I am NOT one of those teachers that passed in 75 questions, only there for 40 minutes, didn’t need a break and thought it was easy. That was definitely NOT me.
I passed the NCLEX-RN exam with 222 questions and 45 minutes left on the clock. The possibility of failing was real because I guessed on the last 5 questions. I was SHOCKED to find out that I passed on the first try.
I was totally unprepared even though I thought I did everything right.
I graduated with honors, got all A’s and B’s, went to one of the best nursing schools in the country, (Xavier University), did HESI throughout school, did a 3-day review course, and went through the entire Saunders book. I also loved school and learning.
Why do teachers try to make content look so complicated?
I didn’t like that the instructors tried to make the nursing content look harder then it was. There was a point that I said to my first Health and Physical Assessment clinical lab teacher, “So, an assessment is like common sense, right? You just look for the weird things?” How does that sum it up in a nutshell?!
I was one of those students that was always challenging the instructor on test questions and pointing out how some clinical procedures didn’t make sense.
Some teachers just can’t teach
I remember an entire semester where the same teacher taught 3 separate courses: pharmacology, critical care, and mental health nursing. Now if there are 3 important courses those would be it. She was the worst teacher I ever had. She just read the powerpoints in her monotone voice. I already had a degree in a different field and had plenty of experience with college professors. I couldn’t believe the low quality of instruction I was getting. That will NEVER happen if you join me at one of my webinars or get private tutoring from me.
Overall my experience with the nursing professors was good. Especially my med-surg and epidemiology professors. But there was obviously something I was missing to have such a horrible experience in the testing center.
$70,000 worth of loans!
If I hadn’t passed, I would have been devastated. I had a job lined up and $70,000 worth of student loans to pay off. There was no one there to pay for those loans except me. I really needed that job.
11 years later and all those loans are paid off. I was able to take care of hundreds (if not thousands) of patients. Many students passed the NCLEX under my instruction.
I have so been there. I have felt the struggle. I never want a student to have to go through what I did. Or at least not a second time if you find yourself not passing.
So, what was I missing?
Looking back I know what I was “missing” in the testing center: I didn’t know how to answer questions. I made the questions harder than what they were. Originally my tutoring focused heavily on how to answer questions and using test-taking strategies.
As the years went by, I realized that students also had a difficult time with understanding content. I’ve always been good with simplifying topics. So, why not start teaching content too? That’s when the webinars started.
Because of my somewhat bad experience (but thankfully I passed), I’ve been able to turn that around and make it a better experience for others. It was worth it.
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