My NCLEX date is fast approaching, and I have done a respectable number of questions over the last couple of months (I was keeping track but I just stopped out of sheer laziness) -- I would estimate I have done at least 2,500 and I am bound to do another 1,000 at least before it is all said and done. However, I am feeling like doing questions is not enough. I am reading the rationales for all the questions I get wrong, so I am learning that way. But on some level I feel tempted to read outlines, then figure that there is no guarantee that what I specifically study will be tested on my NCLEX. Not sure if what I am doing is enough.

Thoughts?

I answered 50 Kaplan Qbank questions almost everyday. I read most of the rationales for all the questions. I took my NCLEX last Monday and passed with 75 questions.Good luck!

i studied content and questions and passed

but a lot of my classmates only did questions and passed

everyone studies differently, but either way works :)

Historically 85% of applicants pass NCLEX at the first time. so just think about the time in nursing school, would you put yourself in that 85% slot of people who do better or in the 15% of people who struggle? I felt NCLEX was so random that all the questions in the world will help you for maybe 20% of the whole exam and the rest is reasoning that you have to do on the spot. That's how I felt about the NCLEX.

Historically 85% of applicants pass NCLEX at the first time. so just think about the time in nursing school, would you put yourself in that 85% slot of people who do better or in the 15% of people who struggle? I felt NCLEX was so random that all the questions in the world will help you for maybe 20% of the whole exam and the rest is reasoning that you have to do on the spot. That's how I felt about the NCLEX.

I agree. My exam was so random, I felt like "where is this question coming from"?. You appear to be prepared, I hope that as of your post that you have already scheduled your exam. I wished I had taken the boards as soon as I graduated based on the exam I got. Yes, there are some basics of course that you must go in with, but like the Nike commercial says, JUST DO IT!!!!

I felt like Kaplan really helped me familiarize myself with the wording and types of questions of the NCLEX exam. I studied a lot of content but I felt like doing the Kaplan Qbanks and the Questions trainers 1-7 really put everything together. There are a lot of resources out there and a lot of questions to do but the main thing is the quality of questions you are doing and what level of difficulty the questions are according to Bloom's Taxonomy (passing level Questions in the NCLEX). The majority of Kaplan Q's are passing level questions.

In the end, passing level questions are all that matter AND as graduate nurses we are all going to get there! All we need to do is to tell the computer that we are competent enough that we can stay at the passing level. This doesn't mean you have to get them all right but you must be able to maintain and stay above the passing level and create a pattern so that the computer reaches a set percent of certainty.

Yes content is important and it is preferred to brush up on weak content areas but A LOT of the content questions (failing questions on the NCLEX) can be answered by recalling what you learned in Nursing school. I'm not sure if I make sense, sometimes I just blabber.

I once had a 5 inch thick nursing book when I was still in my nursing studies and not a single question was taken from it,imagine that, best way to study is to read and analyze all the correct rationales from your questionaires , know them by heart so when the question comes to you , no matter how the question was asked or formed, you will definitely know the answer. Most exam takers memorize or remember the question that they studied, scramble the form of that question they forget the answer.Relax during your exams and everything you have learned will come to your mind when needed, Good Luck!

Thanks for the inspiration, everyone! :hug: I just can't wait to get this exam past me in 2 weeks :) I will be sure to let you all know how it goes.

I am taking my NCLEX-PN on Saturday and that is basically all I have been doing is questions. I'd say probably 100-150 a day and getting roughly a 70-80% on them. If I come across something I am not sure of, I add it to my list of things to study out of the book. This is how I studied for my Hesi Exit too and passed 1st try. I also have flash cards for drugs, lab values, etc.

Good Luck!!

Good luck dude! I have the same question

I agree it's more about applying everything you leave learned not so much black and white facts.

Is kaplan qbank worth the money?

@ Nicunurse, you can find Kaplan Trainers 1-4 and 7 in the web, the last one has 265 questions. Not sure which site, but I found it when I was looking on information about the drug Questran that I had forgotten what it was for, and that is how I found it. I post it the site in another post here but I do not recall which one.

Kaplan is good in the sense that they teach you how to decipher the questions, by asking does the question need an assesstment, or if the question has an assesstment does it need validation? If not, look at the answers, can you do Maslow, ABC? Is the patient stable vs unstable. Most often than not, the answer is not calling the MD, is there something that as a nurse you can do first? Their content review was great, the pharmacology content was awesome too. If you have a classmate that is doing it, and they do the boards before you, maybe they can give you the rest of it and you can make use of it. It is expensive. If you can remember the little that I have told you so far, buy their book at B & N, I think you will do fine. The most buy book that anyone taking boards is Prioritization and Delegation by LaCharity, my exam and others I know, were full of questions on this - the who do you see first, asked in different forms but the basis of the question was that.

I think I got off topic at your question, but I hope my reply helped you and others.

Good luck.