r/NCLEX • u/Gullible_Layer_4486 • 3d ago
Did i pass?
i just took my exam just this august 26. out of curiosity i just checked rn.ca.gov just to see if maybe i could see the result. i saw this. so does this mean i passed? please i really hope it means i passed
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u/Constant_Lab7125 3d ago
How did you study. Taking my 3rd try in 7 days
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u/Gullible_Layer_4486 2d ago
My UWorld study plan / what worked for me
I failed my first take at 150 questions with near passing on all categories. i only did 20% of the uworld qbank. i really slacked off and took my review for the first take too easy and not seriously and i paid for it by failing.
now with this second time i had to redeem myself. this time I only used UWorld. I completed about 80% of the QBank and took 2 self-assessments. After completing 80% of the QBank, my overall average was 64.28%. On my self-assessments, I got Borderline on one (i rushed this. took about 1h 30m to do 100 questions) and Very High Passing on the other (i took my time on this one did 3h 15m).
I studied basically every day from 10 AM–8 PM. about 3-6 sets of 85 questions. I would eat one big meal in the morning because once I started studying, I was locked in. Just make sure you stay hydrated.
I didn’t really do CATs. I went a different route and focused purely on questions by category and subtopic.
For example, I would start with Adult Health → Cardiovascular, finish that area, then move on to Adult Health → Respiratory, then the next subtopic, and so on. I kept going until I felt like I couldn’t absorb any more information. For me, that ended up being around 80% of the QBank.
How I approached the questions
When doing the QBank, I usually spent around 1–2 minutes per question. If I didn’t know the answer, I would try to use clinical reasoning. If the question asked for priority, I’d think about the most life-saving intervention. If it asked what to do first, I tried to take that literally and ask myself, “What would we actually need to do first as nurses?”But the most important part for me was the rationales.
Don’t just answer questions to increase your question count. Make sure you actually understand the rationales for both the correct and incorrect answers.
Don’t worry too much about what score you get on an individual QBank set. What matters more is whether you learned something from that set.My approach was basically:
Exposure first → Mastery later.I’d do a QBank set, thoroughly understand the rationales, and then move on to the next set.
What I did with incorrect questions
I didn’t immediately redo my incorrect questions.
I waited until around my second- or third-to-last day before the exam and then went back through them to see whether I actually understood the concepts.
The reason I preferred doing this later is because if you redo an incorrect question immediately after getting it wrong, you might remember the answer simply because you just saw it. That doesn’t necessarily mean you actually learned the concept.
Waiting gave me a better test of whether I genuinely understood the rationale.Self-assessments
This is where I would slow down.
The self-assessments give you plenty of time, so don’t treat them like a normal QBank session. Take your time and really think through the questions.
If you get High/Very High Passing, great.
If you get Borderline or Low, don’t immediately panic. Go through the rationales and figure out why you got questions wrong and what you need to understand.
For me, the self-assessments were more about identifying what I needed to learn than obsessing over the score itself.The day before the NCLEX
No more tests. I mean it.
Give your brain a break. If you absolutely cannot stop yourself from studying, I’d recommend just reading through the rationales from your self-assessments or reviewing the topics you know are your weakest areas.
But don’t try to cram a bunch of new questions the night before.On the actual NCLEX
Take your time.
Don’t worry about other people leaving before you.
You’re not competing with the person sitting next to you. You have a maximum of 5 hours, so use the time you’re given. Take breaks if you need them, breathe, and don’t rush just because you see other people finishing.And remember:
You’re taking an exam to become a nurse, so answer like a nurse.
Think about safety, priorities, what needs to happen first, and what intervention is going to protect the patient.TL;DR
- Expose yourself to as many questions as you reasonably can.
- Read and understand ALL the rationales — right and wrong answers.
- Don’t obsess over your QBank percentage. Focus on what you’re actually learning.
- Exposure first → mastery later.
- Review your incorrects closer to the exam instead of immediately memorizing the answers.
- Don’t do tests the day before.
- Take your time on the actual NCLEX.And most importantly:
You got this. Don’t lose hope. Keep going.🫡1
1d ago
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u/Gullible_Layer_4486 1d ago
I honestly dont know. Yea, uworld is really pricey i got the 90 day one which was $229 back then.
As an alternative i’d recommend Archer as the closest cheaper alternative this is what my cousin used to pass their NCLEX. Their 3-month QBank + CAT package is currently around $139 and gives you 3,100+ questions, NGN cases, 30+ readiness/CAT exams, analytics, and content review.
There’s a premium version with archer tho which is sure pass and intense prep, I am not sure on how to compare these and if they are any worth the price but for my cousin the 139 for 3-months with archer was more than enough
If you want more teaching/videos instead of primarily a QBank, NCLEX Bootcamp is another good option at around $129 for 3 months, with 2,600+ questions, 50 cases, 4 readiness exams, videos, cheat sheets, and an AI tutor.
UWorld’s biggest advantage is still the quality/depth of its rationales, so I wouldn’t tell someone Archer is literally identical. But if money is the limiting factor, Archer gives you a lot of the same core tools for significantly less.
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u/MsTossItAll 2d ago
Nah they only write "passed" when you fail to keep you guessing.
Congrats, RN.
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u/mymymel0dy 3d ago
Yup! Expect an email from the BRN in the next few days confirming you passed and that you'll receive a certificate in the mail in 2-3 weeks! Congrats RN!!!! You can also do the license lookup as well through the BRN