[JoeB1047]

Hey you guys. I have failed boards 4 times now. I have taken the Hurst review and the kaplan review. I haven't had success with either. I have been putting in the study time before testing, but I just keep coming up unsuccessful. I got a test date for Aug. 28. I have been answering questions from the saunders cd hoping that this will help give some assistance. I talk with some nurses at work and they advise me to answer tons of questions instead of continuing to read content in the review books. I've never had an issue with failing when it came to education. I feel as though this test has shaken my confidence to the point I consider not even going back for it. Please give some advice on how to prep for this thing.

[als1124]

Try doing questions from another publisher. Drexel university has a greaat online program for the NCLEX. Or even go to the bookstore and grab a bunch of NCLEX books and do qustions from them. I think the Saunders book was not writtenin NCLEX type format so it might not be helping you. And focus on priority setting----that seems to be the focus of NCLEX this year. Good Luck!

[RGN1]

Did you do the Kaplan live course? It's just that I took N-CLEX today & regardless of whether I passed or not I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, the questions I was getting were really similar to those from Kaplan. The live course is literally a blitz on answering questions rather than a review. I bet you know your stuff but have to learn how to get to the right answer.

I 2nd that about priority (which is why I suggest the Kaplan live course) I had tons of them today in all sorts of formats - telephoning the priorty patient seemed to be the main flavour of the day for me, along with infection control, a few delgation/pick the wrong nursing care types & a number of tick all that apply.

Hope that helps - & all the best for next time.

[Marisela01]

Kaplan and NCSBN questions are the types of questions you need study and answer. Make sure to read every rationale, and understand why the answer is right or wrong. Saunder's is awesome for content, but does lack the difficulty in questions. Also, I've seen a lot of posts about Suzanne's plan (she's a moderator on this site)....A friend of mine failed at her 1st attempt @ the NCLEX-PN, and on her 2nd attempt passed w/ minimum ques, after using Suzanne's plan....You may want try that, I was out-of-school for about 11 months before attempting to take this exam....I took (NCLEX-PN) it last week 7/25, and found-out 2 days later that I had passed w/ 85 ques (minimum amnt.)...I realistically only studied for about 1 month and half (Work full-time + single mom)....The reason I believe I passed, was because I prayed to GOD for guidance and for knowledge everyday, I credit GOD for my success! Please know that GOD has a plan for you, you may not know why, but he knows what is best for you at this time....I suggest you pray for guidance, and also may want to consider rescheduling the exam...

[RN*06]

I am a terrible test taker. terrible. however, i took the nclex last week and walked out of there KNOWING i passed in 75. My advice to you, in all seriousness, is to get your hands on the KAPLAN QUESTION TRAINER CD. not the review course, not the book, not the q-bank. I honestly feel that someone who didn't even do nursing sat down and completed these question trainers 1 through 7, they would be prepared to take the NCLEX. Good luck studying.

[luv2shop19mall]

wow.. we are in the same situation for the nclex pn.. i have not pased it either. i feel so down and discouraged.. i dont know what to do. i cant believe a test would let people down.. shish.. they should make the exam easier.. i thought that they are really short of nurses..i failed it also.. i kept buying review books. i have been out of school for a whole year.. nothing has worked. i honestly dont know waht to do.

[LoriAlabamaRN]

I strongly recommend Suzanne4 and her NCLEX prep plan. She has a sticky on it, check it out. It seems everyone using it has passed, regardless of how many prior failures they had!

[willdgate]

I took hurst, but I would not recommend it, , because I don't think it helped, I just can't put my finger on it but I don't think it helped, hindsight.

I would recommend THE SAUNDER'S BOOK, KNOW ALL THE INFO, BACK AND FORTH, lab values and normals things like that.

Good luck

[crisgom]

I Just took my test on August 1st for second time, and I was kind feeling despaired too. I passed, I think that for some of us it takes more strategies than others, and I know it is not so much about content because you know it. I learned strategies by doing Kaplan questinare CD, I did NCSBN and had one-on-one session with D. Taylor and I think they helped to get the mind set I needed to have. Read the rationale, but also try to analyze why some answers work the way they do. Think about expected and unexpected when it comes to prioritization, and believe that you can do it.
If you would like more detail information about the strategies I used while taking the exam please send me a private message.

Good luck and don't get discourage. You can do it too.

[LAnewgrad]

Make sure you take breaks during the test, at least every 1 1/2 hour to clear your head a bit. Use the board they give you. For example, if the question pertains to Addison's disease, I would write everything I knew about it on the board -need to add aldosterone, aldosterone makes you retain NA and H20 and retain K, so now I have too much K and not enough Na/h20,blah,blah,blah (can you tell I took Hurst review)-sounds like a lengthy thing to do but it really did help me to figure out the answer for some of the questions. Remember your ABCs for priority questions. Get a good night's sleep. Eat breakfast. Try to narrow down your answers to 2 and give your best guess. Look at every single answer, usually if two answers are exact oopposites then one of them is the right answer. I agree with previous posts that you probably know your stuff but just need help with test taking. Best of luck to you, I hope you ace it!