Essential NCLEX Preparation Strategies: Tips and Resources for Nursing Students
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Introduction
Welcome nursing students and future registered nurses! Preparing for the NCLEX can feel overwhelming; however, with the right strategies and resources, your journey toward passing this crucial exam can become much smoother. In this article, we will explore tried-and-true study tips, effective ways to practice questions, and insights into the new modifications for the NCLEX exam that arose due to the ongoing pandemic.
Understanding the NCLEX
The NCLEX (National Council Licensure Examination) is a critical test for nursing candidates, as it determines whether you are qualified to practice nursing in your state. Having a solid grasp of the exam structure and content is paramount to your success. For effective preparation, focus on utilizing various materials, such as textbooks, NCLEX review books, and online resources.
Smart Study Tips for NCLEX Preparation
Utilize Resources Effectively
- Textbooks & Review Books: Leverage the textbooks and NCLEX review materials you are using in nursing school. These contain essential content and practice questions tailored to different body systems and health issues.
- Practice Questions: Regularly practice with NCLEX-style questions. Engaging with practice questions not only familiarizes you with the format but also enhances your thinking skills needed during the test.
- Review Rationales: Always read the rationales behind the answers, whether you get them right or wrong. This feedback will help deepen your understanding and improve your test-taking strategies.
Schedule Practice Sessions
- Plan dedicated study sessions where you focus solely on NCLEX-style questions. The more you practice, the better you will understand how to analyze and apply the concepts learned.
- Implement timed practice exams to simulate the NCLEX experience. Start with shorter quiz formats and gradually increase to full-length practice tests.
Focus on the NCLEX Test Plan
- Familiarize yourself with the NCLEX test plan, which outlines the competencies you will be tested on. This includes safe and effective care environment, health promotion and maintenance, psychosocial integrity, and physiological integrity.
- Download the current test plans (RN or PN), as they include detailed information on what will be measured, allowing you to tailor your study sessions effectively.
New COVID-19 Modifications for the NCLEX
Starting October 1st, the NCLEX has seen modifications to cater to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Below are key points regarding these changes:
- Exam Duration & Structure: Both RN and PN exams now extend for a maximum of five hours and include 75 to 145 questions, with 15 of them being experimental.
- Testing Adaptations: The exam remains a computer adaptive test, and precautions such as enhanced cleaning protocols are enforced in test centers to ensure safety.
- Next Generation NCLEX (NGN): The NGN section of the exam is voluntary, yet participation is encouraged as it contributes critical data for the development of future item types.
Top Nursing Resources
Key Study Books:
- Strategies Book: Focuses on test-taking skills with over 1200 practice questions. It helps refine your question-answering strategy and offers insights to manage test anxiety.
- Comprehensive Review Books: These resources may include over 5000 practice questions and are excellent for building foundational knowledge.
- Q&A Books: Provide extensive practice questions structured according to the NCLEX test plan blueprint, offering unique questions to prepare effectively.
- Online Review Programs: Platforms rich in multimedia content—like videos and quizzes—help reinforce learning and provide instant feedback on practice questions.
Effective Study Strategies
Incorporate Active Learning Techniques
- Active Recall: Use flashcards or apps that prompt you to remember key facts and definitions. Testing yourself is a powerful way to reinforce memory.
- Group Study: Join or form a study group with peers to share knowledge, practice together, and explain concepts to one another. Teaching is an excellent way to solidify understanding.
- Mind Mapping: Create visual aids that map out critical concepts, helping you connect various topics and see the bigger picture.
Practice Question Examples
Here are sample NCLEX-type questions to illustrate the format:
Management of Care Question
The nurse working on a medical unit during a disaster needs to prioritize care. Which client should the nurse address first?
- A. Client with a fractured tibia.
- B. Client with penetrating abdominal injury.
- C. Client with bright red bleeding from a neck wound.
- D. Client with an open massive head injury.
Answer: C. Client with bright red bleeding from a neck wound - immediate intervention is required.
Pharmacology Question
Select all that apply: Which instructions should the nurse provide for a client prescribed Levothyroxine?
- A. Monitor your own pulse rate.
- B. Take the medication at night.
- C. Notify the primary health provider if chest pain occurs.
- D. Expect results within 1-3 weeks.
Correct Answers: A, C, D.
