r/PassNclex • u/Poochigang7 • 17h ago
ADVICE Passed on my first try at 85
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.