NCLEX - Pass in 75 Questions

[sjoseph13, BSN, RN]

The first thing I'd like to share is don't overwhelm yourself with too many resources. I used to read many articles and posts about what worked for certain individuals, and i wanted to try all of them! Know how you study best & then make a plan of what you're going to do and what appeals to you. Everyone's experience and learning styles are different. Get a brand new notebook, highlighters, pens etc! Most importantly find a good place to study! Try to train your body to study in a quiet environment because this is the kind of environment you will be in during the NCLEX.

My school used HESI. I received one score of a 700 something in peds and i generally would range from 850-1100's. On my exit HESI i got over a 900 and conversion of an 86% i believe. I didn't find this too helpful for boards. However, if you're preparing for HESI, I would highly recommend Saunders.

For the NCLEX, I used the new Saunders (teal) Comprehensive review book, ATI comprehensive book, UWORLD, La Charity Book, Yellow Saunders book, and a little bit of Kaplan. A lot of people will say just do questions, but you do need to review content areas you're weak in! I began reviewing a topic area from the ATI book everyday until i completed it, and then, I would try to skim through Saunders whenever I felt it was necessary at the same time. ATI is straight to the point and isn't too descriptive, so I would use Saunders to compliment it if i felt I needed more of a content review. Do a few of the questions in the back to really see how much you're retaining! I would also do 75 question exams based on the topic areas on UWORLD after. For instance, if I was studying peds, I would take strictly Peds UWorld question exams. WRITE YOUR RATIONALES OUT (unless you're 95% sure you knew it). Then, transfer the charts/diagrams from UWORLD onto WORD for instance so you can go back and review these things. When it came to practicing questions for the Adult topic areas, I would take 75 question random exams from all the subtopic areas (onco, musculoskeletal, cardiac, etc).

All I kept hearing about UWorld was that it prepared people and helped them pass. I just didn't understand HOW it helped. When taking the NCLEX, you'll notice how the rationales from UWorld are part of the answer choices. It doesn't apply to EVERY question, but a few. UWorld gives you more confidence because the questions are just as hard or harder than your boards. So, review your rationals at least once a day after writing them out. Then when you're done with all the questions, review everything once over 2-3 days before the exam day.

Some people swear the questions from Kaplan are so similar to the boards, but i didn't feel this way. I felt i remembered more from the ATI book and UWorld rationales. However, I did a few questions from the Question Bank and up to 5 question trainers. The PDA book by La Charity is a great resource. Plan to take a few exams per day & review why you got the answers wrong! I only went up to chapter 21 and did not do the case study chapters.

There is a review packet someone put up a few years ago on a thread. I would highly recommend taking 2-3 days reviewing this before even starting Uworld. Definitely review it again before your exam too. Make sure you change the trade names of medications to generic! If you can't find it, i will try to find the link.

The most important thing is to pray! Have confidence in yourself & do all you can so you feel like you have put in enough work to succeed. On the day of the exam, eat a good breakfast & try to get good sleep! With God anything is possible, so if you are religious, ask him to be with you as you study and while you take your exam. Don't focus too much about what percentage you're getting, but really understand why you got a question right or wrong. If you're going to take an 8 AM exam, prepare your body and wake up early to take practice exams that time. Also, if you generally study the day before the exam, do that. Try not to overload yourself, but definitely review. I would use the Yellow Saunders book to review topic areas I was weaker in the day before.

Question Trainer Scores...

1:57.3%
2: 66.7%
3:57%
4:59.3%
5:58%

UWorld Assesssment 1: 91st percentile (Very High Change of Passing) - took this 12 days before my exam

UWorld Assessment 2: 87th percentile (Very High Change of Passing) - took this 2 days before my exam

Good luck and let me know if there's anything I can answer!