My NCLEX Experience: Preparations, Study Tips, and Acing the Exam

The story of how I passed the exam confidently with a goal. The preparations just to take and pass the exam was really challenging. With determination and hardwork, there is no way for you not to pass the NCLEX with flying colors.

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My NCLEX Experience: Preparations, Study Tips, and Acing the Exam

I am a registered nurse from the Philippines and I started working on my application for New York State last year. It took me 6 months to process everything, from CGFNS to NYSEd. Received my ATT last July and took the exam last October 27. It was very challenging for me to study in less than 3 months since I am working in a hospital. Time management, hard work, and determination will push you to achieve your goals in earning a US-RN license.

STEP 1: TOOLS AND RESOURCES

Best books/materials/online resources to study:

  1. La Charity & et al. Prioritization, Delegation, and Assignment
  2. Saunders' NCLEX RN Book (Esp. the Safety chapter)
  3. Kaplan Online (very difficult questions but a good endurance test)
  4. Hogan's NCLEX exam (software, this is my main Q&A practice tool)
  5. Audio Tutorials
  6. NursesLab.com (NCLEX q&a)

I answered 100-300 questions per day and after each test I would always review which areas I need to focus on based on the summary of the exam. Answering this much will help you in sharpening your knowledge, endurance and test-taking skills.

Studying with a buddy will also help, especially those who friends who have experienced taking the NCLEX. These people are the most reliable sources of information regarding the exam.

STEP 2: DAY BEFORE THE EXAM

✔️ DO NOT cram! Keep focused and relax. If you think you have prepared well, then you should not be very anxious with the exam.

✔️ Give yourself a treat. Learn to unwind, watch movies and listen to music. This is the best therapy you can give to your self to lessen anxiety while counting the remaining hours before the exam.

✔️ Visit your testing site if it's near you. Getting familiar with the place will also help.

STEP 3: ON THE DAY OF THE EXAM

I took the NCLEX last October 27, 2016 9:00 AM. Answered a number of SATAs, hotspots (drag and drop, etc), prioritization, delegations, ECG tracings, and the typical multiple choice questions. SATA questions were hard, you really have to choose the best answers. Never get tempted to check all the boxes. Take time to contemplate which items you will check.

You will know that you're doing well if your questions are getting along the way. For example when you correctly answered a simple multiple choice item the succeeding questions will be SATAs and hotspots like drag and drop.

Take note: the last item before your computer will shut down is not a determinant if you will pass or not. Others said that if the last question you answered is difficult, you will surely pass the exam. I beg to disagree. My last question was very easy (multiple choice).

Take your time in reading each question carefully and make sure to use theories when you are not sure. Other questions will really challenge your critical-thinking skills.

My computer shut off after answering 75 items. This is really my goal.

I finished the exam in just 1 hour and 30 minutes.

STEP 4: AFTER THE EXAM

Tried the PVT trick after 12 and 24 hours and the "GOOD POP-UP" displayed. I think the trick is still reliable as a screening tool if you pass, but still the Quick Results is still the confirmatory test (sounds like lab exam LOL). Paid for the Quick Results after 2 days and received the good news.

I passed! Officially an RN of New York State.

STEP 5: FINAL THOUGHTS

Pray hard. Study harder. Manage your time well in preparing for the exam. Never cram and always be confident.

Good luck to all aspiring nurses who will take the NCLEX! wave.gif.f76ccbc7287c56e63c3d7e6d800ab6c

