A little background. I flunked out of nursing school once...got B's all throughout nursing school...failed the HESI twice. Really never devoted myself to nursing, went out too much. But I graduated the beginning of May and started studying. Did about 200 questions out of Saunders every day for about 3 weeks. Then used Kaplan strategies book and PDA by LaCharity. So I studied every weekday (took a couple days off here and there). The week before the test, I got really bad test anxiety, and wasn't able to study hardly at all! Mostly studied to reinforce everything. The day before the test I reviewed this study guide and lab values. I took it this morning and had 140ish questions. I was keeping tally of the SATA until it went past 75 (had 18 SATA before it passed 75) then had like 4 or 5 after that. Went home and tried the PVT trick 92384 times and got the good pop up!
So my advice to those who are taking the exam. Study this study guide and PDA. And do questions every day. Majority of my test was prioritizing patients and lots of infections control and meds. I didn't study hardly at all for meds, and I'm glad I didn't because I would have not been able to recognize them (which is why I probably did bad in nursing school haha). Say a prayer before you take it if you start and whenever you aren't able to focus! Good luck to everyone who takes it!
