I have ALWAYS been one of the class clowns all throughout school. I was never a top student. I was lazy in high school, and fairly lazy in college. The only thing that I would do well in school with on a consistent basis was show up, but hardly ever study. Imagine a 6'2 240 lb, fairly athletic, black guy that's pretty much always horsing around or making funny comments about this that or the other. I've extremely social and make friend fairly easily.

I got all 265 questions. In all of my preparation I did not do more than 180 in a sitting. Because ATI's comprehensive predictors for the green light is at 180 if I'm not mistaken. At 180 I was annoyed, at 240 I was mentally exhausted, and by 265 I was just ready to walk out and went into a deep depression. I called the select few that knew I was taking the test that I failed it. I told my closest friends and immediate family that I failed. I renewed my UWorld for another week to ensure that I would have the 'notes' just in case if I failed.

The Pennsylvania Board's website was down the next day through and the weekend so I couldn't look up my name. The Quick Results were not available right away. It wasn't until the following Monday that I paid for the Quick Results and got my Unofficial Results. It said 'Pass'!!! Needless to say that I was flabbergasted !!!! I was jumping around the house for joy. I told my grandma and it was a wonderful moment.

I pray for everyone to have that wonderful moment. All programs have good and bad to them. ATI had good things about it where they have a lot of good questions that are packed with info that you definitely need to know. They have a lot of extra elements that put you under the impression that you are required to look at or partake in. There are lots of unnecessary videos, their books have good info but it was very time consuming to get through them. I was putting in hours like it was a full time job. If you did not make the mark on their tests they would give you a ton of assignments to do. When you were finished them they would give you more which was infuriating.

UWorld was much more up to pace with my style of learning. I am what you call a 'visual learner' and UWorld had pictures in their rationales along with great explanations of what the question was asking. UWorld also had the test right with lots of select all that apply. I got a lot of the priority questions which is important in real nursing. Your license is on the line with that type of info.

I would say UWorld worked out best for me. I was consistent in keeping up with questions every day. I was scoring 40-60% on quizzes. I finished at the overall 50% mark and ranked at the 42nd percentile. If I absolutely bombed a quiz would 'resume' them and re-answer the questions sometimes. I have a little bit of an ego and like to see myself get good scores even though it doesn't actually matter. I redid a few of the quizzes towards the end from what I did in the beginning because my scores were REALLY low in the beginning. I also did quizzes that were exclusively incorrect answers. I was pretty discouraged at times with the 40 or 50 something percent quiz scores but it really doesn't matter. What matters is the remediation and notes you take after reading them. If you're consistent you will eventually get it and everything will click. If the class clown can make it, you can make it too. If you don't, then try try again. I know that I was willing to do it when I paid for UWorld again the next day of my test. Stay determined, keep your spirituality involved, and don't quit if it's what you want. Best of luck! ~ Travis
edited by on 2/14/2017

Good stuff man congrats! I too thought I had failed the NCLEX but to my shock found out I passed. I became so panicked when I went past the 75 question mark. I was mentally exhausted past the 90 question mark so was very blessed to stop at 96. I would not have made it to 265. I have no idea how you possibly did that but you did it and it certainly paid off. Nice!

Thank you very much and congratulations to you too, nurse!! I am still feeling very accomplished. I did not dwell on questions for too long, that's for sure. I may have spent 4 or 5 minutes on 2 or 3 questions. I blew through a lot of it to be honest. I was running on pure adrenaline. I think I went on 4 bathroom breaks where I had a sip of tea and a little snack.

OMG this is the best post Ive read on any nurse forum. Most nursing students are utterly serious and stuck up. I was the complete opposite in nursing school-outgoing with my patients and staff at clinical, not consumed in worrying about my gpa, just learn the material to provide great care. I too was a class clown and still am
We had ATI as well and I passed the predictor with a 96% chance of passing nclex, but on UWORLD I was borderline. I take boards next Wednesday! Anxious but ready to get it over with. Been inconsistently studying UWorld for about 2 1/2 weeks with scores averaging mid 50's.

Thanks for the delightful post from one clown to another and congratulations!

Well it looks like tomorrow is your big day! I appreciate your compliments. It would have been much longer but I had to cut it down because I had too many characters, haha. I was doing a little VENTING after that test was over. I'm sure that you'll do fine. I did not score that high on the ATI predictor, and I was also borderline on UWorld at first. Just go in with the confidence that you worked as hard as you can and it will happen. I hope you respond here with some good news my friend. Godspeed.

I took the NCLEX and I think I passed got a good pop up on the PVT. 75 qs in 50 mins.
Thank you for your encouragement and thank you UWORLD!

congratulations to you! How was it compared to Uworld? What tips can you give?

Class Clowns always perform under pressure!!! haha, way to go!! You'll get a job in no time! I got a job at a children's hospital, which is right up my alley!! 75 questions in 50 minutes?!?! that's incredible! I was in there for about 6 hours!! do you know how many select all that apply you got?? I was hoping that you would reply here, thank you for sharing!

it's not about the quantity of questions you perform with, but the quality. make sure that you read the rationales and make notes if that's what you're into. understand why you got something wrong, and then read over the ones you get right as well because you could have gotten something right due to a good guess or for the wrong reason. make sure you're getting things right for the right reasons, haha. Also don't get caught up with your rankings and percentages. just keep learning and it will fall into place.

I got about 40% SATA!! Therapeutic Comm, mental health crisis and berate of OB,Peds which is my weakest but UWORLD helped me get a grasp on that. I got a job in Cardiac ICU and start in March. I didn't get caught up in the Uworld percentages just to see that I was improving overall. I started in the 40's-50's and ended up in the 70'-80's after finishing the whole qbank. The nclex looked like UWORLD and thats how I knew I got this! I stopped using Saunders and hurst during my last week of studying because UWORLD was just spot on and less time consuming. The only con I would say my nclex qs weren't detailed like how UWORLD were- which made it tricky to anwser some qs because I was looking for what they were asking for. Pro-a majority of the qs I encountered were dead on UWORLD type questions. LIKE DEAD ON! This forum has been so encouraging-still waiting on results but pass/fail I'm still happy because of a strong support system.