I have two months to study for the NCLEX what should my plan of attack be?

brittney318 · Jul 19, 2009

i would suggest only doing questions. you will get to review content while reading the rationales. i would also suggest doing the questions in this order:

1)do a pretest just to see where you are

2)do remaining questions in review mode-i say this because it will allow you to look at the rationale right away and learn what you missed right away rather than going back to it. this helped me.

3)do a final test

i didnt find saunders helpful at all. i did buy the kaplan strategies 2010 book for the questions and did nclex 3500 questions. also the lacharity book will help a lot with proritization. i took the hurst review in may but never even looked over any of it after the review. don't overload yourself! that won't help at all. i tested yesterday, july 18th. i cut off at 83 questions. will let you know how it went.

faith love hope · Jul 19, 2009

two months sounds like a good time to prepare :) i would agree with the previous poster. reading rationale helps a lot :) i like saunders, though. there were times when i just skim the pages for topics i need more information on. the book is structured nicely for that purpose.

i took my nclex a month after i graduated. not having the funds for any of the kaplan courses, hurst, or anything else... i used saunders comprehensive review book for content, got nclex4000 on a CD swap with a friend, borrowed saunders Q&A and kaplan strategies book from the library. i paid for a 3 week subscription to NCSBN learning extension - $49.

i read the kaplan strategies book, then did 75-200 questions per day for about a week. the next week and a half, i brushed up on content that i am not strong in (using saunders). after each content area, i would do the corresponding questions from saunders and nclex4000. i got lazy and didn't think about nclex for a few days... and on the last week i pretty much crammed by doing ~300 questions/day, while also reviewing infection control, lab vals. i just lightly reviewed values and isolation/infection control on the last day. got 75 questions and got my license a few days ago

good luck with yours. remember take ample breaks to avoid burnout

TX512GRL · Jul 19, 2009

I had 2 mons to study as well, and i didnt work.

SOO...this is what i did.

I took the Hurst review, which pretty much just helped you review content

even though i just graduated in MAY 09, there are lots and lots of content I still needed to get down! So for a good 1.5 I studied content until I was ready to do questions.

Popped in my Saunders CD and did review questions, also NURSE 3500 website had a bunch of helpful prac questions. READ RATIONALES, they help!

ANOTHER THING!

-Study infection control!!! I got a good 3-4 questions on this (ei: meningitis is a droplet precaution etc...wear a mask? keep the door closed? etc etc..)

-Priority questions, which one should the nurse see first? I got alot of these ones.

-Maslows ....Physical comes before pyschological....and pain is a pysch thing.

-Remember ABCs if youve narrowed it down to 2 questions.

-READ QUESTIONS CAREFULLY, I HAD TO READ THE Q TWICE or THREE TIMES

goodluck! THIS IS WHAT HELPED ME PASS WITH 75 QUESTIONS, IM NOT SAYING THIS IS HOW EVERYONE SHOULD STUDY, ITS WHAT HELPED ME.

beachbutterfly · Jul 19, 2009

I would definitely review the content and do the questions,good luck!!@!

hpynurs2b · Jul 19, 2009

Thank you for your advice, its really helpful

j.reidrn · Jul 19, 2009

one word... "saunders" :) get the nclex review book, and the q & a book if you want... since you do have two months. i got through the review book in less than 3 weeks so... just my two cents

amybethf · Jul 19, 2009

Use NCSBN learning extension. A 3 week course is $49 and u can also do 5 and 8 wks too. I also used Saunders but the above was the best review for me and my nsg instructors recommended it as well.

j.reidrn · Jul 19, 2009

Oh, and don't try and do too many different things to study. Pick one that has obviously worked for others aka me and many other people... saunders. The book comes with a cd too to put you in test mode and all that good stuff as well.... GL!

jessica222 · Jul 19, 2009

j.reidrn: does the saunders cd have a ton of questions on it?? should i get the saunders q&a review book too?? i am looking for something that has a lot of practice questions!! and i have heard saunders comprehensive review is great. so i think that is the way i am going to go this time around.

j.reidrn · Jul 20, 2009

j.reidrn: does the saunders cd have a ton of questions on it?? should i get the saunders q&a review book too?? i am looking for something that has a lot of practice questions!! and i have heard saunders comprehensive review is great. so i think that is the way i am going to go this time around.

The review book has a lot of questions and then the cd has tons of questions... i think the cd has same questions that are in book though, just by going through the book though you won't get repeat questions like you do with the cd. I'd also get the Q & A book only cause you have so much time. I did the entire review book in 2 weeks or so doing 100 pages a day... I didn't really read the material though just did the questions and answers and read the rationals. Also, I think pretty much everyone has a lot of meds on their exam, so I'd get some cards for those perhaps? or maybe just read the material in the saunders book on that. Hope this helps... feel free to ask anymore questions you have :)

jessica222 · Jul 20, 2009

thank you so much for the reply!! yeah, i had some meds i knew nothing about on my recent exam!! i am going to get a kaplan book that is all about meds to study too. i don't know if it is a book or actual flash cards, either way i am getting it!!