Welcome back loyal readers! In case you missed the first part of this two-part blog entry, you can view it here. However I’ll do my best to catch you up… My colleagues and I have stumbled upon a large number of NCLEX-related half-truths, legends, and old wives’ tales during our information sessions conducted at area nursing schools. Today we’d like to share with you the second collection of these Paul Bunyan-sized tall tales, so we can dispel them once and for all…
It’s all in the numbers….
“If your test ends on an even question number, you failed.”
“If you’re the 13th person to take the NCLEX that day, you automatically fail.”
ANSWER: The plain and simple truth is that you can pass or fail the NCLEX in any number of questions between 75 and 265.
The test is psychic….
“If you struggle in a certain category (i.e. Management of Care), you will continue to receive questions in that category.”
“My friend said that she had eight questions in a row on diabetes, so she freaked out and thought that meant that she didn’t know anything about diabetes.”
“The computer can tell what your weakest area is (or your least favorite) and will continue to give you questions on that topic.”
ANSWER: As far as I know, no computer is psychic, and that certainly extends to those in the computer lab at Pearson VUE’s testing centers. Furthermore, the NCLEX does not know that you hated {insert subject name here}, because you had a personality conflict with Professor X. And men, the test does not care if you’re terrified of Ante/Intra/Postpartum questions which are tested in Health Promotion and Maintenance.
Each NCLEX test is designed and administered to meet all requirements of the exam’s blueprint which is determined by National Council every three years, so every candidate will take a certain percentage of questions within each area of the test plan. If you are not doing well in a given category, there are only a finite number of questions that can be asked. For example, if you’ve already seen 11% of the questions in that category, and the test plan caps it at 12%, there aren’t many more questions that you could get to try to boost yourself up in that client needs category.
In addition, the NCLEX is NOT designed to administer questions that have been changed slightly or rephrased if you answered questions incorrectly in a certain area. All questions are randomly selected from a pool of several thousand approved questions, so any similarities in topic or disease are purely coincidental. Chances are that if your friend really did see eight diabetes questions in a row, each question was testing a different client needs category, and that doesn’t mean your friend didn’t know diddly about diabetes.
Test-site Administrators control your destiny…
“If the test administrator says, ‘see you later,’ when you leave it means that you’re coming back to re-test.”
“If you don’t arrive 15 minutes early, your testing experience will be longer.”
ANSWER: Once again, we’d like to remind you that YOU are the only person who controls your NCLEX destiny. The test site administrators have no way of knowing your results, and they have no authority in determining who passes or fails. However, if you don’t arrive at least 30 minutes early, you might not be able to test as scheduled, and if you don’t follow their instructions you could get flagged for misconduct or testing violations (and trust us, you do NOT want that to happen). To be safe rather than sorry, be sure you read the NCLEX Candidate Bulletin that’s published here.
CONCLUSION: As we all know, the NCLEX looms large in the minds of nursing students and recent grads alike because it is the final barrier standing in between them and their goal of becoming a Registered Nurse. While a little bit of anxiety can be a good thing while taking the test, we hope that dispelling these myths has helped alleviate some of the fear that accompanies the unknown. As always, everyone at Kaplan Nursing encourages students to read the NCLEX Candidate Bulletin so they can learn the testing rules and regulations from the exam creator, but talking to professors, advisers, and even local boards of nursing can also be a great resource too.
My colleagues and I routinely discuss all of these myths and more, in addition to NCLEX methods and strategies, in our free NCLEX Strategy Seminars for students. We hold these seminars during class time, before/after lectures, or even during an SNA or class meeting. If you believe any of your students would be interested in working directly with their local Kaplan contact and planning these free events at your school, please encourage them to learn more about our Student Rep program here.
*The accuracy of the responses to these NCLEX® myths has been verified by Barbara Sarr, MSN, RN, and Nursing Program Manager for Kaplan Nursing. NCLEX® and NCLEX-RN® are registered trademarks of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc.
