Anyone skip pharm and pass NCLEX?

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I am writing my exam in 4 weeks. I have gone thro most of the Saunders comprehensive book (minus med chapters).

My pharm knowledge is very low. I feel that if I focus on that it will take up a large chunk of the 4 weeks. Plus I have heard from multiple ppl that they only got around 5-8 pharm qs. The highest number I have heard was from a friend who had 240 qs and got 13. Thats still a pretty low number.

Anyone who wrote the exam have some insight into this? I feel like it is a gamble to do this but I am in crunch time and would like to focus on larger topics.

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I Failed nclex twice. I hated pharma ever since, on my nclex results, my pharma has always been below passing standard on both test. However On my third take, I still didnt study pharma at all! lol i just didnt want to have headache at all haha! by the way, i'm not sure if i pass yet. i just recently took it for the 3rd time 2 weeks ago, been getting "good pop up though". hopefully this helps you. i'll definitely you know if ever i pass!

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I Failed nclex twice. I hated pharma ever since, on my nclex results, my pharma has always been below passing standard on both test. However On my third take, I still didnt study pharma at all! lol i just didnt want to have headache at all haha! by the way, i'm not sure if i pass yet. i just recently took it for the 3rd time 2 weeks ago, been getting "good pop up though". hopefully this helps you. i'll definitely you know if ever i pass!

How many pharm based questions did you get in your first 2 nclex tries?

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As far as i remmber, probbly like 3-6 on both, but on my last . i had a ton of meds

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I tried not think too much outside of the box, and just chose the safest answer that i could. Some of them i remmber from nursing school, but most of them i had no clue

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Specializes in CVICU.

It doesn't matter how many pharmacology questions another person got. The test is completely randomized. It does not give you more or fewer questions based on subject, as opposed to what some people think. Pharmacological therapies as a category makes up 11-17% of the NCLEX-RN. I took the NCLEX today and questions varied in subject from side effects of the drugs to teaching to be done for clients on said drug, so like when they should take it, if they take it with food or not, what to look out for, etc.

I really recommend doing something like Kaplan or NCLEX Mastery to focus on pharmacology questions, try to recognize common patterns in the spelling of certain drug classes, make flashcards so you can memorize the drug names, and try to figure out things that set the drugs apart, such as unique side effects. But, there is no way around it. As someone sitting for the NCLEX-RN, and even as a practicing nurse, you need to have at least rudimentary knowledge of pharmacology.

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Specializes in CVICU CCRN.

The NCLEX RN Mastery app is very reasonably priced and gives you the ability to customize your quiz content. I highly recommend it. While some folks may have a relatively few number of *direct* pharm questions on the exam, I felt that underlying pharm and side effect knowledge played in to a large number of my questions, whether it was used as a distractor or as a straightforward question. Remember, this test requires a working knowledge base to successfully answer each question; you may need to synthesize several disparate pieces of information to correctly interpret and answer a question. I would seriously encourage you to do a pharm review, even if it's just questions and reading the rationales for each question. Good luck.

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I got a lot of pharm on my nclex.

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If your pharm knowledge is really low and you still have four weeks before your test, why would you NOT study pharm? Just because one person only had 3-6 on their NCLEX doesn't mean you will. A friend of mine had over 25 med questions. Every test is different. Study pharm.

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Please study Pharm and don't live it up to chance. You may regret it.

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Please study Pharm and don't live it up to chance. You may regret it.

I agree! I used the nclex pharm flash cards that were around 20 or 25 on amazon. Studied pharm about an hour a day for a month and passed.

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OP, you received some VERY good advice here. You might see more or less pharm questions than someone else, but that's really NOT the way to prepare. You will still have to demonstrate, to a 95% CI that you are competent in that area of knowledge or you will not pass the exam, it's really that simple.

Good luck!

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