All About Next Gen NCLEX Part 2 - NCLEX Next Generation

Hello, Holly. Good morning. Good evening. On my end, I can hear clearly. Okay, great. That's wonderful. And we do have excuse me, we do have Paul joining us as well, probably in just a moment. So today's show is really exciting, because we are going to be talking about next gen NCLEX. And since April 1, we've met a few nurses who've actually taken the in NCLEX exam and the new format with the questions and they've had a chance to share their feedback with you and with me and with other instructors. And so we've got a opportunity, I think in a few weeks where we're going to actually introduce some of them. But we had a lot of people working for this particular show during the time and we couldn't get them to join us. So we're going to hope that their work schedules allow for it the next time, but we thought it was still important to share some of what we're hearing and learning and maybe debunk some of the myths or information that's out there. So I see we have Modine joining us from the UK and Jacqueline joining from the UAE. Welcome. Thanks for joining us today. So Mark, the first thing I probably need to do is we'll take a moment and do some introductions. So I'll start with myself.

My name is Holly Musselwhite. I work with Connetics USA Nursing recruitment agency, which is part of the AMN organization. And we work in international healthcare division with our partner, company, O'Grady Peyton. So if you see or hear either of those names, we are with the AMN organization, and working with international nurses from all over the globe, all different backgrounds, learning a lot about how things are working. And what things are important to nurses as they prepare for their NCLEX is a passion of mine, and probably a passion of yours, given the position that you have. But I am a clinical nurse educator for Connetics. And so in my role, I get to work with nurses who are prepping for the NCLEX, I get to work with nurses who are getting ready to come to the US and who are trying to prepare themselves for the challenge of the clinical transition they're going to face. And then I also work with nurses who are already here, and are working and are experiencing that transition. And it's always been a very fulfilling rewarding career for me, I really enjoy it. So I want to give you mark an opportunity to introduce yourself. So I'll leave the floor to you for a moment to go ahead and tell us a little bit about yourself in your role.

All right, other Thank you. So I am Mark Louise asthma and I am the current program administrator of Ibis on review and mentoring Academy. So I started as a success coach with iPass and did some other things. And currently, I take care of everything. And then also as your measures like it's, I'm also like you we really have this passion to really help our fellow nurses because hearing their stories, whenever we do our coaching sessions with them is you can really empathize with the struggles that they have with their antivirus preparation, and then it can get a better understanding of what the things are going through. And I mean, the services are dry for us as well to really work hard and provide all the support that we can have for our students for them to be able to pass their NCLEX in their first try. Right. So I'm Mark when we talk about the next gen NCLEX. I think that the biggest problem we had as instructors and support systems for these nurses is we know what's coming but we don't know what the impact is going to be prior to April 1. Now we have some information we have some people who've experienced it, they're sharing their stories with us, and it gives us a better understand standing of the reality. So I've had the opportunity to speak with nurses who work and were educated in the US. They have some similar fears. So anytime exams change, it's scary. You don't know exactly how it's going to play out. But with the International nurses who are facing this change, the additional concern is, most of our nurses are already in practice.

They're already out in the field, but they're in a environment that may have different practice norms. And so one of the things that we heard was get ready case study questions are going to be long and challenging. And they may be stressful, and people are like, Well, I'm already stressed by the NCLEX. Now what? So as we face that, you know, I think that it's been reassuring for me, I don't know about you, but I'm hearing good things. And it's, it's nice to see, I think, of the five nurses that I have under our umbrella that have tested, all five of them so far have been successful. And I think we have a recent tester that I'm pending results on but when I'm when I'm looking at that I'm like, Okay, this is, you know, this is pretty good that we're seeing some successes early on. The difference that I see with some of those nurses versus the nurses that I spoke with, prior to April 1 Is that many nurses that I know said I'm scared about the next gen and if I can test like if I have permission and an ATT, and there's a spot I'm going to test, I'm going to take that test. And unfortunately, some of those nurses probably could have used a little more general preparation, and some work on their testing strategies in question approach. But they wanted to give it a try, just to see if they could not have to deal with next gen NCLEX. The nurses that are dealing with it though, as I said, they've shared some things with us. We're going to share those things with you.

And we're going to continue to gather information. Obviously, the more nurses who take this test, the more comprehensive the picture becomes of what you're really going to be dealing with. So I'm just going to take a moment mark and look at who else has joined us. So are liens joining us from Jamaica. Hi, Arlene. Thanks for joining Mildred from Dubai. Let's see. Looking at posing a question here so we'll get to those. But yeah, keep telling us where you're signing in from and what your what you're working on you we will have some time for questions as well. I see doctor on doctor nurse Paul has also joined us so Good morning, doctor, nurse ball. We have done some introductions for Mark and myself. So if you want to maybe just quickly introduce yourself and a little bit about what you do and what your background is. That would be great. Thank you, Ollie. Good morning, everybody. My name is Paul in social media. My name is Dr. Nurse Paul. I'm the CEO of Aspire RN and provide NCLEX review been in the empirics industry for 16 years. I currently work here in the United States as a nurse practitioner. I'm also an ambulance instructor for my company. I've partnered with Connetics USA for NCLEX review programs and scholarships. If that's something you're interested with, you might want to give us a call or send us a message through Facebook Connetics USA and Aspire RN.

