I went to Kaplan College, so their test prep program was included in my tuition. My last week of school was the classroom test prep and then after that I was on my own.
I think I took about 2 weeks off (it was about a month between last day of school and my test date) after that, I did at least 20+ questions a day from the qbank..
When all was said and done the day before my boards, I had done almost 400 questions from the qbank, trainers 1-5, 3 NCLEX sample tests and just a skimming of the book. I was averaging in the 60's with everything. I was burnt but I thought that I was as prepared as I was ever going to be.
The next day I left a hour early for the testing center. I stopped and got a bagel and a cup of coffee and some water. When I got to the testing center there were two of my classmates, which we knew that we were going to be testing on the same day and time. We were all a little nervous but as ready as we would ever be.
They are crazy at the test center, it's like being on lockdown, but I had been through this before twice, once when I took boards for massage therapy and when I took national registery for my EMT.
Finally after all the bs, I get to my little test station and I start the tutorial. I'm clicking 'next' to get to the next part and my computer freezes up!!!!!!!! THIS IS NOT HOW I WANT TO START! lol..so I raised my hand, the tech comes over, has me scan my hand for the billionth time and sends me out to the wait while they call IT. There were two more classmates out there. We chatted and about 15 minutes later the tech came and got me, re scanned me, and took me back to my test area. Finally. Finished the tutorial, took a deep breath and started my exam.
I have to tell you, it was nothing like everything that I had been studying. I mean I see the similarities in the way the questions are asked but not in the material itself. (I'll explain more on that later). So I'm trucking along, I try to keep track of the SATA questions, but soon it just is too many so I stop. I get passed 75 and I think, oh man, I'm in for the long haul, I'm going to be going to 265!!! Ugh!
So I continue on, I'm getting a lot of prioritizing, SATA, and infection control. I just keep telling myself, 'don't kill your patient.' Because that's basically what they want to make sure of, that you are competent enough to not kill your patient. So that's what I keep telling myself. All the sudden it shuts off!!! I wasn't sure, I think I was on 117 or 118?? I was so in the zone that I wasn't looking at the number, but the last one I remember was 111, so I think I had about 6 or 7 questions the it shut down. Anyhoo. I was 'that's it?' no climax at all :)
When I finished, I was the first one done out of everyone, and I had that delay in the beginning. When I walked outside, I was like 'did I really just take my boards???' So I rushed home to do the 'trick.'
At first it said my results were on hold and then I started to freak!!! But after some reading on a discussion board and several hours later, I checked again and I got the "good pop up" yay!!!!
Now onto waiting for the BRN to post my license! (I'll keep you posted on that!)
Regarding they way they ask the questions, I guess it more like either you know it or you don't. It is about test taking skills but over all, I don't think any amount of studying could have REALLY prepared me for boards. I drew on my clinical experience and all the knowledge that I gained in my theory classes. Does that make sense?? I get how the test prep helped me, but overall, if you didn't learn anything in nursing school, you're probably not going to pass, you know what I mean? But if you paid attention, studied, took notes and generally retained information from classes, you're going to be okay.
I hope that helps anyone who is getting ready to take boards. I'm by no means telling you NOT to study. Please do. But overall, either the information is in your head or it's not. Don't worry too much about pharm. I had pharm questions, but very few and meds I didn't know and I answered by asking myself, 'how do I not kill my patient.' Seriously. And it got me through!
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