Need NCLEX RN prep guidance

kkny1234 · Mar 25, 2015

i did mostly kaplan qbank questions for about a month and a half (20-50 questions a day) and i didn't really start doing content review until about 6 days before the nclex. i did the hurst online review 6 days before the nclex and it helped clarify some things better for me but it doesn't cover enough if you're weak in content. i used the internet and saunders for reference if i needed to look something up. i also did about 6 chapters in the lacharity book but i ran out of time because i started the lacharity book after the hurst review.

if you're studying for 8-10 hours and not retaining information then you're probably overloading your brain and not really benefitting from all those hours you're putting in. my suggestion is for you to switch gears and do some questions. get used to applying the content you've been studying. start off with 20 questions a day and build up if you have to. i personally could not sit still when i had to the kaplan question trainers. a lot of times my mind would wander and i'd get up to do something and completely forget that i had a test going. honestly, the longest i ever "studied" was when i did the hurst review. i spent about 5-6 hours on the video followed by 50 qbank questions and then i'd call it a day and relax.

good luck!

cathering, ADN, BSN, MSN, APRN, NP · Mar 25, 2015

dont concentrate on pharm. dont study content separately. do questions over and over again and read the rationales for all of your answer questions. that is content review for you. nothing else. questions over and over and read up on rationals. i had 75q, 2 psych med questions i had no idea on, and most delegation and priority. i used kaplan qbank only. good luck.

smiley28 · Mar 25, 2015

i took the nclex recently and passed. I only used kaplan and a review book called nclex illustrated guide. If you've finished reading everything on your review book, then move on to doing questions (150 questions per day or at least 75-100 questions per day to make sure you are able to finish every qbank/qtrainer in Kaplan). I did 75 questions then reviewed, took a break, then did another 75 questions and reviewed.

When you are closer to your exam appointment then you can take one day or two to review all the content that you feel you are not so sure about. I felt exactly the same as you.I was feeling the same way as you when my exam appointment was approaching. I was feeling my mind was going blank and that I couldn't remember anything I had studied at all, however during the actual exam, everything I studied came back to me as I was answering questions.

I felt Kaplan questions were very similar to the actual NCLEX.

Good luck

cathering, ADN, BSN, MSN, APRN, NP · Mar 25, 2015

and dont change ur study method no matter what ppl say. if ure the type to study right before entering the building, do that. if u need a full day of rest before a test, do that. if you have passed nursing school, your method of studying has worked for u well (:

cathering, ADN, BSN, MSN, APRN, NP · Mar 25, 2015

haha sorry for multiple posts, for some reason my phone skipped thru your post. the kaplan decision-making tree only confused me and i did not use that method. it works for some but not me and it seems like not for u either. use kaplan qbank, and search thru hurst for things u think u need to absolutely memorize (like the isolation types for what diseases & diagnosis) because hurst seems to have easy mnemonic for memorizing those