I need help with my Nclex exam

KrCmommy522, BSN, RN · May 6, 2018

You need to answer as many questions as possible and read EVERY rationale - right and wrong. You need to read to find out why the correct answer is correct, and why the others were wrong. Also, very important is to pay attention to what it states the key word/subject of the question was. It is important to be able to identify the key word/subject of the question - because it will help you answer it correctly.

I really liked "Saunders Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX-RN". In the answer section, it provides the correct answer. Then, it provides a good rationale, explaining why the correct answer was correct and why the other options were wrong. It also makes points to state to focus on the subject of the question, and states what it is in the rationale in case you were focusing on the wrong subject of the question - this will help you know whether or not you were focusing on the wrong subject, and if you were, how to figure out what the right subject is. It also points out options that you can be eliminated because they are comparable or alike. It also provides test-taking strategy that you can use to come up with the answer (e.g., like eliminating options because they are comparable or alike). It is really helpful to always read the entire rationale and test-taking strategy for each and every question - whether you got it right or wrong. Even if you got it right, you might learn something you didn't know or learn a test strategy that you didn't know about, etc. I think its one of the best resources.

The book "Prioritization, Delegation, and Assignment" by Lacharity is really good! It helps you answer those types of questions.

"Lippincott NCLEX-RN Alternate-Format Questions". It's really good if you have issues answering alternate format types of questions (SATA, fill-in-the-blank, etc.).

Aside from paying attention to the keyword/subject of the question, I would say probably the MOST IMPORTANT thing when learning to answer NCLEX questions is learning principles and being able to apply those principles. The most important thing is to make sure you know the basic principles. Don't try to memorize everything. NCLEX is testing you on how well you basic principles. NCLEX is not testing to see how well you memorized the list of S&S for this med, or the list of S&S for acidosis. You need to know the basic principles, so you can generate the list for yourself based on that. NCLEX is a NATIONAL test, so they have to make the questions fair no matter what book, school, etc. someone went to. Therefore, they can't write questions based on some list out of one of the NCLEX prep books (e.g., Kaplans). The only way to do this is to write questions based on principles to see if the person can generate the answers from the principles. Mark Klimek helps teach this. He explains things really clearly and breaks things down so its really easy to understand. If you can find the audios from his lectures, it is better than paying for his course (which is pretty expensive). But really, just answering a ton of questions can teach you the principles as well.

So, say a question on the NCLEX says that a pt has acidosis, what S&S will the pt exhibit? Select all that apply. They are testing you on a principle. What principle are they testing? That in an acidotic environment, chemical reactions cease. So, everything shuts down. You aren't supposed to memorize all the S&S. You are supposed to be able to apply the principle. So, when a question asks you about S&S of acidosis, you know the principle - in an acidotic environment, chemical reactions cease. So, everything shuts down. In other words, as the pH goes down, the pt will go down too (e.g., lethargy, bradypnea, bradycardia, etc.). So, instead of trying to memorize different things, focus on learning the basic principles. Focus on answering as many practice questions as you can EVERY day, and reading ALL the rationales so you can learn the reasons for the answers. Reading the rationales should also help you learn the basic principles and how to break down questions to figure out the answer.

harmonicpawn · May 7, 2018

I just took mine last Saturday, 5th of May. Run out of time after 253. I went to kaplan review and mostly concentrated on their questions. I realized that the answer on each question when I review is not as important as understanding the reason. On your review, start thinking about why is it the right anwers. It made me more confident answering questions which focus on one illness, disease or disorder. It mostly ends up with WHAT is more important. SATA is a big thing. I had 3 in a row. Start up with where did you get confused. This is my 2nd attempt. Failed after 75 questions in my first. I only did self review on that and after I read the result of my exam I asked my self why. I answered 1000's of questions before my first but it didn't really help me.

Gulachka44 · May 9, 2018

Make sure you really do know your content.

I thought that I knew my content too after failing 4 times , but after that I took my time and read ATI book , I refreshed everything in my head and realized that I actually forgot a lot of things and was doing so much better in questions after reading the book. In SATA questions consider each option individually and why yes or no.

You can do it!!!

JHALAM · May 10, 2018

Nurseslabs - For All Your Nursing Needs - they have 3,500+ questions for free! I swear by this website, it helped me a lot in terms of getting used to answering loads and loads of questions. I finished an hour early on my exam, took it for 5 hours.

I also recommend "Prioritization, Delegation, and Assignment," 3rd edition. This is amazing! It made me understand prioritization questions and delegations.