Studying for NCLEX

Published

Hello all

I graduated from my LPN program in June. It is now September and I have yet to sign up for the NCLEX. Unfortunately our class had to wait about 2-3 months before the school could send out our transcripts so we could apply.

I went back to school to get some paper work done and one of my former simulator instructors told me NOT to practice questions and JUST to focus on reading material. I have been studying heavily at least 2 hours everyday from the Saunders NCLEX PN Examination review book. I have been writing down notes on almost every single page and I was planning on doing this for the entire book. I decided to take some practice questions from Evolve Elsevier and I did horrible! I'm looking on this forum and it turns out Saunder's is not the move. Almost everyone has said Saunders is only good for reviewing content but to review NCLEX questions I should get either U world or Kaplan. For those who passed the NCLEX, what would you recommend?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Picu.

I would recommend practice questions. However dont get down I did practice exams and did so poorly on them but still passed my nclex. I only used Saunders. Definitely dont skip information on the chapters because the exam changes based on your strengths and weaknesses

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Moved to the NCLEX forum

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in PICU.

You do need to practice questions. You need to be familiar with the style of questions, how the questions are posed, and what is the rationale. You need to review questions and rationale of both the questions you missed as well as the ones you answered correctly. When you review the rationale see if the rationale matches up to your reasoning for picking the answer you did.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Thanks a lot for this educative forum, personally , still reading for the NCLEX, the information I 'he gathered so far, has proven that there is a need to, great more time for reading, not skipping any information and to practice questions as many as possible daily, consistency is the key. Good professionals, I'm encouraged. Thumb up.

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×

Learning content should already be done, that is what school is for. You will make your head explode if you try to just hit random content. For the NCLEX you need to be hitting the strategies and whatever flashcards you can find on safety and intervention. Studying up on delegation and who the nurse will see first will pay big dividends. I totally recommend Lacharity's book because it will blend nursing content along with what I just talked about. It's easy to read as well. Then hit the strategies from ATI and whatever free flashcards you can find on safety and intervention. If you insist on a content course save your money and buy a used book on Ebay called Exam Cram Nclex Rn. Good luck.

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×

Hi

I highly recommend doing practice questions and listening to Mark K audios.

Just remember for priority questions that the most vital organs in order are Brain, heart, kidney and the most vital elements are oxygen, water, sodium, and potassium- in that order.

Just remember pathophysiology mechanisms and principles to help answer questions as well.

Wish you the best ?

2
Up Vote Up Vote ×

Thanks a lot for sharing, E- Commerce.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in NCLEX Prep Expert - 100% Pass Rate!.

Hi everyone! As an NCLEX Expert, I'd like to add a few recommendations and provide some clarification.

1) You must know your nursing content. The NCLEX assumes that you already know the content. With that being said, I do NOT recommend spending copious amounts of time reviewing content. Rather than that, be sure to review the NCSBN test plan for the topics you're responsible for knowing. This is your GUIDE to the content. If you cannot articulate the nursing considerations for each topic area, then you should do a quick review.

2) Learning NCLEX test-taking strategies is very important. The passing level questions on the exam are written at the application and analysis level and require a great deal of critical thinking - something nursing schools cannot do at the same level as the NCLEX because you are still learning the material.

3) You should spend most of you time answering practice questions and keeping track of your accuracy score. I recommend that you consistently score at least 55% or higher for the LPN exam. 65% or higher for the RN exam. You should complete a minimum of 75 practice questions (random and comprehensive) with each practice session. This will help to build your endurance and keep time. You should also limit interruptions and try to complete all 75 questions in one sitting, and act as if you are sitting for the exam itself.

4) I personally like NCLEX Prep q-banks that are online as it helps to simulate taking the NCLEX, however paper practice questions are still just as good, but you have to manually calculate your score and time spent answering 75 questions.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out.

Good luck! You got this!

-Damion

2
Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion