so i thought, why not ask those people who already had a FEEL of NCLEX?
here is my share. (i'm yet to take the big test but at least this is what i found from other threads)
- NCLEX mostly use only BRAND NAMES for drugs. thus, the reason why everyone pretty much say they come from planet PLuto; also these are the ones that you mostly see in your regular TV commercials.
- the questions are simple, in a way that they use one sentence and one word answer choices.
( unlike the killer Kaplan).
- study INFECTION CONTROL (i honestly printed the infection control facts from CDC)
-NCLEX has a lot of prioritization. Use La Charity.
what are your thoughts? (nclex passers and non-passers who took it).:redbeathe
Hi Nursetobe 4 - I am really confused and overwhelmed with 7 books to study from and everyone telling me diff things - I have a baby that's very sick and I'm pretty much on my own and really overwhelmed and afraid bc I can't study like I should, I stay up after he sleeps at night - but i can't dedicate too much time bc of him being ill, and I can't reschedule the test anymore. I take the test 2 days after you can you tell me what you found to be the most useful resource / material to focus on. thanks so much,
Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
Hi Nursetobe 4 - I am really confused and overwhelmed with 7 books to study from and everyone telling me diff things - I have a baby that's very sick and I'm pretty much on my own and really overwhelmed and afraid bc I can't study like I should, I stay up after he sleeps at night - but i can't dedicate too much time bc of him being ill, and I can't reschedule the test anymore. I take the test 2 days after you can you tell me what you found to be the most useful resource / material to focus on. thanks so much,
7 Books is a bit much to be looking at. Concentrate on answering questions. Pick 1 or 2 books (with CD's) and stick with them. Pick the ones that are closest to how you study. I tried several books but preferred Saunders but you may prefer something else
thanks so much, i know , i just dont know which is better to targe the nclex test questions.. i keep hearing kaplan, but i didnt buy it and don't know if I should 6 days before the exam.
Specializes in ICU, School Nurse, Med/Surg, Psych.
I took the NCLExRN 16 years ago. Seems it is a lot different now. (I took it the first year that it became computerized.) What the heck is SATA?? good grief, no wonder students don't feel prepared if I, as an instructor, don't know what the NCLExRN is asking.
I just took the NCLEX in July and just knew I had failed it when I it shut off at 75 ? Many of us have never heard of anyone failing the test when it shuts off after 75 ? That is not ture!!! Many of the students that graduated with me failed the test after only answering 75 ?
As to it's degree of difficulty, I believe it depends on the curriculum and content. I had no idea about some of the ? and did not feel as if I was prepared. I purchased the NCBON online study prep. I feel like you either know it or you don't. Thank God I knew more than I thought I did.
don't assume that infection control and meds (trade and generic names are included in the state boards) make up the bulk of the nclex. right now, the questions on the nclex seem to "focus" on safety and infection control. months ago, test takers in my area stated the "focus" of their state boards was on the thyroid/parathyroid, renal, insulin, equipment use, herbal meds etc. each month, as different groups of individuals test, we (rns in my area) are noting the change in focus. each month (or about every 3 weeks), the questions/topics rotate. it seems to happen near the end/at the beginning of each month. if you are preparing for your state boards and find yourself reviewing only the topics that current people have been tested on, you may be setting yourself up for failure. the nclex is made up of 3,000+ questions. and about every other year, modifications (removal of old questions, insertion of new questions) are being made to the nclex question bank. it would be too easy for everyone to pass if they (the state) didn't rotate their 3000+ questions around from month-to-month/week-to-week. regardless of when you test, the way your individual testing progresses will determine if you get med questions, drag/drop questions, point-and-click questions etc. many, many testers have no actual medication questions but may have 4-5 math problems to calculate which still fulfill the pharm category of the nclex.
as you prepare for your boards...i would suggest to everyone.. just be ready for any thing and every thing(regarding topics) to pop up on that testing screen. in doing so, you can control your anxiety much, much better.
smn2009 is right! I had no drug calculation or math questions and some others had 1-3 of these. They do not always give the generic drug and if I call correctly I only had 1 question where the generic was given. I'm not sure if you are familiar with the ATI, but we used that throughout the program and it is much like the NCLEX when it comes to subjects and difficulty of questions. I also studied NCLEX made incredibly easy and Kaplan. I can say the questions were not as easy as the ones in NCLEX Made Incredibly Easy; Kaplan was okay but you cannot rely solely on deduction because you may have a question where all the answers are right but one is the most correct.
If you can get a hold of the ATI course work-it really is great. We had to take examinations each semester and sometimes 3 exams at one time from the ATI.
Don't be suprised if you have Emergency, Prioritization, Disasters and such; like smn2009 said, "anything and everything" goes.
Make sure to get a good night sleep and give yourself a good pep talk. If you have people in your life who may be negative and non-supportive, don't let them know when you are going for your test; better still, I wouldn't let anyone (friends, cohorts, etc.) know because they may make you more nervous unintentionally. Oh yeah, wake up early so you can eat a good/healthy breakfast. I would suggest not to study the night or even a couple of days before.
What ever you do, don't freak out-you have plenty of time to take the test. I set a rule for myself that after I had answered 75 ? or an hour had passed, I would take a 10 min break because one really needs that time to rest the brain and the body. I also had it set in my mind that I would get the whole 265 ?; that way, I didn't have to worry about the number of ? everyone else was getting.
Also, if you get 265 ?, that does not mean anything. Plenty of people pass with 265 ? and remember, they do have ? that will not count toward your score so, those may be the very ? that people find so difficult and when they see it say, " what in the world are they talking about, I don't remember this."
I really still believe that it is about what one knows and has remembered and how one was taught and most of the books have the same information just written a little different and too, WE ARE OUR OWN WORST ENEMIES when it comes to psyching ourselves out.
Just think, once it's over and you pass, you never have to take it again--In Your Life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow Roxani that was great advice.. and i never thought about things that way.. i will def. take that with me to the test.. esp the mindset of 265 questions, bc i am one to freak out if i get that many. I don't know what ATI is or where i would find it though. Thank you sooooooooooooo much for taking the time to share your advice. It just made such a difference for me.
The brand names are Nexium and ambien...I've heard they give both
I thought they gave both names of the drugs...I haven't taken it yet. But that's just what I thought. That's not good if they only use the one name lol. You might say oh yea I know Nexium, but you're saying they'll give me "Esomeprazole Magnesium" instead of calling it Nexium. Or you know Ambien, but they give you "zolpidem". A lot of people may not have learned both names, of even simple drugs like those.
They gave you trade and classification or trade and generic names?
On my test, I found they used both the trade name and classification of drugs. I had alot of common drugs and only a few I hadnt ever heard of, but knew the classification. I also had a herbal question.
My test had about 6 or 7 SATA's, and one was for a procedure I hadnt ever heard of. But I answered it as best as I could.
I had tons of priority, delegation, and infection control. I also had a couple of legal questions about informed consent and HIPAA.
I had one medication question and it was a fill in the blank.
All in all, I found Kaplan to be harder than NCLEX. I even had some questions that were very similar to the questions I've done in Kaplan's QBank.
Lilly12
19 Posts
Hi Nursetobe 4 - I am really confused and overwhelmed with 7 books to study from and everyone telling me diff things - I have a baby that's very sick and I'm pretty much on my own and really overwhelmed and afraid bc I can't study like I should, I stay up after he sleeps at night - but i can't dedicate too much time bc of him being ill, and I can't reschedule the test anymore. I take the test 2 days after you can you tell me what you found to be the most useful resource / material to focus on. thanks so much,