Which study resource resembles the NCLEX type and difficulty of questions the most?

[IcanHealYou]

I have been using the Saunders 4th edition, NCLEX4000 from lipponcott and recently purchased "Prioritization, delegation and assignment" which I believe is a very valuable resource.

Saunders questions seem to mostly test on straight up content and less on application. So the questions I feel are a little easier.

NCLEX4000 has more application but I have still seen more difficult questions other places.

The Prioritization book has more difficult questions all dealing with priority, delegation or assignment. I am only doing decent with these questions because I am unable to pull knowledge from a bigger picture to help me answer the questions. Which is why I believe there is no amount of studying to help me improve.. If my mental capacity just doesn't allow me to think at a level to answer, it just won't help.

Would anyone be able to tell me which resource they believe to resemble the types and difficulty of the NCLEX questions? I have also looked into Exam Cram, which have difficult questions as well. Thank you in advance.

[cc_RN]

i recently took it on july 1 and it was nerve-wrecking. HONESTLY!! but if u take a certain amt of hrs aside everyday...(ex. 3 hrs) and just do questions...then u should be fine. i would get up at 9am and do questions until 12pm...ate lunch..watched tv...then around 4/5pm i would review the answers and if i didnt understand it, i would go through my saunders & kaplan book to learn the reason(s) why i did/didn't choose the answer...that helped for me...

[Lilly12]

cc RN thanks for your reply..ok so you think doing questions is better then just going through content like I'm doing right? what questions sources did you use.. I signed up for Ncsbn but ran out of questions i dont think they have more than a 1000... now i have mobey or prentice hall, or nclex 3500.. after just taking it which do you think is more helpful..?

[kittiebabe]

I believe it's ncsbn, nclex cram, la charity, and prentice hall that more or less mimics the real exam. What do u think?

[cc_RN]

yes...i used ncsbn for questions..kaplan gave us addition 1000+ questions...and i used the saunders book which had over 5000+ questions..

i only reviewed content when i needed to refresh something...

i especially reviewed the medication content that i got wrong..and i found that after reviewing it afterwards...it helped me

[TessaMae]

Is there any way you can reschedule your exam for a couple of weeks? I really believe that going in rushed and having to cram is a bad idea. If you do not pass you have to wait 45 days and spend more money versus waiting a couple of weeks. PLus the statistics show that the pass rate for first time test takers is higher than for repeats. Not trying to be a downer but given your situation it might be better for you in the long run. Good Luck

danah - thanks for your reply it really helped.. you just took it last sat.. well I never made it to 3000 questions or that much prep bc i just moved and have had a very sick child.. with no childcare.. so i have been truly struggling to get through material and questions.. that's why like your friend i kind of have the defeated attitude.. and am terrified i wont be able to continue my schooling if i fail.

but with having very little time, i thought I should focus on medsurg, infection, delegation and priority not so much ob or peds, or calculations or meds.. but then others are telling me differently..

can you tell me how it was and what is the best way to prepare if I only have 5 days about4 hours a day... what source and what topics and questions or content? thanks soooo much i would really appreciate it especially since you just took it.

[D_a_n_a_h]

Moniku2009,

I agree with TessaMae. . .if it's possible to reschedule it so that you have more time, take this option into consideration. The same friend I talked about earlier was under a huge amount of pressure by her family to take it ASAP so she went ahead and scheduled it. . .even though she didn't feel ready. I was supposed to take it August 10, but I didn't feel prepared enough to take it so I re-scheduled for that Saturday. Those five extra days really helped me out. However, I was already 3 weeks deep into studying...plus I had the time to sit behind a desk, read over material, and practice questions for hours at a time. Therefore, I might not be the best person since you're really pressed for time.

But if I was in the same situation, practicing questions and read over rationales carefully (since they can also serve as content review) seems to be the best way to go. Try to cover your weakest areas first. From what I can recall, I got alternative-type questions (e.g. "Select all that apply" and "Drag and Drop"), a few questions about meds (though no calculations), priority-type (e.g. "Which patient should you see first?"), some psychosocial, peds, reproductive, and cardiac. However, others have gotten different types of questions. It's hard to say what you should really focus on because the test is different for each individual. Even with all the studying I've done, it was impossible for me to go over every single area. So when I encountered questions w/ topics that I wasn't familiar with, I had to rely on critical thinking strategies. That way, I was able to eliminate wrong answer choices and select the best possible answer. I did this by reading through "Kaplan NCLEX-RN Exam: Strategies for the Registered Nursing Licensing Exam" (the latest edition is 2010, but older editions [2008-09, 2007-08] are fine). Examples of strategies are: physiological comes before psychosocial, nursing process (assessment comes before intervention), etc. I didn't buy it...I borrowed it from the library. So check out your local library to see if they have any of these sources (they're free!)

It sounds like you have a lot on your plate and I hope I have helped somewhat. . .let me know how it goes and goodluck!

[Lilly12]

Danah omg great advice.. thanks soooo much. I will follow your advice. I don't feel so overwhelmed now..I'm sooo glad i found this forum i keep getting calmer and more organized as posts come through.

[BrentRN, PhD]

I teach nursing and have taught Kaplan for my graduates. It is probably the best due to its test taking strategies, level of questioning at application or evaluation, and the large and accurate simulation of online testing. However, remember that no prep course can mimic the exam with much degree of accuracy as the NCLEX-RN is highly secure. All review books are just guesses at how the questions would appear. I suggest staying away from books that have lots of knowledge level questions (e.g. the normal blood pH range is ____.). You want to be testing your ability to use your knowledge in a clinical situation.

Kaplan has reviewed their student successes and failures. The one key in addition to the readiness test was how many online questions were done before taking NCLEX-RN. The correlative figure was around 1000 questions. Meaning that those who did at 1000 online questions AND scored better than 64 on the readiness test were the most likely to pass.

Arthur Ashe said the key to his success was preparation. That will never be truer than for this exam. If you have not prepared DO NOT take the exam. Some graduates want to just "try" the test to see what it is like. That is bad for you and your nursing school. My well prepared graduates usually tell me that they pass with just 75 questions.

[holisticallyminded]

Hurst Review. I hated Kaplan, Saunders is too easy and Lippencott had good questions but didn't help me; it just stressed me out. Hurst broke it down in a way that made me feel like, "I can do this." Passed in 75 questions. And let me add that I am NOT a good test taker and never was in nursing school, though I did well enough, obviously.......

[Queakous]

I dunno. I used Davis Inclex w/CD( got it at Books-a-Million) and it was exactly like the Inclex I took in 2006. Granted, I used the thing for a good year prior. It was my video game. I am a quiz kinda gal, I guess. I liked it because it let me choose areas of testing and gave rationals for all answers.

Hey, I got cut off at 75 and was really pleased.

[mrwhy08]

I had friends use Kaplan with great success, but it is not fool-proof.

Some stilll had to take the NCLEX 2 or more times to pass.

I did not use any additonal resources. I passed the 2nd time.

[chelcgirl88]

I graduated from an ADN program this past May and took NCLEX in June. I, along with the concensus it sounds like, used Kaplan. I did the Complete with access to Qbank and other online resources, the book, and attended the class. I chose this because I felt if they are confident enough to guarantee their product, then they must have a reason for it... The computer program resembled NCLEX almost exactly and was broken down into subjects similar to my nursing school so it helped me to study content and go through questions. I went through the book as it reviewed content, reviewed the videos online which helped a lot with content. I then did questions from the Qbank daily for about 2 weeks prior to taking the test. As for the class part, I feel that the strategy that they teach you to approach questions is helpful in SOME situations, but not all. I used in when it was a question that I could eliminate 2 out of 4 choices to choose which was the best answer. But at times, I only used parts, such as Maslow's to eliminate some of the choices. Overall, I was happy that I did it this way. I felt I may have been able to do just as well without the class, however it proved to be beneficial. Actually, my whole class did Kaplan, some did complete, some just did the online portion--and I'm proud to say, all 20 of us are RNs now after our first attempts at NCLEX!!!!!