Struggling with the NCLEX? These tips may help you.

This post is for those who are struggling and have taken the test more than twice but actually it could benefit anyone. I am passing on my experience and what helped me to succeed and it took me a lot of hitting heads against walls. I will not go over study methods in particular because there are so many posts in this forum which addresses it, instead I think that most people fail this test by not understanding the nature of the beast. Yes you must have a good NCLEX type knowledge base and without that you can’t play the game, but that alone will not pass you, there is something else you must know.

1)TIMING: as they say, timing is everything. This might be one of the most misunderstood items on the NCLEX. You really have one minute or so to answer each questions. I am not sure about this but I now believe there is an algorithm which measures the time you use for each question and credits you accordingly. The NCLEX really like when you go fast. And that makes sense for the nursing profession where you will encounter emergency situations you know little about and only have a minute to make a decision. So when they say don’t over think is that you really don’t have the time to do it. Have you ever noticed how some questions keep coming back, that’s because you might have answered correctly but took too much time so they are not sure that you really know. They want you to look at the question, read it carefully, make a decision select, and move on. Another timing issue is how long you delay to re take the test. Don’t. You are never ready for this test, put that in your mind. This test is about action at the moment of the test, because that is exactly what they are testing; your ability to think on your feet with the little knowledge you have in about a minute. So go to PearsonVue website and schedule that test now and go face the beast!

2)YOUR KNOWLEDGE: of course the more you know the best, but not really. All you have to have is some “NCLEX type knowledge” and that you can get with so many books that this site has enlisted in so many treads, Kaplan book/course, is a good source of that as well. Know for ex: that when they ask about chest tube, they might want to know a, b, or c and usually it does not stray too far from a certain number of options. This is the building blocks the NCLEX gives you so you can play the game. And as they say in so many books and it’s true, the NCLEX is “ivory tower nursing” but more than that they have a vocabulary and which is huge and the more you know the better because it will help you speed up the answers. So the way to look at knowledge is not in the traditional way of really knowing it but using your NCLEX knowledge to play the NCLEX game.

3)STUDY TIME: don’t drive yourself crazy. I would practice 60 questions a day in one hour's time. Buy a timer and keep the pace, don’t ever take more than one hour. If you are getting above 65% in one hour you looking good but try to get higher. One day per week go all the way to 265 (ouch!) because most likely this is what your test will be like! So in essence you are building up endurance within that kind of knowledge rather than becoming a nursing genius. Have fun with it, if you drive yourself to pain you will also learn pain so when you get to the test that’s what you will remember.

4)THE TEST: it’s important to know about this test and its inner workings. One fact I think is interesting is that the NCLEX will test everyone differently. The NCLEX has two ways to make a decision about you: (1) you will pass or fail with an “X” number of questions, so if you are really good you can pass as little as 75-180 (average) questions and if you are doing really badly you will fail with 75-180 questions. (2) but at a certain point in the beginning of the test the computer makes a decision, it can’t figure you out, you have missed a bunch of questions but you’ve also hit some important ones, so it decides that you need to be tested in the whole gamut of questions, so you are going all the way to 265 baby (ouch again). However remember, if you are not consistent and begin to do poorly because you are tired you can fail too and not go all the way so it's not guaranteed you will go all the way, so you must stay in the game. If you are struggling forget about that magical “oh a passed with 75 questions”, be prepared to go all the way and most importantly be consistent throughout the entire range and that’s why is so important to train yourself that way. The NCLEX will be really impressed with your consistency and you will be credited for that. Remember, the NCLEX is not about getting questions right and building up points like in regular tests, the NCLEX is testing how you perform under stressful situations and in certain ways your ability to improvise. I believe the algorithm of this program is very sophisticated and can measure everything you do.

5)CRITICAL THINKING: to critically think about the questions require a different set of tools. You must focus in the question, you must zero in to that question only and not stray one bit from it. I developed this way of thinking. I would imagine myself there, at the hospital with a real situation and then think “what would I do here…for real” and make that decision in terms of what would I do in order to be the safest.

6)PLAY TETRIS: and here’s why, Tetris is one of the first video games made for computers and in my opinion it simulates several of the brain functions required for the NCLEX. It will help you with the brain stamina you need to endure all the 265 questions without lowering your performance. You have to make quick decisions in shorter and shorter amounts of time. It forces your brain to critically think faster and faster as the geometrical shapes fall down and you have to figure out where they fit. I was amazed to find out how much I improved as I started to play. If you don’t believe this is helpful, just play for fun and it will your mind from the study.

7)PRAY FOR ST. JUDE THE PATRON OF THE IMPOSSIBLE CAUSES AND THE BEST LUCK TO YOU. PERSISTENCE WILL SEE YOU THROUGH.