Get ready to conquer the NCLEX exam and land your dream nursing job as I, Lauren Chapnick, take you on a comprehensive journey of what it takes to smash through these milestones. Imagine the rewarding moment when you finally pass your NCLEX, the relief, the pride - this episode is all about getting you there. I'll be sharing my personal experiences and strategies, including my daily practice routine and intensive four-week study plan that led me to triumph on my exam day.
But the insights don't stop there! As your trusted Nursing Student Coach, I'll guide you on how to stand out in the nursing job market. Learn how to infuse your resume with unique elements that make you irresistible to potential employers and discover key strategies to connect on a personal level during interviews. Excitingly, we will be joined by Mary, a new grad nursing interview coach, in our upcoming episode to delve even deeper into the art of acing interviews. So buckle up, sharpen your pencils, and get ready to absorb nuggets of wisdom that will transform your nursing career journey.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Nursing school is a wild ride, but that doesn't mean
you have to run and hide whenthe going gets tough.
Don't leave your stressundiagnosed.
You gotta call the nursingstudent coach.
Real-life tips from aregistered nurse, in school and
(00:21):
out.
She's seen the worst.
Now, without further ado, yeah,here is your host.
It's the nursing student coach.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Hi everybody, welcome to Nursing Student Coach my
name is Lauren Chapnick and I amyour host and happy
Thanksgiving to everybody.
Whether or not you're listeningto this episode on Thanksgiving
, that is the day that it cameout.
So I hope that today you aretaking some time Spending it
(00:54):
with your loved ones, yourfriends and family, or your
friends who are family.
It is such a special holidayand I wish you all so much love.
For today's episode.
I am playing for you a talkthat I did a couple months back,
and it is to a group of nursingstudents who were in their
(01:17):
final semester and they'reactually About to graduate and
take their NCLEX and go on theirnursing interviews for their
first job.
So I just wanted to play it toget all of those People who are
in the same boat, who are aboutto graduate, just in that
headset of what should I bedoing to prepare for my NCLEX,
(01:40):
how should I prepare for myfirst job interview?
And for those of you who aren'tgraduating quite yet you will
be, so this is important for youtoo just to plant that seed and
kind of think well, when thattime comes, what should I be
thinking?
What things can I do to be bestprepared, and just a little
(02:02):
preview for next week's episode.
We have a very special guest.
Her name is Mary.
She is a new grad nursinginterview coach and we go into a
great conversation in detailabout what you should
specifically be doing to getready for those interviews.
So be on the lookout for thatand I hope you enjoy today's
(02:25):
episode and I hope you all havea very happy Thanksgiving.
Hi everybody, I'm here tohopefully help put your minds at
ease, to answer anything andeverything about my NCLEX
experience how to prepareliterally anything that you are
(02:45):
thinking, and then I'll talkquickly about job interviews as
well.
I think nursing school isliterally training for a
marathon.
The NCLEX is the big race.
At the end it's the triathlon.
It's the big one, and the onlything standing in your way
between the day you startnursing school, day one, to the
day you pass that NCLEX is aseries of exams.
(03:08):
It's really just a whole bunchof multiple choice questions.
You may have a paper here andthere, but what really counts
are those multiple choicequestions.
That's the best way they'vefigured out how to do it, at
least as of now.
So we have to become seasonedathletes in taking exams.
It's like learning a newlanguage, nursing school,
(03:28):
nursing exams, and so what doyou do to get ready for a race?
Because if the NCLEX is themarathon at the end, each exam
leading up to it is its own race, it's its own mini race.
So to train for it, we put onour sneakers every day, our
proverbial sneakers, and we run,we train, and we do that by
(03:48):
drilling practice questionsevery single day, no matter what
.
That is how you train yourbrain, your muscle memory, your
body, so that when you get inthere to the NCLEX, to any exam,
it doesn't feel scary, it justfeels like oh, this is what I do
every single day.
I call it your daily 10, because10 is a very simple, attainable
(04:13):
goal.
You can do 10 like that.
But what's going to happen?
You know, on a day that you'retaking a break, you're taking a
day for yourself, and you justdo 10, great, you've hit the
goal.
But what's typically going tohappen once you get going?
You're going to do more than 10, because you're going to get
that dopamine rush when youstart getting questions right
(04:34):
and you're going to do more.
You're going to do 20, 30, 40.
And that's how you gain themomentum.
That's the only thing youshould be doing now is practice
questions.
Okay, getting it.
This was my NCLEX study plan.
Now here's the thing.
There is a bunch of differentways to do this.
What I used does not have to bewhat you used.
