Nothing makes you question your calling to become a nurse quite like failing the NCLEX or, worse still, failing the NCLEX twice … or even more, which happens to many aspiring nurses. Inevitably, the question arises: if I can’t even pass this exam, how can I handle the responsibility of caring for patients? Is this career even for me at all?
STOP. You couldn’t be more wrong.
Literally millions of people have failed the NCLEX, and most of them went on to retake it (some, many times), pass, and pursue successful and impactful careers in nursing. Yes, it feels devastating—we’re not debating that—but failing the NCLEX truly is a minor setback that you can overcome!
In this guide, we’re going to show you exactly what your next steps should be in order to get back on that proverbial horse, study efficiently, target your weaknesses, pass the NCLEX, and ride off into the sunset of a glorious nursing career!
First, if we haven’t already met, allow us to introduce ourselves ...
Hi! We’re Brainscape
Brainscape's web dashboard for our certified NCLEX flashcards, which cover everything you need to know in each of the 8 major NCLEX subject areas.
We’re the brains, minds, and hearts behind the world’s smartest study app. What do we know about how to pass the NCLEX? Well, we worked hand-in-hand with experienced Justine Buick, “The NCLEX Tutor”, to curate a vast collection of flashcards that focus on the most crucial knowledge you absolutely need to know to pass the NCLEX.
These smart, digital flashcards cover the most important concepts in the latest NGN test plan, as well as Saunders, Kaplan, Hurst, Lippincott, HESI, Khan Academy, and other top NCLEX review books and courses. In other words, no matter which one you’re using, we’ve got you covered!
Brainscape’s NCLEX-RN Flashcard collection features 3,400+ engaging flashcards, neatly organized into 72 decks, tackling topics from safety and infection control to pharmacology, and more. It's EVERYTHING you need to know to crush the NCLEX RN or PN exam!
You can study anywhere, anytime on any device using the most powerful and efficient cognitive methods for learning: spaced repetition, active recall, and metacognition. But more on that later. Right now, let’s talk about why you may have failed the NCLEX (twice or more) and how to correct your mistakes. So if you’re ready, let’s get you back on track to becoming a registered nurse!
We’ve said it before but it’s worth saying again: failing the NCLEX really sucks. The disappointment alone could quite easily condemn you to the couch for a whole week, with nothing more than Ben & Jerry’s and a wilted bamboo palm to keep you company (and you know how hard it is to kill a bamboo palm).
But one of the first steps to rallying is figuring out where you went wrong so that you don’t repeat your mistakes. So, here are the main reasons nurse grads fail the NCLEX:
Reason 1: You failed the NCLEX because you found it too hard and complicated
If you found the NCLEX too hard, it probably means one or both of two things:
You didn’t know the necessary content well enough, and/or
You didn’t practice your critical thinking skills enough
“Wait a minute,” you might say, “I spent MONTHS studying for the NCLEX, and now you’re telling me I didn’t do enough?”
No, no. We’re not saying you didn’t do enough. You just may not have spent your time efficiently or studied the right way.
What the heck does that mean?
It means you might have:
Studied in a linear fashion, progressing through the course content without dedicating much time to review, so that by the time you sat for the exam, you’d forgotten a lot of the material.
Done a ton of practice exams and questions, but neglected to spend sufficient time working through all your answers, even the correct ones, so that you reinforce the knowledge and skills learned.
Learned passively as opposed to actively. Active learning, like using flashcards or teaching the material to a fellow student, helps the knowledge stick so much more efficiently than passive studying, like reading through a textbook and answering multiple-choice questions.
The good news is, these are all perfectly fixable problems. If you found the NCLEX too hard, you need to spend a little more time drilling yourself on content and practicing NCLEX questions—THE RIGHT WAY—until you find them easier.
So, take a good hard look at your study techniques and see if you’re perhaps wasting your time on inefficient methods. Here is a fantastic resource to help you do just that: How to study for the NCLEX more efficiently.
Through its engaging and colorful user interface, Brainscape’s flashcards deliver facts in short question-and-answer pairs. These are neatly organized into decks, which you can study anytime, anywhere, online or off.
Reason 2: You failed the NCLEX by waiting too long to take the test
It can be SO tempting to take a few weeks off after graduating from nursing school to just breathe, catch up with friends, and do as little as possible. But here’s the thing. Those few weeks can turn into months and, before you know it, all the content that was so fresh in your brain right after your nursing finals has faded to the point where you have to learn it all over again.
And so the best way to go about things is to take the NCLEX within three months of passing nursing school. Yes, take a few days to relax and celebrate your graduation. Then, spend a week gathering together all the necessary study resources, practice tests, reading materials, flashcards, etc., and compile a robust study schedule.
Then get to work.
Every day that goes by without you studying will see you sliding further along that forgetting curve. So, stay ahead through daily content review, which you can easily do with Brainscape’s certified NCLEX RN flashcards or NCLEX PN flashcards. This will literally save you weeks' of study time!
