Urgent help needed regarding the NCLEX...

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Hello guys,

My girlfriend just took the NCLEX and had 75 questions; unfortunately, she failed. She is devastated by this, and I promised her Id help her pass this exam. She is a very bright girl who graduated from a top university in the area, and I know she can do this. I was hoping I could get some input on a possible strategy. She used Kaplan, and used the videos and questions. Is there a different path she can take that many people have had success with? I know from personal experience, when I was studying for my MD boards, I personally didnt like Kaplan; perhaps she just needs a different medium. So, I guess Im wondering what tried and true strategy she can use. She was accepted into NP school, and she must pass these boards! Thanks guys!

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Specializes in "Wound care - geriatric care.

These are some tips that may be useful. Let me know if you are interested I can send you my complete list.

I would practice 60 questions per day in one hour. Buy a timer and keep the pace, don't ever take more than one hour (to answer 60 questions). Get a few good books, there are lots of tips on good books in this site. If you are getting above 65% in one hour you looking good but try to get higher. One day per week go all the way to 265 (ouch!) because most likely this is what your test will be like! So in essence studying for the NCLEX means you are building up endurance with that kind of knowledge rather than becoming a nursing genius. Have fun with it.

TAKING THE TEST: you must understand what is critical thinking. Some people are there already, but if you are not for whatever reason you should begin to pay close attention to "what is to critically think". You must focus on that question in a way you never did before, you must zero in that question only and not stray one bit from it. I developed this way of thinking in which I would imagine myself there, at the bed side with a real situation at hand and then think "what would I do here...for real?" What is safe to do? When you take the test you must be confident in your intuition. Another way to interpret when people say: "don't over-think" is that your mind goes into this overdrive mode where decisions are made quickly and without thinking but they are the correct ones. It's like playing a video game where you only have a split second to make decisions but as the rhythm speeds up your mind speeds up and you actually make better decisions than if you think it over. This is the kind of mind set you have to have when you take this test. In my opinion this is exactly what they are trying to test: your ability to quickly decide emergency situations. How many of those did you get right?

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I'd go with the motto practice, practice, practice! So many of my friends have had sooo many nclex questions about diseases/medication they never heard of. Don't drain yourself trying to study hours upon hours upon hours of studying (most of it probably wont stick anyways).

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Specializes in peds.

she should go for kaplan review,sanders review book and ncsbn.she needs to do alot of questions upon questions instead of studying contents.goodluck to her.

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Hi drjoey, I would encourage her to do questions. I personally love Exam Cram! It comes with 1250 questions and I found it to be very similiar to the NCLEX. Also, invest in buying Prioritaization, Delegation, and Assignment 2nd edition by Linda LaCharity! This book gives much insight!! I recommend doing many many practice questions. The NCLEX is all over the place with diseases and I found I didn't recognize many of them. I would suggest maybe reviewing some diseases, focus on Endocrine and Cardiovascular in my opinion. She MUST know infection control inside and out, awake and in her sleep!!!! Can't stress that enough!! Oh and I also invested in NCSBN's webiste! They are the makers of NCLEX! I had a hard time reading the material. I foucused on the Q bank!

Tell her good luck and give her hugs and double stuff Oreo cookies! (man, those cookies have helped me out a lot!!)

Lisa

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You can find plenty of advice on study strategies in the NCLEX forum. Have your girlfriend join AN and do some research here.

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Specializes in Oncology.

The NCLEX is a lot of knowing 'how' to answer questions, even if you don't know the material...

1. Similar Distractors: a lot of the answers will be the same...with one different. The answer is the different one!

Example: answers being increasing heart rate, increasing respiratory rate, decreasing blood pressure, increasing pulse

The answer would probably be the DIFFERENT one...decreasing blood pressure.

2. Answers that are almost the same act: a lot of answers will be the nurse doing the same act...for example...read the EKG (assess), take the VS (assess), auscultate heart tones (assess) and give amiodorone medication (implementation). The answer is again the DIFFERENT one...give amiodorone.

3. Another useful strategy: remember when prioritizing care, TUBES FIRST!

Assess the patient first who has a tube...(like with an insulin drip going or TPN).

4. For Psych. questions: remember, FEELINGS FIRST!...never ask "Why...?"

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Specializes in Hospice.

The nclex is all about strategy.......do questions and read the rationale, regardless if you get the question wrong or right.

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thanks so much guys! Just a quick question; do you think Saunders is a good resource for both content and questions?? If Kaplan didnt seemto work, would Suanders be a reputable alternative? Thanks in advance guys!

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Just to clarify my last post, she did most of the Kaplan questions, and Im guessing that perhaps Kaplan just may not be the best for her (it was never my personal favorite). We think that it may be best for her to do some content review before she starts banging out the questions, so we were looking for the best "all in one source". From doing some searching, we saw Saunders being tossed around a bit. Is this a reputable alternative? thanks!

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Saunders is an excellent review book. What she can do is concentrate on answering questions and if there is an areas, i.e. obstetrics, she is struggling with all she needs to do is review that area in the book and answer the questions at the end of the chapter

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Specializes in Oncology.

well i just found out i passed with 75 questions! :anpom:

so, now I'm partial to what I used...ATI TESTING. They cover all subjects and give you only the 'need to know' information. try atitesting.com

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