Hi! I just took my NCLEX-PN yesterday and would love to give some feedback and tips to those who are curious about the exam like I was. I know that everyone's questions on the exam will be different based on the answers that they choose, but I'd like to give feedback anyway.
My test shut off at 85 questions. I did the Pearson Vue "trick" and got the good pop-up (for those that don't know, the pop-up is supposed to indicate that I have passed). After doing much research about this "trick", I felt confident that it is pretty accurate. I have yet to find someone who has gotten the pop-up and failed the exam.
On the exam, there were a TON of SATA (select all that apply) questions. I feel like every other question was a SATA. I was told that this is a good thing, because those questions are considered more difficult. Difficult questions mean that you are doing well. Luckily, I had no drug calculations, hot spots or audio. I had a few drug questions that I wasn't familiar with. Also, there are a lot of priority and patient teaching questions. I had about three infection control questions.
To prepare for the exam, I took an excellent prep class on Long Island, NY. I heard about it through word of mouth. Everyone who took it, SWORE by it. The instructors are amazing and they give a lot of tricks and mnemonics to remember many different diseases/symptoms/diets etc. I definitely recommend this class over any other class for those who are in the NYC/Long Island area. It is called Ready To Pass (http://www.readytopass.com).
Here is a website that I found quite helpful as well..
I came across this website here on allnurses. Not sure who made it, but kudos to the person who did. I printed this out and read it over about 3x the night before the test, right before going to bed. I read it the first time. The second time, I went back and underlined. The third time, I highlighted.
Saunders Comprehensive Review 5th Edition is an excellent book to study and I highly recommend it. It has questions and rationales at the end of each chapter. It also has a pre-test and post-test with rationales as well. The book is not complicated at all, it really breaks things down and is very easy to understand.
Not sure if I passed as of yet, but I will find out via quick results on Sunday. For those of you scheduled to take the NCLEX I wish you the very best of luck! :)
