1. i'm trying to cover all bases.. what exactly do we need to memorize? i know in an earlier thread, it was suggested that memorization is not the way to pass the NCLEX.. but, i know that we need to memorize all lab values, solutions.. any other suggestion?
2. saunders or kaplan?
3. is the kaplan/saunders questions similar to the NCLEX questions.. the questions that we do in kaplan seem so specific.
i will say it again for the thouusand time SAUNDERS book. Even the meds you will get it from saunders too after each chapter. She organized it for us in a very easy way. I rememberd all the meds cause I allways found away to remember what is commone in all of them. Side affect too: never mind the commone ones look for the diffrent ones like bleeding, dry mouth, swelling you know. All meds in saunders are in boxes, try to find away to remember them for exampl do they all end with idor te things like that. so at least when you see it on the test you will focous on what is it. Do saunders and you will see good luck
I took my NCLEX-PN 2 weeks ago. Here's what I have to say about your posts...
Study the common diseases and their symptoms b'coz once you hit the satisfactory level, the computer will give you harder ones and one of them is SATA questions or select all that apply. Do it like a true or false question. If you have no idea what is being asked, relax. Make an educated guess. Follow what your guts says.
Saunders and Lippicott prepares you to answer mostly the type of questions like "as a nurse, what should you do?". Prioritization is a huge part of the test for most people who took it. Memorization is not a big thing but understanding what is being asked is important. Example would be, "What should be the nurse be of most concern about on patients with renal failure?" For you to answer this and pick the best answer, you have to know what RF is then make your educated guess coz none of the books answers and teach you critical thinking.
And to end my long post, if you can start testing yourself and then find where your weak at, focus on that weak area coz for sure, the computer will know where your weak at and its gonna keep asking you about that area you missed. As far as Im hearing from my friends and my experiance, infection control, pharmacology, transcultural nursing, and common diseases like HTN, Heart & lung disease, etc comes out. Pretty much everything but you dont have to memorize everything coz no one does. Nursing is pretty broad. Practice using cds. If you can borrow cds from friends who took the test, it can save you money. I studied 3 different cds just to be on the safe side that Im not stuck on one type of review. I didnt finish all the questions on each cds but if you can practice atleast 200 a day, that would be great.
Best of all, trust yourself you can do it. Consider yourself as a winner coz you made it through nursing school. You just have to pass the boards and get licensed. Goodluck to you. :nuke:
Know your lab values. Know how to do the math questions. Know priority- ABC's. Study your Kaplan and brush-up on any areas you are weak in according to Kaplan. Think critically when you take it. How would a nurse react??? Took me THREE HOURS to get through 100 questions. I passed 1st time.
NewAggieGrad09
315 Posts
IDK why but I have NO ISSUES whatsoever with ABGs! But watch I get none of them on the test LMAO