Yes, thank you, Paul. We're glad you're with us today. We were just kind of just getting started. So I'm gonna share that we have Alexis from the Philippines has joined us and other nurses says she's signing in from Texas, Saudi Arabia. We have someone on Facebook that says hello to you, Paul. So that's nice. Okay, so just really quickly, Paul, and Mark, let's talk about what next gen NCLEX is. So Mark, I'll have you go first and just share with us kind of the changes that the nurses are facing from the previous exam model to the current or what we call next gen and NCLEX. All right, so Hello, Doc Paul, nice meeting you. All the speakers. Holly from what you said earlier is like of course, the anxiety towards the new format has already been there. I mean, with we experienced at iPass is that the amount of students that he had, who took the exam last March actually almost tripled from our average on a one monthly basis. So it's really an indication that they're really afraid to take the next gen. And NCLEX. Okay, see there, they were all crammed to do to the month of March. And then here comes April. And then the amount of students who took the exam and they are scheduled to take the exam this coming April and our end, it's almost just half of what we had for March. So the good thing here is that with the one of the changes really that our students made, and of course, the approach that we tell them to do with regard to the connection and Eclipse is to really focus on the concepts first.

And then before jumping into practice questions because they win, because we noticed, were the initial questions that we encountered from the ng n through your work, and both Archer is that it's really heavy on clinical application of the concepts. But of course, it's going to be difficult for the students to do practice questions without doing concept mastery. And the scores that we see from our students tend to be on the lower end of the of the average. Because for those who really wanted to really, really wanted to take the traditional format of the exam, they tend to rush their preparation. So unfortunately, majority of those who only prepared for like two or three months, they didn't really had good results get. But those who waited and give themselves enough time, and then they really didn't care if they're going to take the next gen NCLEX or not, they actually had good results with the initial batch of students that we have, who took the next gen ed class for the past two weeks, they actually perform well. For example, on the first week of April, we had around four passers of ng n, and three of them just had the minimum number of questions which was 85. So it's really interesting to note. And when we look at the profile of the students who finish up 85, those were the students who attended at least two of the review cycles that we gave at ICA. So it's really an indicator that when students are focusing on the concepts first, before jumping into practice questions, you really have a high chance of passing the NCLEX, whether it is traditional, or the next gen format.

So Paul, I would like for you to share a little bit of what you're hearing and seeing as well. So we've had some, some passers both from Aspire and from IPass, and from another partner organization. And I know we may have lost Paul actually. So basically, to echo what Mark is saying, we are seeing people pass that they weren't they were either not worried about the fact that it was next gen they were or they were determined that, you know, I don't have the time or I'm not quite ready to test in in March before the change. So I'm gonna knuckle down and work really hard to make sure I understand what the new test plan or excuse me what the new test question styles look like, and practice those. And so Paul, we were just wondering, you know, what differences with the next gen NCLEX the we have nurses preparing for they may or may not understand that if they're on this on this web show and listening in. So can you tell us what you're seeing or hearing now that April 1 has come and people are starting to take these exams? Is it you know, they're feeling more positive for what you're seeing or kind of mixed feedback?

Yeah. Thank you for that. First, I apologize for my connection. It's spotty. I'm in the hotel here in Seattle for a week and but with the students that did the next one NCLEX so far from Aspire RN in our review program, we've been seeing positive results we have couple of students have passed already. Others are going to be taking next week this week to through next week. So we're positive that they're going to be having a good result in SBIR and we did master classes in the Oh, that's I'm confident and comfortable with their preparation. Or as they talked about the next gen NCLEX question styles, right? Like your drop boxes and all that, of course that came out. There's case studies, we've got Pope's of stuff or situations that came up for them. And it's mixed topics, there's lnd topics, there's medical surgical topics. But, you know, mostly, those topics are stuff that we've gone through during our case study reviews in our in my next gen NCLEX master classes for my students. So my students are quite positive. I did get a feedback from one of our pastors from Connecticut, USA, that he was, he had a hard time, like, I thought it was going to be okay with next gen NCLEX gay studies, but it was hard for him. But you know how it is Holly because it's computer adaptive for us educators. That means he's a high performing student because it was getting hard questions. And sure enough capacity NCLEX. Shortly after that, and we already got his results. He couldn't join today because it's working. But mixed results, but so far for my students, because I'm also watching social media to see what nurses who took it from the US side educated year have been saying, but mostly for my students. I'm pretty comfortable. They were okay, taking the NCLEX. But that's it. I guess, preparation is very important with Next Gen NCLEX.

