Boards

Genuinely I was not too worried or worked up about boards. In our NCLEX prep class they told us you should consistently get above 75% on your practice tests before taking it. I’ve always done at least that well on our big ATI tests, and I got middle-high B’s the whole way through school, so it’s just something I wasn’t too worked up about.

However. Now that I’ve started my position as a GN in the ER, along with another GN and I’m going through orientation with all the other GNs I’m getting more freaked out.

I took basic arrhythmia this week and in that class were two other GNs I knew, one from school and one from research. They both took their boards last week and both passed and both were absolutely bursting about how they could not believe how many choose-all-that-apply questions they got. I HATE choose all that apply. Those are my WORST questions. They give you a little scenario and then 6 or 7 options and if you miss one of the 7 then you get the question wrong.

For those of you non-nursing people who read this blog, the big deal about the NCLEX is it’s a “smart test” so every time you get the answer correct, it choses a harder question until you start getting them wrong. You have anywhere between 75 and 265 and it keeps asking questions till it’s sure you’ve got a passing or failing score. For both of these girls it shut off after 75 and they were both sure they failed because they had so many choose-all-that-apply (both went out to their car and cried). My ER friend took her test monday and she also passed but was completely freaked out because she counted FORTY choose all that apply in her test of 75 questions.

So now I’m all up in arms.

If you’ll recall my original goal was to take the NCLEX at the beginning of June so that I could go on our honeymoon knowing I’d passed. I couldn’t even pick up my graduation letter from the school till the middle of June though, and I picked it up when we got home from our honeymoon. Obviously I didn’t study on the honeymoon so I didn’t want to take it right when I got back. Then I decided I should wait till after all the orientation classes figuring taking PALS, ACLS, Basic Arrhythmia, and Basic ER Nursing might offer even just a glimmer of extra knowledge I could use on the test. So I decided I wouldn’t even bother till after orientation (not to mention I’m a little overwhelmed at work with all the new stuff I’m trying to get the hang of). Then, while I’m sure I could if I had to, I think it will just be a lot easier to study after Hubbin’ goes back to work next week and I’m home alone some days… Now though, I’m totally regretting not taking it before everyone else so they couldn’t be freaking me out with their stories!

I’m trying to keep confident like I was before they all started telling me about having 40 choose all that apply and keeping the right mind set. But when I think of how much I’d rather die than go to work and have to tell everyone I failed….. I start getting worked up all over again.

Right now I’m still waiting for my Authorization To Test (ATT) from the state so I can’t sign up for the test even if I wanted to. I think the way to go about this though is to start studying now so when I get the ATT I can pick a date that’s really soon (preferably like the next day, lol) and not give myself time to work into a frenzy.