Preparing for the NCLEX in last semester

[kaleidoscope27]

Hi everyone,

I'm in an ADN program in CA and I have the summer off. I do volunteer at a hospital but I decided to start preparing for the NCLEX, I plan to take it Jan 2017 since I graduate this December 2016. I'm more of a B student throughout nursing school with a couple of Cs... I managed to get a B in med surg but found it very tough. Anyone has tips on preparing for adv med surg? I have it in my last semester.

My resources are: Kaplan, Hurst, just bought Lacharity, Saunders. I plan to buy Uworld starting August so I can use it till Jan 2017 for 6 months.

Is this too early to prepare for NCLEX? I had one colleague say it might be "overkill". I want to know if there are nursing students out there who did prepare early, meaning more than 3 months in advance. Any advice or tips is greatly appreciated :)

[barcode120x, RN, NP]

It's never too early to start doing practice questions and prepping for NCLEX. Kaplan was incorporated into my CA ADN program which included tons of online practice NCLEX questions and end of the year review book. I did every single question that was available and read the entire review book and I'd say it prepped me well. In addition, I also used Saunders too. I read the entire most recent version of the Saunders book and did every question. In my opinion, the questions asked in Saunders were a bit too easy, found Kaplan more challenging. I felt that both prepped me well for NCLEX and did not both looking into other books/resources as I heard those 2 were the top.

I didn't start prepping until a month after I graduated (fall 2014). I wanted to give myself an entire month off of school and do whatever I pleased. FYI, don't expect to receive your test date in January. I'm am sure you will hear the Board is "backed up" and you may not get your ATT till February or even March. My main advice is to take a break before you start studying for the NCLEX after graduation, a long one for that matter.