NCLEX-RN Books... Good for anything right now?

Nursing Students LPN/LVN Students

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Hey all, I'm starting the LPN program on Jan 7th and while I don't have the money right now to buy any NCLEX review books for the LPN program, my cousin has some NCLEX-RN books that she has left over here with me. Is there any point in reviewing the material in these books, it would probably be 2-4 weeks that I would be reviewing them before I bought an LPN book.

Thoughts?

You might want to do a search on the forum about that. I read on here somewhere that these books are totally different.

Specializes in LTC.

It doesn't matter what book you use... rn/lpn. They both cover the same material.

Robm06, this may be ok to review but check out these links before you do. Apparently these books are a little different. It may be ok to use the nclex rn to get ahead for class but from these threads this may not be a good idea for the NCLEX PN exam itself. These are only a few of the threads addressing this issue.

https://allnurses.com/forums/f328/question-about-saunders-books-316685.html

https://allnurses.com/forums/f328/good-lvn-lpn-nclex-review-book-148397.html

https://allnurses.com/forums/f197/question-about-saunders-books-316687.html

Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

They help you see how the material you should be learning is organized by other authors. That gives you a sense of the importance of the material in other author's opinions. There is a lot of value to that. It also might help you organize your own notes--you may have missed things during a lecture and the material in these books can help get you back on the right track. They can also help you see things from a different prospective that might help you remember the information better. Or, you can at least ask you instructors about something you find they might have missed lecturing about. You can never know too much.

They help you see how the material you should be learning is organized by other authors. That gives you a sense of the importance of the material in other author's opinions. There is a lot of value to that. It also might help you organize your own notes--you may have missed things during a lecture and the material in these books can help get you back on the right track. They can also help you see things from a different prospective that might help you remember the information better. Or, you can at least ask you instructors about something you find they might have missed lecturing about. You can never know too much.

I believe what the OP is asking is if the NCLEX RN books are ok for review for the LPN program that he is starting in Jan in place of the NCLEX PN books.

if that is what you have right now I don't see the harm in using them. I am sure some of the material is the same. But as soon as you can get your lpn one I would because you might be focusing on things that you don't need to know right now with the RN book. They made 2 different books for a reason, if they were the same then it would just be called the nclex without a need to distinguish pn/rn.

Specializes in Hospice.

I don't think you need any kind of NCLEX book to review for the program. You will get PLENTY of books once you're in school. My tuition even included the Saunders NCLEX-PN review book.

Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

I think that any NCLEX review you can do is helpful however I'd really focus on the LPN books because the information you will be asked on the LPN NCLEX is most definitely a different focus than the information you are asked on the RN exam. I don't see the point in cluttering your mind with things that are not useful right now as your hard-drive will be nearly full. :) Personally I'd purchase used older editions of the PN books that you can find pretty cheaply at Amazon etc. Good luck.

I agree that you'll likely get a NCLEX-PN review once you get your books. Honestly, I wouldn't want to start with the RN simply because on some of the practice questions, you are expected to know what's in the scope of practice for the LPN. I just wouldn't want to take a chance on thinking that something was in my scope because it is for RN.

Also, just for me personally the NCLEX review was pretty much pointless until about now (the halfway point in the LPN program) because I simply didn't have enough knowledge yet to know the ins and outs of what makes one answer right over the next, kwim? I'm sure you're anxious to get started, but you'd do better reviewing a foundations of nursing book or pharm. or something to get a head start.

Good luck! once you start the time will just fly by. Tomorrow I take my ATI for fundamentals, and then we've got christmas break and then we start back to the second half of the program :up:

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