NCLEX Advice..Before and After the Exam

[HemOnc, MSN, RN, APN]

For all those preparing to take your NCLEX, I hope you find my rather long message somewhat helpful. I spent hours and hours reading posts on allnurses.com before I started preparing for my NCLEX-RN and it saved the day for me!

My background: I have been an LPN for 9 years and just graduated from Excelsior's ADN program. I have worked full-time in Hematology/Oncology for 14 years.

How I prepared: ATI was offered by Excelsior and it was good for the content and the questions. The rationales were great and I read every single one and took notes. I took assessments everyday for 4 weeks to get used to answering multiple questions.

I borrowed a Kaplan book (2010-2011 edition) from the library and went over the test-taking strategies. Even though this was an older version, the strategies were relevant. This was the most important part of understanding the questions in the NCLEX. I then watched a 1-hour video on youtube presented by Barbara Irwin (Kaplan). Please watch it before you start preparing to understand the NCLEX.

The 35-page study guide I found on allnurses is excellent! I found it VERY useful. I downloaded it on my tablet and carried it with me almost everywhere.

I bought the NCSBN 3-week review course and I would HIGHLY recommend this to everyone. The content is precise and the questions are very similar to the ones you will see in the actual exam. If you have a busy life, the 5-week review might be a better option. I found myself switching between ATI and NCSBN and with kids and work, my 3 weeks got very stressful.

I also bought the LaCharity PDA book, but barely finished a chapter. The questions were great, but I was annoyed with flipping pages back and forth between questions and answers. Personally, I prefer learning in the electronic format. It might be different for you.

I did about 500-600 questions a week for 4 weeks. The last week before the exam, I did close to 1000 questions. This is a CRUCIAL aspect of taking the NCLEX! You HAVE to build up your test-taking stamina. For the NCLEX-RN, the minimum # of questions is 75, but the maximum was 265 and I didn't want to assume that my computer would shut down at 75 and panic if it doesn't!

I barely slept a couple of nights before my exam because I was so tightly wound-up! People tell you to relax the day before the actual date and not study at all, but I just couldn't do that. I studied the night before and the morning of...my exam was at 8 am and I went over the 35-page study guide one last time that morning!

I got a lot of Prioritization, SATA, and Med-Surg questions. My computer shut off at 79 questions and it took me about an hour and 10 minutes.

After the NCLEX - PVT: I know this has been a subject of concern for everyone since Pearson updated their systems in August and I was determined to wait for the 48 hours for my quick results to come in. I waited until 2 am (in the middle of the night), but couldn't stop thinking about the questions! I took a giftcard with a balance of $2 and tried the PVT. I got the red triangle with the good pop up! I could finally sleep that night!

Got my quick results 48 hours later and I passed:))

I wrote this hoping it would be of some help to my fellow nurses. The recommendations are based on my personal learning style and might not work for someone who has different needs.

Since my ADN program was online, I had zero interaction with other students and had to rely on information from allnurses.com. Kudos to Brian Short and his team!! It is a resource like no other..THANK YOU!!

[RNfindingherway, BSN, RN]

Congrats on a job well done.

[ALLEYEZONREE]

Congrats! What online ADN program were you in? I recently passed the NCLEX-PN, but I'm interested in doing a bridge program. Thanks in advance.

[HemOnc, MSN, RN, APN]

Thank You Hadassah16!

[HemOnc, MSN, RN, APN]

Congrats! What online ADN program were you in? I recently passed the NCLEX-PN, but I'm interested in doing a bridge program. Thanks in advance.

I did the Excelsior College LPN-RN program.

[RNfindingherway, BSN, RN]

You're welcome HemOnc. So the NCSBN plan really works?

[HemOnc, MSN, RN, APN]

You're welcome HemOnc. So the NCSBN plan really works?

Absolutely! It condenses everything that we learn in school and focuses on the content that is relevant to the NCLEX.