Last week, we shared a Q&A with a recent college graduate who had just passed the NCLEX®. Today, with help from our Last Semester columnist, Chelsea, we’ll touch on some of the fears and anxieties leading up to the big day. And, as an added treat, she lets us inside her mind for a glimpse at some NCLEX dreams. Or are they NCLEX nightmares?

D-day is approaching! I can’t believe I am actually taking the NCLEX. What a weird feeling. Every day, I wake up one day closer to the actual test date with a little more apprehension than the last. I keep hearing from fellow classmates who have passed and from a few who haven’t, and it gets me almost excited to take it.

With a week to go until my day, I have kind of outlined what I needed to get done. I visited the actual test site just so I would know how to get there (that’s one less thing that I have to worry about). I think this is a great idea because it gets you familiar with the area and it prepares you for the big day. While I was driving there, I started thinking about what my plans for my test day would include. My exam isn’t until 1 p.m. and I have to be there at least a half hour beforehand (knowing me I will be there at noon). I’m going to go out to breakfast with my mom in the morning then probably go to the gym and do my best to keep my mind off it.

I am most certainly not going to study!

I know my areas of weakness and I have been doing my best to work on them. By doing some of these comprehensive reviews, I have found out that I needed to give extra attention to medications and mental health communication. In order to help myself, I have structured some practice exams from these CDs with just those two topics. I broke out my pharmacology notebook and tried to get back to the basics. I have been trying to do as many questions as humanly possible every day. I feel like I am ready.

Along with the mental preparation I have done, I’m also making sure that I’ll be physically prepared. I’m trying to get to bed a little earlier just so I am refreshed in the morning for another day filled with studying.

This past weekend, my mom set up a massage for me to try and get me to relax. I do my best to keep the stress levels down, but obviously this is a stressful time. Hopefully these NCLEX dreams that I have been having will slowly begin to stop. I can’t really call them nightmares, which is a good thing. But that’s not to say that they don’t keep me up at night—they do. Sometimes they are funny and I’m with all my girls from nursing school and we are taking it together, like a joint test. Other times it’s all me and for some reason the test always shuts off at 82 questions (maybe that’s a sign!). I think I should lay off the coffee and late night studying!

All in all, before this exam, I just want to remain confident and avoid people who are going to bring me down. I just need to rely on the fact that I have prepared for this exam.

Good luck to all of you taking the NCLEX soon! Congratulations to all of you who have passed, and to those who didn’t, keep your head up. You’ll get it next time!

Editor’s note: Chelsea, our “Last Semester” columnist, recently graduated from a small, liberal arts college 20 miles outside of Boston. Her column appears weekly, exclusively on StressedOutNurses.com. Write to her at editor@stressedoutnurses.com.