Did Anyone Think the Nclex Was Easy

Did you lot hear that more people pass the NCLEX-RN on Thursdays than on Fridays? Did you know that yous don't stand up a gamble of passing if your name has an R in it? These are but a few of the wild — and false — rumors and myths that surround the NCLEX-RN exam.

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Length of the NCLEX-RN test matters

More people afflict over when the test "shuts off" than whatsoever other topic apropos the NCLEX-RN. Rumor says that if your test stops at 75 questions, you've passed, and if you get 265 questions, y'all've failed. (You lot may besides hear the reverse — fewer questions equal failure and more questions equal passing.)

The truth is that the length of your exam has nothing to practise with whether you laissez passer or fail. The number of questions you become is based on how you respond the questions. If you lot answered correctly, a harder question is given to y'all. If you respond incorrectly, an easier question is given to you.

The NCLEX-RN uses a plan called Calculator Adaptive Testing (CAT), which assesses a test taker's abilities (every bit in whether you can reply difficult questions correctly or just unproblematic ones) based on his or her answers to exam questions and searches its bank of exam questions for questions that are equal to the test taker's abilities. The fact that the NCLEX-RN uses CAT means that, depending on your performance, you lot may respond fewer questions than you'd have to answer on other types of tests that decide your cognition of safe and effective nursing care.

Although the exam doesn't take a time limit for each question, go on a steady pace and attempt to spend well-nigh one minute on each question.

Every NCLEX-RN question counts

This indicate may sound like a reasonable assumption for any exam, but for the NCLEX-RN, it's false. The NCLEX-RN uses you lot as a republic of guinea pig to try out new questions that aren't yet part of the scored test. Each candidate's exam contains upwards to 15 experimental questions, but, tricky devils that they are, the exam folks don't tell you which ones are the experimental items. So, despite the myth, care for every question as if it counts, even though it actually may not, to be on the safe side.

Computer savvy is essential

You don't have to exist a estimator whiz to have the NCLEX-RN. When you bear witness upwards for the test, the examination administrator conducts an orientation, and you work through a tutorial that explains how to apply the keys and how to record your answers. (When taking the exam, yous only use ii keys: the space bar to move the cursor and the enter key to highlight and lock in your answer.) The tutorial also covers how to reply to questions that may utilize a format other than multiple pick.

Y'all're allowed to ask the examination administrator for aid if you accept trouble with the computer during the test.

You tin can't cease 'til y'all're done

Afterwards you sit down at the figurer to have the NCLEX-RN, two breaks are prescheduled. The get-go break comes after 2 hours of testing, and the second break comes after three.v hours of testing. (You lot have up to 6 hours to have the test, though most test takers finish in ii.) The figurer fifty-fifty tells you when you can have a interruption, so all you take to practice is focus on the examination.

Taking a pause at prearranged times or times you chose, counts against your testing time, so don't overdo it. But if you need a quick breath of fresh air and a stretch, a few minutes away from the examination may be worth it. Immigration your head and relaxing your body may exist simply what you demand to keep your momentum going, your encephalon sharp, and your feet at bay.

You take breaks outside the testing room, and the test administrator makes sure yous follow all the rules and get back to your test without any problems.

The NCLEX-RN test plays off your weakness

The NCLEX-RN isn't out to go you lot. When you reply a question incorrectly, the computer automatically chooses an easier question for you lot to reply. If you reply that question correctly, it chooses a slightly more hard question. Throughout the exam, the computer gives y'all questions based on your respond to a previous question's difficulty level.

What the computer is trying to establish is your competence level, or ability to correctly respond approximately 50 per centum of the questions you lot're given, which means y'all demand to be above the passing standard consistently to show competency. The estimator is able to establish your competence level after a minimum number of questions. Information technology and then compares your competence level to the passing standard competence level and makes ane of the following assessments:

• You're above the passing standard. You pass, and the test ends.
• You're beneath the passing standard. You fail, and the examination ends.
• You're shut to the passing standard, merely it's still not clear whether you lot should pass or fail. You continue answering questions until either the computer tin can brand the determination of whether you should pass or fail or the time runs out.

