Please HELP! Best NCLEX RN review book?!

[court304, BSN, RN]

I'm new here and I will go ahead and apologize if I am beating a dead horse with this thread, just wanted some input/advice from people currently using or have ever used any of these materials. I have spent several hours reading over previous threads about the recommended review books for the RN Exam. I have narrowed it down to 4 books:

1. Saunder's Comprehensive Review

2. Prioritization, Delegation, and Assignment

3. Kaplan NCLEX-RN Examination w/CD: Strategies, Practice, and Review

4. Lippincott's Q&A Review for NCLEX-RN

I have read many, many reviews on each and they all seem to be really good resources. I'm fairly certain I will be buying the Prioritization, Delegation, and Assignment review no matter what. The other 3 are what I am unsure of so I was hoping someone could help me. I have contemplated buying all of these...I think I am freaking out. haha. ANY input would be greatly appreciated!!!

Also, I already have the NCLEX 4000 at home and have read mixed reviews about using it as a study tool for the exam so any advice about this as well will help.

I think the NCLEX is giving me heart palpitations!!!

[klaloan]

Hi court304! I took and passed the NCLEX after the first try and after just 75 questions just last week! I highly recommend the kaplan review book (of course most questions in the CD) and if you have time, use the Saunders book also. I used just those two, but mostly the Q-bank questions from Kaplan. Do EXACTLY what Kaplan says to do, for example, for a 3-week plan they will say to do 50 questions/day until the day of your exam. Here's your job though, after EVERY practice exam, please please please review EVERY question, whether right or wrong. Doing this process w/ every question IS your studying session! Don't try to study all content, system by system. What I did w/ the Saunders book was use that to touch up on my weaknesses. For instance, my weakness was med surg aka physiology adaptation. So I did all 500 of those questions, which is mainly factual, short answer style questions. Kaplan has legit NCLEX questions. Saunders does not, however, is really good soley for content review. I say legit because almost all nlcex reviews will say "NCLEX style questions" however, I found that only Kaplan gave challenging questions THAT WILL PREPARE YOU. Hope this helps!

[klaloan]

Oh and GOOD LUCK TO YOU! Let me know if you have any questions!

[klaloan]

Forgot to mention this: while reviewing all rationales to all your q-bank questions w/ Kaplan, have all resources in front of you such as your pharm book, med surg, maternity and peds text books. And just do your research according to the answers you truly don't understand, whether they are RIGHT (because sometimes our right answers are right guesses) or WRONG.

[court304, BSN, RN]

Thank you so much klaloan!!! Your advice will definitely help and I really appreciate it. I actually went and bought both the Saunders and Kaplan books this morning. I flipped through them when I got home and I can already tell they will be helpful! I'm going to briefly go over some areas I don't feel very comfortable with first and then I'm going to start with the review. Thanks again for all your help and I will keep you updated! :) CONGRATS on passing!!!!!!

[Jdjmj]

I really like the Prioritization book

[ladside, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

ka-plan!!!! ka-plan!!!! ka-plan!!!!! oh, and i did i mention ka-plan?!!!

75 questions on first attempt = rn for a year and a half and counting....... ka-plan!!!! ka-plan!!!!! ka-plan!!!!

[court304, BSN, RN]

I actually ended up ordering the Prioritization book also because I figured it wouldn't hurt and I have heard lots of good things about it. I struggle some with questions about assigning patients so hopefully this book will help!

I'm quickly becoming best friends with my Kaplan book. I might even be in love. :redbeathe

Thanks for all the help and advice!!! Only a week and a half left. Yikes!

[kinsella]

I used Saunders Comprehensive Review 4th edition ( much better if you have the 5th edition) - IT REALLY HELPED ME A LOT with the Content/ Nursing concepts/ disease process etc.! read it cover to cover.

Saunders CD 4th Edition - answer as many as you can.

I scored 85-90% (number of items ranging from 75-100, you can stop your 100 item exam on item number 76) after I finished the book.

Answered Kaplan QT 1-7 (KAPLAN is recommended because you can practice criticial thinking) I did kaplan after finishing the Saunders book.

4 days before my exam, I visited the random fact throwing thread of Allnurses.com and yeah found mnemonics for prioritization and delegation, transmission based prec = A BIG HELP also!

God Bless! :)

[court304, BSN, RN]

Thank you so much!!! I have actually been looking at some random fact threads and I was surprised at how some of the little things have helped. Getting different views from people has definitely helped me to understand certain topics better.

I love Saunders for content but I feel like the questions on the NCLEX are probably a little closer to Kaplan. I might have the wrong assumption but I'm doing questions from both books so either way, it will hopefully help.

Thanks again for the advice!

[Wilburccc]

kaplan strategies, exam cram, saunders book and cd, prioritization by Lacharity... these books are awesome sauders for practice then the kaplan if you don't know the answer you can used the strategy .... in my case i got a lot of prioritization in my exam so lacharity help me a lot... exam cram is good for the pharmacology ... a lot of pratice exam and prayers... good luck to all who will take the exam it's not easy but you can prepare yourself with this battle if you have the right tools...

[Bspalacio]

did any of you like the Lippincott Q&A book? I'm using it right now and find it a bit more difficult. I'm worried about my scores which are in the low 60's.