Anxiety for NCLEX....any advice needed.

Graduatenurse14 · Jul 24, 2014

My school had us do ATI and I did the Kaplan Classroom Review. I like Kaplan and those who've taken the exam say that it's most like the real exam. I like that you can watch the videos and go through the book. I like that I can see my weak areas on the test Analysis portion. I also bought Priority, Delegation and Assignment by LaCharity since I was getting a lot of those questions wrong doing Kaplan questions. It's helping!

IDK, some people swear by Hurst, some by Kaplan, a few by ATI, some don't use any of those resources and pass the first time. This is why it such a crap shoot in many regards. I wish that I had a better answer for you! Whatever method you choose, good luck!!

whatsmyusername_RN · Jul 24, 2014

Hey Oreally13,

Take some slow deep breaths...You haven't registered for the exam yet so you have plenty of time to review for it. To answer your questions,

1. I don't think there are correct techniques in preparing for the Nclex monster. However, you should examine your study style and who you are as a learner. Are you the type that like to study by yourself or with others? Can you study more than a few hours at a time or do you need many breaks in between? In any case, you should create a study plan and designate how many hours you should study at a time. As for myself, I'm a solitary learner and find it easy to study alone b/c I get too distracted with people around. I went to the library and found a quiet place and sit there many hours in with earplugs. But I found it was necessary for me to take many breaks in between studying to break the monotony and fatigue. I also brought food and water with me so I would not get distracted by hunger. I gave myself about 4 weeks to prepare. You can take as long as you need to be confident with the contents. Don't force yourself to take the exam when you are not ready. Go at your own pace.

2. I used many resources and while that is not ideal for people, it gave me a chance at seeing different Nclex style questions. I used Saunder's book to review, Kaplan for the questions (I didn't use much of its book) & watched the videos (particularly the content videos), and Lippincott's Q&A book (I didn't finish this b/c of time constraint but this is a great way to get more practice). All of these were really great resources and provided good practice, but what more important than taking tons of questions is to read the rationale and understand what you have gotten wrong. You should also focus on your weakness (like if you suck at medications, you need to review them).

3. Don't be overwhelmed. You need a break every once in a while to regroup. Be confident! you have conquered nursing school and you certainly conquer this exam!

Good luck with studying!

whatsmyusername_RN · Jul 24, 2014

P.S. If you have a Kindle, you can download the Kaplan review book for free. Like I said I didn't used it that much b/c I found Saunder's book more comprehensive, but the Kaplan book breaks topics into the nclex contents, i.e. Physiological Integrity, Reduction of Risks, etc. You can read it and see if it'll be useful for you. It doesn't hurt to try. It is free after all.

DJAYS · Jul 24, 2014

My school also had ATI in our program which is good. Go to the free library and try a few books out to see what you like and take it from there. You can see all the Kaplan, Hurst review book there. Also try the youtube stuff free again to see what people say. There is a long 1 hours video from Kaplan free on youtube to watch and also Hurst videos review free watch and see..I hope this help you out. But you have to find out if you our and audio person..I am, I like it explained to me ...then I like to read about it...Good luck

PixieRN14 · Jul 24, 2014

I did nothing but do questions from Kaplan and PDA. I then went back and reviewed all rationales and wrote them down if I got the question wrong. I took the NCLEX today and felt what I did prepared me very well. My exam stopped at 75 q and I am getting the good pop up. I honestly was expecting the NCLEX to be harder then it was. I thought the Kaplan questions were much harder.

SeattleRS24 · Jul 25, 2014

Take a deep breath - you CAN do this! I recommend Hurst simply because for me, it was a very simply laid-out study plan. I felt like I could focus purely on the Hurst, section by section, and learn the necessary material. Whatever you choose, it ultimately depends on how much effort you put into studying and how much you take care of yourself (mentally and physically) leading up to the test. Best of luck!