(04:56):
I'm just going to tell you whatI used.
So I studied for four intenseweeks.
I did a Monday through Fridayschedule, a minimum of four
hours a day, because I did afull eight hour day where I just
sat at my table and I juststudied, with breaks.
You have to go outside and takewalks and eat and all those
things.
I did a Mark Clemick livereview course, which I'll talk a
(05:18):
little bit more about, and Iactually have his course
materials with me if anybodywanted to look through them
after.
And I did simple nursingquestion bank.
He has simple nursing has itsown NCLEX course, it doesn't
matter.
People did U-World, people didArcher.
(05:38):
If you do Archer and I dosimple nursing, who cares?
Just pick one where there's aquestion bank and stick with it.
Saunders, whatever it's goingto be.
I used level up RN flash cards.
That may be a step too much,but I had them.
So I used them to kind ofsupplement.
They're really good, they're$400 or I think $350.
(05:59):
If you want to split them witha friend or something like that
I know some people did that it'sa nice thing to have, but you
don't have to have them.
People still passed in 85questions and never looked at
them.
I spent half of my time actuallystudying, looking at the
Clemick lectures, looking at myown notes from nursing school,
and then the other half drillingpractice questions.
(06:21):
I did a minimum of 100 a daywhen I was in my four week
intensive.
Some people did 50.
Sometimes I did up to 200.
You should do at least 50 to100 a day when you're
intensively studying.
Those practice assessments theones that mimic the actual NCLEX
, are so flipping hard.
(06:43):
They are really, really hard.
They're harder than the actualNCLEX.
Take them, but don't freak outif you get a 50, because they're
really hard and they're meantto be harder than the actual
NCLEX.
So don't let that get into yourbrain at all.
As long as you're activelydoing it, you're fine, and I'll
say this too.
I think the majority of peopleare ready to take the NCLEX the
(07:06):
day of pinning it really do.
I think you have a base levelof knowledge that you could
easily pass.
Of course you're not going todo that because it's a very big
deal and you want to actuallystudy.
But you're going to be fine.
It is as long as you're doingthe work and consistently doing
the practice questions, you'regoing to be absolutely fine.
(07:27):
Okay, here's a warning, and I'malso here to tell you it's a
little bit unnecessary.
You're going to have yourpinning.
You're going to feel so amazing.
You're going to feel so high onlife, like I did.
It.
It's over and you should.
You should celebrate, go away,go on vacation.
At some point it's going to hityou after.
I'm not done yet I'm not doneand I have this big exam ahead
(07:51):
of me and I'm all by myself now.
I have nobody pushing me, it'sall me.
I have to decide how I'm goingto study.
I have to be completelyself-disciplined and I have to
decide when I'm taking thisthing, like how soon is too soon
?
When am I waiting too long?
And the anxiety just kind oftakes over.
And if you thought you werestressed out during nursing
(08:13):
school, it's like next level.
It's very anxiety inducing.
Just thinking about the NCLEX,and maybe you won't feel this
way, but I did and most of myfriends did.
And so two things.
I'll say three things.
First is step up your self-careroutine.
Whatever you do to unplug, stepit up a notch, exercise
(08:35):
whatever it is, know that you'renot alone.
There's a whole slew of peoplethat are also feeling this all
over the world.
And it is over.
It's like the NCLEX is a riteof passage.
We all had to do it and younever have to do it again.
When it's over, thank God it'sdone.
It's one and done.
So just know that you're notalone.
(08:57):
Step up your self-care and knowthat you're going to look back
and think that anxiety reallywas not necessary, because that
test really wasn't that bad.
I knew what I was doing, soit's going to be okay.
Okay, when to take it You'regoing to do what you want.
My advice is four to six weeksafter you graduate.
Take a week to yourself.
(09:18):
Take a week, go away, donothing, do whatever.
Then take it four to six weeksafter that, because it is fresh
and statistically, you'll dobetter if you take it sooner
than later.
You know more than you thinkyou do.
It's in you.
You've been preparing for theNCLEX from the day you started
(09:41):
Fundamentals, day one farm, andyou will remember and retain
more than you know.
You'll surprise yourself.
What's it like?
It's weird.
It's like no exam you've evertaken because it's completely
adaptive to you.
It's going to start you off ata question that you have a 50-50
shot of getting right.
If you get it right, it bumpsyou up and then it keeps trying
(10:03):
to figure out what do you know,what don't you know.
So that's one condition if youget a hard question correct, it
bumps you way up.