The NCLEX-RN tries to give you every opportunity to demonstrate that you take the knowledge, judgment, and skill to get that license. This blazon of testing actually improves your chances of demonstrating a passing score.

Yous have to wait eons to retake a failed test

The waiting period for retesting is 45 days. This period gives yous enough fourth dimension to continue studying and reviewing, but yous don't accept to look so long that the cognition you lot accept becomes obsolete.

If y'all fail the exam at whatsoever point, the state's board of nursing sends you lot a Candidate Performance Report (CPR). This report summarizes your strengths and weaknesses based on the NCLEX-RN test plan, breaking downward whether you were above, near, or below passing standard in a given surface area. (The preceding section explains what these standards mean.) This information is very helpful because it lets you know exactly what you lot need to study then that you don't waste precious fourth dimension studying what you already can demonstrate knowledge of.

Your kickoff instinct is probably wrong

The NCLEX-RN doesn't allow y'all to get dorsum and review the questions you've already answered. When you submit an answer, it'due south gone forever. The ability to but motion forward prevents that pitfall of reconsidering and irresolute your answers and, in the process, losing precious time.

The questions are presented one at a time, and y'all tin can review each one for equally long as you lot want before you lot submit your respond. Yous must confirm your submission earlier y'all can go on to the next question, so you can be certain of your choice.

Yous can modify your answer before you submit information technology, but continue in mind that you're most likely to choose the correct respond right off the bat because you make the choice calmly and rationally. When yous alter your answers, yous're 2nd-guessing yourself, which leads to doubt and doubt that just balloons until y'all aren't sure about anything anymore. That's definitely not a good way to brand a correct determination. So read the question, find your keywords, analyze your answers, and then cull your respond based on what you see in the question and know about the content being tested. If you're having a "could-be" or "might-be" chat with yourself, move on and leave your first answer as it is.

The same question popped up twice

The NCLEX-RN doesn't contain repeat questions, then you lot won't see the same question more than once. You may receive a question that contains similar symptoms or diseases to another question but actually addresses a different area of the nursing process.

Don't assume that you receive a similar question considering you answered a previous question incorrectly. Some items on the test are trial questions. Seeing ii similar questions may (or may not) bespeak y'all've gotten 1 of those experimental items. Always cull the all-time respond for each question; don't select an answer based on information you may have seen in a previous question.

Your test schedule chooses y'all

Y'all can choose not only your test date but also the time yous want to have your test. This control gives yous the upper hand in scheduling yourself for success. After you lot receive your Say-so to Examination (ATT) from the lath of nursing in the land in which yous're taking your exam, y'all can schedule your test engagement and time. Don't expect to schedule, though, because the longer you await, the less likely you are to get the schedule y'all want.

If y'all're a first-time test taker, you're offered an appointment inside 30 days; if you're a repeat test taker, you volition be offered an appointment after 45 days. You may choose to make an date later than what yous're offered, but make sure yous stay inside your ATT time frame when you schedule. Otherwise, you lot lose that endeavour. By choosing your own test schedule, you lot ensure that the solar day of your exam doesn't conflict with anything else you may accept scheduled.

Schedule your exam and so that you have a six-60 minutes window. Keep in listen that the NCLEX-RN session tin last up to six hours (including orientation).

Pick (3) is the magic answer, and other multiple-pick fails

Conventional wisdom claims that multiple-pick tests use Choice (C) equally a right respond more whatever other reply choice. In the language of the NCLEX-RN, Selection (C) translates to Choice (3), but the fact remains that the correct answers don't follow any detail blueprint. The adventure of the correct respond to any NCLEX question being Choice (three) is no better than the correct answer beingness Pick (1), Choice (2), or Choice (iv).

Another trap: When test takers don't know the respond to a question, they tend to choose the answer option that they know nil about. They presume that if they don't know what it is, it must be the right answer. Nothing could be more incorrect. If you tin't determine the correct answer, your all-time pick is to cull an respond option that you know something almost. When you lot're unsure of the correct choice, choosing something you know is an educated estimate, and it may be correct.

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Source: https://www.dummies.com/article/academics-the-arts/study-skills-test-prep/nclex-rn/10-myths-about-the-nclex-rn-273499/

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