Conclusion
Careful preparation for the NCLEX is vital for nursing students as they transition from theory to practice. Utilizing a variety of resources, practicing questions, and understanding modifications can significantly improve your chances of success. Keep a positive mindset while preparing, and remember that each step you take brings you closer to becoming a licensed nurse. Best of luck in your studies and on your impending exams!
welcome everyone we're so pleased that you're able to join us this evening and so our plan
for this evening we're going to be sharing and practicing lots of questions tonight the
conventional traditional types of questions such as multiple choice and we're also going to be practicing a
those practice questions that you need to pass your nursing exams and the nclex we're also going to take a look at the
we're going to show you the components of the test plan and angela is going to pull up an actual
test plan for you and as i mentioned before we're going to do lots of practice questions
we also want to remind you at this time of an upcoming session that's going to be held in
october 6th so just a few weeks away and that one is on mastering pharmacology and we know you're going to
and shortly angela's going to share her screen and show you just how to do this now for your nursing exams and in klex
it is um to do this in order to get ready for your exams and the nclex so on this next slide let's just take a
which is for both rnp and students and this is really helpful in developing your test taking skills
while you're studying for exams they include content and well over five thousand practice
questions and we'll quickly show you that table of contents in a moment and then to the right is the q a book
there's over 6 000 practice questions in these books and these are different than the ones in
and finally to the right are the online review programs which provide lots of content lots of
turn it over to angela and she's going to take a look with you at the table of contents great thank you
so much linda hi everyone so let's take a quick look at the table of contents this is for the
pharmacology review chapters in the book that coincide with the content area or the body system
once you do get to those adult health units you'll see how the medication chapters come
after the body system chapters which has been very helpful to students and then on the next slide
that nclex organizes the information on the test plan so it's a really helpful resource as
you're getting ready to take the nclex the comp is really helpful during nursing school
and for nclex but then the q a based on and organized by these specific client needs categories is very helpful
during that time period where you're really sitting down and focusing on studying for the nclex
so if you click here on the study mode and then a couple ways that we recommend studying especially during nursing
health problem and then you can see here that it's organized here's adult health maternity mental health newborn and then
pediatric specific so let's just look at adult health here and let's say you have an exam on
cardiovascular for example and let's say specifically your exam is going to be on heart failure
areas that you can study for for that exam students really like the ability to filter it down to that
and then also you can go by drug classification so let's say you're going to be tested on
anticoagulants there's 44 questions for you specific to anticoagulants this was something that
students really we're looking for and asking for and so we were really happy to be able
for students as they're studying for exams during their program and then when you get when you're
getting ready for nclex you can use this product and maybe not filter it down to that level
thanks angela and that was a great presentation of how to use that evolved site so thank you for that
week that these will be in effect for a while and will remain in effect until further notice so
in your two far right hand columns you can see what the original rn and pm test plan included and
nclex has also reintroduced their ngn next generation nclex research section which is completely
they'll ask you if you would like to participate and again it's voluntary however we
study because the ncsbn is collecting data for these new item types and they really need your
participation and input and the test remains as a computer adaptive test so that's an important
are being followed in all of the test centers including enhanced cleaning especially between
each test taker so now on this next slide we've listed some references for you to the ncsbn
and this is where you can find lots of additional information about the nclex there's a
wealth of information about the exam testing centers candidate bulletins the test plans and
to keep keep up with what's happening okay so on this next slide we're going to talk a little bit about about
goals and i'm going to turn this over to angela wonderful thank you so for those of you
who are beginning or perhaps intermediate students or level 1 students whatever terminology is
you're studying and preparing for your nursing exams and other requirements in the program
and so your goal really does need to be preparing for nclex while in nursing school that's going to be very very
higher level students upper level students or seniors everything that you've learned so far in
why is that because it actually lists the content and activities that you as a newly licensed entry-level nurse must be
on this slide here we have two examples of what are listed in the test plan the first one is in the safe and
effective care environment component of the test plan we'll talk more about that component in
principles so use ergonomic principles when providing care such as safe patient handling and prop
proper lifting so that's a pretty detailed statement the second one is from the physiological
integrity component of the test plan and actually tells you the exact lab values that you need to
very very detailed information so that's really helpful for you as you study you should know the
normal lab values for these tests so that you can recognize if a lab result is high or low if it's
presented in a question and what that value means with regard to the client and the question
as of now you you may not see reference ranges provided for you but they have nclex or ncsb and has
recently started to have that discussion about including normal reference ranges in the exam so
download the test plan save it on your computer or print it out use it as your study guide for the nclex
as you master each content area or activity listed in the plan you should highlight it and then once your test
plan is all highlighted then you should feel ready and so the link to access the test plan is here on
page that you'll come to and you'll want to click download publication and this happens to be on page 14 of 65.
