In this interview, a nurse educator (Speaker A) congratulates Vanessa on passing the NCLEX and asks her to reflect on her experience with the "NCLEX Strategies for Success" program. Vanessa highlights the value of one‑on‑one tutoring, especially the instructor’s verbal cues that helped her eliminate wrong answer choices. She emphasizes that the program taught her test‑taking strategies rather than content memorization, enabling her to interpret questions differently and manage test anxiety. Vanessa recounts the emotional moment she learned she passed on her third attempt while driving her 19‑year‑old son, celebrating with her three children. The educator reiterates his mission to simplify nursing education, increase the nursing workforce, and support graduates transitioning into practice. Vanessa rates the program a perfect 10, promising that it transforms a learner’s mindset and equips them with skills to tackle NCLEX‑style questions. The conversation also contrasts the program’s strategic focus with traditional nursing school curricula that often emphasize content recall, and the educator offers advice for new RNs on confidence, preceptorship, and continuous learning.
Chapters
Congratulations so much for passing the NCLEX! I know you're so excited.
Oh, thank you.
This has been, you know, a journey for you, and I'm so grateful that I was able to share my expertise and my, you know, NCLEX and nursing knowledge to help you develop the skills that you needed to pass the NCLEX and get your registered nurse license.
Yay!
So I just wanted to take just a minute or so and have you share with everyone out there, um, your experience in the program. Because a lot of people see my program online, they might see me on social media, they might get an email from me because they may have signed up for a free ebook or something. But I know, just like yourself, there's that point in time where people are like, is this really the program to help me? Is this guy really gonna give me what I need? I don't know. Um, and I'm so grateful that you, you know, took a leap of faith and went with me because we spent some time really coaching you through how to develop these skills. So, you know, if there's one thing that you liked the most about the NCLEX Strategies for Success program, um, and my tutoring, what would that be?
I would have to say the best part, actually, the part that was most helpful was our one-on-one sessions with each other, like when we were going over the exams, because I gotta say that there were things that you were telling me when you were going over the exams with me that I heard your voice during the exam pop into my head. You know, there was, there was, uh, moments where I'm like looking at a question and I was unsure about it, and I just heard you like, "Do you know this to be true?" And I just, it was like in your voice and everything. Those magic words, "Do you know that?" I was like unsure about it at first, and when I heard it, I'm like, you know what, I do not know this to be true, so I'm not gonna select it.
Awesome, awesome.
Those are skills for test-taking, you know. It's not really so much about the content that I, I think, it's just knowing how to answer the questions.
Yeah, and I say time and time again, you know, I strongly believe as a nurse educator with all my heart and my personal and professional expertise in nursing that If you survived nursing school, whether it's an accredited, non-accredited, well sometimes non-accredited doesn't work, but you know, expedited, maybe you took the fast-track program, maybe it's an associate degree, maybe it's a master's degree, maybe it's a bachelor's degree, it doesn't matter. If you pass nursing school, you have the foundational content knowledge that you need. Where we miss the mark sometimes in education is we don't always teach our students how to apply apply that knowledge. And yes, that's where the test-taking strategy and learning that step-by-step process to be able to answer NCLEX-style questions and focus on what you do know to be true and not so much on what you don't know, to then be able to make really good decisions about what you're presented with, because that's all the NCLEX is really about. Now that you pass the NCLEX, you know it's true that the NCLEX only judges your ability to do what Passing.
Answer the questions.
That's it. That's it. It doesn't teach you how to be a good nurse, right? It doesn't challenge your intelligence level. It simply challenges, can you answer these questions? So you see that now, and now you have your RN license. So now you can start working as an RN and start getting that real-world training and start to have a whole new set of challenges that you're gonna have. Yes, and those are very welcomed because now you get get paid while you're learning.
That's a nice bonus.
That's awesome. So, you know, when you found out that you passed, where were you and when did that celebration begin for you?
So, um, as you know, I'm a single mom with 3 kids and, um, I was after the exam. I actually went to go pick up my oldest son, um, who's 19, and I was picking him up to give him a ride to work. And I'm in the car waiting for him and I had my laptop and And I'm over here with the Pearson— doing the Pearson VUE trick to see if I passed. And my son gets in the car as the page is loading, and then I'm telling him, oh, I'm doing a little trick to see if I passed. He's like, all right. So we go and we look, and then all of a sudden it gets good. We can see the good notation on there, the good pop-up, right? The good pop-up. There you go. And I was just like kind of in shock at first, and I was like, wait, wait, hold on. What? No, like, is that the one? And then like we both start screaming. He's like, yes, Mom, that's the one! Like, no, no, no, no, let me go back, let me double-check this. I'm like, wait, wait, wait, really? And we literally just start screaming off the top of our lungs, you know. Tears have rolled down my eyes because it was just such— it has been such an incredibly hard journey. It was a long journey. This is, as you already know, the the third time I took the test. Um, thankfully, you know, like, that's when I found you, of course, because I was trying— I tried so many different things and nothing was working. And finally I got that you helped me with the skills that I need to pass.
Yeah, that's so— that just warms my heart to, to know that not only did you get to celebrate in all the hard work, but your children also get to celebrate you. And, you know, for anyone watching this, you mentioned right before we started that also your younger ones got to celebrate. Um, yes, that's too— when they came home from school and found out you passed, and, you know, that earlier that day they wrote you little love notes about how you would pass this time. And that's just— that warms my heart and really makes me, you know, really value the work that I do, because I know that the work I'm doing is helping to not only help people like you pass the NCLEX but also to help our profession. You know, you know my mission is to get more nurses into the workforce and then to help them thrive once they're in the workforce. And so definitely this is what I do. I want to make sure that we can simplify nursing because it does not have to be complicated. Yes, there are a lot of challenges that we are going to face, but there are strategic ways that we can deal with those challenges, and the NCLEX is only one of the many things, uh, that, you know, I have in my wheelhouse as a nurse of now 11 years, um, being a nurse educator for 9 of those 11 years, um, and continuously meeting all kinds of brilliant people out there in the nursing community and profession that are doing amazing things. So I am so happy to welcome you to the profession, a registered nurse. This is so exciting. Guess what? We get to call each other colleagues now.
How about that?
Yes! So you're no longer my student, you are now my colleague.
Colleague.
Isn't that exciting?
Oh, so I get to change my signature now.
You get to change your signature. Everything, everything changes. Your life is going to change. Oh no, we all know that nurses don't make a tremendous amount of money, but we do make a nice honest living, right? We make good money, it's stable money. If the job is stable, people need you, they need your skills. You are already proficient at entry-level nursing, so don't ever think anything different than that. When you show up for your very first job, you already have a wealth of knowledge that you can immediately start applying. So when you get that first preceptor, be sure to let them know that you're confident and what you do know, and that you're eager to learn what you don't.
What I don't know, yes.
So, all right, so as we wrap up, you know, again, thank you so much for taking your time to talk with me and let everyone else know about the program and what you got out of it. But just on a closing note, um, how likely are you to recommend this program to anyone else who is either a first-time test taker or a repeat test taker, and, you know, out of 1 to 10, where are you on that range of recommendation? And, um, what is the one thing that you can promise that they'll get out of the program?
Well, I think if it— for people that might have trouble with test taking tests, um, definitely a 10. Like, for myself, I, I, I test anxiety. I mean I go crazy over exams and it's always been a difficult thing for me. And, um, the, and the biggest thing being that it put the skills to learn how to take the test, you know, just how to read the questions in a, in a different way. You know, you think your mindset literally needs to be transformed to seeing it completely different.
So awesome. So you hear that, guys? 10 out of 10, right? Um, for anyone who needs help learning how to take the test, which honestly is everyone. Because no matter what program your nursing school uses to determine your likelihood to pass the NCLEX upon exit, we all have to do it. I had to do it way back in 2010. I know programs still do the same thing. I'm still very exposed to the nursing education world. I follow all the conferences. I have lots of nurse educator friends. I know that these exit programs, and I'm not gonna name them for professional reasons, but they don't teach you how to take the NCLEX, and they are not measuring your ability to successfully pass the NCLEX. They are only measuring your ability to recall and sometimes apply knowledge, but you also have to be able to apply and analyze knowledge and concepts in a way that measures safety, which is a much more complex type situation because safety cannot be be easily measured.
And, you know, I should also add though that there's either— even with schools that do teach you how to do NCLEX-style questions, because my school did too, even with that in mind, it's still something that I don't think really stuck with me so much, you know. So even when there's a school that does offer, you know, leaving school like, I don't need a program like that because my school, we had to take a special class that was dedicated to NCLEX-style strategies which is what I tried, which I thought in the beginning, but I didn't pass, right?
And then how, how much more did you learn from my program versus what you learned in school for that?
Completely different. Completely different. And again, it was more about memorization.
Yeah, I'm not knocking any NCLEX service or program, so for all the people or companies out there doing NCLX-related work. I support what they do, and many of them I've taken myself because I once had to take the NCLEX too. And I know some of these people personally, and so I know the work that they're doing, and the work that they're doing is valuable. But what I can say is you should emphasize your focus on how to take the test before determine— before deciding that you need to go back and spend a lot of time in content. And you learned that.
Yes.
How much did I have to convince you in the beginning that you need to stop reading your nursing notes? I know, stop reading your books.
Too focused on content.
And a lot of programs are very content-focused because they feel that they are able to enforce your, your content understanding, which gives you a higher chance of answering questions that are content-focused, which is correct. But the NCLEX, if you answer the first few content questions correctly, move away from content and go straight into concepts. And that's where knowing how to answer the questions strategically is most helpful.
So, and those are the passing level.
Those are the passing level questions. Exactly. So awesome.
Awesome. Which I learned from you.
Yeah.
Awesome.
I'm so, so happy for you. I wish I was where you are. We would be having a nice drink together to celebrate. Um, but just stay in touch, you know. As you know, you always have me as a resource. Anything that I ever do to enhance the profession, I want you to benefit from that. Um, definitely, you know, get in touch with me soon to talk about the, um, transitioning into practice program that I offer. And I can't wait to celebrate and follow your nursing journey. I know for a fact you're going to be an amazing nurse. So thank you so much for taking the time to speak with all of us, to let everyone know about the NCLEX Strategies for Success program.
