Second Chances

I'm a nurse, but sometimes I... need a practice round.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a creature of familiarity; new situations, especially when it comes to high-stakes testing, gives me some anxiety. Fortunately, I have not found this anxiety transferring into the clinical setting. If that were so, I would definitely need to reconsider this occupation.

No, my anxiety mostly seems to come about only with testing. The kind of testing that is seemingly pass/fail. The kind of testing that you have to pass to become a nurse. To give you a better understanding of my anxiety, I will list the tests that I have failed on my first try:

1. My driving permit test. (Seriously.)
2. My driving license test.
3. The HESI exit exam (I will elaborate on this topic another day).
4. The NCLEX-RN exam.

Of course, none of these tests were truly "one try" tests, but I had it in my head (of course) that I needed to pass on that first try. This simply set me up for failure, because my anxiety only heightens with that pressure. I'm sure there are many current nursing students with this issue, and I hope that my story can give you the confidence to know that you can pass this test, if not on your first try.

My first time taking the NCLEX, I think I was as nervous as I've ever been in my life. I couldn't sleep the night before, and I was constantly seeing Facebook posts from the flood of fellow nursing students who had already passed. I went into the test ready for it to be over, and while I took the test, I had trouble focusing on anything but the question I was on, and the time I had left.

Although my testing track record may not confirm this, I have never had a very difficult time in school. I consider myself a fairly intelligent person, and that must be somewhat true, as I had all 265 questions. Despite my inability to focus, I was able to somehow keep myself in the game until the very last question. After I left the testing center, however, I was sure I had failed... and I was right.

After days of depression, and jealousy of my friends who had passed, I picked myself up and decided that the only one who could change this outcome was me. And I did! So, if you'd like to know exactly what I did to pass the NCLEX-RN, stay tuned. I will be posting shortly, I just didn't want this post to be too long.

I added this quote to my phone's lock screen
when I decided to get back in the game. It helped.