Yeah. And Mark mentioned, and I know you've mentioned it in a lot of your talks, that content, being solid before you start trying to dig into these questions is really important. So some nurses have the idea that they won't do as much content review, because they can learn as they go through the questions. And the problem with that is the questions that are on NCLEX may be different content, or may have a different emphasis. And so if your assumption is I'm just going to do a lot of questions, and then I'll know the content, you kind of don't have a good approach, it's probably not going to help you get where you need to be for most nurses, those who are looking at I'm going to I'm going to make sure I'm solid on disease process on patho on understanding how nursing concepts in the US play out what nursing advocacy is about prioritization concepts. If you don't know how a disease works, you're gonna have a really hard time applying that to a scenario that is in the NCLEX. And while you may see similar questions to what you did in practice, from some of these organizations that are providing practice questions, and Q banks, all it takes is one or two words being different. And your focus has to shift. So build your content first. Have that really solid, make sure you understand how the newer question styles work. And then work on practicing those questions and practicing your testing strategy making sure that you are thorough when you're reading a question that you're not reading into it that you're not over analyzing it second guessing yourself all those bad habits that we have. That's what the practice questions primarily are for is to train your brain, how to think through and process those questions without making some of those mistakes. Do you still learn content? Absolutely.

So we have I guess some nurses who might be looking at NCLEX opportunities from Pakistan. And they said, it's not it's very costly, and no one knows much about the NCLEX. So that's what these web shows are for is to at least kind of demystify the NCLEX a little bit for nurses overseas who come from all different countries. On a on a really basic note regarding costs. Yes, there are costs to obtain your training documents to get those evaluated to pay to have a state board in the US review those documents. And as long as your education overseas is equivalent to a US nursing degree an entry level, then typically you will get approval to take NCLEX but once you get the approval, there's additional fees to register yourself with Pearson Vue, the organization that does the test. And then there's also a scheduling fee if you're testing in an international testing center, there's travel fees, so yes, it's it can be very costly. And that's why Connetics and AMN and IPass and next is me Aspire, all work together to help nurses understand that there are some opportunities sometimes if you qualify, to even look at a sponsorship For your study, so you're welcome to apply to Conneticsusa.com/apply, we can actually help explore whether you might be qualified to, to go through one of our programs. And if not, we can usually direct you to opportunities to help you with that. All right, um, so getting back to we've talked a little bit about, you know, some of the things that we expected. So, Paul, I think you said, and Mark, both of you said, like, low numbers of questions you've seen with the people who've tested so far that they're actually somebody said, completing an 85. So are all 85 of those questions scored? It's not a trick question from us.

Sorry. So for the 85 questions, since our minimum items now, I discussed this in my show, doctor nurse ball show, but 15 of those are pretest items, they are not scored, you do not know which of those 85 items are pre tests, they are not marked, they are distributed all across the 85 items. So it really doesn't matter if you know which pretest items are or which are not are actually scored, but 15 of them are not scored. Correct. So that means that you have to treat every question as if it's going to be scored because you have no idea. Um, the other thing is, I don't know, with the debriefs that you've done, but case study questions are one of those potentially intimidating factors. So these case study questions. Mark, they have multiple parts to them. So can you describe the case study question? concept a little bit to our viewers? Yeah. Okay. So basically, with the NGS, it's a combination of the traditional ones, and the standard on items. So usually, standalone items comes during the case study, types of questioning. And with the new format right now. It is mandatory that regardless of how many questions the candidate will be able to answer during the examination, it is mandatory that they should have at least three case studies with six questions each totaling to around 18. Questions. And with that aid in questions, questions, that is where the bolt is come in. That is where the modified SATA comes in. That is the other new formats under the NG and comes in. And when I was able to talk to two of our recent pastors, who got the minimum number of questions, it was surprising that, at least I'm happy to know that they're a little bit comfortable with the case studies, because, as you mentioned, Holly, one of the really intimidating areas of the engineering as a case studies, because, of course, for those who are not on the bedside right now, they might have some sort of insecurities on their capacity to really understand and apply what they know, because of course, when we say case studies is more of a clinical application of the theory of the concepts.

Now, when I was talking to one of the students a few days ago, I was trying to know further about case and surprisingly, for him, it was a little bit easier. Because number one, the law, barter, the normal love values are already provided the case studies. So of course, one of the things that is challenging for most students is that they have to memorize those love values and stuff, but with the case studies, the normal values are already there. So they know if the presenting numbers there are deviating from the normal values. And then I guess we did train of thought, especially for the progressive side of the case study is that when you already know, the like basic principles like basic applications and management on the like, for example, the first question, so the case studies, and if it's a progressive one, so at some point, you kind of learn to expect what's going to happen to the student, given the new set of information given to you after like for a certain number of hours. And then one technique that the student applied, there is a really anchored history of thought, from the initial set of information. And then it was already at some point. The succeeding questions were a little bit easier for him. Because with the initial clinical thinking that he did on the first like, half of the questioning, he was able to apply that to the succeeding number of questions. So surprisingly, case studies was not that intimidating, based on the feedback of two of our students. Oh, that's a good thing to note. Yeah.

Thank you Mark. The other thing that I remember hearing from the a couple of nurses I debriefed with was that they got, one nurse had five case study questions and one had four. So there were a lot of people saying beforehand, you're going to get three, you're gonna get three. So keep in mind that some of those were potentially unscored questions, if three is your minimum. And you know, you have what we call unscored questions, or sometimes they call them survey questions, meaning they're testing them out, you're not going to know which one of those four or five is the one that you're you're going to actually impact your test with. So you have to do your best. With those scenarios. I did hear very similar feedback from, from the nurses, I've spoken with witches, we love that the the lab ranges, the normal ranges are provided within those questions, and that the scenario is built. You and I work with nurses, as I said earlier, who are already in practice, they're already out there taking care of patients, they've had experience with patient care. So when they think of a question, the old style questions, sometimes it's frustrating, you're like, I need more detail to know, what's what I should do next, or how I should prioritize. And the case study, you are given that detail, and then it becomes important to make sure that you recognize those cues, and use them appropriately. I did have one bit of feedback that I think nurses could be prepared for, which is one of the nurses I spoke with said, I answered the first question of that six part case study.

And when I got to the second question, I realized I had made a mistake on my first response that happens, where sometimes as the case builds, you might have one of those Oh moments, and you can't let yourself become overly distressed by that. If you do, then you may lose your focus for the rest of the case study that is still yet to be presented to you. So take a deep breath. Remember that just in because you might have realized, oops, on part one of that case study, I made a mistake by seeing the second part, don't let that color what you're going to do for the rest of it just calm, stay focused, be methodical, and work through the rest of those questions in that case study, because they all have an A give you an opportunity to basically make up for that mistake. So Paul, one of the things we haven't talked about yet, is the partial credit for select all that apply. Have you seen or heard anything about that particular change? When it comes to debriefing or speaking with nurses who have taken the exam now? Yeah, well, some of them. I'm sorry. A lot of questions still are in this SATA format that because of the next NCLEX, all of those sets of formats are no longer going to be all or nothing score system scoring system, we're not going to use the all or nothing scoring system for that. We are going to use the partial scoring system where they get deductions for every incorrect answers that they check. So yes, there's still plenty of students who got sat, whether it's inside a case study, or a stand alone question using the next gen NCLEX format.

And what I heard from the nurses I spoke with about that was that it actually helped manage their anxiety when they were facing SATA questions that they could say to themselves, I don't need to overthink this question. I need to use good question strategy, but I'm gonna potentially get some of these right and have some potential positives, even if it's a tough question. So I think that the common thing I hear is I was less nervous about those because I knew as long as I had studied decently and was approaching the question with good practice, I was probably going to get something positive out of that question. And controlling anxiety is important during the exam. We know that some people, they get a little too anxious and it kind of just colors, that entire exam experience. And really, even if you're well prepared, if you're not managing that, well, it can have a significant effect. So knowledge is power. Understanding what you're up against on this exam is important. We did have I had some feedback from some nurses that said they were watching some of the videos that we have shared about next gen and question approaches and things like that. So they were trying to look at various resources, a couple of them mentioned, they did use the NCSBN resources themselves to look at those practice questions and the explanations that were given by NCSBN. I will see if I can share some links for NCSBN in the chat in just a moment. So basically, I think what I want to do now is maybe share some tips. So, Mark, is there any specific tip just one to start with that you would give nurses who are scared about next gen NCLEX. And then Paul, will have you go next.

All right, so Well, basically, number one, like advice is that never be scared with NGS, because at the end of the day, whether it's NGS or the traditional format, you still have to, to pass the exam, for it to be able to go to the United States. And for those of you who are just are planning to start with their NCLEX journeys, is really important. You have to know yourself, you have to know the limitations that you have right now, in terms of the things that we're going to do, because preparing for the for this kind of examination is really demanding in terms of time, in terms of resources in terms of effort. And usually one of the challenging part of reviewing for this exam for most of nurses is time management. And probably if you're, you plan to embark on this journey, you have to set yourself that for the next few months of your life, it's going to be change, it's going to change a little bit, because you have to spend time with your concepts, your practice questions and stuff. And then, as I mentioned earlier, never rush into doing practice questions without really understanding your concepts, especially for those who graduated a long time ago. So that because it's going to be really difficult for you to understand the rationalizations being given by those question marks, because in the mean, you weren't able to do a lot of critical thinking, because most of the time, if you don't know the concepts, and you don't know the question, you don't understand the question, most of the time there is like you just have to guess the answers. And guessing it's not really, it's really low and critical thinking. So we always encourage our students to be patient, be patient concepts first.

