Should you take a break?

Nursing Students NCLEX

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I've read different views on this, but should you take a break during the NCLEX?

If you need one, you need one. What if you get an urgent urge to pee? You would take a break for that wouldn't you?

if you still have lots of time and you think it's enough for 265 questions (nobody knows when will the computer stop right?) then take a break.

i tried w/o any breaks and staring at the computer screen hurts my eyes that i'm having a hard time reading and kept wiping my tears. got a bid bored and anxious too to move away from the crampy chair cost some mistakes for me...

Specializes in NICU, Pediatrics, Nursing Education.

Well, if you didn't take any breaks at all and you got all 265 questions you would have about 1.35 minutes per question. Let's say you took a break every 50 questions, that would be about 5 breaks. Let's say each break is 5 minutes, except for 1, which is 10 minutes. That would be a total of 30 minutes (4 breaks x 5 mins = 20 mins + 10 mins = 30 minutes). So that would give you about 1.24 minutes per question. So, I guess it depends on how many breaks you need vs. how many seconds/minutes you need per question to feel comfortable.

Maybe you should take some mock nclex tests at home and time yourself... see how many questions you can do before you get tired/bored/or whatever else. Take about a 5 minute break when you need it and see how long it takes you... that might give you some insight as to how many questions you can do before you want a break and also tell you how long it would take you to do 265 questions to see if you are within the 6 hour time limit. Then monitor and adjust!

Definitely take a break if you need it. If you feel your heart beating hard and can hear your heart beating through the noise-reduction head phones then yes. Take a breather, knock out the bathroom while you're at it, refocus and finish up.

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