Perhaps you don't need to stress over NCLEX

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Specializes in Rehab/LTC.

I have been lurking on this forum for a few months. All the stories of people failing NCLEX time and time again, studying for 6 hours a day (I never did that during nursing school!), paying hundreds of dollars for review courses. I was beginning to freak out about my testing date of Jan. 28. I was wondering if I was ready, I hadn't studied much, hadn't gone through the review books, maybe did only 100 questions on a CD. When I stress and worry, my back begins to hurt. I was having spasms all over my back. Decided to postpone my testing date and settled for Feb. 16. Thought I would use the extra couple of weeks to go through review books and practice questions. But I procrastinated and lost interest. I decided to clean my house instead and read several romance novels.

When I started to think about the exam, this time I kept reminding myself there is the 85% national first time pass rate. That is pretty good. And my nursing program had a 98% pass rate. I decided to rely on my education and my abilities. Took the exam on Monday and found out on Thursday that I passed. It wasn't really as difficult as my imagination had blown it up to be. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't easy, but nothing to get stressed about. It was no more difficult that some of the finals from my nursing courses.

I had been hoping my test would stop at 75 questions, but it went up to about 93. I had no delegation (surprise!), no math calculations, 4 SATAs, 2 ABGs, mostly priority - what patient do you assess first?, What telephone call do you return first?, etc. I did not need to know my lab values (which is the one thing I did study the night before the exam and knew them fairly well). I may have spent about 10 hours since graduating on Dec. 13 studying for NCLEX.

I know that everyone is different, their knowledge and test taking skills, etc. And different nursing schools have different levels of achievement. Some people may need 3-4 months to review for the test. I just want to remind everyone that this may not be necessary for the majority of you, and that you may not need to stress about this test at all. My advice is go ahead and take it the first time right after you graduate. If you do not pass, then you have to wait 45-90 before retaking. That is when to study 6 hours a day, do the thousands of practice questions, work through the LaCharity book, do Kaplan or review Saunders, etc. You got through nursing school, you can get through NCLEX. I think that many people don't need to worry about it for up to 4 months. You could be spending that time working and "really learning" as a Registered Nurse.

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Specializes in ICU, PICC Nurse, Nursing Supervisor.

i have never understood the act of pouring ones self into a review book...i mean the nclex will not contain the same questions that you study and if you are not familiar with the nursing process/disease process's you can hang it up...my point is if you don't know it by the time you get out of nursing school then you might be in trouble ...there is no need to cram for the nclex when you have put years into nursing school. i have no intention whatsoever of picking up a book for my next nclex (rn) . i will just work on being calm and then take the blooming thing....

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Well, to each his own but when I took my NCLEX, I had several questions from the book on my test. I personally would rather continue my hard effort and save an extra $200 then not do anything. And, those that have taken the NCLEX understand that it is not all about content but how well you can decipher the questions. I think that each person has their way of dealing with the stressful situation and the two of you are so lucky to be carefree and worry free, I envy you. Good luck on your tests!

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Well, to each his own but when I took my NCLEX, I had several questions from the book on my test. I personally would rather continue my hard effort and save an extra $200 then not do anything. And, those that have taken the NCLEX understand that it is not all about content but how well you can decipher the questions. I think that each person has their way of dealing with the stressful situation and the two of you are so lucky to be carefree and worry free, I envy you. Good luck on your tests!

Which book did you use to study? Saunders?

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I kinda agree with the op. I studied for hrs content / questions I did pass nclex 2 wks ago with 75?s - I thought it was very hard I walked out thinking I failed. I guessed on most of the test. I do not know if the studying helped because nothing I studied was on the test. Kaplan questions were similiar format but I did not see any repeat questions & I did about 1500 questions. They were the type of questions you could not go home & "look up" it was all criticial thinking. Delegation, how would u see / call first , precautions (this u need to know), meds........... The answers that I wanted were not there.

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Specializes in CTICU.