And then after like two to three months, go to your practice questions, and then answer a lot of questions. And for those who are intimidated with SATA, I mean, one of the things that really teach them is that to take note of the, for example, if they're using Archer question, are you broke? Is that take note of the question ID. So those are the questions and then they can list it down. And then if they want to really spend the whole day just answering Santa questions, then at least they have a list or repository of certain questions that they can answer again, because there's no really shortcut to learn how you can master a set up, but it really boils down to the concept mastery and exposure to a lot of SATA questions. And of course, you have to find comfort in the idea that with the next session that we have, right now, you're already have partial scoring, whether NCLEX. So the pressure to get all the correct answers is not that really high compared to the traditional format, because at least this time, you'll get partial scoring on the questions on the AutoCorrect options that you were able to choose using the standalone items on the case studies and other things. Paul, what could you share with us some a tip or to about prep for next gen and those people who are maybe really still anxious about it?

Right, so I've covered this in length in my own show, the doctor nurse ball show back in March, I gave a couple of case studies into episodes for case study tips into episodes. But back then, Holly, in our first show last month, about next NCLEX bear I think that was last week or two. I said about I'm not sure I'm already, like confused with the dates but um, I talked about content mastery of content. Now I'm going to talk about practicing with next gen NCLEX questions. So while yes, you build your content, the second step to really making sure that you pass your NCLEX and this was also applicable in the old generation. But now we're just going to be more you know, folk Because in preparing for the NG and because of the new question types and new scoring systems that we need to be familiarized with, but practicing with question back comes after content mastery. But it's also equally important familiarization with how the question would look like, how the question would be answered, there are different strategies that I teach my students for every type of ng n. Question. With a next gen NCLEX masterclasses that I do, very important that they keep practicing it. Because with this, you build your test taking strategy or facing for answering the exam, your way to manage your anxiety, when your exam, it's time to kind of like simulate what's going on within the MCAT. So you can prepare for it. The physical aspects, you know what to feel during the exam. And also you're also honing your comprehension and knowledge, you have to remember that next gen NCLEX questions, particularly the case studies are probably going to be a little higher level. In Bloom's Taxonomy, it's going to be usually application or analysis or evaluation level. And that's what's going to be tested, they have to remember that next gen is basically testing you with your clinical judgment skills.

So the questions are always going to be clinical based clinical reasoning. So you're gonna have to think, what am I going to do as a nurse? If the patient is right here beside me, and this is what's actually happening based on the case. Now for international educated nurses, you know, a lot of our students, our scholars are experienced nurses. So they already have clinical judgment. Yes, they already have critical reasoning, yes. And that can be valuable during the actual NCLEX. Now, the only caveat there is, their practice might be different to the American Standard, which is actually what's being tested during the next session. So that is why you have your instructors teaching you the American guidelines, the American way of doing things, the evidence based medicine of how we do things here in the US. So very important that you practice with next gen NCLEX questions. That's the only way for you to build your confidence, your comfort, and also improve your comprehension and analytical skills when it comes to clinical judgment question. Right. Great advice. Dr. Pol, thank you. So I'm going to share just a thought to piggyback on that, which is I've spoken with a lot of nurses, and they know people who've taken NCLEX. And now they're going to know people who've taken next gen and NCLEX. And one of the things that we sometimes hear is I got notes from someone else, and I use those notes and whatever. So you notice that we so far haven't talked about getting notes from someone. And so I want to address that really, in brief. And I'll give you an analogy of where my concern was, would be if you put all your we call, it's an American expression called putting all your eggs in one basket. So this approach for study requires that you are best practice would be that you are, as we said earlier, making sure your content information, your knowledge is solid, making sure that you understand how these questions are formatted and how the test works.

And when you do your practice questions, going back through and saying, you know, what can I learn not just knowledge wise from this question, but from how I approached it? Was I cautious in reading it? Or did it look familiar? And so I just looked for a familiar answer. And maybe I missed the root concept that this question was particularly going for. And then you add in well, I have notes from a friend or something like that, those can be very helpful. But keep in mind that this test is like preparing to run a marathon. So if you're preparing to run a marathon, you don't read about it, and then go run it and expect that you're going to be successful, it takes more than that. You don't want to just do short Sprint's to practice for a marathon. If you don't vary your terrain, if you know you're going to be running through flat areas, mountainous areas, whatever, if you don't prep for all of those variables that are going to come with that marathon including the distance of it, then you're not going to be well prepared. So I would caution that when you're listening to advice from people who've sat the exam before that, that doesn't devalue the importance of you knowing the content yourself and understanding it, and then being able to work through the practice questions without the influence of what someone else was. maybe thinking, for me note taking actually helps when I'm listening to a lecture and I'm taking my own notes, it helps me cement the concepts that I'm hearing, and maybe seeing on a screen. So that activity of taking my own notes also helps me retain that knowledge a bit better when I'm listening to lectures or watching videos with different visuals and whatnot. I do have two pieces of advice from one of our nurses who passed and couldn't be joining us today, but said yes, I'll send you some, some tips.

