You're probably worried about the NCLEX..dont...seriously. Here's what I did!

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So your about to take your exam in 1 week. You can't get any sleep. You wake up have a coffee and study from morning to night. This has been a ritual for you for a month. Question by question. Rationale to rationale. All skims your brain. All for that one day...where you are placed in a cubicle and forced to take the NCLEX, among many who are after that one goal...just to pass.

I just took it...and honestly...I STRESSED WAY TOO MUCH. I lost so many hours of sleep, time, and precious moments that I won't ever get back. All for what? That one day. So I promised myself after I passed I would write about it and help anyone who was going through the same thing I was. I know how you feel. Any time your stressed you hop on allnurses.com to read about how people experience the NCLEX, or read up on study tips...I did the very same thing...but what I really wanna emphasize is that..you really need to JUST RELAX.

I passed with 75 in 3 hours (HAHAH I took my time)..Here's what I did

I took Kaplan. And I'm sorry if you don't have Kaplan..but I think this is the MAIN reason I passed. I didn't review any content after I graduated. NOTHING...never read or even watch the videos on the Kaplan site. ALL I DID WAS QUESTIONS.

I did the entire Q bank, around 100-150 questions a day for 3-4 weeks. I finished all the trainers. I ONLY did the management and kaplan exams for the focused review section. Main thing is JUST DO THE QUESTIONS AND READ THE RATIONALES. That's it. SIMPLE. I talked to so many people that passed the exam...and that's ALL they did. You don't have to buy Saunders, Lipp., Hursh..or whatever they call it.. All you need is KAPLAN. KAPLAN teaches you in a way to answers questions not necessarily the content. It teaches you critical thinking skills. You don't have to read up and refresh on content...everything is in the rationales..believe me..that simple.

Oh I also used the study guide which can be found here https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3379554/-Nclex-Study-Guide.pdf

This guide is GOLD...take it to the gym..take it to work...mnemonics works..seriously..like SPIDERMAN (droplet precautions) how can you forget that.

The NCLEX is EXTREMELY similar to KAPLAN. I'm so happy I purchased it. It's a small price to pay to calm your nerves down. EVERYONE who took KAPLAN passed..its pretty much a guarantee. I walked in there scared...came out confident as hell. KAPLAN is hard...so it helps to prepare you for the worse. I don't care that I paid 200$ for KAPLAN..I rather pay that then self teach myself to answer questions the right way.

This is not a hate post to all the other studying methods out there. But I TRULY believe that KAPLAN works. I'm sure people have passed without the Kaplan. But if you really want to pass...and you want it badly...just take Kaplan you won't regret it.

Good Luck

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

please note that allnurses.com does not have a study guide. allnurses does not endorse a study guide.

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oops sorry I think I saw it on another post..I just reposted.. Gotcha ;)

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

Yes, we've had to edit posts that state the same; could have missed a couple. ;)

I do want to congratulate you on passing NCLEX. And, I totally agree that sticking to one source of study (Kaplan or Saunders, etc.), but not mixing several, is a good idea.

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Congratulations, omg you made me feel so much better, and now that I know it's possible to pass with 75 questions and it's okay to take 3 hours, I will take 4 hours lol

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Awesome! Thanks for posting.

Im using Kaplan as well, only for the questions. I am using Hurst for content though because our school required us to do the review last summer and this year the week before graduation.

Its good to hear that the NCLEX is similar to Kaplan. Were your scores within the 60's range? So far my lowest score is 60%, all other scores are 65-70%. Im hoping this is a good indicator. Your post has helped to relieve some of my anxiety but of course I'm not fully relieved lol. And I also printed off the guide but havent been through the entire thing yet. I dont want to fill my brain up with too much information. But I may look at it next week, maybe a two days before I take the exam.

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Specializes in Trauma and Cardiovascular ICU.

honestly, here's my take on it. you aren't going to learn anything new with studying, so don't study to learn, study to stay consistently thinking the way nclex questions are asked. people take all this time and do all these review courses and spend all this money when with every day that goes by you are actually losing information.

i personally did a small handful of questions and took the test the earliest that i could schedule it and i passed it in 75.

not to completely say give up any studying, but people need to realize, you aren't learning anything new. i think too many people feel they are cramming more and more in to their brains with all the studying and its simply not true.

but congrats to the op with passing!

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thanks for posting, dont worry not going to ask my usual questions lol ;)

what were your scores on kaplan?

congrats and thanks for giving us confidence!

oh yeah also, when do you suggest reading over the study guide

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Congrats! I'm using Kaplan as well (Hurst also because i like the way they break content up....and I LIVE for their accents! haha)! I test next week and have QT 7 left to take which I will do tomorrow (I don't know how I'm going to get through this one as I was ready to pull my hair out with QT6 and that was after a few breaks hahaha). Every day I struggle with telling myself I got this....to damn near puking from anxiety! I've developed palpitations and all (and yes, I still down sugarfree red bull all day even with my racing heart and gut-wrenching anxiety....I should know better, right?!! hahaha)! But I am soooooooo ready to get this over with and get back to life! Thanks for the encouraging words! I plan to go over the study guide twice before my test! Wish the rest of us luck, and congrats again!

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I just took my test July 12th, and passed!! I also purchased Kaplan, and man what an investment. I did the entire Q-bank and also took all of the Q-trainers. Kaplan really does prepare you well and teaches you the right way to answer the questions. I seriously stressed myself out WAY to much, and missed out on things because I was to busy studying to live my life. I reviewed some content regarding infection precautions, and lab values but other than that I just did TONS of questions. My advice is to just relax and breath through the questions. You know the answers, just take your time--you have 6 hours don't forget ;)

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Congrats! :) very nice post. I must admit your post made me cry a little.

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:bow:congrats and thanks for the POST and tips..!

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