general questions about NCLEX

[Qka]

This topic was probably discussed many times but I cant find where. Sorry if my questions seem stupid. I am sonfused after reading this forum for several weeks.

I am graduating in one semester and started to look for info about NCLEX.

1) Could you please explain what NCLEX is? What the structure of the exam, how much time, questions, etc. Just basic info of what it is?? I am confused because as I read here people finish with different number of questions. Why so? What is the reagistration process for NCLEX? When can I schedule my exam and what I need for that?

2)what are SATA questions and why people are scared to meet this type of question? Also, I met term SATA on this website for the first time. What other types of questions are in NCLEX?

3) And my major question is what are the options for preparation for NCLEX? As far as I get many people do as many NCLEX type questions from various books as they can. Ok, this is one way, this is what I do to prepare for my exams in school and for finals and HESI.

Also I see many people use review classes. The most popular is Kaplan. What are the others? what class is better? Is it online or it includes books/CDs as well? If it does inculde printed resources, can I use a used copy of them to save some money (like I buy used books for my classes) Or is it designed in such a way that it is just useless to buy used copy of resources? Also for how long are this classes?

Also I went to Kaplan's webside and found out there are different options for review class. Which one is better?

I do not know about other review classes. WHat other classes are available and how long are they.

Also I saw here people are using questions from test bank or something like that. What is the link? What are the terms of using it (i think it is not free, right :) lol)?

What other resourses for preparation are avilable?

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

NCSBN has some excellent information on the NCLEX and how it works. SATA is just a format style of questions and others are multi choice, drop and drag. Kaplan can be bought as books, online courses or live courses (local to where you live) There are many threads that discuss what worked for whom so may be worth having a good read