After a couple of our recent NCLEX articles about waiting for results and finding success, we received an interesting email. Lawrence Underwood, a recent nursing school graduate from Illinois, told us he whizzed through the NCLEX in only 35 minutes. Thirty-five minutes!? We had to hear more. Here’s his story:

Two years of school and countless hours of studying and anxiety all boiled down to one simple test: the NCLEX (insert scary music here). After all, this one test is the bane of every nurse’s existence. Once you take it, you don’t have to take it again.

I hear you nursing students out there: “Was it scary?”, “What is it like?”, and “I know someone who went insane after they took it!” (The last one may possibly be true, though). So, here is a simple overview of my day.

My friends and I had our appointments in a city two hours north of where we live at 2 p.m. Cautious of the traffic, and wanting to ensure plenty of time to get there, we left town at 8:45 am.

The drive was uneventful, and we arrived in Kenosha, WI, at 11 a.m. After driving around for about 45 minutes, we discovered where the testing center was located. Still with two hours to kill, we figured we’d get some lunch. And let me give you some recommendations here:

1. Take your own food. Restaurant food is so seasoned that it’s bound to make your already anxious stomach even more upset.
2. If you do eat out, don’t eat anything even remotely close to spicy. Nachos are NOT a good idea.
3. Caffeine should be limited, and you should probably cut it out about three or four hours before testing. Or if you are taking your test in the morning, try to limit yourself to one cup of coffee.

Lunch lasted only 45 minutes, so we wound up kicking around the Target next door trying to do everything we could to burn off some nervous energy. (Ever see those people trying on hats/sunglasses/shirts they have no intention of buying? Yeah, that was us on NCLEX day.)

Then, it was time to face the dreaded NCLEX. Throughout nursing school, I was known as the “speedy” guy. Often, I would get tests done even before the professor had made the grading Scantron. I do NOT recommend slowing yourself down if this describes you. I knew that if I got out of my natural rhythm, I would second guess myself and probably just pick the wrong answers. So, using some Kaplan tips and being myself during the test helped.

I saw 75 questions (the minimum) in 35 minutes. The women at the testing center looked shocked and one remarked it “had to be some kind of record.” The speed made me scared, though. This was the most important test of my life, and I honestly didn’t think it was any harder than any other test I’d ever taken in nursing school.

Three days later, the results were in. I passed! Now, I am officially a registered nurse (work has already started!).

So, my advice: If you are a speedy student, don’t second guess what you know. Just be yourself!

Editor’s note: Have you taken the NCLEX this summer? How’d you do? Share your experiences with us at editor@stressedoutnurses.com.