NCLEX review suggestions

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Jun 29, 2011

i taught five of the ten sections of the kaplan nclex review course for several years, and this is what i did when we met for the first one. i was presented with a roomful of nervous new grads, sure that they were gonna fail. so i started out, after introductions, with this questions: "tell me about your nursing faculty. pretty easygoing bunch, let you slide on a lot of stuff, pass-fail on your exams, right?" and they looked at me like i was out of my mind.

"ok, then. your nursing faculty were tough, made sure you knew your stuff, brooked no sloppy habits, and minimum passing grade was what, 75? 78? you graduated? good, then. they think you're good enough to be a nurse."

then we discussed nclex passing rates. "guesses, ladies? (all females every year i did it)" "50%?" "45%?" nope. in our fair commonwealth, the average pass rate of the grads from all the schools was 97%. you can go online and look yours up-- it's not a secret and it's not hard to find. there are very, very few accredited schools with pass rates of less than 85%.

then we talked about how the nclex is derived-- from errors made by new grads in their first year of practice, largely.why do new grads make errors? read on.

general testing principles, and how to pick between the two of four answers that both look pretty good: the answer is always the one that makes your patient safer (move him out of the room before you pull the fire alarm, safe positioning for procedures, airway before anything else, privacy is a sort of protection too) or makes you obtain more information (check the labs, check temp-sensation-capillary refill, ask, "tell me more about that," or, "what do you know about a low-salt diet?"), or follows the abcs of cpr. these are all things that if done by a new grad will save a lot of trouble.

never never never choose the answer that turfs the situation to another discipline. they don't want to know what dietary will do, or social work, or hear you say "you'll have to ask the doctor about that." they want to know what you, the nurse, will do.

then you have to know that in every test there are items that are being trialed to see if they're any good. when you come to a bad item (or a run of items all on the same thing that's not something you ever heard of) or one that is impossible to figure out as above, guess, tell yourself that one will probably be thrown out of the test bank, and move on.

the day before the test, do not study. brain research tells us that is not useful.

champion musicians play a little of a new piece on monday, a little more on tuesday, finish it up on weds, and don't look at it until friday, at which time their brain has it settled into a comfortable place ready to access and work with. you have studied, you know stuff. what you do is take some r&r-- go for a hike in the woods, an art exhibit, a swim, a concert. you take a nice hot bath by candlelight. you read a trashy novel. you get a good night's sleep now that you are all tuckered out and relaxed.

the day of your test you open your refrigerator and take out the mayonnaise jar. you read the lid. it says, "keep cool, do not freeze." you go to the testing center, you incipient rn, you.

noahsmama · Jun 29, 2011

I did practice questions from Saunders and also Mosby. I bought a set of flashcards with questions -- any that I got wrong the first time would go back into a pile to study again, until I got them all right. I always read the rationale of why the "best" answer was the "best". Didn't always agree, but helped me to understand the reasoning used by the testmakers.

I only reviewed content on those topics that seemed to keep coming up in my pile of incorrectly answered questions. This helped a lot, and I actually got some questions when I took the NCLEX on some of those topics - never would have gotten them right without the review.

I also memorized lab values, because you need to know the normal range in order to answer some of the questions.

I've heard that if you're getting abou 60 to 65% of the answers right on practice tests, you're in good shape. I studied till I was getting 70-75% right.

I passed on the first try with 75 questions, so I guess this way of studying worked, at least for me.

Good luck!

Lizzy84, RN · Jun 29, 2011

Hi! I have been doing Kaplan, both the internet and the live class. I have my exam scheduled for next Tuesday, everyone says that Kaplan is very helpful. I'll let you know!!!! GOOD LUCK!

caliotter3 · Jun 29, 2011

Check out the NCLEX forum.

stephie_love · Jun 30, 2011

GrnTea, best post ever :) Thank you for that!

BMGRN · Jun 30, 2011

study yourself. don't waste your money on NCLEX reviews.!! you can do it!

sweet_von · Jun 30, 2011

@GrnTea....Awesome Awesome advice, i feel as if im on the right page at the right time...thanks for sharing!!

anon456, BSN, RN · Jun 30, 2011

NCLEX Exam Cram by Pearson is the best review book. It has many questions and be sure to use the CD, not the book (same questions for each). Practicing on the computer makes it easier to take the test on the computer.

The book Prioritization, Delegation, and Assignment was very useful. I did not study the entire book but just picked a few chapters until I was able to figure out how to answer those questions with the right thought process.

I also used the Saunders book because it had a good review of systems.

My strategy during the test was that if I was unsure about the answer, I always chose the safest answer or the one that had the least risk of harming the patient.

One area that I did not study as well as I should was the safe transfer of patients from bed to chair, the use of walkers and canes, etc. Also legal issues, distaster management and stuff like that. Don't memorize, just review and think about what makes sense.

Ramone19 · Jun 30, 2011

Thanks everyone for the advice! As much as I would love to not spend any money on a review, I have heard great things about Kaplan. So I am going to try it, again thanks everyone!!