And so then after that you canmiss a whole bunch of questions
and still pass in 85 questions,which feels very weird, because
in a regular nursing exam if youget five questions in a row
(10:25):
wrong, you're panicking.
You're like I failed, I don'tknow anything.
But in the NCLEX number onethey could just be figuring out
what you don't know and theycould throw five experimental
questions at you in a row thatdon't count and you don't know
which ones they are.
So it's very easy to get intoyour head just do the best that
you can and know that some ofthose questions don't even count
(10:48):
.
I had a ton on traction and castcare and things that I had
never seen before and I studiedall that stuff like inside and
out and I still got things thatI didn't know, because you're
going to get questions you don'tknow.
I also have these headphonesbecause this is a random side
note, but they give you thesegiant headphones and it feels
(11:08):
very claustrophobic and terrible.
If you don't do practicequestions with headphones on,
don't even bother, because it'snot loud in there.
The only thing you hear ismaybe clicking of a mouse from
your neighbor.
But I would not suggest wearingthose headphones unless you
practice with headphones on,because it feels very foreign
and you just want to feel likeyourself and relaxed.
(11:30):
Okay, on the exam day, get therereally early.
You can start early, at leastat my site.
I took it in White Plains.
My test was at 11.30.
I was there, I walked in at11.10, and I was testing by
11.15.
So it doesn't if yourappointment is at 11.30 or
whatever it is.
You can get there early and youshould get there early, just so
(11:51):
you are there and you're notrushing Bring water and bring
snacks.
You can't bring it into the exam, but you get a locker and you
can put it outside and you wantto take breaks and go.
Just eat something, eat alittle something, like I would
take a bite of a protein bar ona break, drink a little water
and then go back, bring headachemedicine, even if you're a
(12:13):
person who doesn't get aheadache.
Adrenaline is high, cortisollevels are high you may get a
headache.
You do not want to be takingthe NCLEX and be without
headache medicine.
Take a break at least once,ideally more.
The time doesn't stop, but youshould stop.
At least stop every 10questions and put your head down
(12:34):
and mentally take a break andthen go back into it.
Take your time.
Determine what the question isactually asking before you
answer it.
Now that seems obvious, butyou're going to be nervous, so
don't let everything you learnto nursing school fly out the
window because you're nervous,especially those first five
questions.
Read it twice.
(12:54):
Determine what it's asking,because one thing about the
NCLEX is they are not going toask you a question ever that you
are unclear what they're asking.
The questions are highly testedbefore they ever put them on
the exam, so you're never goingto say what are they even asking
me?
It's very clear.
You just may not know it andthat's fine, but you're never
(13:18):
going to say what did that mean,like, what was that about?
Because you have to trust thatit's fair.
They've tested those questionsthoroughly before they even put
them on there.
Okay, you will eventually, after10 to 15 questions, kind of get
in a zone and get in the grooveand almost forget you're taking
it and kind of just it feelslike you're taking any other
(13:42):
exam.
But that it's very surreal.
When you walk in it's very muchlike, oh, this is it, I'm
taking the NCLEX.
But then you kind of get intoit.
You get into a zone.
Next, jen I don't know ifyou've heard this from anybody
else.
I really think it's a goodthing.
I think it makes the testeasier.
It breaks up the test.
(14:03):
Imagine having 75 multiplechoice questions in a row.
It's draining.
The case studies are very, verystraightforward.
Even if you don't knoweverything about the disease
process, you will remember some,and some you can easily rule
(14:24):
out, and it's partial credit,which was never a thing before.
So as long as you're gettingabout half of those correct, you
are flying through.
You're flying.
So that's another reason whyit's different than a regular
nursing exam.
You'll get three case studiesthat count.
(14:44):
I had seven case studies and Istill don't know which one's
counted.
So they were all very, not easy.
I didn't know everything aboutall of them.
But it's sort of like a chooseyour own adventure story.
It's unfolding and then yourealize when you get to the next
question, oh yeah, I got itright, because it kind of gives
(15:05):
you the answer on the next page.
So it's a good thing.
Okay, because the NCLEX is soweird.
It's completely normal to walkout feeling like you failed, or
walk out not feeling confident.
A lot of people feel that waybecause it is so weird and
you're going to think about allthe questions that you didn't
know versus all the ones thatyou did know.
(15:26):
Just know that that's a normalfeeling, because you've never
taken an exam like this one.
The waiting you have to wait 48hours, plan something for
yourself that next day, go on ahike, whatever, because it is
the worst.
It is the worst.
(15:46):
There's no getting around it.
You don't know if you passed orfailed and you won't know for
48 hours.
Even though the computer knowswhy.
