Officially an RN

Yesterday I took the NCLEX. I have been studying for the test for the past 2 months since school finished. Most weeks I studied about 20 hours, this past week I put in about 50. Normally I have test anxiety, but not yesterday I was calm and relaxed.

After I signed in the sat me in my booth, gave me my white board and I started the test. The test begins with a mid-level question and if you miss that one you go easier, and if you get a question right you go harder. Well, my first question could have been written in Spanish for all I know. All I could think was, "yikes, I don't even know what this is". My comforting thought was if I got the question wrong at least I would get an easier question next. Nope, that one was hard too. Finally on my third question I at least recognized the material.

After trying 9 questions in my head, I decided to go back to my regular method of writing everything down and crossing out the incorrect items. This also allowed me to put my reasoning behind answers so I could debate with myself the correct answer. This method worked for me in school, so I decided I could use it for this test as well.

About 20 minutes into the test I realized a lady a few desks down from me was sobbing. Loudly. You aren't allowed to look around so I just sat there and listened for a bit. Finally that stopped- not sure if she left the room or just pulled herself together. I had so many 'select all that apply' and 'put in the correct order' questions. I also had a ton of prioritizing questions, and infection control. I don't consider those my strongest areas. I was really hoping for a test with a lot of maternity and math- but I didn't get any of those.

My computer shut off at question 75 after 100 minutes of taking the exam. At that point I felt lousy and really stupid. There were so many questions that I was unsure of, and drugs I had never heard of. I felt like I had failed and would be signing up to take the test again in 45 days. I spent the rest of the day checking the Arizona Board of Nursing to see when my results would be available. Finally this morning at 7:45 am they were posted. All it said was PASSED- NCLEX. Hooray- I am just relived I won't have to take the test again. Today I am officially Amy Edwards, RN.