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lilmonsterkray

About lilmonsterkray, BSN, MSN, DNP, RN

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Hey everyone! I'm a senior nursing student and I'm pretty broke right now. I graduate this December and I've already accepted a job. I have spent all my savings on a new/old car when my first car died on me and vet bills for my cat when she got a bowel obstruction from eating an ear plug. Life is a struggle but I am NOT asking for a pity party. I know my life can be much much MUCH worst. What I am asking for is some serious advice. I NEED to pass the NCLEX-RN the first time to start making real money and to fulfill my dream of becoming a RN. I've never been more happy with my life than when I'm at clinical pretending to be an RN. Seriously ya'll it is my calling! Anyway, if ya'll can share any cheap ideas that will help me prepare for the NCLEX-RN that would be awesome!! I'm so scared that not doing a review like Hurst or Kaplan means I won't pass. And it's not that I don't want to, I just simply can not afford $350-400 for it. Just to tell you about myself: I'm a decent student graduating with cum laude (mostly by my work ethic). My school used HESI. My scores have been anywhere from yikes (630-750) to ehh (751-899). I've always been bad at standardized testing. The only ones I have made over a 900 on were Mental health and Pharm. I have started preparing for the NCLEX with the Saunders ed. 6. My plan is to take the test at the beginning of January. Please any advice would be awesome! My budget is no more than $200. So low I know, but the struggle is real !!! TIA!

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I took boards this past June, and my school used the Kaplan program. They built the fees into our semester payments and so we had the advantage of using it regularly throughout our education. If you can get your hands on a Kaplan review book, that should help. I can't imagine that the review book would be more than $50?? In addition, I also used NCLEX Mastery app (about $30?) on my iPad. It felt more like a "game" in that I wasn't always with my nose in my book, and I could soak in my tub ("relaxing") while studying. Finally, I also used the LaCharity Prioritization and Delegation book, and I've seen it recommended many times. I would call it a must have.

Commitment is key. Set yourself a goal of 50-100 questions daily. Always READ THE JUSTIFICATIONS to why the answer is correct. It will give you information to apply to other questions, and help you figure out either why you are missing questions or if you got the question correct, if your reasoning was right. If the NCLEX is scheduled in a town more than an hour away, I would consider staying some place close to the testing center, and find the center before you go in, this way you are not getting lost and increasing your stress levels the day of the test. Eat some breakfast,it can be a long test.

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You should try uworld it's $60 for 1 month. people say it's setup just like the nclex. Uworld will prepare you for alot of those SATA questions. The qbank has like over 1800 questions. It also gives detailed rationales on your right or wrong answers it actually explains it. I've been using it for my nclex pn I test next week so hopefully this prepared me.

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Congratulations!!! Your hard work and determination paid off and now you deserve it all!!!!

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I took my RN NCLEX EXAM 12 times already. A lot people say that I should give up. I don't know what to do. Should I continue to take it or not. I was going to leave it alone, but I may forget everything that I learned. Please tell me what I need to do. I need ideas badly.

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You may try NRSNG.COM, it cost only $9.99 monthly. I took my RN exam 9 times already and I don't know what to do anymore.

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Thanks ya'll so much! You guys are AWESOME! Would ya'll say I need to study 8 hours a day or will 5 hours a day suffice? I'm really confused on how to go about a study plan. I know I should do at LEAST 75 questions a day but I feel like that is not enough. What was your schedules like?

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8 hours a day may lead to burnout. It depends on your endurance. I never had to deal with test anxiety, and I was solid as a student, so anything more than a few hours a day exhausted me. How much you study will depend on how long it takes you to get through your goal number of questions, and reading through the rationales. Take breaks. And 24-48 hours before your test, dont study. I burned out early and didt look at anything for a week before I tested, and I don't recommend that. So be careful of burn out.

And one more thing I forgot to include: When reading through rationales, I would take notes. I had different sections of notes: drugs, disease processes, pediatrics/maternity, etc, and would write notes on any questions I was unsure about, and also study those little notes. Another friend of mine did the same thing and one question on her NCLEX she got right b/c she remembers writing down the disease in her notes.

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Hi there sianee,

I'm so sorry to hear that you took the exam so many times. How long has it been since you graduated from nursing school??? What resources have you used????? I know it is easier said than done, but try to study differently and pray to God. I believe that God has a plan for all of us, and knows the best. Try to study differently and practice as many questions as possible.

