Hi everyone,Welcome to FearlessRN blog!
Today I would like to share some helpful tips on how you should study for the National Council Licensure Exam (NCLEX) aka State Boards. My journey wasn’t an easy one, but I discovered some tips that helped me to be successful on the NCLEX exam. I hope that these tips are beneficial to you. If you like them, please share them along with your friends, classmates. I really hope they help you on your NCLEX exam.
✤My Tips✤
Tip 1: Take an NCLEX refresher course.
This is a course that guides you on how to study and what topics to focus on while you are studying. There are so many NCLEX review course on the market, but here are just a few. There’s Kaplan, Hurst Review, Remar Review, Simple Nursing, Uworld, Lippincott, NCSBN, Mark Klimek, and much more.
Tip 2: Make a study schedule.
Your study schedule should be realistic and appropriate for your lifestyle. You should have “goals of the day”, lists of items/topics you want to cover for the day. Use time to help maximize the amount of tasks to complete. For example, study Renal for 1 hour. After that hour is over, move on to something else. I like to use check off lists. Check off lists helps ensure that I get all the material I would like to get done for the day. It helps keep me motivated!
Tip 3: How are you going to study?
Style:
▻Will you break down your studying by topics (Neuro, OB, etc) and then do the corresponding questions on that topic? If yes, I suggest that you start off with your weakest area. Keep doing questions until your scores are above average. Make your weakness, your strength!!
▻Will you do NCLEX styled questions randomly. If yes, I suggest that you do them in a timed fashion (like NCLEX). The most important thing to do, is to remediate/study the rationales immediately! Its best to do this, so that the material is fresh in your brain and you can always stop and go back to content to gain more knowledge if you were unaware of something before.
Amount of Questions per day:
I recommend doing at least 75 questions per day. But its always best to do what you know you can handle. Don’t overload yourself with large amounts of daily questions. This will have a negative effect. Take the time out to remediate and study the rationales to understand. Don’t look at the rationales to memorize. You can always find ways to complete the amount of questions you planned by simply breaking them down. For example, do 25 questions, remediate, 25 questions, and so on.
Tip 4: Take breaks
Its so important to take breaks while studying. Only you know how much you can handle. Take days off if you need to. Your brain needs time to rest in order to function properly. Have some fun too! It is ok to take a day off to just relax and start off new the next following day.
Tip 5: Do your research
Do your research to find our which NCLEX resource caters to how you learn. Some people learn best by reading, writing, watching videos. Its so important to figure out which type of learner you are and then find a resource that corresponds to that.
Please check out this video How To Study for the NCLEX + Review, for short reviews on some of the NCLEX reviews mentioned. (This is also Part 2)
Tip 6: No distractions
Study without any distractions. NCLEX requires lots of time and dedication. Deactivate social media accounts if you have to. Go to the library or any environment that mimics the NCLEX testing environment. Wear headphones or ear plugs to decrease disruptive sounds.
Tip 7: Core Content is essential
Learn your core content! Be sure that you know content that everyone knows. Its imperative to know the core content so that you have a strong foundation on each and/or any topic that is given to you in an NCLEX question. In addition, it helps with strengthening your critical thinking skills (huge on NCLEX).
Tip 8: Flash cards
Make flash cards on topics that you know you have difficulty on. For example, Lab values, Disease and Nursing interventions. Personally for me, I made Pharm cards. They were portable, light weight and fun. Each time I used them, I made it into a game, so studying never felt like studying. **Please let me know if you would be interested in seeing how I made mine.
Tip 9: Study in Groups or Alone?
Will you study in groups or alone?? Which works best for you? You have to look back to your nursing school days and find out which method worked out best for you. There are pros and cons for both. Maybe studying alone, helps you to focus in on what you really don’t know. Or maybe group studying, helps you get some clarification on topics you thought you knew but you weren’t accurate.
Tip 10: Pray! Believe in yourself!
NCLEX is a difficult exam. Trust me, I know! But personally, it has helped me to get closer to God and stay in faith. When you are scared, doubtful, just pray about it. Pray! Believe in yourself! You got this far, so you can pass this exam. Don’t ever give up!!
As always, I hope that these tips helps you! If you have any tips, please share them below as well. If you would like, please watch these videos PART 1|How To Study for the NCLEX (Tips) and PART 2| How To Study for the NCLEX + Review for a visual.
Thank you so much for stopping by! Good luck!!
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