Nclex Study Notebook Pdf

[Marianna]

Iused the Bootcamp study guide and the NGN case studies. I love how Dr. Emily and her team explain the rationales and the standalone questions. I was amazed at how relaxed I was during the test. It just felt like another day following my study schedule and testing myself after a full day of studying. I also joined the Bootcamp Facebook study group and participated in the NCLEX question of the day. Later in the evening, if I wasn't working, I'd join my study group. We'd share screens since we had Bootcamp, and we'd work on case study questions and standalone questions together. We'd typically do 10 to 25 questions as a group. One person would read the question and answer choices, and we'd discuss and select the answer that most of us agreed on. If someone chose a different answer, we'd ask them to explain their reasoning. Then, we'd listen to Dr. Emily's explanations.

I encouraged people in our study group to have a notebook and jot down questions they missed to revisit those topics later. We did something every day. If you couldn't meet with the study group, you were to review your missed items from the previous study session and do your case study and standalone questions according to the Bootcamp Study Schedule. We'd discuss questions and review our study notes.

Consistency is key, along with believing in yourself and utilizing all the tools that Bootcamp and their team provide. I also recommend taking a few days off to relax and have some fun to avoid burnout. Bootcamp has prepared us very well.

WOW! What did I not struggle with? Well, I struggled with being inconsistent at times. I also struggled with using too many resources. I had to learn to use them more like dictionaries: look up the information I needed and then close them, especially our nursing textbooks. However, if they had a test bank, I would keep them, so I used many of them for my test banks.

I would say, "Believe in yourself. You've got this!" Build your confidence by being well-prepared, even overprepared, so that on exam day, you'll be relaxed. I was so relaxed, I was scaring myself. Write down your name with your license title behind it and review it every day. Review and study daily. Take at least two days to do something fun. When those two days are up, you'll be motivated to get back on schedule. If you're studying and lose focus, take a break and then come back to it. Also, utilize a timer to keep you on task. If you can make it through nursing school or an accelerated program, you can make it through the NCLEX exam. Most importantly, prayer is powerful!

Easily transfer NCLEX-RN, NCLEX-PN, and FNP content to your My Notebook, a customizable digital notebook designed for nursing students. Annotate your notes based on your preferences and review them from anywhere. Save time by studying only the content you deem necessary.

I think I let a lot of the posts found on this site get to me (and stress me out). The majority of the posts are about people who have failed so initially I was freaking out, but if you really think about it, most students that pass the test aren't going to come on here to post that they passed.

The NCSBN website posted that in 2011, the passing rate of total first time, US educated candidates was 87.89%. If someone told me that I had an 87.89% chance of winning the lottery, I'd be looking up what mansions I wanted to buy. That's a pretty huge percentage, so chances are, you're going to pass.

Below is a very detailed description of what I did to prepare. This is going to be really long and I know everyone's study style is different, but I hope it'll help somebody. Also, this might not really help people that aren't using Kaplan because that's what I used so my study schedule is very specific to the Kaplan material.

Kaplan is about $450, which is expensive. However, everyone that has passed in our class so far took Kaplan and passed on their first try (majority with 75 questions). I think it's a good investment because they refund your money if you fail (as long as you do all the questions they require... which if you do, you'll probably pass). It took me four weeks total to get through all the Kaplan material.

- Lectures are not content-based. They teach the decision tree and for the rest of the classes, you spend it going over a ton of questions/answers. At first I thought this was strange, but it turned out to be so helpful. They walk through each question and tell you how they eliminate certain answers and the process they go through to select the correct one.

- The Kaplan Qbank questions and Question Trainers look EXACTLY like the real NCLEX (same exact color, format, etc), which really decreased my anxiety during the real thing because I felt like I was just doing a Kaplan practice test.

- I read the study guide four times (once after I finished the Kaplan lectures, twice in the middle of doing questions, and one more time two days before my exam). The mnemonics/tips in this guide are so helpful. Read it!