So number one, was make sure that you are familiar with your test taking strategies and your question approach, or your best practices, so that you understand the questions well, and you can then determine what it's looking for. Don't rush to Next Gen NCLEX. So there's a reason for that advice from this particular nurse because she actually experienced the exam the previous exam and was not successful. So the next gen was a retest opportunity for her. And one of the changes that she made between attempt one with the old way of doing the test and the new changes, I was realizing that when she was using practice questions, and even on the first NCLEX attempt, she was worried about the amount of time so her time strategy was, I will, I need to move through these questions at a pretty good clip. Because if I have to do all of the NCLEX questions, if I take too much time on the beginning of the test, I might not have enough time to finish all the questions I might be given. And that's a worrisome strategy, it actually probably cost her the exam the first time around. Because when you're rushing through the questions, you may miss certain important details that drive you to an answer. That's not the best answer. So that's where that advice comes from. And I think it's good advice. And the other piece of advice, he said is kind of what we've been saying preparation is key. It's important. And you have a goal, your goal is to come to the US. This is one step. It's a very important step, but focus on your goal, your ultimate goal is to get here. And so the sacrifices that you may have to make for a few months, as Mark said to prep for this a will reward you.

This exam does seem to have, yes, a certain amount of stress, just like everybody anticipated, but there have been some positives, and we want to emphasize that those are there. So we have nurses who have joined us from Saudi Arabia. We have Claudine and Abigail and Maisie and Bayless, and Bev and Krista all joining us. So thank you to you for joining and listening in and tell your friends that this information is out there and share the link so that they can watch and listen in as well with some of the things that we're hearing and seeing from the nurses we're working with who've successfully passed next gen. So the other thing that I wanted to talk about just a little bit, we had a show on this yesterday, but it's coming up. And before I get to that, let me just answer this question really quick for Mary. We do have at Connetics USA on our website, you can go on and apply or telephone to apply for a medical laboratory technology vacancy. We do place med techs in the US so if they're interested, please go on to Conneticsusa.com/apply sorry for that and put an application in for that. I think we're gonna pop the link up here on the screen for you as well. So the topic that I want to explore that's kind of in conjunction with next gen is retrogression. So retrogression has been announced through the latest visa bulletin. We know that if a nurse's visa priority date was after June, is it June 22. Paul of last year, I think I know it's June. There we go.

There it is. So there Here are your dates. So the priority dates did get a little bit of a backlog. So we are we are facing retrogression for additional locations. As you know India and China were already the visa backlog is has been significant for them trying to move forward a little bit, but the rest of the world is now at June 1 of 2022 and Philippines as well as that date. What that means nurses is that when your visa is filed, you're now in a queue. So when that date of Filing are your what we call your priority date when your priority date becomes current, then you will get to move through the final phases of the visa process. So we have some nurses who've been reaching out and asking us well, if I'm pending in NCLEX, what's the rush? Why don't I just wait? And then I can you know, once the once the visas are current again, I'll take my NCLEX and then I'll get filed and I won't be dealing with retrogression. So it's important for us, I think to mention how this impacts nurses who are pending NCLEX. So Paul, would you like to speak a little bit to some of the things that nurses need to keep in mind when they're considering? Should I delay my NCLEX because of retrogression, or should I keep going?

Right? So I was in the show with Tanya as well yesterday with the immigrant lawyers. And I shared a couple of things about preparation for the NCLEX in relation to retrogression. Yes, there might be retrogression, and people have heard of it. And you're thinking, Should I delay my NCLEX? Preparation? Should I delete my review? Should I delete my exam since there's, we're running out of visas, and there's not a lot of visas left for this year, so nobody could proceed? Guys, the people that are affected by the retrogression are those people with interview dates, or are already in consular processing, which doesn't happen usually after six to one six months to one year after your petition or immigrant petition started. The very first step for your for getting to the US and even Canada is to bounce your eBooks. So we're even with the retrogression, you want to keep continuing with your plan to take your NCLEX on time, because you want to get that NCLEX passed as soon as possible, the sooner that we can get your NCLEX. The sooner your lawyers can start your immigrant petition. And the sooner that we can dock your paper to the immigration services. That way as the visas become available, and the priority dates or current dates in your visa bulletin in progress, you will also have that ability to be included in those process whenever we get your priority date. So to cut it short, to summarize it, you should not be affected. If you're planning to take the NCLEX you're in the process of reviewing really NCLEX or you're about to take your NCLEX soon, it should not affect you.