this is the safe and effective care environment component of the test plan and you can see these are the activity
by the time that you are done studying and getting ready to take the exam and they're pretty detailed and in some
be in boxes these activity statements we're going to look at the levels of cognitive ability
so the levels of cognitive ability are remembering understanding applying analyzing evaluating
synthesizing or creating it's not at all likely that you'll encounter questions that address
with regard to the information provided to you in the test question you'll also be required to use the
levels of cognitive ability of synthesizing and creating an example of this might be creating plans
so let's take a look on the next slide at a sample question that addresses the level of cognitive ability of
one monitor the fetal heart rate two notify the primary health care provider three transfer the client to the
so you can go ahead and use the polling feature to answer this question all right so it looks like about half of
this question asks what are you going to do it's an applying question it asks for an immediate action on the
so make sure you're reading every option consider reading each option more than once the
only action that is really going to achieve this is going to be option number four as far as relieving the
the nurse should immediately place the client in the trendelenburg position while gently holding the presenting part
upward to relieve the cord compression this position is maintained the the healthcare provider
but positioning is going to be the immediate action in this case the client would be transferred to the
all right so moving on we have listed the integrated processes um so the ncsbn has identified
five processes as components of the test plan that are considered fundamental to the practice of nursing
one or more of these components and so we can go ahead and look at a practice question that addresses the integrated
with a diagnosis of viral pneumonia describes the treatment plan to the parents the nurse determines the need
two it's difficult to watch you insert the needle to give those iv fluids three it's important that my
and four the chest treatments will loosen the lung congestion and so coughing can more easily clear
chose the correct answer which is going to be option number three what you want to really be careful to
need for further teaching so these words ask you to select an option that is an incorrect statement and you also do want
to note the word viral in the question and remember that therapeutic management for viral pneumonia is going to be
that i'll go ahead and turn it over to linda to talk about the client needs categories of the rn and pn test plans
thank you angela now this um next slide shows you the client needs categories for both the rn
and the pm test plan now i know this slide looks a little bit busy but all of this information is actually
because if you do download the test plan as angela suggested and as we highly recommend all this
information and the pres uh percentages are going to be presented there for you now the ncsbn
integrity and your physiological integrity and as you can see some of these categories are further
and then we'll provide you with some specifics about content you will be asked on the exam and again
in the management of care and the safety and infection control area and with the kovid 19 pandemic
you're certainly likely to see a lot of questions on trans transmission precautions so be
also because physiological integrity is a high percent your most likely to see lots of adult
integrity are your lowest percentages so you may or you may not have maternity questions you
and remember that everyone's exam is different because your questions are being pulled from an
transmission precautions and how as a nurse you would apply these precautions on this next slide we have an example
some time to answer that okay so it looks like 53 percent of you selected a bright red bling
bleeding from a neck wound and that is the correct answer so great work now with these types of
questions whether it's in the emergency department or it's out in the field think about
bleeding which means arterial bleeding from the neck wound is in immediate need of treatment in
order to save that client's life you need to do something the victim with a fractured tibia
requires intervention but there's no data in this question or in the option warranting immediate
120 minutes but not immediately based on the information provided here and the client with an
so this client will be given supportive care and pain management but is given definitive treatment last
a safety and infection control question the clinic nurse provides home care instructions to the mother of a child
vesicles have dried and crusted two ensure that the child uses a separate bathroom for elimination
three bring all household members to the clinic for a varicella vaccine and four request a prescription
okay so looks like 81 percent of you great job have selected the correct answer the correct answer is
option one and you want to remember chickenpox is caused by the varicella zoster virus and transmission
occurs by direct contact with secretions from the vesicles or contaminated objects and also via respiratory tract
secretions but it's not transmitted via urine or feces and that's why option two is incorrect
12 to 15 months of age for the first dose and four to six years of age for the second dose it is
antibiotics are not used to treat um chickenpox okay so now i'll turn it over to angela to talk about the health
we've provided the percentage for the health promotion and maintenance category which is
that you'll be asked about are noted here as well which includes developmental stages and transitions