Can't it just pop up and belike boom, you're done, you
passed.
It's very frustrating, but havesomething to do.
Don't hit refresh every 15minutes, because it's not going
to be there for 48 hours.
It's not an easy exam.
(16:07):
Some questions are super easy.
You're going to know it.
But it's fair.
It's testing that you are safeenough to go out there into the
world and treat patients.
Are you a safe nurse?
If you have done consistentlywell in all of your classes,
you're going to be fine.
It's not trying to weed outanybody who truly should be here
(16:31):
and you all should be here.
It's going to be fine.
Job interviews I'll do thisreally quick.
You can apply whenever you wantto.
Some people want to wait untilthey pass their NCLEX.
They don't even want to thinkabout it, and that's fine.
Some people want to know theyhave a job before they take
their NCLEX, and that's alsofine.
There's only a handful ofplaces that will talk to you
(16:53):
before you pass.
A lot of them will talk to youand just say let us know when
you pass.
It's totally up to you.
But I would say, go to anyrecruiting events that you can
Start building relationshipswith you.
Can You're a clinicalinstructor from leadership?
If it's something that you'reinterested in.
Have four relationships withthem.
(17:16):
Contact your old clinicalinstructors and just say hey,
I'm about to graduate, justwanted to check in and say hi.
Make connections and contactswith as many people as you can
in the places that you'reworking and places that you've
worked in the past, because youjust never know.
I met a nurse on a maternityfloor when I did my clinical and
(17:36):
we still text.
So, like nurses on the floorsthat you're on, just try to make
connections with them.
It can only help you.
I would set aside an entire dayto prepare for your interview
and be over prepared.
So there's a ton of YouTubevideos out there and I have one
channel in particular.
I'm going to share the pagewith you.
They will have the commonquestions that they ask.
(17:58):
Have your answers ready to gofor the common questions?
Have like 10 questions answeredready to go that you can pull
out or that you could use oneanswer for multiple things?
Think about interactions you'vehad with patients, good and bad
things.
You've seen on a floor that youdidn't really think was
appropriate.
Very common questions.
(18:21):
Tell me about a time you had adifficult patient.
How did you handle that?
How do you handle?
Conflict is a big one.
You're always going to start offby saying tell me about
yourself.
Have something a little bitunique.
Don't just say I graduated fromManhattan, blah, blah, blah.
Have something a little bitunique, like don't get up and do
a dance, but like I started offby saying well, first of all, I
(18:42):
just want to thank you so muchfor the opportunity to be here.
I am so grateful to beinterviewing for this emergency
department.
I saw that you won this awardShow, that you did a little
research, a little homework,that you want to work there.
You want to show them.
I want to work here and I knowwhat this place is all about.
And a lot of times they want toknow why do you want to work
here?
Like what brought you intopediatrics?
(19:03):
Like why do you want to workwith kids?
They want to know that you'regoing to stay.
They want to know that you wantto particularly work here, that
you don't just want any job.
This is a great site.
It's a YouTube channel.
Her name is Mary.
She's the new grad nursinginterview coach.
She has a ton of videos, mockinterviews with prospective
(19:27):
nursing students.
She's a nurse and she sits onan interview panel, so she talks
about the good and the bad thatshe sees.
She talks about the commonquestions.
She really prepares you if theyask you about clinical
scenarios Like what would you doif you walked in and your
patient was on the floor.
She tells you the steps to howto answer that.
They want to know that they wantto work with you and that
(19:51):
you're open to learning.
They know you don't knoweverything you just graduated.
They know that you don't knoweverything.
They want to know that you arethere, you're committed to learn
, you have an open mind andyou're easy to work with.
You're not going to be acomplainer.
You're very easy, agreeable towork with, send a follow-up and
a thank you.
An email is fine, but ahandwritten note goes a long way
(20:14):
.
One of my good friends that Igraduated with got her job.
She thinks because of herhandwritten note.
She left the interview and shesaid I really, really want this.
She went down the street to CVS.
She got a card.
She wrote it.
She came back, she handed it tothe security guard who she had
made a little connection with.
Within 10 minutes she had acall.
(20:35):
She swears it's because of thatnote.
A little personal touch.
Maybe bring a card with you andwrite it and then go back and
figure out who you can hand itto.
Just a little something.
Nobody else is doing that.
If you do something to setyourself apart.
That might be the differencebetween you getting it and
somebody else getting it.
(20:56):
Thank you, guys.
Well, that's going to do it fortoday.
I hope you found that helpful.
Whether you are graduating in aweek or a month, or a year or
three years, I hope that youfound that helpful.
