Regarding the NCLEX

JacelRN, BSN, RN · Jan 30, 2004

Hi Whinnymay,

Honestly, this is a difficult question to answer. There are only two guarantees on the NCLEX. You will either get 75 questions and do extremely well, or extremely poor, OR you will get MORE than 75. Its as simple as that. Unfortunately that leaves a lot of gray areas in between 75 and 265.

So to best answer your question, the harder the question the further you are above the line of passing. The easier the question, the further you are below that line. So if you get questions like "You are in an ER drill and have to choose which patient you see first..." or "You just got 4 phone calls from 4 pregnant clients, which phone call would you return first?" These are more difficult because they deal with priority of care. The NCLEX is based on analysis/application type questions. The easier questions will be more assessment and possibly evaluation.

What I can recommend to practice for the harder questions is get the Kaplan 7 CDROM. They use the Bloomberg's scale to tell you where your strengths and weaknesses are regarding assessment, application, comprehension, knowledge, etc. It can tell you more about where to study. Focus some of your study on knowing FIRST and BEST/MOST type questions.

I hope this helps. Hang in there and hold your chin high.

God Bless,

Jacel