kcdn02

I spent most of my summer reviewing and memorizing and I took the exam today (and passed it - Yeah!) but I'm not really sure that 2/3 of the information I studied had ANY impact on my score. I did the NLN online course ( $200)- which amounted to having Linda Caputi read the review book to me that I already purchased ($30 or so) - I rented a former edition of B&H from Amazon and will get the money back - it was more useful than the online course. I also purchased Price Godshall and Wilson which was helpful. Then in a panic last night I spent another $75 for the SAE. NONE of the practice questions in any of these sources came close to the focus of the exam questions. I had more than 12 hours of educational theory in my doctoral program - but the questions were rarely factual - obviously they were at the analysis level. This is an expensive project - it would be helpful if the NLN would publish some parallel practice questions - Its also annoying that the entire exam references the original Bloom taxonomy when the review books reference the NEW taxonomy. My last annoyance - the long lists of critical thinking activities in all of the sources I used were never prioritized. One of the questions on the SAE marked concept mapping incorrect because debates were more difficult - and the rationales generally sounded like me as a Mom saying - because I told you so - the rationales would not be sufficient in any institution that i"m familiar with. I don't mean to discourage anyone - but a false sense of security isn't great either. If you turn the available practice questions into analysis questions with 2 very closely related answers you might be less surprised than I was this morning. I wish everyone great success!

I teach BSN students and tutor NCLEX students. There are two parts to this process and if you have spent all of this time on content - you may need to take a break and spend some time on the process. There is a formula for construction of NCLEX questions. I'm sure UWorld and Kaplan etc. all spent time and space looking at these rules. It is possible to increase your chances of choosing the correct answer even when you're not positive about the content. The exam report from NCLEX doesn't provide a detailed assessment of your content score - neuro, pedie, OB etc, so that means that you need to make that assessment yourself with study questions. Identify and reinforce your weaknesses and keep working on the mechanics of the questions and develop strategies to make the best choice. I wish you well!