When did you start NCLEX prep?

**NICU Guy, BSN, RN** · Mar 13, 2017

We had a NCLEX class in the final semester (summer session). We had to do 200-300 questions/wk. After graduation I did 50-100 questions per day until test day. I graduated the first week of August and took the test second week of Sept.

We had a Kaplan 2 day class the last semester, so I used Kaplan Q trainers and Saunder's book.

Sassyrose · Mar 14, 2017

You're probably not going to like my answer, but I'd say you should start the first day of nursing school! I got myself several nclex review books, my favorite being Saunders comprehensive. I learned from that book and almost never read the text. Then I'd do hundreds of questions, reviewing every rationale (not just the wrong ones!), keep notes on this in a notebook, and did NOT use the Saunders for NCLEX review. To looks something up quick or refresh my memory, ok, but not for the real Nclex prep. That's a huge book! I think doing all that during school helped massively on the tests throughout school and on the nclex. I still studied, but you have to wait for the ATT which could take a few weeks. If you have spare time, feel free to start now, but realize that, depending on your school and state, you may have to wait several weeks to test. That's when I did my hard core review, taking the test two months after I graduated. If you don't have spare time, I wouldn't stress it. For the after graduation prep, I used Kaplan (I hate them, they are evil, way trickier than the NCLEX IMO), and Hurst (gives you just the need to know data, teaches it in a SIMPLE way, but hard to study and learn from their outlines). Used test banks on both, was tested on kaplan in school. Get through school and congrats!