What's the best review book?

Epona · Jul 13, 2009

I recommend Hurst for a very good overall and SIMPLE content review. I believe you have to take that through your school. It is a live review. I passed boards with Hurst and Kaplan.

Good luck!

smuggy · Jul 13, 2009

NCLEX, just like any national licensure exam in any country, evaluates your skill, knowledge, and attitude. Review materials are there to help you refresh your knowledge. Read and understand your Saunders review book (it's a good one), go back to your textbooks if you're having difficulty with some of the topics. Answer practice tests, and then answer case discussion (Prioritization, Delegation, and Assessment) as if you are actually there in the scenario. How will you know that you are ready to become a nurse? If...

1. You know how to assess the client

2. Come up w/ nursing diagnosis based on your assessment, and know how to prioritize them

3. Come up with a plan that is SMART

4. Know the skills and rationale in implementing your plans

Good luck!

starz6666 · Jul 13, 2009

Saunders is okay I think for content review. In my opinion, when I did the questions, I thought they were too easy and it was giving me false hopes of knowing everything. Even if I didn't know the content in the question, the 3 wrong answers were just so out there and obviously wrong that I was able to pick the answer by process of elimination. Even my mom who isn't a nurse and knows nothing about nursing was able to answer some of the questions correctly. That is just my opinion, I don't know if other people agree, but beware of that when you are studying. I think Kaplan's online QBank and the book are helpful. They are more realistic, NCLEX style questions and they give you a lot of priority and delegation questions. If you are looking for those kinds of questions there is a book called Prioritization, Delegation, and I forgot the other part (someone know the title???). I borrowed it from a friend and it really helped me understand how to answer those questions. I also liked Mosby's, I thought that was a good book, gave good explanations. Remember though, what might be best for me or someone else, may not be best for you, so try to look a variety of books and decide what is going to help you the most. Good luck!

caliotter3 · Jul 14, 2009

Most people recommend the Saunders Comprehensive Review and don't forget the Prioritization book by Linda LaCharity.

GottaGetIn · Jul 14, 2009

Saunders is the best review, IMO. But i agree that the questions are pretty easy. I did the entire Saunder's book then bought myself a Mosby's book. Mosby's is the hardest and is great for testing your critical thinking IMO!

female12233 · Jul 14, 2009

If you ask anyone out there who has taken the boards they'll tell you that it's impossible to know all the content they could throw at you. The big things are delegation and prioritzing as well as making sure that you provide a safe environment for your pt. I just recently went to both borders and barnes and noble and pulled every single book off the shelve that had anything to do with N-CLEX RN written on it. The majority of the books were all long and boring content review like the saunders book is and had very little information about prioritizing or delation a chapter maybe some didn't even have that. Then I ran across the eam cram book!! I've taken the nclex once before for my rn and actually I didn't the worst possible thing the night before and didn't pass. I decided it would be an awesome idea to stay up and cram all night long. because i have an awesome memory so if i see it once or twice i've instantly memorized it. I stayed up all night cramming and nearly fell asleep in front of my test a couple of times. I ended up getting the max amount of questions and learning some very important lessons. At any rate after looking through all the books there that day i can tell you in my opinion there are two books that you will need for the nclex. the exam cram book (which by the way is written by pearsonvue) and another book called kaplan clex-rn strategies for the registered nursing licensing exam 2010 edition. (it's a purple bk.) I personally almost didn't even pick up the kaplan book because i had taken the kaplan review coorifice through my school and hated it. i just didnt like the "strategies" they were using and that stupid descion tree don't even get me started on that!! lol But.. The kaplan book gives you the tools to break down any question, it's easy reading and best of all short!! The exam cram book is amazing it's quick to the point, reads easy, and the cd will convert the entire book and fact sheet to a PDF file so you can take it anywhere with you. Both books contain questions throughout the books and cd as well. The exam cram book though has the cd that work in you favor. You take the pretest and whatever you had a hard time in those are questions that it spits back out at you. needless to say i walked home with both. (i've spent approx. a grand on the nclex post school) these are the last two books i bought and i finally feel like they're something i'll stick with. Heck I read nearly have of the kaplan one in a day. without feeling like GOD WILL SOMEONE PLEASE SHOOT ME AND TAKE AWAY THIS NCLEX MISERY? :yawn: