So....yeah, I passed the HESI exit after THE FIRST ATTEMPT!! Yayayayayayay! I swear I got up Friday thinking that if I didn't pass it was no big deal. They gave us 3 attempts to pass the thing and this first attempt was wayyyy earlier than any attempt they had ever given in the program. My thinking was, if I didn't pass then it wasn't really my fault. They hadn't introduced all of the material to us beforehand so it wasn't my fault that I didn't know half the stuff on there.
After I dropped my mom off at my sister's I drove over to the school, sat in the car for a while listening to SHINEE and then took the long walk from the Clearview parking lot to the CCT building room 122. I sat outside with this other girl who kept asking me what the PT normal levels were for coumadin. Like I fucking know. She was freaking out over such a tiny detail. THIS is why I don't talk to people before exams. They start freaking out over stupid stuff like coumadin levels right before a huge exam like every question on the exam is going to be about coumadin. So, I politely told her I didn't know and tried to block out all the pre-test chatter around me. Yapping about the test five minutes before an exam isn't going to improve your score. I know from experience and you'd think they'd know after being in this program for ever a year.
I sat in the very back of the room. Perhaps it's a nervousness thing but having people behind me during an exam makes me nervous. I feel like everyone's watching me take the exam. Weird I know. We got ear plugs but I only used them for 30 minutes or so because they bothered me.
During the exam people constantly got up and went to the bathroom. I never took a break because it wouldn't have calmed my nerves. It would have made me more nervous. Some people seemed to get up just to get up. I'm used to sitting for hours at a time. We do that every monday and thursday for lecture so I didn't see what the problem was.
It took me 4 hours and 30 minutes to complete the exam. It was 160 questions with 10 being pilot questions. Pilot questions don't count toward your score so actually it was 150 questions.
When I finished I seriously thought I failed. I sat there wiping my dry erase board clean. I thought I'd make a 800 or something. I suck at HESI exams. My med surg exam score wasn't great and our professors kept talking about how hard this exam was. It WAS difficult, but it wasn't so hard that I felt like I wanted to have a mental breakdown.
When I saw my score, a 980, I took in a sharp breath and my expression was like this O_O or maybe like :0. I was so proud of myself. I still am. As soon as I got to the car I called my mom and told her I passed. This is after I calmly walked from the testing room. We were told not to react within the room. :) My mom was proud and so was my sister. I would have gone to celebrate with everyone in Illges, but I really only wanted to be with my family.
So, that's my HESI experience. I'm done with that exam. There's no more retest and no more sitting their for 4 hours. XD
Yay me. I'm one step closer to becoming a nurse!
