Boy, what a reality check!!

A bunch of us were standing around yesterday commenting on how really "unmotivated" we were this semester because things seemed so easy. We are all sophomore BSN students and this was just before our first concepts exam. Well, we took the exam and was it ever a REALITY CHECK!!!

All of the questions were NCLEX style which required allot of critical thinking. We all think we did pretty bad. It was only the first exam so I know we can get our grades up, but let me tell you, I was up at 6am this morning studying. I guess sometimes it takes a good boot in the a$$ to get me moving!!

Anyone else have similar experiences?

[BrandyBSN]

LOL!!! that is exactly what I thought 2 years ago :)

But, they are really doing you a big favor. NCLEX style testing prepares you a LOT better than Matching, fill in the blank, or essay! I does get worse, it does get harder... but then one day a lightbulb will go off, everything will click, and you will just breeze right through after that. Im a senior now, and for some reason over the summer everything just fell into place. Everything makes sense, and its all linked together. It will happen :)

Good Luck!

BrandyBSN

[jfordngcsu]

i would never dare do such a thing with our tests. some of ours you can study and study and study and still not make an A. onour first test there was only one A out of 60 some students. but i bet you learned your lesson!! but thats what makes life fun, you have to live and learn from your mistakes. we only live once so make the best out of it, even if you are in nursing school!!

[essarge]

OK....so now we're studying like a good little nursing student!! LOL!!

Some time ago someone on this board suggested getting some NCLEX books to study from along with the text. Well, today I broke down and went and got two of them. One from Springhouse and the other is Davis's NCLEX-RN success. They are broken down into systems which is how our courses are broken down. Soooo....I will "practice" with these and hope that they help a little.

I think it was you Brandy that suggested it. Thanks!!

[trishfish]

I found a OLD NCLEX book at a thrift store last fall. I bought it for $8.00 which is VERY cheap for a NCLEX book. Just as a fluke I decided to study from that book before a test. 75% of the test came from that book!!!! It turns out my teacher wrote those questions and submitted them for that book. My mouth just hit the desk!!! I could not believe it. Needless to say I did REALLY good on that test!!!!

I do find studying with NCLEX books helps me when I take a Nursing Test.

Tricia

[peaceful2100, BSN, RN]

I know the feeling. Our first health management test is coming up this monday and I am wondering how that will be. I have been studying my rear end off and I turned all the objectives into several questions and found the answers either in my lecture notes or in my text and made index cards out of them. I also have brought some NCLEX books, I have Mosby review, Lippincott review and Kaplan nursing review and I am now finally putting them to use. We also had a special lecture this week on test taking tips for applied questions which are exactly what nursing questions are and I found it to be extremely helpful because now when I am going through the NCLEX books I am looking at questions like I have never done before and I am getting most of the questions in the NCLEX books right because of the tips we were taught. I am so glad they did that or else I would probably be using my same methods for the questions. Not anymore.

[KristaB]

Yes, we have a test taking tutorial program in the nursing computer lab, and I have found it very helpful. I also bought the test taking book that our instructor recommeneded, and while I haven't found it nearly as helpful, it has helped some (but I'll probably sell it at the end of the quarter!). We're still doing such basic stuff that the NCLEX books aren't helping me yet, but the test taking tips do work!

Krista

[EXOTIC NURSE, RN]

I have found the NCLEX-RN REVIEW WHICH IS NICK NAMED HESSI TO BE VERY VERY HELPFUL.

We have to pass this Hessi exam before we can even graduate so I study this book along with my text book and I also answer all the questions from my required readings and I do the workbook questions as well and usually a CD rom comes with the book I answer those questions as well....plus I use the Mosby NCLEX review and go to the section I am studying and review and answer questions from there as well. this HESSI book comes with 2 cd roms one for pharmacalogy and one for NCLEX style questions........

[essarge]

Do you have the ISBN for that book? I haven't seen it, but I will take anything I can get my hands on!! Right now I've got Davis and Springhouse which are both very good!!

[EXOTIC NURSE, RN]

I hope this is helpful as I threw away the box that the book and the discs came in .......I can get the info from my instructor and I will post it for you....but the books and the cd roms are from

HEALTH EDUCATION SYSTEMS, INC. and the cost was $75.00 at the time I purchased it. I will get more detailed info for you.

[essarge]

Thanks!!!

[EXOTIC NURSE, RN]

I found a website you can go to acquire the book and the cd roms

http://www.healthsystems.com.

I hope this is helpful for you............