Best NCLEX review books and any tips?

DnvrOutdoorsRN, BSN, APRN, CRNA · Jan 17, 2013

Good for you, getting a early start! I used to be the biggest procrastinator, but nursing school changed that. :yes:

How to prepare for the NCLEX is very subjective. I think you need to look closely at yourself and understand how you best study, and get an understanding of what your strengths/weaknesses are.

For content / strategy, I'd look to the Kaplan review books first and Saunders 2nd. IMHO, Kaplan questions are the closest to the real deal. I wouldn't bother going to buy the books, go to your local library and check them out. I only liked the books that had rationales for the questions, not only why the answer was correct but why the others were wrong.

I'd didn't take a review course, but that's a personal preference. Plenty of my classmates took the Kaplan review and found it helpful with strategy. Kaplan uses a decision tree model for each type of question to help find the answer. The review books introduce it too, but the class practices it more. There are other review courses out there that focus on content, just can't remember the name of them.

TIPS:

1) Don't Panic. Breathe. You survived nursing school, you can do this. Develop a schedule for studying, but don't over do it.

2) Questions, questions, questions. I started with 100 q's a day, M-F, reviewing rationales. Gave myself the weekends off to not get overloaded. If there was anything so out of left field I didn't understand, I looked it up and reviewed it. I didn't bother with content review at all. 1 1/2 week prior, I ramped up to 150-200 q's daily, M-F.

3) Labs/Normals: If you haven't already, put together a sheet that has all of the major labs and normal values for things like VS.

4) Best advice that an experienced RN gave me when looking at questions: If you're not sure of the answer, pick the response that could never cause harm to the patient.

Good luck.

kemifair · Jan 17, 2013

Thats right thank u