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This is gonna go against the grain, but it's still true.

Remember: NCLEX is designed to identify people who were competent enough to graduate from an accredited school.

When I taught NCLEX review for a big test prep company that I will not name here (but others mention it regularly) I used to start by asking the class what the passing rate was for all test-takers. They gulped nervously, and started guessing: "75%?" "60%?" "45%?" They were astonished to learn that it was, in our state, over 90%. Yep, 9/10+ students passed NCLEX on their first try. You can go online and see the passing percentage of grads from your program at your state board of nursing website. It's all there. That will give you a clue as to your chances right off the bat. Where I went to college, our program's passing rate was historically in the 94-99% range.

Then my next question: "Tell me about your faculty. Easy-going, let things slide, passing grade is 65, right?" And of course they looked at me like I had 2 heads. "OK, then. Your faculty thought you were OK to graduate from a tough program and be a nurse. You will. Chill out."

Believe it or not, most people do NOT take a pricy review course to prepare for NCLEX. (Reread that sentence until it sinks in.) They already did that. It was called "nursing school." By the time you graduate from a decent program, you ought to know what you know, know what you need to bone up on, and know how to study to do that. I know the test-prep people don't want you to know that, but if you were not that person who was teetering on the edge of the abyss and barely passing because thinking like a nurse was really hard for you, then you should be ready to pass the examination designed to identify people with basic competence to begin the rest of their life-long learning as professionals.

Get a couple of review books, the ones with NCLEX-style questions and most importantly, that give you the rationales for the correct answers AND THE REASON THE WRONG ANSWERS ARE WRONG. Sorry to shout, but that's the most important thing to know. Get to the point where you get most of them right and can instantly identify where you screwed up on the other ones, and go to the testing center with confidence. You got this.

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mlss94 said:
Thanks ya'll so much! You guys are AWESOME! Would ya'll say I need to study 8 hours a day or will 5 hours a day suffice? I'm really confused on how to go about a study plan. I know I should do at LEAST 75 questions a day but I feel like that is not enough. What was your schedules like?

When I graduated two and a half years ago, my school's recommendation was to use the Prioritization, Delegation, & Assignment book and the Saunders review book (I had the yellow one as it was current when I entered nursing school; I couldn't afford the updated 2014 version. I also bought a used slightly older edition of the Prioritization book). It was recommended we practice 100~ questions a day, and people at my school who'd done this and used these books had passed (at the time we had a 98%+ pass rate over the last five years).

The Saunders book came with a CD-ROM that I installed on my computer, it had different modes for selecting test questions. I knew SATA were one of my weakest points so I did a lot of those and read the rationales. You could take a long test to identify weaker content areas, practice particular types of questions, etc. If you do enough questions and understand the rationales, eventually you will likely be able to pick out the correct answer even if the question is regarding a med you've never heard of (and I had lots of meds I'd never heard of on my NCLEX!).

Whatever system you choose, I highly recommend you find one that supplies rationales. Read them and make sure you understand why the answer is what it is. I read ALL rationales, whether I'd gotten the question right or wrong, so that I'd understand the reasoning behind the question. I practiced 100 or so questions a day (most days, but took breaks when I was feeling overwhelmed), reviewed weaker content areas, and the night before I got a good night's sleep and ate a good breakfast, arrived a bit early and did some deep, slow breathing to calm my nerves. I walked out feeling good about the exam, which I figured was either a really good sign or a really bad one! ;) I was a C student in nursing school and passed on the first try (75 questions)!

Do you have good notes or powerpoints from class? You could also use those to review content areas you aren't as strong in. I definitely wouldn't spend 5 hours every day for weeks (or months!) studying as you will definitely burn yourself out. Study and practice a few weeks, schedule your exam, and go in with confidence knowing you know your stuff. Then, take a deep breath and relax while you wait for test results (I did the PVT before they changed it and got the good popup but it was a couple weeks before the state posted my license--and man, was that a long couple weeks!). You can do this!

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