[swee2000]

Hi, everyone! I'm wondering if I can get some opinions on what's worked best for those who have taken the NCLEX exam already.

I have heard from a couple people who took the Kaplan review course & found it a little extreme & unneccessary. I just subscribed to 8 weeks of their online review course that gives me access to 1100+ NCLEX-style questions. They're HARD!!! When I took an NCLEX predictor exam at school, I did very well & scored 7 points above the national average. Two of my instructors told me that means I should have no problem passing the Boards. With the Kaplan review, I'm not scoring as well. What does this mean?

Also, I have a couple NCLEX review books w/CD-roms, of which I like Saunders the best. I used her NCLEX-PN review book & CD-rom this entire semester when studying for tests & it really helped. Do you think I would be successful on the Boards if I continued with only the review books & CD-roms? The Kaplan course seems to only frustrate me & get me worried that I won't be ready for the real deal.


Any suggestions?

[My2Giants]

I am also studying for the nclex PN and I have been using saunders, Nclex PN made incredibly easy, Delmar's NCLEX review, and Davis's Nclex PN. I am hoping that between all these I will be able to pass my boards.

Wishing you the best of luck with yours!!

[proffmio]

Hey i can honestly say that i used saunders exclusively and passed the PN exam the first time around. I was nervous since i ended doing the entire 205 questions, but i was confident the entire test because of saunders. I approached saunders by sections, doing all the disorders and test questions. If i got one wrong i didn't just review the rationale, but went back to the question and annotated what the correct answer and why. I did the entire book that way. I made sure that I had lab values and nutrition commited to memory. when you review a disorder and it states what type of diet, you need to understand why, not just what the answer is. First I did the entire book, then from there on i did the CD questions and again if i got the question wrong, I had a page per disorder in a notebook and wrote down in a short bullet comment the rationale. On each page i wrote down how many questions there were in ea section so if i couldn't do the entire 400 or so questions of maternity for example, I could start the next day where i left off. One last thing i did was Feuer nursing review. Rather than going to the review you can order the entire review on tapes. Its about $250. What i did was as i worked for 2 months before the exam i would take a mini tape player and listen to it while out. It reinforce saunders to the point that i had the solid knowledge i needed to help me with critical thinking on the exam. I hope this helps to those who are preparing for the exam. Just make sure you have a plan and stick to it.

[LADYFLOWER]

Originally Posted by proffmio

Hey i can honestly say that i used saunders exclusively and passed the PN exam the first time around. I was nervous since i ended doing the entire 205 questions, but i was confident the entire test because of saunders. I approached saunders by sections, doing all the disorders and test questions. If i got one wrong i didn't just review the rationale, but went back to the question and annotated what the correct answer and why. I did the entire book that way. I made sure that I had lab values and nutrition commited to memory. when you review a disorder and it states what type of diet, you need to understand why, not just what the answer is. First I did the entire book, then from there on i did the CD questions and again if i got the question wrong, I had a page per disorder in a notebook and wrote down in a short bullet comment the rationale. On each page i wrote down how many questions there were in ea section so if i couldn't do the entire 400 or so questions of maternity for example, I could start the next day where i left off. One last thing i did was Feuer nursing review. Rather than going to the review you can order the entire review on tapes. Its about $250. What i did was as i worked for 2 months before the exam i would take a mini tape player and listen to it while out. It reinforce saunders to the point that i had the solid knowledge i needed to help me with critical thinking on the exam. I hope this helps to those who are preparing for the exam. Just make sure you have a plan and stick to it.

I'm sure you have helped alot of people out with your advice! I think the Saunders book will be the way to go for me in the future.