Need Help...

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Specializes in Medicine.

Hey,

First please don't move this post because I won't get enough responses in the NCLEX section of the forum. And I really need advice..

I've been studying for the NCLEX for the past month and I've done about 2k questions. My exam is on Aug 28th. I'm really worried because I still get new questions that I've never seen wrong.. Sometimes I just can't put 2 and 2 together. I graduated nursing school with a great GPA but still this exam is just so difficult.

If the NCLEX can ask you something a million different ways to test my abilities, how can I just do questions to improve my chances if I just can't answer them correctly? I've seen some improvement but I still get a lot wrong. By the time the exam comes around I want to have finished around 4-5k questions (From the NCLEX4000 cd).

I still get the same questions wrong that I did when I first looked at them because I just can't remember all this random facts being thrown at me. I write things down however but i still forget. I have no idea what to do. I don't want to be a person that just can't pass the NCLEX. This is really fustrating me. Can anyone shed some light? Thanks in advance.

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Specializes in Mental and Behavioral Health.

You wouldn't have gotten through Nursing school with a great GPA if you couldn't pass this test. You can pass this test. You're frightened, and letting that get in the way of being calm and reasonable. I get the "I can'ts" too sometimes. It puts a fuzzy white fog in my brain that I can't think through. Fear is my worst enemy, and yours too.

If you feel like you're not learning it fast enough with one program, get you another one. Try Saunders. Maybe they will present the rationals in a way that your brain will absorb better.

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Specializes in NICU, Nursery.

Relax, dear.

Yes you are right-- you need to answer more questions! 2k is a small number. Do as much as you can in a day. And concentrate on why you got others wrong, write it down so that you'll learn your mistakes the next time. :)

Unfortunately an exam like NCLEX-RN and other board exams are not usually aced by dean's listers, cum laudes or people with high gpa's. You will be surprised to know that most who top these exams are average students! Point is, having a high gpa is not a guarantee of a passing mark. Many have failed.

What you should do- instead of going straight head on analyzing questions, you should've mastered your nursing knowledge first- read the lecture parts of the books/cd's, go back and master your weak parts. After you've fully understood, you may now go and answer your q and a's. Don't be so sad when you get low marks. You're not alone. The key is to practice your test taking skills so that you're ready when exam day comes.

And as I always say, pray. All your efforts will be wasted if you do not receive His help.

Good Luck. You can do this! :)

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Specializes in med/surg, ER, camp nursing.

Go through the questions you got wrong carefully. Try to look at the reasoning behind the correct answer. Also make flash cards to help you study.

Don't panic! Just keep studying and practicing. You can do it! :up:

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Specializes in Emergency Department/Trauma.

I suggest the Lippincott 4k question CD. It was wonderful. After playing with it for a couple weeks after my course ended I took the NCLEX and thought it was actually quite easy. I left knowing I passed (75 questions - 14 select all that apply and no math). Grab that CD and run through it over and over, it has great rationales.

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Specializes in Med/Surg/Tele/Onc.

Have you done anything like a Kaplan course where they teach you strategy? You'll never memorize all the facts, but if you learn strategy, learn to automatically rule out certain questions, learn when to apply ABCs vs skill-or-nursing judgement type stuff, it should help. I know I would get questions right using this type of strategy on subject matter I never had before. The only place this doesn't really help are pharm questions, which I seemed to have a lot of (especially Viagra...what's with that???). I passed in 75 and I didn't do thousands of questions.

And learning strategies is essentially Critical Thinking which is the most important nursing skill anyway. Good Luck!!!!:D

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Specializes in Medicine.

THanks everyone. I took a review course called Feuer's Nursing Review. I have Kaplan books from a friend but I haven't looked at it yet.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ICU, educator.

I never took a review course, and I didn't really study too hard for the NCLEX-I think too many people get caught up in trying to memorize facts instead of strategizing.

I want you to get your disk of questions when you have absolutely no time limit and read each question x 1. Stop and ask yourself "what is this question really asking?" Look at the answers provided, you should be able to eliminate 2 right off the bat, if not then at least 1 answer will be very wrong. Read question again. Review what it's asking again, then look at your non-eliminated answers, and see which answer fits in a logical sense. I hope this helps. Just slow down, read, answer.

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