You don't do practice questions in the hopes of having the same question on your exam. You do them to learn the format of the exam questions, and to practice how to select the BEST answer. Reading the rationales for WHY a certain answer was correct is the most helpful aspect of doing the questions.

Everyone learns differently. I do agree that stressing out doesn't help anyone learn. Congrats on your results!

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I kinda agree with the op. I studied for hrs content / questions I did pass nclex 2 wks ago with 75?s - I thought it was very hard I walked out thinking I failed. I guessed on most of the test. I do not know if the studying helped because nothing I studied was on the test. Kaplan questions were similiar format but I did not see any repeat questions & I did about 1500 questions. They were the type of questions you could not go home & "look up" it was all criticial thinking. Delegation, how would u see / call first , precautions (this u need to know), meds........... The answers that I wanted were not there.

How do you know which meds to study? There are so many of them,

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How do you know which meds to study? There are so many of them,

You don't. I did not spend much time on meds. I got about 8-10 med questions I recognized them but did not know the answer.

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I wonder this too? How do you know which meds to study?

I hope someone has a good answer.

For now I can only go on the advice of one of my instructors. She said learn them by their classes (antidepressants, antihypertensives etc.) My nursing drug book has a small section in the front with the classes of the drugs and their use, major side effects etc., I am using this as a guide to check myself on what I know and don't know.

I also have the visual books "Memory Notebook of Nursing" which covers many of the drugs for nursing school. I have seen a small book in the local bookstores I think it is "Pharmacology Memeory Notecards" that has many of those drugs as well.

I am definitely reveiwing the drugs used for potential or life threatening disease processes and drugs with possible life threatening side effects. And drugs you may see the most often as nurses. Heart drugs, Respiratory drugs, drugs for gout, arthritis, seizures.... etc. drugs that are higher concern for critical levels in the blood, lithium, digoxin, theophyline.....

Although when doing practice questions in NCLEX books and from what I have heard from past students who have taken the NCLEX we will probably get at least a few questions on drugs we do not ever recall studying and feel unsure what the drug is for.

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Specializes in Telemetry & Obs.

I could have spent YEARS studying meds for the NCLEX and it wouldn't have helped. I had a few med questions...nothing whatsoever to help identify the classification...not a hint as to it's use...nothing in the scenario to help with "why" the patient might be taking it. Questions were "What would you tell a patient taking XYZ?" and the answers were, for example, "Take at night", "Take in the morning", "Take on an empty stomach", or "Take with food". Enney minnie minny moe never served me so well :D

I, too, though knowing the -prils, the -lols, etc would help...boy, was I surprised.

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You don't. I did not spend much time on meds. I got about 8-10 med questions I recognized them but did not know the answer.

How do you know which meds to study? There are so many of them,

I studied meds and knew when to take them and knew the adverse side effects of each. But all the meds I saw during my NCLEX exam were no where to be found in any of the books I studied. I did not get any olols, mycins, prils, azoles....none of the common meds. NCLEX is a *****:angryfire I got around 5 med questions (which order from the physician will you question?)..I was unfamiliar with any one of them.

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Our school placed the drugs in the curriculum with the body systems they were common with. When I began studying for the nclex, that was the way they were in the book too. This really helped. I had several questions on my test concerning drugs. If you think about the question when your not sure, if you have practiced 3000-4000 questions x 2, you understand that 3 of the answers have something to do with giving the med and eating...whether it is on an empty stomach, 1 hr before meals or with milk. Then the lonely question states something about taking it at bedtime. If I was not sure, I picked the "bedtime" one because it was the only different one. Get what I mean about deciphering. By the time, I did every single chapter in my Saunder's nclex book and then turned around and did every single one on the CD that came with the book, it did not matter if I knew the info or not. By reading those rationals and learning how to figure out what they were wanting, it was easy to me. I walked in the day of my test thinking these people aren't looking for how much concrete knowledge I have learned, but how much of my brain have I used to critically think about the situation and weed out the correct info.

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