When Should I Start Studying for NCLEX?

Micki8475 · Jul 23, 2014

Honestly, nursing school is stressful enough without studying for NCLEX at the same time!

I graduated in May, and started studying for NCLEX right after. I tested June 26, and found out June 28 that I was an RN.

I don't think studying for NCLEX during school would have worked for me. Nursing school teaches you the content. Studying for NCLEX teaches you what is "correct" in NCLEX world. Often, NCLEX world and the real world do not match up! LOL

Just my two cents!

whitneycherelle · Jul 23, 2014

I would definitely wait until you graduate. Everything may appear foreign to you right now and it's A LOT of content to cover. There is enough studying involved in Nursing School to keep you occupied for a while and you really need know the content before preparing for the big exam. Hope this helps.

OneHappyRN · Jul 23, 2014

I agree with the other two posters. I wanted to get a jump on studying, but in my last semester, I was too busy with my preceptorship to study. I, too, graduated in May. Studied for 3 weeks, took the NCLEX and passed.

Don't stress about it yet. My advice would be to LEARN the content in your nursing classes and not cram for the test. If you learn and retain the content and information and not just know it/remember it for the test then you should have no problem with the NCLEX.

Good luck!!

scottaprn · Jul 23, 2014

When I was in nursing school I had access to a computer program (I cant remember the program but it doesn't really matter). When we went over a topic in class I would practice questions on that topic only.

Early in school you will miss a ton of questions. I never looked at the percentage of how I did but I studied EVERY rational after I was done. After a while you start to see patterns in questions and start to recognize what the questions are really asking (which is actually a huge part of passing the NCLEX).

If you understand the rational on the practice questions there is a really good chance you will get to apply it on your school test (especially if your program is set up with test banks or the teachers are preparing you for the NCLEX)

whatsmyusername_RN · Jul 23, 2014

tbbtpeach,

Congrats to being accepted to your nursing program! What an exciting time for you!

As for as to when you should study for the nclex, while I admire you for trying to get a head start, I think you should study for it during your last semester of nursing school. If you try to study now, you would not be able to understand most of the content. If you have taken nursing classes, you would have a better understanding of the contents and studying for the nclex will just be a review for you. What I would advice you to do is to always read your textbooks and understand core concepts, and when you prepare for the nclex, you wouldn't have to "study" much and more of a "review" of what you already learned.

A lot of students from my program only studied for the stuff that were covered on our tests, and ignored a lot of other stuff that could have been on nclex. I don't know how they fare on the Nclex, but studying on what you only needed to know for the nursing school tests wouldn't help much for the nclex.

If you have extra time this summer, maybe you could read a head for the classes that you are taking for the fall, if you have the textbooks. This way you would have a head start from your classmates. If you don't know the classes or books, you can always go for Pathophysiology and Pharmacology for nurses, Clinical nursing skills, and Physical assessments for nurses. We all have to learn them.

Hope that helps ;D and good luck with your future education!

P.S. Always save your textbooks and notes until you passed your Nclex. Don't sell them and don't rent them, if you could afford to. I didn't expect to need my physical assessment and clinical nursing skills until I started preparing for the nclex.

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · Jul 23, 2014

There's a difference in studying for the NCLEX and studying how to take it. During school, your studies will help you study content. You will definitely need that knowledge in order to pass it. NCLEX questions are just different from anything you'll have done prior to going into Nursing School. What you should really concentrate on is learning how to deal with these kinds of questions because that's what you'll have throughout school and definitely you'll have the NCLEX. You're going to be looking at question stems, you'll be looking for certain key phrases and words. You'll be looking for what gets you the most information, leaves the patient safest, and/or is entirely within the Nursing Domain. What will really flip your lid is that sometimes there'll be two right answers... and you have to find the "most correct" of the two.

This is stuff you can do while you're in school! When you cover a subject and after you've gotten your normal schoolwork done, take a few minutes and do some NCLEX questions covering that very subject. I think you'll find you're prepping yourself for exams... by taking them and therefore removing some anxiety about taking them. You don't need to do hundreds of questions... just a few, and on the subject you're studying. Once you graduate you can then switch gears to refreshing your memory in certain areas, but you won't have to worry about that any time soon.

Good luck in school!

Nienna Celebrindal · Jul 23, 2014

Here is my advice if you want to "study" early. The nclex breaks down into assessment and implementation. So pick two colored highlighters one for assessment and one for implementation. Highlight accordingly. You will be studying without doing anything extra but switching pens.

Also keep notes of what information stands out the most for each class. Don't fill a note book, just a few typed pages. Use that to make flash cards. Occasionally review information from your previous classes as you move forward so things stay fresh.

Learning your lab values early certainly won't hurt either. Always be working on learning meds. Start with just knowing the classes and what to expect from them.

tbbtpeach · Jul 24, 2014

Wow! Thank you all for your answers! (This is why I love allnurses).

So, in general, wait until I'm in my last year/semester to start studying for General NCLEX.

And NightCrow...I really love your two highlighter rule. That sounds very intuitive and will make things stick.

I have Pharm this coming semester. I definitely would like to get a early start on that.

So, study classes of drugs. Any resources I should utilize for that?

Thanks again, all!