NCLEX RN Advice

Preparing for the NCLEX can be a daunting experience. Relax, take a few deep breaths, and envision yourself in your future nursing career. You made it through nursing school and now is your time to shine. Here you will find a raw account of what the test prep was like for me that brought me success! Nursing Students NCLEX Article

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Hi there! I told myself after taking the NCLEX-RN exam that I would come back here (like many have) and discuss my experience, results, etc. because I spent countless evenings and hours on this site looking for comfort throughout my nursing school journey and especially after I graduated waiting to take the NCLEX. I took the NCLEX RN yesterday (1/6/16) at 8:00 am and completed the exam in approximately 1 hour with 75 questions. I will post my results in the morning when I get them. I have done the PVT and gotten "the good pop up" and my state (Texas) BON has not removed my graduate nurse license, which is supposed to be a good sign. My boss said that if you fail, the BON will immediately remove your GN license from the site. Anyways....here is what I did.

I graduated 12/10/15. I got my ATT on 1/16/15. I signed up to take the NCLEX for 1/6/16, giving myself exactly 3 weeks to study.

For the first week, I really got down to business on re-watching my Hurst Review videos. The Hurst has 27 videos total, anywhere from 16 minutes to 1 hour and 24 minutes long.The videos average around 45 minutes. I had already taken the live review the week of graduation with my class (It was mandatory, $300). I had 9 videos left to watch by the time I stopped studying for the NCLEX. (So I did not complete the review all the way through). The Hurst Review online also has 6 practice tests "Q Trainers" that are 125 questions each. I completed all of these before I took the NCLEX.

I purchased the Kaplan-Q Bank for one month. It was $49. I aimed to answer 100-200 questions a day and to review all of the rationales. I bought a spiral notebook and wrote down the rationales to questions I got wrong. I also wrote down unfamiliar topics and looked them up after the fact.

I purchased the LaCharity: Prioritization, Delegation, and Assignment book. It is a thin, workbook-style book that Barnes and Noble carries. It was $50. I completed about half of the work book.

After my first week of studying, I went out of town for Christmas to visit family for 2 days. When I came back, it was very hard for me to get back to 8 hour study days. I could not focus on any more videos. I stopped watching videos and decided to just answer as much questions as I could stand every day. I ended up doing about 150-200 questions a day until the day before my test date. Before I took my test I had ended up doing 1,350 questions and reading rationales. (Yes, I added it up). My bestie from nursing school and I got together each day for 3 days before the test. What we did was take 1 Hurst Q-Trainer test (125 questions each) together each day. We took turns reading questions out loud to each other and working through the answers. Then, we would go back and read all of the rationales out loud together also. We both felt like this was extremely helpful. We only disagreed on about 10% of the test. We obviously scored better together, so we subtracted about 10 questions from our final score for accuracy as to where we really stood.

What were my Kaplan Q Bank scores like?

Test 1: 57%
Test 2: 57%
Test 3: 63%
Test 4: 59%
Test 5: 44% (I think I was tired of studying this day
Test 6: 65%
Test 7: 55%
Test 8: 64%

I took 75 question tests in "timed mode" not "tutor mode". I never recycled any questions and I always checked "select all" for content of questions.

What were my Hurst Q Trainer Scores? This is questions correct out of 125. They also give you percentages. I did not feel like going through the trouble of looking at the percentages in each test, sorry ?

Test 1: 75
Test 2: 77
Test 3: 82
Test 4: 84 (With my friend)
Test 5: 93 (With my friend)
Test 6: 85

I felt that I was more than prepared for my NCLEX exam (after the fact). My advice for anyone taking the NCLEX would be as follows:

Sign Up ASAP After Graduation.

Do not wait. Give yourself 1 maybe 2 weeks to study. I feel that trying to learn and memorize content right after graduation is counter productive. You JUST graduated nursing school. You know at least 70% of the information that you need to know for the NCLEX if you passed your program. There is no way of knowing what content-related information will be on your test because everyone's test is so different. DO NOT waste your time trying to memorize and learn new content. Just stop and trust yourself. If you are doing something such as Hurst review, I would recommend watching videos on subjects that you are not strong in. For instance, I am not great at Fluids and Electrolytes or ACID/BASE. If I could go back, I would have just watched these videos. Do not waste time and energy. Maybe look over lab values daily. That is the only memorizing I recommend. I know how some of you feel that you HAVE to do content. If you have Hurst access, look through their "5th Day Material" handouts. They have great reviews on meds by class if you are pharmacology weak. If you do not have Hurst access, maybe try purchasing the Picmonic package. This seems to be a great site to help learn content, meds, etc. and it is cheap. ($10 I believe).

QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS!!!

Do as many questions as you can. Buy the Kaplan Q Bank. Buy the LaCharity PDA book. Buy one other question source such as NCLEX 4000. This is the MOST EFFECTIVE way to study for NCLEX if you are a new grad. This will be enough!!! Try to go through 1500-2000 questions and rationales before your test. You know the minimum competency for content. You need to learn how to answer the questions.

