Nursing is NOT multiple choice

Today I traveled downtown to Chicago to take the NCLEX...woohoo! I commuted via train from my (parents') home in the suburbs all through nursing school, so I got to revisit my public transportation ways. When I got to the testing center, I noticed a few familiar faces, and then a couple more trickled in, so in total five people from my nursing program were there. It was nice to have someone to chat with prior to the test, especially since we spent nearly every day together in 2008 and then we hadn't seen each other since graduation last month! Catching up was good...then it was test time! There was this horrid construction going on next door, and the proctor was like "Don't worry, it'll stop at 8!" Okay, well, it's currently 7:35 and I could potentially be done with the exam at 8 if I'm super fast, but nevermind that. I took advantage of the ear plugs and noice-cancelling headsets that were available, although I could still hear a little pounding.

The exam itself went okay...Not as well as I would have liked, I suppose. We had to take an exit exam (HESI, if anyone has heard of it) prior to graduation, and HESI is supposed to be much harder than the NCLEX. Well, I thought HESI was a breeze, and the NCLEX was definitely more difficult! I think nursing exams in general are weird because nursing is definitely not multiple choice, but all the exams are! Especially when I'm like, "Well, none of these answers seem like a good answer" or "Honestly, two of these would be just fine." Drives me crazy! The exam can be anywhere between 75-265 questions, and it automatically shuts off when it has 95% confidence that you either passed or failed. My exam shut off at 75 questions, so I either failed miserably or passed with flying colors. I'm hoping for the second, and I can get my unofficial results later this week. In the meantime, I will be doing my best to distract myself, and running is actually an excellent distraction, so that's what I did when I got home! Fantastic.

Monday, January 9th
3.04 miles in 24:15, avg pace of 7:59

Short and to the point. My legs felt a little stiff after yesterday's long run, but overall the run went well. The rest of my afternoon was spent having my own Gilmore Girls marathon (a perk of owning all seven seasons on DVD...glorious!), and I'm quite looking forward to The Bachelor tonight. Hometown dates, woo!

Hope everyone is having a good start to the week!