What Do I Do After Failing the NCLEX?
So you’ve failed the NCLEX, what now?
After being an RN for a few months now, I will be the first to tell you that the NCLEX is the furthest from the truth.
The NCLEX is meant to be an introductory foundation to nursing that sets the expectation for you to know what to do or expect in certain scenarios.
All of the people I’ve spoken to about the NCLEXpectations — all from different hospitals and walks of life in the Atlanta area — have agreed that the new grad orientation that you attend at your job assumes 0 experience.
Debunk #1:
If you failed, it doesn’t mean you won’t make a competent nurse.
If you failed, it doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to be a nurse.
The best part about the NCLEX is that you’re allowed to retake 8 times in a year, with a 45-day space between each attempt.
That essentially covers you to be able to retake nonstop throughout several years if you really wanted to.
New grad nurses don’t really have the expectation of knowledge anyways at their first job, so if you are thinking the studying and failing of the NCLEX translates at all to the type of nursing care you’re capable of, that is not the case.
From personal experience, the friends of mine (I love them to death) who were the best in nursing school and passed the NCLEX in 65 questions were the most frequent in telling me they were lost during the first few months during their job.
Nursing school is a logical approach to an emotional career: you can only learn so much.
Give yourself a chance, the NCLEX does have an amount of luck associated with it.
Don’t forget to grieve the failure! No one likes to fail, but it’s about the recovery that matters. Check out my other article on this topic, and keep your head up!
Debunk #2:
Your employer cannot see how many times you take/fail the test.
They can only see your license ID, and that determines your success.
The only time I can see this being stressful is if you have a job already lined up post-grad.
They will only be able to see your license once you do pass, but not how many times you failed prior, which is honestly great because that means that once you show up for your first day on the job, it’s like a clean slate.
A new shot.
If you are someone who is proactive and did get a job before graduation, I highly suggest being able to reach out to the recruiter and have a transparent discussion with them.
Tell them that you need to delay your start date so that you can have more time to study for the NCLEX.
They may ask you what the next scheduled date is for (if they didn’t ask this during the offer process, even better), but they only ask this due to the ideal timeline that you get your passing results and license a week or less after taking it so they can put you on the schedule.
You genuinely don’t have to feel pressured at all to tell them if you failed and won’t be able to schedule that 45-day period. A good fallback is to say no recent slots have opened up yet in the schedule and that you would let them know once something is available.
However, if you didn’t feel any pressure to find a job while still in school, you may be in a better position in terms of stress.
You can take the NCLEX as much as you need for as long as you need, and once you pass, you’re able to finally treat yourself to that trip to Bora Bora (do it now, there’s not gonna be any PTO you can use probably for 6 months to a year from starting).
In Bora Bora, you can be finding different positions such as nurse externships or new grad positions. Nursing is a fortunate career field that continues to have open opportunities.
There will always be a position waiting for you, which not many other majors really experience.
Take your time and enjoy the ride, and if you have your own experience to share in the comments, I would love to hear what yours was! The NCLEX experience brings a myriad of different perspectives, which is why a smidge of luck is still associated with this exam.
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