In short...this is what you should purchase: (~150$ total)

  1. Kaplan Q Bank- $49 for 1 month access
  2. LaCharity PDA book- $50
  3. Alternate question source such as "NCLEX RN Mastery" which costs about $35 for a month of access. My school also recommended "UWorld" question bank. It costs $60 for one month of access. I had another friend recommend the NCSBN study plan/question bank. She passed in 75 questions her first try in June 2015. If you have the Hurst Review, use their Q Tests plus one other source for questions. That will be sufficient.

There is a 35 page review floating around on here that is also really helpful. It was VERY accurate on the need-to-know content. I would read over this a few times. I can e-mail you this if you need it, just ask ?

This will be more than enough for someone who has just passed an RN program to pass the NCLEX.

If you have been out of nursing school for a while and are trying to prepare, I would recommend purchasing the online version of the Hurst Review for 300$ and going through all of the content videos. Take their Q Trainer tests AFTER you watch ALL of the content videos- they will not give you more time in the event that you end up failing the NCLEX if you do any of the Q Trainers BEFORE you watch ALL of the videos. Just read all of the directions so you don't screw yourself out of more review in the event of failing (but you WON'T FAIL!)

What type of student was I? I was very strong in clinicals and found most of my nursing school exams difficult. I have never been extremely competent in my "book smart" abilities, but have always been pleasantly surprised by my outcomes and grades. I am a "B" student. I made 2 "C's" and 2 "A's" in nursing school, with the rest being "B". There were times that I did study a LOT, but I still felt that I was able to have a social life in nursing school. Our school did ATI testing. I averaged level 2's for ATI. I was weak in pharmacology ATI. I also passed my ATI comprehensive exit exam on the first try with a 96% prediction that I would pass NCLEX on my first try.

What was my exam like? Well..It was 75 questions. I had a lot of SATA...probably about 30. That is all I can say about my actual exam. The content and style was very comparable to Hurst Review questions and also Kaplan Q Bank questions.

Remember these things when taking the NCLEX:

1. This is a SAFETY TEST. The Board of Nursing wants to make sure that you have the minimum competency to practice safely without harming anyone.

2. With questions, ask yourself:

  • Who would die FIRST if I did not see them?
  • What would keep my patient the safest?
  • If I can only do ONE of these things.....which thing will help my patient the most?
  • What will fix the problem the FASTEST?
  • If it is a delegation question: What patient is the most stable and predictable (for the LVN/LPN)? For the UAP: Can I EAT (Evaluate, Assess, or Teach) it? Then I will not delegate it! I am hungry! :p
  • If the question is SATA: Read each statement individually. Treat each statement as a true or false as it pertains to the question. Breathe through these! YOU CAN do it!

You Passed Nursing School. You Got This!

Believe in your abilities and practice practice practice answering questions. No negative self talk. When you get tired of studying, take breaks! Be gentle on yourself. Pray Pray Pray (to God, the universe, whatever you believe in...!) GOOD VIBES ONLY! Good luck future RN's! ?

Check Out The Following '5 Tips to Prep For NCLEX RN' Video...

NCLEX-RN-2016-Advice.pdf

Hi All, I just wanted to leave my two cents as a recent NLN....regarding my whole experience with Pearson, NCLEX prep, and my eventual licensure....well today being the first day it's officially posted by the board as active :-)

1. Graduated in 2012, decided to go on immediate to grad school and did not take the licensure exam. Spent the next year and a half, taking advanced nursing courses and then was told I could go on no further until I passed the NCLEX . My initial fear, and the reasoning behind my choice....I convinced myself that I would be a more competitive job seeker with more edu under my belt....my advice ...DONT DO THIS AND TAKE IT ASAP...I ended up workigfor two years as a WAY over qualified CNA...dumb, dumb , dumb.....

2. NCLEX exam 12/22/2015....the test shut of at 75 for me....Now, I, a prophesayer of doom , gloom n failure , I read all the books I could find, delving in2 my med surge, peds and Obstertics books for clarification. Total time from application to testing-> 128 days....my advice..I OVERKILLED...I would guesstimate 80% of material I reviewed from 2 years ago did not show up on the NCLEX. I did not take a review course 2/2 $$$$, anyways it's all out there online....used Saunders, limpicott, alternative format, prioritization and Kaplan q bank Now, w/o revealing too much I would say this:

A. Know all the drug names by their generic names, being prudent I memorized them as well, and I wasn't aware that the change occurred BRANd names are no longer used...indomethacin and flumazenill made its way into my brain ;)

B. I had a ton of prioritization questions, I.e a nurse from unit A goes to unit B , what assignment is appropriate..

C. I had many, it seems now way to many select all that apply Q? I.e a nurse observes this behavior from the staff member, and intervenes if he/she observes : a, b, c., d, e, f...Be prepared for those

4. Pharm : DONT MEMORIZE EVERY SIDE EFFECT, I WASTED a week on that, and being its only 13% I do have to say I want to kick myself....know the most important group side effects...B Blockers can all cause BBCLSIR mnemonic, helped me...5 P of a amlodipine, all anti neoplasticis cause bone marrow depression....not the rare SE/adverse events...that stuff we are meant to look up...

