Tips from a tutor

[BlackMurse1]

I was a tutor in school and even I had to take the exam a second time. It wasn't because I did not have the knowledge, I genuinely struggle with test-taking anxiety and had to use strategy to apply my knowledge. I finished the exam with 75 questions. In fact, I'm the only person I know who ended on dose calc.

I recommend the following three books:

1. 2012-2013 Kaplan, NCLEX RN Strategies, Practice and Review (read twice)
2. Lippincott 10th Ed Q&A Review for NCLEX-RN by Diane M Billings
3. Saunders Comprehensive Review NCLEX RN Exam 4th/5th Ed by Linda Ann Silvestri

Review the Kaplan book first. Take heed to the strategies and make a copy of how to apply different strategies depending on the type of question.

Use the Silvestri to understand the different contents, like Med-Surg, MN stuff like that

Then do as many questions as you can and practice the strategies everyday if you can. The exam is not about how good you are as a nurse but how well you can apply knowledge.

Between the Lippincott and the Saunders you'll have 4000 questions; the Saunders CD has a bunch that you can make your own test out of.

Practice, Practice Practice......Up to 150-200 questions per day, do a different construct per week

Ex: Fundamentals, Leadership Week 1

• Pharm 2
• Med-Surg Week 3 & 4
• MN, Child Care Week 5
• Mental Health/ Mental Health meds Week 6

On Sat and Sun review the previous weeks topics, I literally went chapter for chapter with the Saunders to keep me on track.

6 Ways to improve your score

1. I used Saunders every day

Mostly the CD's for questions, their med section is pretty good too. I usually averaged a 70 to 80 % when I did 60 to 100 questions. Anything over 60% means you have command of the content.

Remember the way the NCLEX works is you want to chain as many right answers as possible. Most people who take the exam only get 60% of the questions right. What gave me confidence is after doing 60-100 questions I would see how many in a row I got right. Whenever I got more than 3 in a row I called it a block, the more blocks I got the more confident I became. At one point I was getting 9 questions in a row right while doing a comprehensive exam.

This made me feel that as long as I focused on strategy I would be good.

2. Relax your brain

I did not study the day before the exam instead I look over test-taking strategies from Kaplan and re read every lab value and med therapeutic value. You can't study everything just focus on your weaknesses (topics you get wrong over and over).

3. How to handle meds

When it came to meds, I focused exclusively on the classifications and the suffixes, with the exception of what I call habitual meds. (Lithium, Dig, Haldol, Theo-Dur, meds that come up time and time again).

4. Unfamiliar with a topic?

When I was unfamiliar with a topic, I would focus mostly on the Saunders book. MN for example was a very week area of mine but I became really good at it after reading the Saunders section twice. I realized that many questions had the same pattern. What would you do to Prevent complications? What would you teach to promote growth? When I kept that in mind I did well on my ATI assessment (80%.)

5. Make it a habit

Remember you have to keep doing questions to develop a habit. The habit has to encompass the ability to identify the topic, eliminate two choices and picking the right outcome based on what the topic is asking you. By doing questions and reviewing the rationale you're doing that. Don't stress, a positive outlook is the best mindset for the exam.

6. Don't get overwhelmed

Take a break once in a while ?

Great Question Techniques

For those who struggle with SATA.................here's some advice as well.

A community health nurse is providing a teaching session about terrorism to members of the community and is discussing information regarding anthrax. The nurse tells those attending that anthrax can be transmitted by which route (s)?

The first thing I did was reword the questions. How is Anthrax transmitted?

When you reword like that you focus on what you know, versus on what you don't know.

Here are the options:

1. Bites from ticks
2. Inhalation bacteria spores
3. Through a cut or abrasion in the skin
4. Direct contact with an infected individual
5. Sexual contact with an infect individual
6. Ingestion of contaminated under cook meat

At this point, this is what I do, I ask myself Is Anthrax transmitted by ticks? I know the answer is no, so I eliminate it and don't look back. Then I ask myself Is Anthrax transmitted by spores, I know the answer is yes. I do this with each option. Even if I was unsure with option 5, I would only focus on what I know. Then I would ask myself does this make sense, if it does not I would explain to myself why.

This whole process becomes habitual and I'm doing it out loud silently.

By not comparing it and using my knowledge and this strategy it helps navigate through the questions.

The answer is 2, 3, 6

Here's one more example...

A home care nurse is monitoring a pregnant client with Gestational hypertension who is at risk for preeclampsia. At each home care visit, the nurse assess the client which classic signs of preeclampsia?

Again I re word.....Is this a sign of preeclampsia?

Options

1. Proteinuria
2. Hypertension
3. Low-grade fever
4. Generalized edema
5. Increased pulse rate
6. Increased respiratory rate

So I was horrible at MN, but I learned that with MN, there are patterns that show up time and time again. Once you understand the difference between Gestational Hypertension, Mild Preeclampsia and Eclampsia it's easy to identify the answer. So I GO WITH WHAT I KNOW!

Is protienuria a sign of preeclampsia? Yes

Is Hypertension a sign of preeclampsia? Yes

Is Low-grade fever a sign of preeclampsia? No, well why? Because the vital sign primarily affected is Blood Pressure. By focusing on that I can pick the right choices.

The answer is 1, 2, and 4.

You'll be okay.......................YOU MADE IT THROUGH NURSING SCHOOL!!

I hope this helps

:thankya: