Davis' Success Series

NishiamoSN2013 · May 17, 2012

I am getting ready to start my nursing program in the fall, hopefully, and I was looking to get some books to help me through the first semester.
I saw some books on amazon called "Davis' Success Series." They have several books on just about every subject you will cover in nursing school. The books are considered two in one. They help you through the class and then help you study for the NCLEX.
Has anyone used these books? If so, what did you think of them?

Those books are a must have. They have helped me through Med Surg, OB, Peds and more. it has many NCLEX questions, which you will need!!!

IndyElmer · May 17, 2012

I would hit your local Barnes & Noble to compare the Davis Success Series and the Pearson (formerly Prentice Hall) Reviews & Rationales (R&R) series by Mary Ann Hogan. Davis typically has slightly more questions and no summaries. The R&R series has summary (that is really brief compared to most of the texts -- I found it particularly useful during my pathophysiology class that was didn't have a quality instructor, but not as useful for other subjects -- though it might be nice when the NCLEX rolls around) plus R&R has NCLEX questions (50 per chapter with 20 in the book and 30 on the CD so make sure you get the CD if you're buying used).

In terms of whether or not these are MUST have, I've heard mixed opinions. A lot of people say that they didn't have enough time to be reading a lot of other questions / supplemental books, while others swear by setting aside time for NCLEX style questions every week.

One thing to consider is possibly trying the Saunder's NCLEX review book first. It's divided by all the major topics and has a short review for each topic plus NCLEX style questions. Regardless of whether you like Davis or R&R better, the Saunders review would be much cheaper than buying a separate book for each subject. If you find yourself wishing you had more questions to practice for exams or if you're really struggling with a particular subject, then maybe consider getting a subject specific title from Davis or R&R.

I'm not a fan of the Mosby memory notebooks / memory notecards -- a lot of the most useful info can be found for free on discussion boards, tumblr, Pinterest. If you think you might want them, I recommend the notecards over the notebooks. The notecards have more info on the back of each image, they're in color and they're more portable.

Although I haven't used them yet, the Davis Notes pocket guide series looks interesting (particularly RNotes and Lab Notes) - check 'em out if you pop in to B&N to compare study guides )