Advice needed

Nursing Students NCLEX

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Hello,

I am scheduled to take the NCLEX on June 16th. I have not taken any review courses yet, but I have purchased online nclex questions from reviews for nurses. The questions are very difficult and now I am wondering if I should do an online review. I really can't afford to do kaplan or hurst etc. because they cost around $400 to $600, but I might stay with the reviews for nurses and purchase an area that I'm weak in which would cost $100. Just wondering if anyone has some advice or study tips! Has anyone passed the nclex without doing those full review courses? Good luck to everyone!

Jenn

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Whatever your resources at hand like Q&A CD's just practice on those. Stick to one study material to make u focus more. I tried Kaplan and NCSBN and failed. It doesnt matter what study materials u have as long as you do study your best.

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I don't sit for NCLEX-RN until June 17th, but I did take a seated HESI review course and I will tell you that I have benefited more from the Thompson review book that I purchased then I did from the review course. The class consisted of power point slides and a HESI chick lecturing...it was reminiscent of med-surg, not a comprehensive review. 2/3 of the class didn't come back after the second day, but I remained and pretty much wasted my time.

Everyone learns differently, and I do best through practice questions and rationales. I've heard really good things about Hurst, and if you have the money then give it a go, but don't strap yourself. I know plenty of people who have passed through studying on their own without a structured course.

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I didn't take a review course and I only had the chance to study for like a day and a half. I used 2 different books and just mainly focused on common taught conditions like cushing's, liver biopsy, things like that. I figured if I didn't get the information throughout the program then I sure wasn't going to learn it within a few weeks so I took my NCLEX right away and passed. Try and focus on the technique of answering the questions, eliminating answers and strategies on picking answers because you probably already know more about the meat and potato disorders than you think. I had a strategies for nclex success that my program required us to get so I looked at some tips in there. Unfortunately the boards aer so broad that for the test I took I would have been wasting my time trying to do a load of questions because there were many questions (about10-15) that I just had never heard of the med or the conditions and when I got home and looked them up it's because they were more specialty med or a more rare condition. Take the next couple of weeks to sit and look up some strategies maybe on the net and just look over some basics on disorders focusing mainly on signs/sympoms, nursing interventions and you should be fine. Good Luck!!!

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It sounds from your post that you are barely getting started with your preparation. Perhaps you should consider rescheduling your test. The 16th is right around the corner.

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I have been doing about 125 practice questions/day and reviewing material for the past week. I scheduled for the 16th because I felt that 3 weeks would be adequate time to prepare. I graduated may 20th and some people in my class took the exam june 1st and 2nd and passed which would have gave them approx. 2 weeks to prepare. I could always reschedule, but I just hate to procrastinate. In the last semester, we had to take an NCLEX predictor test and the people who came to deliver the test strongly encouraged us to take the NCLEX sooner rather than later. Our instructors have always talked about alot of research that shows those who take the nclex soon after graduating have a much higher pass rate as opposed to those who wait a few months. I can't remember the exact statistics but the pass rate for those who wait a couple of months drops significantly. Well I hope I have enough time, but I guess I can always reschedule..

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