NCLEX

So, I don't know how many people know about the NCLEX. It is the National Council Licensure Exam. This exam is the biggest exam in a nursing student's life. Once a nursing student graduates from college she must pass this exam in order to become a Registered Nurse.


I was not looking forward to this exam. I graduated on December 12, 2009, which was a wonderful feeling after 4.5 years of college. However, unlike most college graduates, I still had to spend my days preparing and studying to pass an exam before I could begin my career.

I spent almost two months studying NCLEX review books and rummaging through my nursing notes. I took a review course and spent every available minute preparing for the biggest exam in my life. It was basically all I thought about or talked about for two straight months. All I have ever heard about this exam ia negative things and how hard it is, so of course I drove myself crazy preparing. I am also a sort of negative person, not in a bad way, but I'm not one to look at the bright side of things. I was convinced that I would fail this exam and never be able to practice medicine. These were probably the worst two months of my life.

This exam is cruel. I went to the testing center, had to be photographed, fingerprinted, palm printed, show ID, and basically strip searched to enter this room. I couldn't even bring chapstick inside. The exam is on the computer and each one of us was inside our own little cubicle to take the exam. By the time I sat down to take the exam my hands were shaking and my palms were sweating. I starting answering questions which calmed me down a little. With this exam, you get a minimum of 75 questions and a maximum of 265. The computer shuts off when you have either passed by a good margin or failed. I was finished with my exam an hour into the exam when my computer shut off at 75 questions. This was not a good feeling.

Now all I had to do was wait. It takes two days to find out if you have passed the exam, and all I had to do was wait and find out what my future had in store for me. After frantically checking online every twenty minutes for two days, I finally discovered I had passed. There really isn't a way to describe how I felt seeing my name with an RN license number behind it. Absolute joy.
So for any future victims of the NCLEX, the only advice I can offer is prepare and hope for the best! Thanks for reading!!