I took the NCLEX yesterday, and wanted to share my story since I didn't have the "ideal" 75 questions. I have been studying on and off for about 2 months, but truly started grinding the last 2 weeks. I finished the whole UWorld question bank, as well as some practice exams on ATI. Overall, I finished with 58% on the question bank, and 57% and 61% on the self-assessments on UWorld.

Going into the exam, I tried to be as confident as possible. My biggest worry was that I was going to lose my marbles if I got over 75 questions, so I tried hard to breath deeply and keep my mind clear during the entire exam. After about 1-1.5 hours of testing, I hit 75 questions, and could feel myself getting more and more anxious. As the questions kept coming, and I felt my stress level steadily rising, I decided to take an unassigned break at 110 questions (best thing I could have done!).

As I approached 150 questions, I thought for sure that I was going to be answering the full 265 questions. Nonetheless, I tried to keep a clear mind, so that I could focus on answering the questions correctly. I found the NCLEX questions to be similar to UWorld, but a lot more vague (which is why I think I was struggling). The computer eventually shut off at 181 questions, and I was certain I failed. Once I got to my car, I immediately started bawling. For several hours after the exam, I debated whether or not I wanted to do the Pearson Vue Trick. I had a friend who did it and got a false negative, so I was super hesitant. About 9ish hours after taking the exam, I caved and did the trick - I GOT THE GOOD POP UP! While I will not believe I truly passed until I get my license, this did bring me some peace of mind.

Whether I passed or not, I just wanted to let everyone know that IT IS OK IF YOU DON'T GET 75 QUESTIONS. As long as you're answering questions, that means you're still in the game. Don't get so anxious that you can't answer the questions with a clear mind. I will follow up again and let everyone know if I actually passed!

Good luck ya'll.



EDIT: I passed!! It's ok to get over 75 questions on the NCLEX! You all can do this. :-)
edited by on 8/10/2018

Congrats!!! I am sure you must be excited! I took it yesterday also and mine cut off at 75. When i did the pvt trick i did not get the good pop up. So now i dont know. But thank you for letting us know that false negatives are possible because i honestly did not feel like i failed.

congrats! i got the good pop up as well but i don't see my name on the board of registered nursing....i thought it would take 24 hours to have my name up like what others has said...

I think it depends what state you live in. It could take 48+ hours to show up on the BON website for your state.

thank you! i live in california so maybe it might take longer...my friend said it took her 3 business to see her name on the website last year

If you take your test Monday-Thursday you should have your results in at least 48 hours. I live in California and that was the case for the majority of my nursing class and what happened for me. Good luck!