When it comes to retrogression visa, immigrant petition filing is not affected by retrogression. It's only those that will be having their interview next month in the next two months that are actually affected by it. So keep doing what you're doing. Continue what you're doing. And you want to finish all your documents and requirements as soon as possible. Because the sooner that you can get it done, the sooner that you can get here in the United States. Thank you, Paul. That's great advice. And I think if there were nurses here who were wondering, you solidly answered what we should be doing. So the goal is to get you into that queue sooner rather than later. And the other concern I think we would have is, you're not meant to be a perpetual NCLEX student. So if you start studying, and then you have a gap and studying and then you resume later, and then you have another gap and whatever these ups and downs, it's not good for NCLEX prep, what we need to see is just like I talked about with running a marathon, you don't want to prep for a short time and then let yourself become deconditioned. And then try to recondition yourself and prep some more and back and forth. So if you're on the journey, stay on it, finish the program, get your NCLEX done and start working on with your partners, your spot your visa sponsors to get your visa filed and moving through the process.

If you're considering whether to begin the process or not the same thing applies, get started, get studying, stick with it, get through it, and know that the nurses who have a done an appropriate comprehensive review with the elements that we've spoken about. They are prepared, and thus far we're seeing good success with those nurses. Preparation is key as John Liu shared with us during her debrief, that is important, but also you know, if you if you have anxiety, learning about the test, learning how it works, and then preparing accordingly is what you do to prepare for the marathon is as it were. So all what do we have coming up next? I think in terms of shows might be some more I know we will have a future next gen and NCLEX one where Mark is Some of the nurses that worked with their IPass and Paul, some of the nurses who work with this fire we're hoping will join us and share their stories directly with our audience, we have done our best to sort of summarize today, some of the good things that are coming through. So we will continue to share as we hear and learn and get data around this. I just got word today from actually a friend who's a US new nursing grad. And she said, Oh, I had to retest with next gen and I passed. So I started my day with some good news from a personal friend who was excited. The biggest, the biggest thing out there is believing in yourself, feeling confident that you've done the prep that you needed to do. And you know, a lot of us, we have a support system around us. But because we're nurses, we may often be the leader of the support system, right?

So we are caregivers, we tend to look out for those that we care about and love and our families. And so sometimes when that family member says to you, well, what are you doing? And how can I help? There are ways that your family can help, they can help support you and encourage you to take that time to study. Maybe they're the ones who make the dish for the potluck dinner that you're going to have on the weekend with the family, maybe you don't spend the time cooking this time around. You're doing some extra study in there, but looking for ways to bring your family together and know what that experience is one of my nurses who just passed said, my daughter's kept asking me Mom, did you pass Did you pass? And she said, they asked what percentage of questions she got it right? Because that's their understanding of testing and passing. And she said, Nope, it's pretty much just pass or fail, and I passed. So even your children will be feeling the impacts of your preparation, but also the results of what happens when you're successful. And you're getting ready to help bring them to the US to start their experience of living here in this country. And you begin your nursing career here. So on a final note, Paul and Mark, I'd like for you to just kind of share any last advice or words of encouragement with our groups here. And, Paul, I'll start with you, and then Mark, I'll let you close it out.

So I'll just make it really quick, don't be scared with next gen NCLEX. With the right preparation, you're going to be able to pass the exam. The next is an ethics exam. I know it's scary at the beginning with all these changes, changes are always scary. But again, right preparation and you know, right motivation really helps with your preparation of the outcome. So partner with the right people, this is your investment for the future. So you got to be focused on it. But don't be scared. We're gonna we're gonna be here to make you feel comfortable about the exam and be confident about yourself in your preparation. Thank you, Paul, Mark, any last you? Well, I mean, just to set the expectations of those who are not starting with their NCLEX. Yet any preparing for this kind of examination is very difficult. As Holly said, this is a form of Marathon, you really cannot have that concept master in just one to two months. Just the reality of it is really going to be difficult, you have to have a lot of sacrifices, versus soccer, personnel time, social exposure and other things. But, and of course, along the way, most of our students get tired with the long preparation for this exam. And we always tell them if you're trying to stress a little bit, and then pick up yourself again.

And of course, one of the huge challenges here is procrastination is always there. But at the end of the day, you should always go back to the reason why you started this journey in the first place. You have to go back to your why. So that whenever you feel tired, whenever you feel discouraged, always go back to the various when you started this anxious, anxious journey. Because of course, at the end of the day, when you already read the word pass in your Pearson, your result is all going to be worth it. It's one of the me personally, it's like it's one of the best days that I had during the pandemic. So it's something that you should also look forward to. And of course, as Holly said, I mean, your family will feel the impact of the success that you will gain with the scanner examination. So just go for it. Okay, just go for it. So, in closing, we have Elma ICU mentioned you're from the Philippines. Thanks for joining us today, Elma. Josephine asks, Do we have vacancies for CNA so certified nurse aides? So at present, I don't know that we have any openings, you can always go onto our website and apply. And if we do get vacancies and that's something you're interested in, then you would receive communication about that. So that's not a big volume for us. But we do have some nurses who have gone through that part, that type of process to come to the US. Jana from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Thanks for joining us today. And Arlene, we're glad you enjoyed the session and found it informative. So in summary, we still have like five minutes left, if you guys want to pop in any questions about next gen or things you're hearing, we're happy to answer those. And, you know, if we can't cover it today, maybe we can also get it ready for a future show.

