Took NCLEX-RN on 3/13 and have been getting the good pop up ever since.
I felt the test was difficult. Def not easy at all.
Test shut off at 75questions for me. I was pretty sure I passed but no 100% sure.
Had about 18SATA questions, 3 drag and drop, prob 10+ med questions (most were simple meds : lasix, heparin, etc..)
Test was hard.
Study Plan (10 weeks total)
Saunders Comprehensive Review 5e
A week after graduation i started reading Saunders Comprehensive Review 5e. I read about 75-150 pages a day from the review book cover to cover. I also did all the questions and read the rationales. At times i felt the Saunders book was kind of full of fluff and annoying. I almost felt, at times, that i was wasting my time reading it. But at other times the materials i learned throughout nursing school were being refreshed in my mind. Overall though reading the book was time consuming and aggravating. Seemed repetitive too.
Kaplan NCLEX-RN 2012-2013 Strategies, Practice, and Review
Next i read the Kaplan book cover to cover. I felt as though the strategies about answering and breaking down questions were some what useful at times. No always though. The review sections really didnt give that much info about material, really just listed things you should know most of the time. Was kind of disappointing. I did all the questions in the book too. The great thing about the book is at the end there is a large comprehensive review. I scored about 70%+ on the review total. Did the book comp review in about 2 days. 100ish questions a day. I saved the CD assessment review for a few days before the test.
Kaplan Q-Trainers 1-7
These were very helpful and i felt they were somewhat like real nclex questions. At times i found myself punching my notes in frustration because i always go it down to the last two questions and picked the wrong one!! They can be very frustrating. I did anywhere from 50-150 questions a day and finished all qbanks in about a week. I scored anywhere from 60-70% on all the qbanks.
ALLNURSES STUDY GUIDE PDF
There is a study guide for the NCLEX-RN on this website that someone posted on here. I actually could not find the link. I thought the study guide was OK. I actually read it about once a week.
Lippincott's Q&A Review for NCLEX-RN
Next i worked with this book. I felt that the content area reviews from this book were in depth. Maybe to in depth for what is necessary to know for the nclex. So for the content areas i focused on what i thought were my weak points (maturnity and peds). Maybe they were my weak points because i am male and have no kids lol? I completed the whole peds + maturnity doing about 100-150questions a day and doing like every 3rd or fourth question with every SATA question. I scored about 60%+ ish on the in depth content review areas.
Next i did comprehensive exam 1-3 from the back of the lippincott book. I scored 70%+ on these. I felt these were not as in depth as the content areas of the book and maybe more realistic as to what we should know for nclex testing. I m shocked everyone shares there qtrainer scores but not there lippincott's comp exam scores. Also i did punch my notes with frustration sometimes doing these questions though.
Lippincott's NCLEX-RN® Alternate-Format Questions
Next i did this book in about 3-4 days. I mostly focused on the SATA questions in this book. Although i did do some of the other alternate format questions. I did no keep score on what i got doing this book because i probably would have gotten discouraged. I just did my best and did all the SATA questions. if i were to guess maybe i would have averaged around 30-40% correct.
Few days before the Nclex-Rn test
Now i had to get used to sitting at a computer to prepare for the nclex-rn. I took the Kaplan Cd, from the nclex book, grabbed my junk lap top and went to the local library. I sat there in one session and did the whole test on the Cd. I scored 72% and read all rationales.
The next day (3days before nclex) i went to the library again (important to get out of house or regular study area to get used to testing like ur actual nclex day) the saunders CD and did there assessment 75 questions test. I scored a 75%. I read all rationales after.
Two days before the NClEX-RN i used the saunders 5e CD again did random 10 question quizzes. I prob did about 100 regular questions averaging about 70ish % and 60 SATA questions averaging 45%.
One day before the NCLEX-RN i was extremly anxious and nervous. I went to the gym, went window shopping, tried to stay busy. I did not want to study. But i did. What i did was use the Allnurses PDF study guide and just study the meds from it for a couple hours.
All together i felt as though the NCLEX-RN was a very challenging test and i would never want to have to take it over again. It is do able though. Stay positive and study.
