What Helped Me Pass the NCLEX

Nursing Students NCLEX

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This post is for what helped ME pass the NCLEX. In NO WAY am I telling you "You must use these methods or else you will fail!" Do whatever makes you happy. This is for me to share with those who are lost or just interested in reading.

And also, if you're going to be a non-therapeutic nurse and put someone's studying skills down, stay off my wall.

:) I'm so happy that I passed and I understand how difficult it is to retain the information or to find the right stuff that will work. It has been such a tough journey doing this with two jobs and running a business.

I've tried everything (KAPLAN, Exam Cram, books, etc.) I feel like I had all the books out there and I was still overwhelmed.

In the end, I only used four study methods:

NCLEX-RN Questions and Answers Made Incredibly Easy

Lippincott's NCLEX-RN Alternate-Format Questions

NCLEX question apps on my phone/ipad when I'm out and about

I used NCLEX-RN Questions and Answers Made Incredibly Easy and I really really like this most of all, surprisingly. I completed the entire book and did not use KAPLAN at all the second time. For the record, the questions weren't easy. It is broken down into different categories (CARDIO, RESP, ETC.). The reason why I love this one the most is because it'll keep repetitively asking me the questions in a different way to help me retain that question.

I bought the Davismobile apps to use in my spare time. I loved using them! They were PRIORITY questions and ALTERNATE FORMAT questions. I felt that the NCLEX was based off on these two apps. I think if I didn't have to worry about understanding the contents, I'd be happy just using these two apps to practice for the exam & nothing else.

I used this person's guide (it is not mine so due to the respect of how hard she's worked to put this together, I will not post it up, distribute it, or sell it.) This guide is 97 pages long. It is the summary of all the rationales that the girl used from KAPLAN & other questions she's found. To me, it's amazing and worth the price because I did not have time to put a guide together myself.

  • Idk if that's worth it to you guys, but every single question I answered on the NCLEX, I remembered reading it off from her guide:

I know this is long! I just wanted to post this up for those who's struggling with sitting there and answering a million questions or reading hundreds of pages for review.

So key points:

  • I preferred the Easy Q&A since it kept asking you questions about the disease instead of just "moving" on assuming you know it or will remember it.
  • I love getting apps to go especially if I'm waiting on a long line. Worth the investment, especially the Priorizations & Delegations.
  • Bless that girl who made that study guide. I read it the weekend before the exam and that. saved. my. life.

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE! I'M ALWAYS HERE IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS! FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME!

Congrats and Thanks for sharing!:)

Congratulations.... opened the link of that girl study guide, im hoping its real cause im contemplating of purchasing it... have all the materials but i cant just study....0 motivation...Help!!!!

Aw, what's your email address? We can talk about how to make it easier for you. :) I'm here to help! My email is [email protected] (I can't reply to private messages since I'm not an active member yet.)

Aw, what's your email address? We can talk about how to make it easier for you. :) I'm here to help! My email is [email protected] (I can't reply to private messages since I'm not an active member yet.)

I was skeptical at first too because I don't even know who the person is, but all the positive reviews made me cave and give it a chance.

hey congrats do you mind if you can send me the PDF im broke right now .. here is my email add.

[email protected]

I can send the FREE study guide that's been going around, but I really respect this girl for helping me pass and putting the time into it that I didn't have, so I won't do that to her.

Here's the free one! This one's 34 pages long. https://allnurses.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=11215&d=1340919779

Im freaking!! can you please send it to me too??? i would highly apreciate it!!!

[email protected] please please please... my test is tomorrow and i dont want to fail at all.... havent slept in days

Oy. Stop cramming. It doesn't work. It's a neurologically unsound practice. You, tiffanyc123, go directly to 4) below. The rest of you, this is for you.

Whatever resource you use, make sure it gives you the rationales for why the wrong choices are wrong as well as the right ones, right. This is where most people fall down-- they pick an answer that is factually true but is not the best answer for the situation as it would be assessed by a good RN. They try to memorize facts but forget critical thinking skills that are, well, critical in all nursing judgment.

NCLEX items are developed in part from knowing what errors new grads make and how. They tend to be of two kinds: inadequate information, and lack of knowledge (these are not the same thing). The goal of NCLEX is to pass candidates who will be acceptably SAFE in practice as NURSES. So-- they want to know what the prudent NURSE will do.

1) When confronted c 4 answers, you can usually discard 2 out of hand. Of the remaining two,

-- always choose the answer that (in priority order) makes the patient safer or gets you more information. "Can you tell me more about that?" "What do you know about your medication?" "What was the patient's lab result?"

-- NEVER choose the answer that has you turf the situation to another discipline-- chaplain, dietary, MD, social work, etc. It's often tempting, but they want to know about what the NURSE would do. See "always..." above.

2) "Safer" might mean airway, breathing, circulation; it might mean pull the bed out of the room and away from the fire; it might mean pressure ulcer prevention; or improving nutrition; or teaching about loose scatter rugs ... Keep your mind open. It might also mean "Headed down a better pathway to health." For example, while telling a battered woman who has chosen not to leave her partner that "studies show that he will do it again" is factually true (and that's why this wrong answer is often chosen), the better answer is to acknowledge that you hear her choice to stay and say "now let's think of a plan to keep you safe." This doesn't turn her off from listening to you, so she will trust you, acknowledges her right to choose, and helps her along a path to better safety.

3) Read carefully. If they ask you for a nursing intervention answer, they aren't asking for an associated task or action which requires a physician plan of care. So in a scenario involving a medication, the answer would NOT be to hang the IV, regulate it, or chart it; it would not be to observe for complications. It WOULD be to assess pt knowledge of the med/tx plan and derive an appropriate patient teaching plan. Only that last one is nursing-independent and a nursing intervention.

Again, they want NURSING here.

4) The day before the test, do not study. Research shows that your brain does not retain crap you stuff into it at the last minute-- musicians learning a new piece play the first part on Monday, the second part on Tuesday, and the third part on Weds. Then they do something else entirely on Thursday; meanwhile, behind the scenes, the brain is organizing the new info into familiar cubbyholes already stuffed with music, putting it ready for easy access. On Friday, the whole piece works much better.

What this translates for in test-taking land is this: The day before the test, you go to a museum or a concert, go take a hike, read a trashy novel, make a ragout, do something else entirely. Take a small glass of wine, soak in a nice hot bath in a darkened tub with a few candles on the sink, get a nice night's sleep.

5) On your way out the door in the morning, open the refrigerator door and read the mayonnaise jar label. Do what it says: Keep cool, do not freeze. Then go to the testing center, you incipient RN, you!

well said

I love you GrnTea, thank you for the advice. Money can't buy this sound knowledge.

I'm receiving a lot of emails about specifically that study guide. Yes, some people have chosen to use only that study guide and yes, they passed. I wasn't giving that tip for an "easy way out". There really is no easy way out. I was trying to just explain what helped me when I felt that KAPLAN and Saunders didn't the first time. The Q&A really helped me, which is why I listed that one first.

I know some people like to cram and some people think they should rest the night before. My honest opinion on that is, to each their own. I know a lot of people who kept answering questions even right before taking the exam and some people who frown upon it. Again, to each their own. And remember, we're nurses here. :) Therapeutic techniques! Let's not minimize people.

If you e-mail me, I will gladly help you or explain things to make it easier. I will gladly sit down and talk about strategies or study plans. But PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL ME FOR A FREE STUDY GUIDE. The poor girl worked hard to put it together herself. I will not just give it out for free...you don't even need to get it. It's just one of the things I decided to use that worked in my favor just because I didn't have time to make my own.

Again, good luck!

I think danceandnurse was just sharing her experience and what helped her pass. You gave advice - awesome congratulations.

I'm sure many nursing students have had teachers say everything you just said but you didn't give any reading materials to help out the situation.

Again, the topic here was just "what helped" her pass not "I need tips, help me" - this comment was not needed at all.

You can say that cramming is "neurologically unsound" but I don't actually agree with you here. It really depends on the person's studying style. I cram all the time and excel no matter what.

I studied until the last minute and passed my nclex in 75 questions. Whether it helped or not, I would not have appreciated someone telling me to "relax". If you wouldn't tell your patients to "relax", then why would you go and tell someone else nontherapeutically "to relax", right?

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