75 Questions Later...

I PASSED!  I have officially taken and kicked the NCLEX's tail.  I could not be more relieved. 

Throughout nursing school, we all talked about how there was no way that the NCLEX could be that horrible, we would all do fine, etc...   This all changed when I started hearing horror stories from my classmates who were lucky enough to take it before me.   After reading a 1200 page NCLEX textbook, reading another prep book called the Hurst review, and taking over 1500 practice test questions... as I sat down to take the test, I still felt unprepared. 

I'm usually a fairly calm test taker.  I get anxious beforehand (I told my dad an hour before I took it that I felt like I was going to vomit), but after I sit down and start taking it, I'm fine.  Thankfully, this was true for the NCLEX, and after about question 5, my heart rate had slowed, despite the fact that I could still hear it beating loudly through my head phones. 

So this is how the test works.  You start out with fairly easy questions, and as you get them right, the questions get harder.  If you get them wrong, your questions get easier again.  Eventually, if you're doing well, you should be getting questions that you have NO IDEA what the answer is... this happened to me.  The minimum amount of questions you can get is 75.  So, if your test cuts off at 75, you either did really well, or really bad.  As I was sitting there about to submit my 75th question, I kept thinking, "Do I want more questions, or am I good enough to be done?".  It didn't matter, my test cut off at 75.  My heart stopped. 

I called Matthew as I was leaving the test site, and told him that I had absolutely no idea how I had done.  I know that I had at least 20-25 "select all that apply" questions, which people had told me that when you get those questions, it means your doing well...but honestly, how do they know?  Why they can't give you your results right after the test is beyond me.  It's torture.

There is apparently a trick to see if you passed that you can do early before you get your "official" test results 48 hours later.  You go onto the testing website and try and re-register to take the test.  If it takes you to the credit card page, then you know you failed, but if a message pops up saying "Contact your member board", it supposedly means you passed. 

I was too nervous to check this out myself, so I called M to see if he would do it for me.  He told me he would call me back in 40 minutes to let me know.  An hour or so later he called me and didn't say anything about the test but said, "I think I'm going to come home from work early today".  At this point, I know something's up.  His tone is off, and I knew he was busy that day at work...no way he needed to leave early.  I immediately ask, "Did you check it?"  He replies, "Well, I dunno, I'm not sure, I...."  At this point, I'm on the verge of a full blown panic attack and said, "JUST TELL ME WHAT IT SAID!".  He tells me that when he tried to submit to re-register it took him to a page that asked what test I wanted to register for.  I'm still freaking out, so I hung up on M and called my friend Erin to ask her if that means I failed, or if I was supposed to go back through and do the whole thing all over again.  Long story short, M didn't go far enough into the process.  I eventually got the message telling me to call my member board.  Lesson learned...Man up and do it yourself next time.  My poor husband had no idea what to do when he thought I had failed... bless his heart.

At work two days later, I officially get the results on the Alabama Board of Nursing website.  There I was...Andrea Lynn Hardison, RN.  I finally got to sign something in my patients chart with RN after my name later on that day... sweet.  You can see it for yourself, https://www.abn.alabama.gov/apps/lookup/verification.aspx  Just type in my first and last name, and there I am :)

I'm off for the next 3 days.  This 3 days a week thing is the best thing since sliced bread.  5 days a week is for the birds...or everyone else in a normal profession.  But the best part? (Besides my first paycheck that I got last Friday)  I don't have to study when I get home from a 12 hour shift.  I'm done.  I was straight up crazy when I contemplated starting back to school this Fall.. no thanks.  Not the spring either.  The earliest this girl will be hitting the books again is next summer...the earliest.   I'm enjoying being a normal, working, adult.  Hello real world!

Sincerely,

Andrea Hardison, RN, BSN