I took nclex this September 25, 2014 at 8am. Found out today via quick results that I passed!! I have to thank the community of allnurses.com, although I don't post much, but I do read the articles and success stories posted here, which has been of great help. Ive been a nurse for 5 years in Puerto Rico, and have always wanted to take the nclex, finally decided to do it because my husband will be transferring to Atlanta soon and i want to be able to work there. This is what i did to prepare, I hope it can help someone and if you need any help don't hesitate and ask me :-)
1. I read the entire Saunders book 6d. Also did all the practice questions and the comprehensive test at the end of the book. Took me 2 months to finish because I only read at night when my toddler was sleeping. As soon as I finished the book i schedule the test within one month. During that time did the questions on the evolve website, did 3k more or less, a hundred questions a day. This book is amazing, I highly recommend it, I feel the questions in this book are similar to the nclex.
2. Then I read the Kaplan strategies book from cover to cover, did all the questions, but I didn't use any on my exam.
3. The famous PDA book by Lacharity is a must!! I had so many priority questions on my exam, I'm glad i read this book, actually i just did the questions from the evolve website, didn't have time for the cases. All in all is a very important book in my humble opinion.
3. Got the mastery nclex app for my iPad and really just started doing questions the last two weeks I had left before the test. It's a good app, if you can afford just one app get this one.
4. I read a guide I found here a couple of times and the night before the test. Very valuable, thanks to whomever did that :-)
I didn't study drugs in depth , only what I have read on Saunders. I didn't try to memorize lab values either, I knew some by heart from my years as a nurse. I got a few select all that apply, lots and lots of who to see first questions, and two ekg strips, the rest were your regular choose the best answer.
I think I prepared more than what it was required because I found it easy, so easy that I really thought I have failed :-). Im so glad and thankful to my God that it was not the case. My advice for future test takers is to just study as much as you can, pray and believe that your hard work will be rewarded.
