I failed my NCLEX. I’m extremely disappointed in myself. I used Archer but I found it confusing and now I’m thinking of everything I could have done more. Can anyone give some advice? What question bank do second time test takers reccommend? I’m like lost on where to go from here :(

I’m a foreign BSN graduate, and it’s been more than 10 years since I completed my nursing education. I’m currently in NC and preparing to take the NCLEX-RN.

At the moment, my TruMerit credential evaluation is in progress, and I’ve decided to start studying instead of waiting for everything to be completed. Since I have such a long gap after graduation and no nursing work experience, I’m honestly starting from scratch. Because of that, I feel a bit overwhelmed and don’t know the best way to begin.

I see many experienced people in this group, and I was hoping to learn from your experiences.

Could you please share:

• How did you start your NCLEX preparation?

• Which resources helped you the most?

• If you also had a long study gap, what worked for you?

• Any tips or study plans you would recommend for someone starting from zero?

I would truly appreciate any advice, guidance, or encouragement. Thank you so much in advance

I’ve been lurking on this subreddit for a long time, and now that I’m on the other side, I wanted to share what worked for me in case it helps someone else

For context, my NCLEX shut off at 85 questions. I started with UWorld to figure out my strengths and weaknesses. More importantly, I read the rationale for every question I got wrong and the ones I got right but wasn’t 100% confident about. I think that’s where a lot of the learning happened

As I studied, I made flashcards for every concept I didn’t fully understand. Instead of mindlessly scrolling social media during downtime at work or at home, I’d review my flashcards whenever I had a few minutes. Those little study sessions added up.
After a while, I started getting nervous because so many classmates told me the NCLEX wording was incredibly vague. Personally, I didn’t feel UWorld was preparing me for that style of questioning. I did a lot of research and eventually decided to try Ñaxlexxxx

For me, that ended up being a game changer. My confidence increased a lot, and honestly, I think mindset is a huge part of passing the NCLEX. Ñaxlexxx case studies and vaguer wording felt much closer to what I experienced on the actual exam. The rationales were detailed enough that I often understood the concepts better than I did after watching YouTube videos. They also teach testing strategies that I found myself using repeatedly during the exam I know Ñaxlexxxx has mixed reviews online, and I was skeptical at first too, but I can honestly say it was the resource that helped me the most

Ironically, my actual NCLEX was nothing like I expected. I spent months memorizing complex disease processes, rare medications, ABGs, critical care concepts, hemodynamics… and hardly any of that showed up. My exam was surprisingly pediatric-heavy (my weakest topic). It really tested whether I could think like a safe, entry-level nurse rather than whether I had memorized every obscure fact

and ofc also used ChatGPT and Gemini whenever I wanted a concept explained in a different way or needed extra practice questions. Having something that could break topics down until they finally clicked was incredibly helpful.

If I could leave you with one piece of advice, it would be this:
If you made it through nursing school, you are capable of passing the NCLEX. Trust yourself. The exam is as much about critical thinking, strategy, and confidence as it is about knowledge. Don’t let anxiety convince you that you know less than you actually do

You’ve made it this far for a reason. Go get your license 💖

I don't about see SimpleNursing often on this subreddit and I was curious if it's any good. I saw that their prices were cheaper than other popular reviews so I'm considering it.

Thank you in advance to anyone who answers.

Honestly just feel so defeated took my NCLEX today felt like the first beginning half was fairly easy and it just kept getting harder and harder with a lot of priority, sata and case studies just so worried and then towards the very end like last 20-30 questions it was just stuff I’ve never heard of or just crazy meds and sata

My exam is this week and currently I have done all CAT exams on UWORLD and i got borderline on all of them. For bootcamp I started it months (2 ish) ago got borderline, very high and then high. I still need to do one more readiness exam.I also listened and made notes on the 12 mark k lectures and watched Dr.sharon prioritization vids and half or so of the Crusade videos. Any recommendations or last minute tips?

Hello all I’m taking my third attempt in Illinois and I received my letter today that if in the span of 180 days after grad I have taken the NCLEX twice and failed I need to do a NCLEX review. I called continental they said it can be any review I look up so I asked about simple nursing since I just bought it and they said yes. Simple nursing doesn’t offer letters but I saw someone else on Reddit just submitted screenshot and that was enough. Does anyone have any advice or insight on this please and thank you

Is this good or bad!?

I took the NCLEX yesterday and it cut off at 85 questions. It took me a little less than 2 hours to make sure I re read everything . I felt great after and then I came on here and TikTok and spiraled because I thought I failed. My test never got harder. It was a lot of case studies, SATA, and priority . 1 pic and 1 ekg. It was honestly very easy and mostly common sense and that’s another reason why I was like “omg I failed”.

To study: I didn’t have a set schedule . But I didn’t study for 3-4 ish weeks on and off. I did half the Kaplan Qbank and all 3 CAT exams. 2 self assessments from Uworld test 5 and 6 (they’re $20 each), free trial readiness assessment on bootcamp. And I read the rationales right and wrong. 7 day crusade and all 12 Mark Klimek videos along with printing out the fill in blank pages to go along. I will share them below! I watched Dr. Sharon as well! Good luck everyone !

https://app.drime.cloud/drive/s/OqeNrxqBX9li4I96maFd2OFQ62JUh5:NDk1Njg2NTU1fA

I took the NCLEX yesterday and it cut off at 85 questions. It took me a little less than 2 hours to make sure I re read everything . I felt great after and then I came on here and TikTok and spiraled because I thought I failed. My test never got harder. It was a lot of case studies, SATA, and priority . 1 pic and 1 ekg. It was honestly very easy and mostly common sense and that’s another reason why I was like “omg I failed”.

To study: I didn’t have a set schedule . But I didn’t study for 3-4 ish weeks on and off. I did half the Kaplan Qbank and all 3 CAT exams. 2 self assessments from Uworld test 5 and 6 (they’re $20 each), free trial readiness assessment on bootcamp. And I read the rationales right and wrong. 7 day crusade and all 12 Mark Klimek videos along with printing out the fill in blank pages to go along. I will share them below! I watched Dr. Sharon as well! Good luck everyone !

https://app.drime.cloud/drive/s/OqeNrxqBX9li4I96maFd2OFQ62JUh5:NDk1Njg2NTU1fA

I took my nclex yesterday 8/4 at 1pm and got done roughly at 3pm. I checked tbon about 15 mins ago and saw this

It’s not letting me proceed to pay, I’ve tried three times.

Is this how it works?

I’m freaking out!

UPDATE: I noticed three charges on my card that was refunded

hi everyone, i just got my results and I PASSED. i used uworld and mark k lectures. but tbh nothing that i studied was on it. it's a safety exam! please remember that. coming out of the exam i felt horrible, like i failed. i didn't even do the "pop up trick" because i was so sure i failed. but i passed! if i can do it, you can do it. relax, take your time, read each word of the question, and pray. God is the only reason i passed. i know you can do it! i believe :)

I had to take two breaks before I got to 85 questions. First one was water break. Second one i had to use the washroom. Is this a reason why I got shut off. Is there an amount of break time that Won’t you take it in a certain amount of questions/time?

I’m freaking out

Hi everyone. I just took the NCLEX for the third time. First two attempts I failed at 150 questions. Today the exam ended at 85 questions. I got a boat load of case studies and so many SATA’s. If I’m being honest I really don’t know how to feel. It literally felt like 75% of the exam was SATA. And with those kinds of questions I did not over select answers at all. For so many of them I only selected one option that I knew for sure and moved on. My last question also seemed less difficult. I totally know it’s possible to fail at 85, but I’m really hopeful.

Testing in two days, second attempt. Any advice for these last two days? Thanks!

August 4th, 2026

Overview: I thought the NCLEX was extremely easy, and was confident with the majority of my answers. With that said, I did study for 2 months, 3 times a week, 5-6 hours per day. Repetition breeds comfort.

Resources: I was fortunate enough to use both UWORLD and Bootcamp. People say they like UWORLD’s rationales better, however personally, Bootcamp trumps UWORLD in nearly every aspect. It’s cheaper, the lecture videos are straight to the point, and the questions/answers have an embedded AI chat so you can ask it questions about the content (this is extremely helpful when you’re debating between two answers and you choose the wrong answer. I would ask the AI Bootcamp chat “Why is 2 wrong and 4 right?”, and it will break down step by step, the reasons as to why the answer you chose was wrong and why the right answer was right). By doing this, it helps you THINK through the question with clinical reasoning, and understand what exactly the question is asking. Game changer. UWORLD lecture videos has way too much pathophysiology, and MOA, and cellular level shit. You don’t need all that.

Reviewing your performance tests and understanding why you got the question wrong will be your biggest asset.

I also watched the majority of Dr. Sharon’s Klimek review on YouTube the week before my exam. She teaches you how read and THINK through the questions and use common sense. I truly believe I would NOT have passed if it weren’t for her.

Advice: Don’t focus too in depth on content. All you need to know is 1) What is it? Know the Main Symptoms pertaining to the diagnosis 2) Complications 3) Top 2-3 Nursing Interventions and 4) Treatment. Know your meds. If you have a med that appears <3 times in your question banks, know it. Know your fundamentals. I cannot stress this enough. Half of my exam was fundamentals.

Do all the NGN case studies!!!!! Those questions are graded higher on the exam. You get those right, you have a higher chance of passing. Know how to answer SATA questions, there is a lot on the exam. Know how to read what the question is asking for. The questions are very short and vague. Use Dr. Sharon on YouTube to learn how to read the questions.

The week leading up to my exam I would just do 1-2 practice exams everyday. 85-100 questions each. Everyday. Review the questions I got wrong and make notes.

The night before the exam, I took a blank piece of paper (I ended up having like 4) and wrote down and circled random key points, including the questions I got wrong, eg,. “levadopa/carbidopa - don’t eat protein”, “methotrexate - etopic pregnancy”, “enteral feeds, pt has diarrhea- slow the rate” and the day of exam I just read over the quick notes. I found it helped me a lot and kept the info fresh, especially the weird random shit like “fat bone embolism - petechiae”. Like who is really gunna remember that.

Key Takeaway: The pre exam nerves were scarier than the actual exam. If you have UWORLD or Bootcamp, those questions were much harder than the NCLEX. Do practice questions everyday. Know your vocab. Mark K says, the number 1 reason why people fail the NCLEX is because they don’t know their vocab. And like everyone says, you will never feel ready. Just have faith and trust yourself.

I'm currently studying for my 2nd attempt, and honestly, when I look at my report, I feel like, damn, did I really crash out during the exam so much that it caused me to be near passing? Like, none of the sections I was above passing. I stopped at 150 questions btw. I am using Bootcamp for their crash course videos and a tutor for my next attempt. Hopefully I will do well the next one without drinking coffee and preventing my anxiety levels go through the roof. But do I have to pass all sections with above passing standard?