5. HIPPA, living wills, scope of practice and negligance vs. malficence ....well worth review

Finally regarding the Pearson Vue trick....the #good pop u#, which Btw an hour after NCLEX makes no sense, since most of us were in rigorous content review mode , question mode ...leading into the week of the exam date and come out post testing have no idea what that even means. For me , I drove home and slept for a good 12 H....when I was feeling better read bout the method of re-registering through PV to see if this would #reveal# the results For me, the CC was rejected, and the pop up about recent test was enuf to stop . I.E I risked 200.oo . If I would have waited 4 days , I could have called the boards here in CT, which btw I understand is not CA....but the lady explained to me that they received my test results and now " my file" was being reviews by a supervisor....meaning she just informed me of my results and I PASSED and they were doing due diligence before issuing my license # which I GOT TODAY. So all in all , 19 days for official results ....hope this helps those out here who took some twists and turns. Side note, in those 18 days I worked on my resume and cover letter, sent them out and now have interviews ....no offers yet tho:(...hope sum1 finds his 411 useful ...cheers:))

For anyone who was asking me to email the study guide...it is in a link in the comments that I posted.

Hi there, I posted a link to the review in a previous comment on this post. Thanks!

Congrats! I graduated a couple weeks ago and am scheduled to take my exam on Feb. 23rd. I just finished up the seated Hurst Review and have access to all of the online content as well. I have been going over the Hurst information and doing practice questions from a Lippincott book with thousands of practice questions. I know that you mentioned Kaplan and other practice banks, so I was just curious on your thoughts about my study set up. I use Hurst and do 50-150 practice question per day, usually about 4-6 days per week. Does this seem like a recipe for success? Any thoughts/info is appreciated.

First of all, I am happy for your license.

I am a foreign RN from Asia who graduated since 1998. Just started Hurst around 10 days today. Yike! Can not believe I started to understand southern accent a bit more.

Thank you for your information about the books and some other sources.

Hi Multitasker33 and Annasugar . I have Hurst Review and seeking a Skype Study Partner. I have available time and a few other resources . Let me know if you are interested thanks! ?

Thank you so much for the information you provided. I graduate from nursing school in May and am looking forward to taking the NCLEX ASAP and I think your tips will definitely be helpful. How early did you apply to the BON before you graduated from school? I am looking to start the process within the next week or two so it doesn't take so long to get the background check back. I'm hoping to get my ATT with a week or two of graduating.

Hey so I just want some advice from previous test takers who had passed. I finished my associates back in August 2015 and scheduled my nclex for November 12,2015. During the course of finishing up school it was mandatory to do the hurst review at my school and Kaplan as well. I gave myself about a month of studying prior to my exam which I used questions mainly from the Kaplan q-banks and all of the questions trainers (I can't tell you off the top of my head what my average was) but they were fairly decent. I would literally review all the rationales right and wrong and actually got a notebook to write down the rationales I've gotten wrong. I attempted to used the PDA lacharity book but only did about the first 8 chapters. So long story short it came down to the test date and woke up around 6am for a 8am exam and had to be there for 7:30am, I barely got sleep the night before and attempted to eat a well balanced breakfast. My anxiety that morning was beyond crazy which I'm sure we've all been through taking the Nclex-RN. Five and half hours later and there I was on question 265. At that point I just couldn't wait til I got out of that room worst experience of my life especially not knowing if I'd had pass or not. So here I am going for my second attempt, I had originally scheduled it for January 5th,2016 but with the holidays and the new year I got side tracked with studying and then pushed it back again til 15th of January. About a week ago I started to freak out I wasn't doing as many questions from Kaplan because I had used all of my Q-banks and didn't want to see repeated questions because I felt like I was memorizing them. So I rescheduled it again for the 26th of January. I know call me crazy but I've literally watched every hurst review video now and I feel confident and so far on my first two Hurst Q reviews I got a 73 and 70, still got 4 more to go and have been keeping up with the PDA book attempting to do at least 2 chapters a day since last week. I'm also going to repeat the last 3 of my Kaplan trainers and have been incorporating at least 50 questions a day from my nclex 4000. I just don't know if I'm setting myself up for failure again or if I'm doing too much these past two weeks. So if anyone has any suggestions or can help me give me some type of guidance I would greatly appreciate it. Sorry for my lengthy cry for help! 😩

Good morning from Sunshine state here in Florida. Thank you for your Skype Study Partner. I am not a native speaker and never done it before. But I do not mind to try if you would give me a chance. My Skype account is " Joannasiamese". Looking forward to talk to you.

Hi, I just added you on Skype:)

Can you send me the 35 page review please? Thank you!

merzilynn, thank you for out for all you help, that is very thoughtful & very kind. I tried the link you sent with the lab values ect; only the first list of things she had listed would pull up for me to view; the other list (the labs) portion/page keeps saying an error has accord & its unable to read the content. Can you try to see if you can review it & maybe repost just that info (if your able to view it) I would love to be able to have it to study by & desperately need it.... & I apologize for asking you to do more esp after you have done so much & I promise I wouldn't if I didn't need it so!!! Thank you so much in advance.