so the growth and development concepts would be important the aging process all normal maternity
and the abdomen for tones and expects to note dullness in which anatomic location so using the
66 percent of you chose the correct answer which is going to be option number three or letter c
percussion involves tapping the body with the fingertips to set the underlying structures in
which is located in the upper right quadrant of the abdomen resonance is the percussion tone that
you would hear between the ribs and remember that dullness on percussion indicates the presence of an
provided here the percentage for you for the psychosocial integrity category for the rn that's going to be
crisis grief and loss in the end of life depression and suicide to name a few and we've listed more here on this slide as
says to the nurse terrorists are sent here to kill me which response would the nurse make to
or four what makes you think that terrorists were sent to hurt you so 57 of you chose the correct answer
which is option number three it's most therapeutic for the nurse to emphasize empathize
with the client's experience and to encourage them to express their feelings disagreeing with them or disagreeing
and the client may cling to the delusions even more and so it's not therapeutic medication may be prescribed
inappropriate and non-therapeutic okay so on the next slide linda is going to talk about the physiologic
we've provided the percentages for the physiological integrity categories and we listed some but not all of the
content areas that you're going to be asked about we're not going to read this slide to
and abruptio placenta so be sure that you read all of the activities listed in the test plan
inserting an indwelling urinary catheter as the nurse inflates the balloon of the catheter the
one administer pain medication two remove the syringe from the balloon three deflate the balloon and advance
so let's see what you do with that okay so great job eighty percent of you selected option three which is deflate
the balloon and advance the catheter and that is correct so when pain occurs during urinary
catheter insertion it's usually caused by the balloon being inflated within the urethra so in other
words the balloon's not entirely in the bladder yet so if pain occurs the nurse needs to aspirate the fluid from
in the bladder rather than the urethra now administering pain med is really not appropriate in this
okay on this next slide is an example of a pharmacology question in physiological integrity and we want
to point out that this is an alternate item format question known as a multiple response and these are the
all options could be correct currently partial credit is not given when you supply some but not all of the
15 to 17 even more multiple response questions on their exam and these type are very difficult to answer
provide you with several hundreds of these types of questions and in fact all types of alternate item
provide to a client who has been prescribed level thyroxine select all that apply one monitor your
notify the primary health care provider if chest pain occurs four expect the pulse rate to be greater
than 100 beats per minute and five it may take one to three weeks for a full therapeutic effect to occur
so let's take a look at this you did really well um level thyroxine is a thyroid hormone and
instructed to take the medication in the morning before breakfast to prevent insomnia and to take the
additional instructions include calling the primary health care provider if the heart rate is
pain occurs because this could mean um overdose the client is also told that full therapeutic effect
needs to have follow-up thyroid blood studies to monitor therapy and to make sure that the client
is receiving the correct dose okay on this next slide we have an example of a reduction of risk
result to the primary health care provider before the procedure okay so we have prothrombin time 15
percent of you selected the correct answer which is the pro thrombin time i just want to make a point
is called the s i unit or value and the reason it's there is because in canada lab values are reported in
s i units and canadian graduates do take the nclex exam you don't need to worry about bsi units
okay so back to this question um post-procedure hemorrhage is a complication after renal biopsy and if
so because of the risk of bleeding the prothrombin time is checked before the procedure the
normal prothrombin time is 11 to 12.5 seconds so the value here is prolonged the values noted in option
a chest x-ray and a 12-lead ecg which action would the nurse take first one obtain the 12-lead ecg
2 draw the blood specimens 3 apply the oxygen to the client and 4 schedule the chest x-ray study
is the priority to prevent that further cardiac damage and drawing the blood specimens would be
the immediate treatment that you would give to this client okay so i'm going to turn this over to
angela so she can look at some alternate item questions with you awesome okay so the current rn and
likely very familiar with the multiple choice question in which there's four options and there's only one
as well and so now why don't we take a look at some of the other types on this slide here you'll see a figure
question or an image question so let's try to do this question now the nurse notes this heart rate pattern
the heart rate patterns or four administer oxygen with the face mask at eight to ten liters per minute
okay so it looks like 48 of the group chose the correct answer which is option number two and
again this is considered an alternate item because it includes the figure so first look at the strategic word
cpr would be the initial action here oxygen is necessary but again initiating cpr is of higher priority because
