You Failed the NCLEX - How to Bounce Back

It’s been a tense 48 hours and you can finally purchase your “unofficial results” for the NCLEX. Some hand-wringing and $8 later, you see the word you never thought you’d see, and your heart sinks: fail. It feels like you were knocked out too early in a heavyweight fight - but you’re not down for the count.

Take a deep breath… and some time

It’s been two long days of waiting already, not to mention taking the test itself, and the last month of stress as you worked up to it. You likely told all of your friends and family about this test and the messages have been coming in asking how it went. The very last thing you want to do is talk about it.

Take a step back and a deep breath. Once you’re ready, share the news with your closest circle and anyone else who needs to know. Then Disconnect from it all for a few days - social media, texts, all of it! This is time for self-care, and while it looks different from person to person, here are some tips:

• Get some sleep. You have a lot of sleep to catch up on. Time to recoup.

• Work out. You certainly have a lot of built-up anxiety. Hitting the gym or going for a run can help with that.

• Eat a lot of ice cream and watch some comfort movies. Might we recommend mint chocolate chip and Rocky?

Put everything in order

You’ve had a day or two of disconnection and you’re getting antsy…or you’ve had all the ice cream you can eat. It’s now time to regroup and move forward. First, a few reminders:

• You are not the first to fail the NCLEX - and you won’t be the last. While failing the NCLEX may feel like a badge of shame, it isn’t. Do not compare your journey with anyone else’s. You just need to take an extra step or two to get where you need to go.

• Roughly 50% of people who retake the NCLEX pass it. And that percentage is going to include you.

• Nurses are in high demand - and will continue to be. No matter when you pass the NCLEX, there will be a hospital ready to hire you. This is not the end of your career. It’s just getting started.

While you may not be in the perfect place to start planning your next move, or preparing for your next stab at the NCLEX, you need to get all of your business in order. Write down everything that might need to be done, and when, while it’s still fresh in your mind. Did a hospital extend a job offer? Contact them and let them know about the test. While this might result in losing your current offer, remember - there will be another!

Build a plan

With everything in line, you can start working on a plan for your next steps. Does your nursing school or review program provide support for those who fail the NCLEX? Either way, you need to be proactive and try to identify your testing weak spots as best you can and write them down while the test is fresh. Was it the wording or format of some of the questions? Was it a specific topic or two? A review course or a tutor can also help with this evaluation, but it’s always a good idea to know where you need to focus before beginning a new program. While the state will mail you a form giving you some specifics on parts to work on, we wouldn’t count on it in the short term, since the official NCLEX results can take up to six weeks to arrive.

Build a study plan based on the material you know you have to cover, and find a review course that supports that strategy - preferably a different one from your first course - or a tutor or mentor who is keyed into your needs. Contact some of your former instructors and get their advice; they’ve seen it all before and can help you with your study plan or suggest new programs to look into.

Remember when building your plan that the difficulty of the questions you answer on the NCLEX counts, not the quantity. While the test might shut off after 75 questions or so, it will because you answered a number of difficult ones correctly. Don’t shy away from the tough material in your planning.

Get ready for round two

With a plan and program in place, it’s time to get back in the ring.

It might seem far off from now, but soon you’ll be in your new review course, with a more personalized study plan. While you may feel some brief moments of déjà vu, you’ll remind yourself that you’re further along than you were last time. You’ll give yourself some more room to work on the material you know you need to work on. You will have stopped freaking out, because you’re on your way to passing this time.

In a few weeks, it’ll be time to sign up for the test again. It’ll be easier to sign up this time, since they’ll have some of your information already. The test will also be easier this time, because you already know what you need to do to pass it. You got this, champ.