2016lpnRN

Hello all. I have come to this site so often to read through posts and get a little help through school. Now that I am done I thought I would offer some of what I found helpful for the Nclex. I just passed the boards last week with 75 questions. First of all, you will feel like you failed miserably when the computer shuts off. I just sat there and stared at my blank screen before I snapped into reality. Even doing the PVT really isn't assuring. Your still left to wonder. Anyway, after a grueling 48 hrs. I was able to access my quick results. My school included the Kaplan review following our last semester. It seems like many students take this course. It was helpful for me and taught me how to answer questions the way the state wants you to. The decision tree, ABG's, expected vs unexpected, etc. I did utilize those strategies for some of my questions. Here is how I studied. I did Kaplan review questions....between 25-75 a night. LaCharity Prioritization and Delegation questions...25 a night. UWorld.....25-75 a night. I did Qbank trainers 1-5 from Kaplan. I also viewed some of the Kaplan videos but I honestly didn't find them helpful. Take a look at them and you will be able to tell if they will help you. On weekends I did as many questions as I had time for. I have to say that I found UWorld to be the best study guide. I would take multiple UWorld quizzes on the weekends. Their questions and rationales really beat Kaplan. The question layout is pretty much exactly the same as the Nclex. I felt like I was taking a Uworld quiz throughout my exam. I have always been terrible at SATA. This is another area that UWorld really helped. They provided so many of the SATA. I had between 10-15 of them on my exam. Some of them even seemed familiar to me. Whenever I took a quiz from my different banks I would review the questions and rationales....even the ones I got right....right after the quiz. I would then retake the same quiz the next day to see if I retained any of the information. My score would go up and I would randomly retake the same quizzes whenever I had a few extra minutes. I kept all the info on my phone so I could do it wherever...just the retakes. All other quizzes I sat in the quiet and pretended it was the actual exam. So, I highly recommend LaCharity and UWorld. They were by far better than the Kaplan questions. I studied consistently for 3 weeks. Unfortunately, I could not spend full days studying. I had to work full time so that is why my questions in the evening were limited. I think I was well prepared though...well, as prepared as you can be...lol. I did not study content. I reviewed labs that I don't use to often and brushed up on my infection precautions. I did buy the Uworld subscription. I was happy I did. I couldn't find the free trial when I read about it here. I hope this is helpful to someone. Good luck to everyone!

I love love love my PDA. My Pharm teacher recommened getting one at the beginning of my first level last August. I use it so much. I don't only use it on the floor but while doing my homework too. I don't have to lug around my drug guide or my Tabers Med dictionary. I got mine on the Palm website. It is called a Tungsten by Palm. They can be pricey but I waited until black Friday last year and got it for half price. It is so handy. Not only can you purchase some of your books from Skyscape but there are also free downloads available..like med dose calculations and converters. I can't use those in class of course but it helps me to check my work on the floor and at home. I can honestly say I use mine everyday!!

I am 35 and a mom of 2. Going back to school was not the easiest but well worth it. My NET test was pretty basic. I did study for it though because I have been out of school for so long. I really had to brush up on my math. Remember that saying "If you don't use it, you'll lose it?" I couldn't remember how to convert decimals and fractiions, how to add, subtract, multiply and divide them. It all came back to me but I would have been lost on the test if I didn't re-teach myself how to do it. Good luck to you and you can do it.

I honestly don't think there is alot you can do to prepare yourself. It is a CRAZY year. I will tell you a few things I wish I had known last August: Medical abbreviations/terminology....this was incorporated into my Nursing I. We had the book..told to study it..and then we had an exam. Learn prefixes and suffixes. It is so much easier to break a word down and know what it means. Learn some basic conversions. For instance, 1oz=30mL, 1tbsp=15mL, 1tsp=5ml, 1g=1000mg. That is what I would find to be helpful. I hope this has helped. I remember being so excited and anxious to learn before I started. Keep that same attitude all year. It is truly worth it. Now I can't wait to get pinned in December.

I am still a student..graduating soon and I get this all the time. It doesn't make me as mad as it did before. I just usually turn it right around on them. If they are a nurse I say "why are you wasting time with that when you could have been a doctor." If they haven't gone to school for anything I remind them of that. I recently had to take a friend to the ER and the hospital I did my clinicals at last semester. The nurse came in and recognized me and asked if he knew me from somewhere. When I told him the tech school I goto he said "oh, your one of those students/" He was very smug. After my friends lab results came back in he started throwing numbers at me and asking what should this value be..what does this mean..what does that mean. My friend was just returning from the restroom when he said to me..if you went to school to be an RN you would have known these values. First off..I knew most of the values but I haven't even graduated yet. I told him he was very unprofessional and since he is so much smarter than "one of those nurses" (LPN) he should have known better than to give me her results before she was in the room. Hello HIPPA!!! I didn't say anything more because I don't know if I will get assigned there again and my friend was pretty ill..my mind was on her. I am proud for the role I have chosen. I might continue on for my RN but it's not because I care what others think anymore. I want to be a Psych nurse someday and the facility I want to work at only hires RNs. Don't let it bother you. :)

While it is true that most of the questions are just basic knowledge you should still brush up on things. I have been out of high school since 1992 and before taking my NET last year I hadn't looked at fractions since then. I completly forgot how to change fractions to decimals and the differences between adding, subtracting, multiplying and division for them. I bought a study guide at a book store and had my 12 year old and hubby re-teach me. My entrance exam had graphs and pie charts on it also. It's not difficult but many things you once knew may be long forgotten. I did math tests at home for about 3 weeks before my exam and passed just fine. So, while it's not geometry, you might want to review a bit. I am happy to say that I am now entering my last level of school and will be done early December....and dosage calculation has not been a problem. Good luck to you!!!

The above suggestions have also worked for me. I also recorded my lectures. There is alot of info to memorize in a short period of time. I would listen to my recordings on the way to and from school. Also, on the morning of an exam I would listen and and write notes before I left for school. That extra 45 minutes before school really boosted my tests scores. This also worked really well when endocrine came along. I felt like I really learned the info instead of just memorizing it. Good luck on your upcoming exams.