Lining up my ducks

My husband is traveling. His absence makes it much easier to study. He feels as though I am torturing myself and is notorious about persuading me to rest instead of study. For him, I have already passed. It is God’s will. While I agree with him, I still need to continue reviewing.

I came across blogs of nclex takers who did not study the last two weeks before the test. If I could do that, I would. I am simply not in a position to do so. I need to keep pushing forward so that I will have the material fresh in my head.

I have thought hard as to how I could best study for the last remaining two weeks. I considered Kaplan Question Bank. I have read comments on www.allnurses.com about how great it is. If you pay for the question bank by itself, be prepared to kick out $300.00 for it. I read about Mosby’s Online CAT (computer adapted test). There were raves about its ability to predict passing rates for those who eventually passed. There were also cautions by those who got those same predictions and did not pass the test. I do not think that Mosby’s Online CAT is available anymore, but if it were that might be worth the $40 or so to take a look at it. In the end, I just decided to stick with the resources I have already been using.

My 8-week NCBSN subscription expired this past Friday, November 2nd. I had been panicking trying to finish reviewing before midnight. This was simply not realistic. I made the decision to pay for another three weeks. Now I can work up until the very day of my departure.

While preparing for such a test everything else in your life is put on hold. This is not a particular luxury I have because my husband and I have some serious decisions to make as they relate to our immediate future. However, as of late everything, everything has been put on hold to accommodate this test. Nevertheless, I did make one bold step this morning by making us a necessary appointment for our plan B. The news surprised him (and pleasantly so) because he had not expected to hear anything about any moves forward until after my trip to London. My NCLEX examination is one of many moves necessary to get us in the position where we need to be.

Many of these moves are dependent on making decisions. Once my license is secured what will I do with myself? Where do I want to work? I do want to study for a MSN in Family or Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. After which, I would like to open my own clinic up here in Africa for women and children. I would also like to work in a hospital at least for a year. The big question is in which order to I want to do these things? The next question is can I afford to ponder these issues while preparing to test.