4) I kept a notebook where I took down notes of things I thought were important after reading rationales (ex: Need to maintain sodium levels if patient is taking lithium, otherwise, could cause toxicity). However, I only took notes on things I thought were REALLY important and on subjects that kept coming up in questions. I wanted to keep my notes as short as possible so that I wouldn't feel overwhelmed with 100's of pages of notes.

- I didn't do any content review before starting questions. I just jumped right into doing questions. I think some people waste too much time reviewing content when the important thing is doing as many questions as you can and learning how to answer questions. You review content as you're reading the rationales. My scores on the questions trainers and qbanks kept increasing and eventually, I was consistently scoring above the minimum score that Kaplan suggests, so I felt comfortable not reviewing content. If your scores are not increasing and are consistently below the minimum they suggest, then maybe it would be a good idea to do content review. However, make sure you give yourself time to get through ALL qbank and question trainer questions before the exam.

- When I completed 50% of the Qbank questions, I looked at which sections I wasn't doing so well in. There's a section that shows your cumulative performance in the Qbanks and Kaplan breaks down the sections that you are scoring lowest in. I had one subject where I was just below the 50% mark so I went back and read that section in the Kaplan course book. I skipped the content lecture because it was too long and boring and I saved time by just reading that section of the book myself.

- Kaplan suggests not focusing on one content area at a time when doing questions. I'm so glad I listened to this because if you know you're doing questions in one content area, you'll be more likely to choose the correct answer because you know what they're looking for, even if the question is tricky. However, on the NCLEX, you won't know what sections each questions is coming from, so I think it's beneficial to learn to do the practice questions the same way.

- The select all that apply questions are way hyped up on this site. I thought the material on the SATA questions on the NCLEX were straightforward and basic. Most of the time they were much easier to understand/answer than the single multiple choice answer questions.

- I made sure to stick to just one study material. I've been reading on here that some people have between three to four course books/materials. I thought that Kaplan on its own was more than enough and didn't want to overwhelm myself by looking at other material.

- READ ABOUT HOW THE TEST IS SCORED! Understand what type of questions are considered "passing level" so that when you're getting dozens and dozens of SATA, you don't freak out and you'll know that it means you're doing well and are above the passing level. Also, remember that 15 of the questions aren't even scored. So chances are, in the first 75 questions, it's likely that only 60 questions are scored.

- After lunch: Read all rationales from the questions I did in the morning and take notes in my notebook of important facts I want to make sure I remember. I made sure to read the rationales for the questions I answered correctly so that I know my reasoning for selecting the answer was correct. Also, if I came across a subject I wasn't familiar with, I would look it up in the Kaplan course book (such as how to care for a patient with Buck's traction). I took about a 10 minute break every hour while I was reviewing the rationales just so I could maintain my focus. At first this seems overwhelming, but as you go along, you'll see topics that keep coming up so you'll get more familiar with the material and will get more questions correct. You'll be able to plow through the rationales much more quickly. Initially, it was taking me 3 hours to do this, then after the first three days, it only took me 1.5-2 hours. So after a while, I still had plenty of time in my day to relax or hang out with friends at night.

*Breakdown of Weeks 2-4 (I didn't do all the question trainers in the order that Kaplan told me to. I wanted to get through some Qbank questions to see if my question trainer scores would improve as I did more and more questions. I felt it was easier to track my progress this way):

Cumulative Qbank - 64 (On the first half of the Qbank questions, my average was pretty much at 60 or a little below 60. However, after finishing half of the Qbank questions and half of the question trainers, my scores really started improving.)

Thank you so much for sharing! It is very inspiring for someone like me who read the kaplan book carefully. I figured just doing the questions will help me. The majority of my classmates pass the test without even reading/studying the content which is pretty amazing.

Thanks for coming back and sharing. I spent most of yesterday evening reviewing Kaplan and Lippencott content and watching Kaplan video that I was so exhausted I fell asleep hoping to come back and do questions. I woke up too late so I guess starting today, I will focus on doing questions first, reading rationale and then content to ensure that I get through my questions each day as I work.

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