A little more help on passing NCLEX

[stitch_you_up_rn]

Hey future nurses!

As someone who has gone through the looking glass and is on the other side as an RN, I thought I would go ahead and help others the way that others on this site have helped me. This website is an awesome resource for those who want to achieve their goals of being nurses so here are my two cents about the beast we call NCLEX and how you can be a little more successful in passing.

First and foremost I would like to mention that prayer is the most useful thing. You can have all the books, CD's and whatnot, but if you don't have any faith or belief in something, its going to be that much more difficult. I had a hard time getting to where I am today. Many things tried to come against me but I knew that God meant me to have this. There were times that I wanted to break down but when I felt that way I prayed about it, took a little time from studying and reminded myself why I was doing this. I truly believe that this is where my strength came from. I'm Catholic so I prayed to St Joseph of Cupertino (saint of test takers) and St Jude (saint of impossible causes). Get some saints on your side LOL!

Now, know that all that you need to know to pass this test was given to you in nursing school. If you could pass those test, then you stand a pretty good chance of passing this one. This test isn't going to test you on things that you should know after 5 years of nursing, it's the most basic and safe knowledge.

Its been said many times that questions are the key to success and its very true. I would suggest doing no less than 100 questions throughout the day per day until your test. You could do more obviously but you probably shouldn't do less. I did a mix of hard questions (from Kaplan, LaCharity, NCSBN and Exam Cram) and easy questions to gain a little knowledge (Saunders, NCLEX 4000). All of these were good resources in my opinion and they gave me a broad range of questions styles. The closest to the NCLEX appeared to be the Kaplan and NCLEX 4000. I would NOT recommend using only something like Saunders because those questions are way too easy and nothing like the NCLEX. NCSBN was way harder in than the NCLEX so it over prepared me. Not saying it's a bad thing but when you are making 60%-70% you get a little worried.

Do not, I repeat, do not take your test with doing the LaCharity Prioritization Delegation and Assignment book! This book I believe was a major key to many people passing the first time. I took 75 questions and I would say 30 of those were priority questions. LaCharity gave me the knowledge to look at the situation and analyze information about what to take care of first. I didn't do the case studies part because I found it too complicated. I averaged 60%-70% on these questions too. They are HARD but they are reflective of the test questions given.

Kaplan is good if you can get it. The school paid for ours so that's why I used it. I would recommend it highly. I did the Q-bank until I couldn't do it anymore. They have a setting where you can do the ones that you missed specifically. Even if you don't purchase the course (honestly I skipped it because they held our during spring break and I didn't want to sit in a class room for 8 hours) I would just buy the q-bank and trainers.

Know infection control like the back of your hand! The pneumonic on here is a life saver. Those questions came up in so many ways it wasn't even funny. I'm glad I stumbled upon it because it made answering those questions so much easier.

Any questions about anything I can help you with please don't hesitate to ask. I don't want to make this much longer than it already is so specific questions are welcome!

[connordwilson]

What mneumonic are you referring to?

[Blessedone1]

Did Kaplan's questions seem similar to NCLEX? I have the Kaplan on Demand and have 82% of qbank left to complete and I test next weekend.

[taylissa]

yes what pneumonic are you referring to, I'd love to check it out!

[texasRN_14]

I believe the mnemonic they are referring to is:

TRANSMISSION-BASED PRECAUTIONS:

AIRBORNE

My - Measles

Chicken - Chicken Pox/Varicella

Hez - Herpez Zoster/Shingles

TB

or remember...

MTV=Airborne

Measles

TB

Varicella-Chicken Pox/Herpes Zoster-Shingles

Private Room - negative pressure with 6-12 air exchanges/hr

Mask, N95 for TB

DROPLET

think of SPIDERMAN!

S - sepsis

S - scarlet fever

S - streptococcal pharyngitis

P - parvovirus B19

P - pneumonia

P - pertussis

I - influenza

D - diptheria (pharyngeal)

E - epiglottitis

R - rubella

M - mumps

M - meningitis

M - mycoplasma or meningeal pneumonia

An - Adenovirus

Private Room or cohort Mask

CONTACT PRECAUTION

MRS.WEE

M - multidrug resistant organism

R - respiratory infection

S - skin infections *

W - wound infxn

E - enteric infxn - clostridium difficile

E - eye infxn - conjunctivitis

[frankie,RN]

Congratulations:)

[stitch_you_up_rn]

Yes the Kaplan questions were very similar. Even the screen looked like the one on the NCLEX. Kaplan may even be a little harder than the NCLEX. I would do as much of it as I could just to get a feel for the exam.

[stitch_you_up_rn]

Thanks TexasCNA06! I was looking for it to post on here but you beat me to it. This is the one you need to commit to memory for the test. Very helpful.