I passed the NCLEX in 75 questions. Study materials I used

[ElizabethG,RN]

I have been reviewing this website these past few months before my boards to look for any new study materials I should be using. This was an extremely helpful website for me, and I wanted to pass along the ways I used to study for this exam.

1. Kaplan Live On Demand Course + book. I used Kaplan the way it was meant to be used. I watched all of the videos, did every single question bank, and trainer. This was probably the most helpful in my opinion. I was scoring mid fifties in all of the trainers and the readiness test.

2. PDA by LaCharity. I didn't read the book just did the online questions.

3. Saunders NCLEX Review (the yellow book). I read this from front to back. It was a long process, but it helped solidify so much content.

4. NCSBN 3 week course. This was alright, the questions were harder which made good practice.

I studied for 8 weeks. I worked full time as a tech and on my days off I would study like it was a second job, 9-5. Some people can study for 2 weeks and take it, and pass but I am not one of those people. I am very anxious with exams and I knew I had to have a more than solid base of content and be extremely confident with answering questions before I walked into that testing center. I also knew they raised the the passing score on the NCLEX and my school had dropped form a 98% pass rate to a 80%. I am not a good test taker at all. I would always be stuck between two answers, and Kaplan helped solidify with me the best ways to attack an NCLEX question. Kaplan content and questions + Saunders content + PDA was my key to success, and staying on top of studying. You guys can do it!