it provides more than just oxygen to the client monitoring the clients necessary but not as the initial action
the nurse places the stethoscope in which anatomical area the directions will tell you to refer to
so um so the answer is going to be option d the apical heart rate is best assessed by placing the stethoscope in
the mitral area which is located and you can see this on the figure in the fifth intercostal space on the left
second intercostal space but at the left of the sternum and then herb's point is located in the third intercostal space
one full minute that's another important point to remember and the nurse should count the rate as
well as noting its rhythm and then moving forward on the next slide we have a fill in the blank
calculation or an intravenous flow rate or even possibly a calculation of intake and output
these questions require you to fill in the blank with a number and it's really important that you
if it does not ask you to do that then type in the answer without rounding if you do have to round always round at
there will be a little box for you to type the answer in and you need to only type in a number as
your answer in the answer box you don't have to worry about typing in the unit of measures such as milliliters
this will be there for you outside of the box and so that also indicates the end unit of measurement
that the calculation is looking for the rules for rounding an answer are provided in the tutorial provided by the
ncsbn and they're also provided in the specific question itself you also want to type in a decimal point if one's
to perform calculations and we definitely highly recommend that you verify your calculations with that
administer the correct dose round your answer to the nearest tenth so we recommend that you set up this
as well such as with dimensional analysis for example but you can see here how it's set up
so you could list it as either 0.7 or 0.7 and those both would be correct all right so moving on we have an
require you to rank the answers in order of priority in this type of question you're asked to
number a list of nursing actions in their order of priority after reading the information presented in the
question you must then determine what you would do first second third and so forth the unordered
options are located in boxes on the left side of the screen and what you would do is you would click
specific directions for moving the options are provided within the question itself and one tip
to answer these types of questions is to visualize the scenario and so to go over the answer to this
question so let's i'll read the question first and um and then i'll just go over the
the nurse rushes to the child who's bleeding from the nose in order of priority what actions would
the nurse take arrange the actions in the order that they should be performed and all options must be used
so if a nosebleed occurs in a child it's important for first the nurse to remain calm and keep
the child calm as well otherwise the child can become agitated and it's difficult to get the child to
sitting up and leaning forward position to prevent aspiration of blood the child should not be placed in a
lying down position because of the risk of aspiration next nosebleeds usually originate in the
lower portion of the nose with the thumb and forefinger for at least 10 minutes and then if bleeding persists
cotton or wadded tissue should be placed into each nostril and ice or a cold cloth should be
applied to the bridge of the nose and in addition if bleeding does persist the healthcare provider needs to be
notified and the nose may require packing by the healthcare provider after the nosebleed has stopped
petroleum or a water-soluble jelly may be inserted into each nostril to prevent crusting of the old blood
and to lessen the likelihood of the child picking up the crusted lesions and restarting the bleeding
repeated bleeding episodes that last longer than 30 minutes may be an indication for the need of evaluating
for a bleeding disorder and then finally documentation of the event the actions taken and the child's
you're presented with a problem and a chart or exhibit plus tabs or buttons that you must click to
obtain the information needed to answer the question a message will appear to prompt you to
click on a tab or a button so let's look at this one we have a client's chart which you need to read
and then the question that asks about something in the chart so looking at the question the nurse is
reviewing the assessment data on a client who's pregnant which assessment finding does the nurse
recognize as abnormal one the appearance of striae two pale oral mucous membranes three secretion of
so looking at their chart with their physical exam findings you can try to answer this question
all right so it looks like 78 percent of you guys chose the correct answer which is option number two
so you want to note that the question asks you to identify the abnormal data you need knowledge of normal findings in
also will help to direct you to this option paleness could indicate anemia striae and the secretion of colostrum
are normal findings during pregnancy and accelerations of the fetal heart rate are normal and healthy and indicate
and you can listen to the sound as many times as you want so let's look at this a nurse is
assessing a client's breath sounds what sound is the nurse hearing okay so it looks like 63 percent of the
to listen to the sound before you're able to answer the question you'll be prompted to use the headset
provided and to select the sound icon and you'll be able to select the volume button adjust the volume for your
and vowel sounds all right so next we have a graphic option question these are questions that present graphic