Everyone on All Nurses was SO incredibly helpful while I was preparing for my NCLEX-RN, so I wanted to "pay it forward" and let you future testers know how I prepared and what my recommendations are. With that said...I am a firm believer that everyone learns differently, so don't be afraid if my recommendations are completely different from your study plan. :)
1) I took a week off after graduating and did nothing but relax. I think that a period of relaxation after nursing school is 100% necessary; however, anything more than a week or two might cause you to get out of your testing mindset! I think it's best to get this test over with stat.
2) On June 2-4, I took the Hurst Live Review. The first week after the review, I spent one week re-watching the videos and making flashcards for the things I didn't know well. I HIGHLY recommend Hurst...it made things from nursing school much more simple and broke things down really well. Everyone I know who used Hurst has passed in 75 questions like me! A lot of people say that it is a waste of money...but I already have plenty of student loans to be upset about, so another $300 felt like a drop in the bucket that was COMPLETELY worth it.
3) The second week after the review, I decided to review other important topics NOT covered in the review in the Saunders NCLEX prep book, another resource that I highly recommend. It has great overview of things like delegation, legal stuff, line care, etc. I think that the NCLEX-RN seems to be trending towards focusing on delegation and prioritization a lot more lately, so if you can, I recommend doing practice questions on those topics! The Saunders CD has a great function where you can choose one topic (such as prioritization/delegation) and do quizzes on it.
4) Every day, I did about 50-100 questions that related to the topic I focused on. I never focused on more than 2 big topics a day, otherwise I felt overloaded with information. My school used ATI, so I used the old ATI practice tests (fluid/electrolytes, med/surg, OB, comprehensive, etc.) to gauge my learning from the Hurst. I did pretty poorly on the ATI tests while I was in school (50-60%) but after doing Hurst I was getting in the mid-70s and low 80s %!
So many people told me that reviewing content was a waste of time and that I should have been doing 2387492374 practice questions a day...but I strongly disagree! I did WAY less questions than content review and did just fine passing in 75. I do think that practice questions are important, but the content should be your first priority in my opinion. I got anywhere from 78 to 93 on the Q reviews, and a 94% on the ATI predictor. However, DO NOT focus on scores toooo much...it is a waste of time and it will just stress you out. Learn from the rationales and feel confident in your content knowledge and you will be fine.
I suffer from serious anxiety, and I felt sick to my stomach the whole last week before the test. I tried everything possible (working out, meditation, deep breathing, etc.) to calm my nerves, but I felt so gosh darn nauseous all the time. If you are like me and feel sick to your stomach because of test anxiety, do what I did and have a Boost nutritional drink before the test! The chocolate milk ones taste good and your brain needs the glucose to perform well on the test :)
I wish I had stressed less. Don't stress the NCLEX too much - it is scary and weird and confusing but you CAN PASS. I was not the top of my class. I had one of the lower GPAs in my cohort, but I studied 4-6 hours a day for 3 weeks and passed. Pick a review that fits your needs, treat your body well, and picture yourself passing every day. Don't let the negativity take away from valuable study time!
And thank you again to everyone who believed in me along the way!
Congrats!!! Reading all these testimonials gives me hope!! I graduated back in May and didn't start trying to study til June! I listened to people telling me to do at least 5000 questions before the exam and it just gave me more anxiety because I realized I was weak on content. I have Saunders and have been doing some questions and review in the book but realized reading this huge book was too overwhelming, I tried NCSBN 3wk plan but it's also a lot of content to read and I get sleepy and discouraged . I decided today to sign up for Hurst online review because I feel I really need more content review, many people swear by Kaplan but I heard they mostly focus on strategy. I went over the first few videos on Hurst and so for I really like it and I'm actually understanding things better. Will be taking NCLEX in about 3 weeks!!! Prayers needed!!
Best of luck to you, RN2BJ! I know it's so overwhelming but I am glad you chose Hurst :) It's a wonderful resource. If you have any other questions or fears in the next few weeks, feel totally free to private message me. I'll do my best to help.
Deeni, don't worry about it at all! I'm glad my forum helped you reach out to someone in a similar situation. I hope you are able to find a study plan that works well for you. And thank you for the congratulations :)
NP2BJ, BSN
117 Posts
Congrats!!! Reading all these testimonials gives me hope!! I graduated back in May and didn't start trying to study til June! I listened to people telling me to do at least 5000 questions before the exam and it just gave me more anxiety because I realized I was weak on content. I have Saunders and have been doing some questions and review in the book but realized reading this huge book was too overwhelming, I tried NCSBN 3wk plan but it's also a lot of content to read and I get sleepy and discouraged . I decided today to sign up for Hurst online review because I feel I really need more content review, many people swear by Kaplan but I heard they mostly focus on strategy. I went over the first few videos on Hurst and so for I really like it and I'm actually understanding things better. Will be taking NCLEX in about 3 weeks!!! Prayers needed!!