As you know, it is my personalmission to help put more great
nurses into the world.
That's why I started this show,and it is Thanksgiving Day.
(21:17):
I am so thankful for all of you, for your support and all your
positive comments and reviews.
I hope you enjoy this holiday,take some time for yourselves
and care for yourselves and,until next time, have an amazing
day.
Bye-bye.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Thanks for tuning in to the Nursing Student Coach
Podcast.
Nursing school is a wild ride, but that doesn't mean
you have to run and hide whenthe going gets tough.
Don't leave your stressundiagnosed.
You gotta call the nursingstudent coach.
Real-life tips from aregistered nurse, in school and
(00:21):
out.
She's seen the worst.
Now, without further ado, yeah,here is your host.
It's the nursing student coach.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Hi everybody, welcome to Nursing Student Coach my
name is Lauren Chapnick and I amyour host and happy
Thanksgiving to everybody.
Whether or not you're listeningto this episode on Thanksgiving
, that is the day that it cameout.
So I hope that today you aretaking some time Spending it
(00:54):
with your loved ones, yourfriends and family, or your
friends who are family.
It is such a special holidayand I wish you all so much love.
For today's episode.
I am playing for you a talkthat I did a couple months back,
and it is to a group of nursingstudents who were in their
(01:17):
final semester and they'reactually About to graduate and
take their NCLEX and go on theirnursing interviews for their
first job.
So I just wanted to play it toget all of those People who are
in the same boat, who are aboutto graduate, just in that
headset of what should I bedoing to prepare for my NCLEX,
(01:40):
how should I prepare for myfirst job interview?
And for those of you who aren'tgraduating quite yet you will
be, so this is important for youtoo just to plant that seed and
kind of think well, when thattime comes, what should I be
thinking?
What things can I do to be bestprepared, and just a little
(02:02):
preview for next week's episode.
We have a very special guest.
Her name is Mary.
She is a new grad nursinginterview coach and we go into a
great conversation in detailabout what you should
specifically be doing to getready for those interviews.
So be on the lookout for thatand I hope you enjoy today's
(02:25):
episode and I hope you all havea very happy Thanksgiving.
Hi everybody, I'm here tohopefully help put your minds at
ease, to answer anything andeverything about my NCLEX
experience how to prepareliterally anything that you are
(02:45):
thinking, and then I'll talkquickly about job interviews as
well.
I think nursing school isliterally training for a
marathon.
The NCLEX is the big race.
At the end it's the triathlon.
It's the big one, and the onlything standing in your way
between the day you startnursing school, day one, to the
day you pass that NCLEX is aseries of exams.
(03:08):
It's really just a whole bunchof multiple choice questions.
You may have a paper here andthere, but what really counts
are those multiple choicequestions.
That's the best way they'vefigured out how to do it, at
least as of now.
So we have to become seasonedathletes in taking exams.
It's like learning a newlanguage, nursing school,
(03:28):
nursing exams, and so what doyou do to get ready for a race?
Because if the NCLEX is themarathon at the end, each exam
leading up to it is its own race, it's its own mini race.
So to train for it, we put onour sneakers every day, our
proverbial sneakers, and we run,we train, and we do that by
(03:48):
drilling practice questionsevery single day, no matter what
.
That is how you train yourbrain, your muscle memory, your
body, so that when you get inthere to the NCLEX, to any exam,
it doesn't feel scary, it justfeels like oh, this is what I do
every single day.
I call it your daily 10, because10 is a very simple, attainable
(04:13):
goal.
You can do 10 like that.
But what's going to happen?
You know, on a day that you'retaking a break, you're taking a
day for yourself, and you justdo 10, great, you've hit the
goal.
But what's typically going tohappen once you get going?
You're going to do more than 10, because you're going to get
that dopamine rush when youstart getting questions right
(04:34):
and you're going to do more.
You're going to do 20, 30, 40.
And that's how you gain themomentum.
That's the only thing youshould be doing now is practice
questions.
Okay, getting it.
This was my NCLEX study plan.
Now here's the thing.
There is a bunch of differentways to do this.
What I used does not have to bewhat you used.
(04:56):
I'm just going to tell you whatI used.
So I studied for four intenseweeks.
I did a Monday through Fridayschedule, a minimum of four
hours a day, because I did afull eight hour day where I just
sat at my table and I juststudied, with breaks.
You have to go outside and takewalks and eat and all those
things.
I did a Mark Clemick livereview course, which I'll talk a
(05:18):
little bit more about, and Iactually have his course
materials with me if anybodywanted to look through them
after.