So we're always looking for, for information on what you are worried about and what you are struggling with, and how we can help you to navigate those challenges. Again, if you want to apply if you're interested in doing a program, our partners with Connetics IPass and Aspire. So both organizations do offer a study program, you can go to Conneticsusa.com/apply, and put your information in and someone will reach out to you about the opportunities that are available to assist you with both in NCLEX study. And in some cases, you might be able to receive assistance on your, on your NCLEX applications or other parts of the process even financially. What's most important is that when you're studying you're your study progress is running parallel to your application for your NCLEX exam. So if you begin studying, but you don't actually have your credentials being evaluated or apply to a state board, once that's finished and get your permission to test, now you've studied but it can take months for you to get to the point that you get approved to take the NCLEX exam. So those processes are things that should run parallel to each other. Keep in mind that when you if you were to do the application, first, you can have a similar problem, depending on how quickly your application gets processed, if you begin studying after that, some applications are going to are going to time out. So we want to make sure that you don't get too far into one process if the other one is not caught up.

So we kind of run those simultaneously for that reason. Ruby Lin, you're joining from the Philippines. Thanks so much for being with us today. And I have another user says they're watching from ca which I'm going to assume is California. So thanks for joining us today. And do you need to do IELTS to apply as a CNA, so that's a immigration question, Josephine. But since it's in this system, I'll ask some of our immigration experts to come back and maybe share some more information with you on what's required. If you're coming through on a consular green card process as a CNA, we've got an iPad student Mark who has joined us and I think there was someone else who maybe who said hello to mark earlier in the show. So I don't want to forget or miss that. The other thing is if you look at the post, I need to grab and share the NCSBN materials with you. So we will do that as well so that you can look at your, your next gen resources straight from the NCSBN. We have some people who are I think, not exploring that they're watching a lot of different social media things out there. Some of those have good information and they're even partners that we work with and some are maybe not as, as good of a primary resource for you to be getting ideas and information from so when you look at the at the National Council of State Boards of Nursing website or the NCSBN. This is the organization that actually creates the items for the NCLEX exams. They also deal with other aspects of nursing professionalism here in the United States. In addition to the NCSBN writing questions and training educators and how to how to build programs to help nurses prepare for this.

You will also see that they do not actually administer the exam. The exam is administered by Pearson Vue. So Pearson VUE runs the testing centers internationally here and in the US, as they are the preferred provider for NC ESP in at the moment for administering the NCLEX exams. So I will pop those links into the into the chat in a little bit. I'm having some technical difficulties right now. So my apologies for that. I'm just going to double check and make sure we don't have any final questions before we close out here. And I know the basic website, I can tell you off the top of my head is ncsbn.org. So Eric from Arizona, thanks for joining. And another user says, I just passed my NCLEX woohoo, planning to go to the back to the hospital to make your experience current, which route would you recommend, get experience first or take IELTS and apply with an agency. So there are some agencies that will look at working with you while you're still pending your English exam. And so you can reach out and apply some of them like Connetics even offers a study program for IELTS and some of the other English exams that are out there that are approved for both years, sometimes your State Board of Nursing has certain exams, they will approve and accept. And also those same exams, you would be looking to be approved for use with your visa screen. So we are telling everyone who's pending English Yes, go ahead and do your English exam. Get that over with but you don't have to wait to apply.

Based on pending English, there are some agencies that we'll be looking for you to be currently working. And so if you apply and it's been a long time, since you worked as a nurse, they may tell you to reconnect with them once you've actually started back to work. But that is an important step experience that's current and a hospital is going to serve you well and make you more marketable to hospitals and organizations that are looking for nurses who have that kind of background. So current experience in a hospital is highly desirable. And I would recommend that the sooner you can get started back the better. But that doesn't hold you back from reaching out to different agencies and organizations that will offer sponsorship to see how much experience they need you to have, and then understand what their criteria are. There are a few hospitals a small number that might be willing even to work with you when you don't have current experience. But obviously, those are much more limited and their programs, they still require a lot of personal investment on your part to make sure that you're working through the clinical transition, because it is going to be a lot more challenging. So thank you, everyone for joining us today. And we look forward to more web shows where we will talk to you about next gen and things but at the end of the day, don't be scared. This is not a scary thing. We're hearing good things from the nurses we've spoken to. We're hearing positives, we're seeing positive results, and we're very excited with that. And we will keep developing our programs and assistance to ensure that you have the tools to be successful. So thanks, everybody. Have a good rest of your day. Take care