Tips for NCLEX-RN please

[heaverboo]

okay...i take my nclex-rn in a few weeks, i've got review books laying everywhere. from kaplan, hurst to exam cram books i've looked through them all. i feel as if i'm answering the majority of the questions right. should i try pulling out old notes from school and read through those as well? or just skim through the nclex books on the sections that i feel weak in. my anxiety level slowly rises each day

. i study a little bit each night but any extra hints anyone has feel free to share. and thankfully my manager at work is giving me the week off before boards to relax and be stress free

[BookwormRN]

I highly recommend the following book: Saunders Strategies for Success for the NCLEX-RN Examination by Linda Anne Silvestri.

It will give you some great strategies for test taking...really helped me to look at the NCLEX in a different way.

When you go to take the exam, and the test comes up on the computer, take a moment to compose yourself....close your eyes, take a cleansing breath or two, relax your body, then begin. It really does help.

Good luck! Deep breath in---hold---exhale...you'll do fine!

[Sue Damones]

Remember that there are usually two answers you can eliminate right off the bat... and then there are two that will be close. Sometimes you'll be able to figure out that one of those two will be one that they "think" you'd pick if you were guessing, or seemed close but isn't quite the right answer. For me, I answered a lot of questions just by eliminating the other ones.

Try covering up the answers as you are reading the question and think for a second what you think the right answer should be. This makes it a little less intimidating, I think.

Remember, the questions usually apply to the 'perfect' nursing world, not the 'real nursing world.'

Remember A-B-C!! Trust me, it seems obvious but your ABCs pop up A LOT on the test.

I remember there being a lot of prioritizing questions too. Like, "Patient X is receiving tube feedings and has not had any stool in ____ amount of time." Should you, a) call the dr b) turn off the tube feeding c) listen for bowel sounds d) give reglan

(I'm totally making this up off the top of my head so please bear with me lol)

You ALWAYS assess first. So, this can be a little confusing at first because it seems like A and C are good choices, but as far as what to do first, you would ASSESS by listening for bowel sounds. I'm telling you, I think this really helped me as I was taking the test.

Just relax... honestly for me it seemed like a lot of the questions seemed common sense-ish.

You'll do fine!!!!

Hope I helped!

[Riseupandnurse]

I would not recommend reading through old notes from school. Just keep answering questions. And yes, you assess but if you have enough assessment data to know that an intervention would help then do it first. For example, if someone is having bradypnea and is lethargic, pick pulling them up in bed and rousing them first, assessing their breath sounds second.

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

Moved to the NCLEX forum

Practie and practice questions and understand the rationale to the ones you get wrong

[LynseyEB]

Hi!

I am doing the online NCSBN'S Review. The questions are most like the Nclex then any questions I have done . I wished I had found out about this before I tested the first time. The saunders book is also good. I have done 3 reviews and have also gone to a tutor. I can retest again in June. Good Luck to everyone and don't forget to Pray. We will make it.

LynseyEB