And I did simple nursingquestion bank.
He has simple nursing has itsown NCLEX course, it doesn't
matter.
People did U-World, people didArcher.
(05:38):
If you do Archer and I dosimple nursing, who cares?
Just pick one where there's aquestion bank and stick with it.
Saunders, whatever it's goingto be.
I used level up RN flash cards.
That may be a step too much,but I had them.
So I used them to kind ofsupplement.
They're really good, they're$400 or I think $350.
(05:59):
If you want to split them witha friend or something like that
I know some people did that it'sa nice thing to have, but you
don't have to have them.
People still passed in 85questions and never looked at
them.
I spent half of my time actuallystudying, looking at the
Clemick lectures, looking at myown notes from nursing school,
and then the other half drillingpractice questions.
(06:21):
I did a minimum of 100 a daywhen I was in my four week
intensive.
Some people did 50.
Sometimes I did up to 200.
You should do at least 50 to100 a day when you're
intensively studying.
Those practice assessments theones that mimic the actual NCLEX
, are so flipping hard.
(06:43):
They are really, really hard.
They're harder than the actualNCLEX.
Take them, but don't freak outif you get a 50, because they're
really hard and they're meantto be harder than the actual
NCLEX.
So don't let that get into yourbrain at all.
As long as you're activelydoing it, you're fine, and I'll
say this too.
I think the majority of peopleare ready to take the NCLEX the
(07:06):
day of pinning it really do.
I think you have a base levelof knowledge that you could
easily pass.
Of course you're not going todo that because it's a very big
deal and you want to actuallystudy.
But you're going to be fine.
It is as long as you're doingthe work and consistently doing
the practice questions, you'regoing to be absolutely fine.
(07:27):
Okay, here's a warning, and I'malso here to tell you it's a
little bit unnecessary.
You're going to have yourpinning.
You're going to feel so amazing.
You're going to feel so high onlife, like I did.
It.
It's over and you should.
You should celebrate, go away,go on vacation.
At some point it's going to hityou after.
I'm not done yet I'm not doneand I have this big exam ahead
(07:51):
of me and I'm all by myself now.
I have nobody pushing me, it'sall me.
I have to decide how I'm goingto study.
I have to be completelyself-disciplined and I have to
decide when I'm taking thisthing, like how soon is too soon
?
When am I waiting too long?
And the anxiety just kind oftakes over.
And if you thought you werestressed out during nursing
(08:13):
school, it's like next level.
It's very anxiety inducing.
Just thinking about the NCLEX,and maybe you won't feel this
way, but I did and most of myfriends did.
And so two things.
I'll say three things.
First is step up your self-careroutine.
Whatever you do to unplug, stepit up a notch, exercise
(08:35):
whatever it is, know that you'renot alone.
There's a whole slew of peoplethat are also feeling this all
over the world.
And it is over.
It's like the NCLEX is a riteof passage.
We all had to do it and younever have to do it again.
When it's over, thank God it'sdone.
It's one and done.
So just know that you're notalone.
(08:57):
Step up your self-care and knowthat you're going to look back
and think that anxiety reallywas not necessary, because that
test really wasn't that bad.
I knew what I was doing, soit's going to be okay.
Okay, when to take it You'regoing to do what you want.
My advice is four to six weeksafter you graduate.
Take a week to yourself.
(09:18):
Take a week, go away, donothing, do whatever.
Then take it four to six weeksafter that, because it is fresh
and statistically, you'll dobetter if you take it sooner
than later.
You know more than you thinkyou do.
It's in you.
You've been preparing for theNCLEX from the day you started
(09:41):
Fundamentals, day one farm, andyou will remember and retain
more than you know.
You'll surprise yourself.
What's it like?
It's weird.
It's like no exam you've evertaken because it's completely
adaptive to you.
It's going to start you off ata question that you have a 50-50
shot of getting right.
If you get it right, it bumpsyou up and then it keeps trying
(10:03):
to figure out what do you know,what don't you know.
So that's one condition if youget a hard question correct, it
bumps you way up.
And so then after that you canmiss a whole bunch of questions
and still pass in 85 questions,which feels very weird, because
in a regular nursing exam if youget five questions in a row
(10:25):
wrong, you're panicking.
You're like I failed, I don'tknow anything.
But in the NCLEX number onethey could just be figuring out
what you don't know and theycould throw five experimental
questions at you in a row thatdon't count and you don't know
which ones they are.
So it's very easy to get intoyour head just do the best that
you can and know that some ofthose questions don't even count
(10:48):
.
I had a ton on traction and castcare and things that I had
never seen before and I studiedall that stuff like inside and
out and I still got things thatI didn't know, because you're
going to get questions you don'tknow.
I also have these headphonesbecause this is a random side
note, but they give you thesegiant headphones and it feels
(11:08):
very claustrophobic and terrible.
If you don't do practicequestions with headphones on,
don't even bother, because it'snot loud in there.
The only thing you hear ismaybe clicking of a mouse from
your neighbor.
But I would not suggest wearingthose headphones unless you
practice with headphones on,because it feels very foreign
and you just want to feel likeyourself and relaxed.
(11:30):
Okay, on the exam day, get therereally early.
You can start early, at leastat my site.
I took it in White Plains.
My test was at 11.30.
I was there, I walked in at11.10, and I was testing by
11.15.
So it doesn't if yourappointment is at 11.30 or
whatever it is.
You can get there early and youshould get there early, just so
(11:51):
you are there and you're notrushing Bring water and bring
snacks.
You can't bring it into the exam, but you get a locker and you
can put it outside and you wantto take breaks and go.
Just eat something, eat alittle something, like I would
take a bite of a protein bar ona break, drink a little water
and then go back, bring headachemedicine, even if you're a
(12:13):
person who doesn't get aheadache.
Adrenaline is high, cortisollevels are high you may get a
headache.
You do not want to be takingthe NCLEX and be without
headache medicine.
Take a break at least once,ideally more.
The time doesn't stop, but youshould stop.
At least stop every 10questions and put your head down
(12:34):
and mentally take a break andthen go back into it.
Take your time.
Determine what the question isactually asking before you
answer it.
Now that seems obvious, butyou're going to be nervous, so
don't let everything you learnto nursing school fly out the
window because you're nervous,especially those first five
questions.
Read it twice.
(12:54):
Determine what it's asking,because one thing about the
NCLEX is they are not going toask you a question ever that you
are unclear what they're asking.
The questions are highly testedbefore they ever put them on
the exam, so you're never goingto say what are they even asking
me?
It's very clear.
You just may not know it andthat's fine, but you're never
(13:18):
going to say what did that mean,like, what was that about?
Because you have to trust thatit's fair.
They've tested those questionsthoroughly before they even put
them on there.
Okay, you will eventually, after10 to 15 questions, kind of get
in a zone and get in the grooveand almost forget you're taking
it and kind of just it feelslike you're taking any other
(13:42):
exam.
But that it's very surreal.
When you walk in it's very muchlike, oh, this is it, I'm
taking the NCLEX.
But then you kind of get intoit.
You get into a zone.
Next, jen I don't know ifyou've heard this from anybody
else.
I really think it's a goodthing.
I think it makes the testeasier.
It breaks up the test.
(14:03):
Imagine having 75 multiplechoice questions in a row.
It's draining.
The case studies are very, verystraightforward.
Even if you don't knoweverything about the disease
process, you will remember some,and some you can easily rule
(14:24):
out, and it's partial credit,which was never a thing before.
So as long as you're gettingabout half of those correct, you
are flying through.
You're flying.
So that's another reason whyit's different than a regular
nursing exam.
You'll get three case studiesthat count.
(14:44):
I had seven case studies and Istill don't know which one's
counted.
So they were all very, not easy.
I didn't know everything aboutall of them.
But it's sort of like a chooseyour own adventure story.
It's unfolding and then yourealize when you get to the next
question, oh yeah, I got itright, because it kind of gives
(15:05):
you the answer on the next page.
So it's a good thing.
Okay, because the NCLEX is soweird.
It's completely normal to walkout feeling like you failed, or
walk out not feeling confident.
A lot of people feel that waybecause it is so weird and
you're going to think about allthe questions that you didn't
know versus all the ones thatyou did know.
(15:26):
Just know that that's a normalfeeling, because you've never
taken an exam like this one.
The waiting you have to wait 48hours, plan something for
yourself that next day, go on ahike, whatever, because it is
the worst.
It is the worst.
(15:46):
There's no getting around it.
You don't know if you passed orfailed and you won't know for
48 hours.
Even though the computer knowswhy.
Can't it just pop up and belike boom, you're done, you
passed.
It's very frustrating, but havesomething to do.
Don't hit refresh every 15minutes, because it's not going
to be there for 48 hours.
It's not an easy exam.
(16:07):
Some questions are super easy.
You're going to know it.
But it's fair.
It's testing that you are safeenough to go out there into the
world and treat patients.
Are you a safe nurse?
If you have done consistentlywell in all of your classes,
you're going to be fine.
