how long do you prepare?

[momathoner09, BSN, MSN, APRN]

With 1 semester down and 4 still left to go I was wondering how long it takes everyone to prepare for the NClEX. I have been engaged for over a year now and would really like to get this wedding planning on the road. Like all things in my life right now, though I have to plan it around nursing school. I would like to get married right after I am finished w/school but I would like to have enough time to prepare for the exam also. Just doing some thinking ahead (I guess this is what happens when you have too much time to think during the break :)

[seasider]

I reviewed for 3 months. Don't know about the rest though.

[suzanne4, RN]

The NCLEX exam is quite different from anything that you will ever get in school. It is not looking for the same information that you had in school, it knows that you have already graduated from school, but is now looking to see what you will do with the information that you have learned........when you will call a physician, which patient that you will see first when getting out of report. And it will focus on your weak-points........

You really cannot adequately start to prepare until a few months before the exam with what NCLEX is looking for.........you just will not have learned all of the material before then, and if trying before, you will just be memorizing and not learning.

The Saunder's Comprehensive Review is an excellent resource book to use while in school, and when you have problems trying to understand what your instructor told you.........I use that strictly when I prepare students for the NCLEX exam, other that that, way too early to prepare.

[cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN]

I got engaged in my first semester of NS, and got married 2weeks after I graduated. I came home from my honeymoon on a Friday and took NCLEX on the nest Tuesday. Started work that following Monday!

I have 2 words for you: Destination wedding! I completely recommend it!

Also, I had a wedding website with all kinds of cool things on it, and it was free!

http://couples.weddingchannel.com/account/login.action

[Imafloat, BSN, RN]

I prepared about 2 weeks for the NCLEX. I do feel that everyone is individual and the preparation time will vary greatly from person to person. I wish I had used Saunders Comprehensive Review and Kaplan's Strategy book while in school, the Saunder's for content and the Kaplan for test taking strategies.