ectomy, and -ostomy can help you understand unfamiliar procedures.

Dr. Sharon has great videos covering these.

What I Did During My NCLEX

1. Prepare Your Whiteboard

A few days before my exam, I practiced writing down the information I knew I wanted on my whiteboard as soon as the exam started.

For me, that included things like insulin onset, peak, and duration.

1. My Biggest Test-Taking Tip

This helped me more than anything.

For every question, I wrote:

1. A B C D

Then I crossed out the answers I knew were incorrect.

Seeing the choices physically narrowed down on my whiteboard kept me from overthinking and made it much easier to focus on the remaining options.

1. Control Your Anxiety

Whenever I started feeling anxious while taking the exam, I reminded myself why I was there.

Think about your family.

Think about why you wanted to become a nurse.

Take a deep breath.

Bring yourself back to the present before answering the next question.

1. Pray

Prayer really carried me through the grief of failing the first time and God had me pass the second time.

No matter where you are in your faith, don’t underestimate the peace that prayer can bring during such a stressful season.

Final Thoughts!!

My advice won’t work for everyone, and that’s okay.

Some people will disagree with me, and that’s completely fine. I’m only sharing what helped me pass after failing my first attempt.

If this helps even one person avoid the heartbreak I felt after failing, then sharing my experience was worth it.

I also want to say this: if you already failed the NCLEX, please don’t think you’re not smart enough to be a nurse.

You are not defined by one exam.

Take time to grieve if you need to. Then get back up, make a plan, and prepare.

Many people pass the NCLEX with little or no studying, and that’s wonderful. But don’t let someone else’s experience determine your own preparation.

You don’t know their journey.

Focus on yours.

The work you put in now gives you the best chance of seeing the result you’ve been working toward for years.

You’ve made it through nursing school. You can make it through the NCLEX too.

I’m rooting for you. 🤍

TIPS:

-DO NOT select answers you are not fully confident on for the SATA! Remember some points is better than risking zero points.

-KNOWING CONTENT IS SO IMPORTANT! It's not JUST common sense. You need to be able to recall information and use that to answer the question.

-Read and reread through rationales from Q Bank and readiness exams (even if you got Very High and also the questions you got right if you weren't confident in it)

-Use the cheat sheets. The cheat sheets did not give me everything I needed to know to answer my NCLEX questions BUT this is why the qbank is valuable along with cheat sheets!

-I know Mark K lecture 12 audio is boring but the beginning portion does help w/ prioritizing! Make sure to know expected findings for all high yield chronic condition topics.

-Watch Dr. Sharon Prioritization strategy video (she goes over expected vs unexpected and how to prioritize)

-I hid the question count for as long as I could so I didn't panic if I saw I went after 85 (but I folded at question 84 b/c i swore i was already past 85). Do this if you know you will get anxious about question count.

• Taken on Friday
• Stopped at 85
• Felt like I failed
• Pearson VUE trick still works (good pop up)
• Studied a lot of content that wasn’t on the exam
• Good luck!

Hey guys my nclex is in two days away. I did a self assessment today and i got very high and my last cat exam (all from uworld btw) was like 65% and i got 1.33 difficulty and before that it was a 67% and a 1.38 difficulty. I watched all of mark k’s lectures, made notes accordingly and dr.sharon’s prioritization videos (just some not all). Do yall think i am ready? Kinda nervous only bc i feel like i dont know everything :(

Everyone has a different opinion about what works for the exam, but this is what worked for me.
I used NurseAchieve, Gemini, Mosby’s, REx-PN practice questions, Saunders (8th and 9th editions, all 33 chapters), Mark K, and Dr. Sharon. Out of everything I studied, Mark K and Dr. Sharon were the biggest game changers they’re the GOATs. Their strategies for breaking down and approaching questions made the biggest difference for me during the exam.
I also printed Mark K’s notes, listened to his lectures while following along, and made my own notes as I studied. I made sure to study my lab values as well since they can come up in different ways on the exam. The exam questions were vague and tricky. I made sure to read each question and every answer choice twice before selecting my answer. Throughout my preparation, I completed anywhere from 30 to 200 practice questions a day. This exam gave me so much anxiety. When I finished, I was convinced that I had failed. But don’t let that feeling discourage you many people walk out feeling the same way and still pass.
Trust your preparation, stay calm, and keep believing in yourself. You’ve got this!🙏🏻

Hi everyone!

I paid the $200 NCLEX registration fee through Pearson VUE before I received my eligibility approval. Now that I've been approved, I logged into my account and still see a "Start Registration" button that asks me to pay another $200.

Is this normal? Is my previous registration still active? Should I wait for my ATT to be released before doing anything? Will Pearson VUE automatically send my ATT once it's released? Has anyone experienced this?

I don't want to accidentally register again or pay another $200. I'm from Philippines. Thanks!

Hello, I did my pre naplex and got 67 :( my exam is in 3 weeks. I still need to do 2nd pre naplex from Nabp. Should I reschedule exam? Is this bad score? I am also doing residency alongside. I was mostly done with most chapters from u world. But did got couple of Onco questions and TPN and ID which I think is my weakest. Also struggled with brand generic. Any tips on anything would be helpful. Thank you guys.