It's not trying to weed outanybody who truly should be here
(16:31):
and you all should be here.
It's going to be fine.
Job interviews I'll do thisreally quick.
You can apply whenever you wantto.
Some people want to wait untilthey pass their NCLEX.
They don't even want to thinkabout it, and that's fine.
Some people want to know theyhave a job before they take
their NCLEX, and that's alsofine.
There's only a handful ofplaces that will talk to you
(16:53):
before you pass.
A lot of them will talk to youand just say let us know when
you pass.
It's totally up to you.
But I would say, go to anyrecruiting events that you can
Start building relationshipswith you.
Can You're a clinicalinstructor from leadership?
If it's something that you'reinterested in.
Have four relationships withthem.
(17:16):
Contact your old clinicalinstructors and just say hey,
I'm about to graduate, justwanted to check in and say hi.
Make connections and contactswith as many people as you can
in the places that you'reworking and places that you've
worked in the past, because youjust never know.
I met a nurse on a maternityfloor when I did my clinical and
(17:36):
we still text.
So, like nurses on the floorsthat you're on, just try to make
connections with them.
It can only help you.
I would set aside an entire dayto prepare for your interview
and be over prepared.
So there's a ton of YouTubevideos out there and I have one
channel in particular.
I'm going to share the pagewith you.
They will have the commonquestions that they ask.
(17:58):
Have your answers ready to gofor the common questions?
Have like 10 questions answeredready to go that you can pull
out or that you could use oneanswer for multiple things?
Think about interactions you'vehad with patients, good and bad
things.
You've seen on a floor that youdidn't really think was
appropriate.
Very common questions.
(18:21):
Tell me about a time you had adifficult patient.
How did you handle that?
How do you handle?
Conflict is a big one.
You're always going to start offby saying tell me about
yourself.
Have something a little bitunique.
Don't just say I graduated fromManhattan, blah, blah, blah.
Have something a little bitunique, like don't get up and do
a dance, but like I started offby saying well, first of all, I
(18:42):
just want to thank you so muchfor the opportunity to be here.
I am so grateful to beinterviewing for this emergency
department.
I saw that you won this awardShow, that you did a little
research, a little homework,that you want to work there.
You want to show them.
I want to work here and I knowwhat this place is all about.
And a lot of times they want toknow why do you want to work
here?
Like what brought you intopediatrics?
(19:03):
Like why do you want to workwith kids?
They want to know that you'regoing to stay.
They want to know that you wantto particularly work here, that
you don't just want any job.
This is a great site.
It's a YouTube channel.
Her name is Mary.
She's the new grad nursinginterview coach.
She has a ton of videos, mockinterviews with prospective
(19:27):
nursing students.
She's a nurse and she sits onan interview panel, so she talks
about the good and the bad thatshe sees.
She talks about the commonquestions.
She really prepares you if theyask you about clinical
scenarios Like what would you doif you walked in and your
patient was on the floor.
She tells you the steps to howto answer that.
They want to know that they wantto work with you and that
(19:51):
you're open to learning.
They know you don't knoweverything you just graduated.
They know that you don't knoweverything.
They want to know that you arethere, you're committed to learn
, you have an open mind andyou're easy to work with.
You're not going to be acomplainer.
You're very easy, agreeable towork with, send a follow-up and
a thank you.
An email is fine, but ahandwritten note goes a long way
(20:14):
.
One of my good friends that Igraduated with got her job.
She thinks because of herhandwritten note.
She left the interview and shesaid I really, really want this.
She went down the street to CVS.
She got a card.
She wrote it.
She came back, she handed it tothe security guard who she had
made a little connection with.
Within 10 minutes she had acall.
(20:35):
She swears it's because of thatnote.
A little personal touch.
Maybe bring a card with you andwrite it and then go back and
figure out who you can hand itto.
Just a little something.
Nobody else is doing that.
If you do something to setyourself apart.
That might be the differencebetween you getting it and
somebody else getting it.
(20:56):
Thank you, guys.
Well, that's going to do it fortoday.
I hope you found that helpful.
Whether you are graduating in aweek or a month, or a year or
three years, I hope that youfound that helpful.
As you know, it is my personalmission to help put more great
nurses into the world.
That's why I started this show,and it is Thanksgiving Day.
(21:17):
I am so thankful for all of you, for your support and all your
positive comments and reviews.
I hope you enjoy this holiday,take some time for yourselves
and care for yourselves and,until next time, have an amazing
day.
Bye-bye.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Thanks for tuning in to the Nursing Student Coach
Podcast.
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