Nervous about NCLEX... ADVISE PLEASE

Nursing Students NCLEX

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I'm a month away from graduating Nursing School in Texas and we took an ATI predictor the other day. I got a 50% chance of passing the NCLEX on my first time so it makes me nervous about my chances for passing the real test.

I tried to go through all the posts here on allnurses but so many anxious people and so many people that didn't pass the first time is very depressing and discouraging. I figured instead of spending hours looking through feeds that just overwhelm me I would post a discussion and others can respond.

My top questions: what did you do to study? (Hurst, Kaplan, NCSBN, ATI??)

Study books? Saunders (I've heard that's the best), Mosby, um... not too sure what else?

Any good question banks out there that I must have? I saw a link for NCLEX 3500 and read that NCLEX 4000 doesn't work on Macs?

If you have an amazing tips/ advise please that you have gathered and are willing to share. Let me know.

Thanks guys,

haha it feels very therapeutic just to leave this thread... even if no one will read it. :D

Specializes in Emergency.

I used the Kaplan course. They have a money back guarantee. Kind of like pass or don't pay type thing. I passed my first try.

Specializes in Emergency.

Oh and also- this exam is all about test taking skills. Learn to answer the questions and eliminate wrong answers, even if you don't know the material and you'll be ok.

My program was excellent, and we all had to take the ATI test in last semester which was the majority of my grade in one class. We also did the Kaplan program after graduation, and I passed first time, with 75 questions. The main thing to me was ATI seemed to check knowledge, but Kaplan taught more critical thinking, and question breakdown. I studied just as hard everyday after graduation as I did during school, up to 6 hours sometimes, but then day before NCLEX, got a hotel room close to testing site, had a nice dinner, and just relaxed with friends also taking the exam. The next morning went to site, and just did it. Came out thinking I failed, but recieved good pop-up, and two days later found out I had indeed passed. I am now a working RN. So, study hard and have a positive attitude, because you CAN do this. Good Luck to you.

Hi, I took NCLEX last month. I used the Hurst Review book, Kaplan book, Saunder's CD, NCSBN and some other randomness. In my opinion, the NCSBN questions were most similar to NCLEX. Just like them, in fact.

Yes, it is hard to study for NCLEX as far as content goes because there are endless things they can ask you. I did find, though, that almost all of the topics I had on the test were also in the practice questions I did.

I felt it was very straightforward myself. I passed the first time with 75 questions.

There is an amazing NCLEX study website that helped me a lot before I took my board exams.

Main Menu - NCLEX-RN 3500 - Institutional Version

I would do 25 questions in review mode four to six times a day, and before I knew it I was learning to fill in those gaps in my learning. My best advice to you is to do all the practice questions you can possible do. Kaplan worked wonders for me because it focused on test taking strategies and the questions were at a level that I would compare to similar to the actual test. Everyone is different though so do what works best for you personally. Most of all, the night before the test don't do ANY reading or studying and relax. That state of mind probably helped more than anything combined.

Good Luck and let us know how you think you did! :)

Hey! I sent you a private message with helpful hints. Didn't know if it would notify you or not so I am mentioning it here!

Good luck! Know you will do great!

Specializes in ED, trauma.

I am 2 semesters away from my NCLEX-RN exam and my school uses ATI - we are required to pass at 90%+ or we cannot get our ATT, our school basically says we haven't successfully completed the requirements for their program.

HELP

THANKS!!!

Congrats and GOODLUCK!!

i really want to PASS my BIGGEST EXAM in my LIFE:cry:

I took my test yesterday, no official results yet, but I did get the "good" pop up. I think NCSBN questions were pretty close to NCLEX. I also did Saunders and Silvestri. I think the most helpful thing though is learning how to answer the questions using the Maslow/ABC rule. There were so many things I felt I didn't know, but I kept reminding myself that I'm competent enough to be a nurse. What is the best/worst thing that could happen is a good way to answer questions too.

Specializes in Peds.

Hi Preciousscarter,

I am doing ncsbn. I started last Tuesday. What were your % on each post exam? I'm glad to hear its similar to NCLEX :)

I get 80's and up, BUT... We had to do that As a requirement to graduate from my school. So I've done about all of the questions including the test bank ones, we had a class our last term dedicated to those tests and Saunders and Silvestri. So I just continued until I took my exam

Specializes in Peds.

That's good and it paid off. We had ATI thru my school. I'm studying at moment exam cram ...kind place to place I hope that's not bad but I want to do as many questions as I can. What was your average # of questions per day? How many hours did you study in a day, too? :)

Oh and how many months did it take to do NCLEX from last day of school? I know ppl say do it with 80 days from last day of nursing school.

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