How I went about passing the NCLEX-RN boards

I know that a lot of people wonder how other students go about studying for the boards. These things create unimaginable amounts of stress, so I understand why one would seek out information from ones who have done what they can to pass.

So I was fortunate enough that my uni bought this prep program that went along with our prep book - Elsevier adaptive quizzing program and HESI/Saunders questions - on general we had ~120 questions per week. I think that was helpful to get me ready for information I'm not familiar with. From this I learned where my areas of weakness were. And then most way through my semester the school paid for us to take the Kaplan weekend seminar. I found that quite helpful in how to approach a question - that it's always about assessment first and if there's the option of calling a Dr or assessment, choose the assessment - it almost always gives you more information that's needed.

Then once I graduated hubby and I figured that learning info then doing questions may work and so we bought NCSBN program and I was doing that for a bit - but it was dry and very boring. I was having a lot of difficulty getting through it and feeling like I was actually working positively so I took it upon myself to buy UWorld. Then I did my weak areas first and after going through the 75 questions, I remediated and I took my time with that - making sure that I understood why I got a question right as well as why I got things wrong - or why certain choices were right and why others were wrong. When I started that, I generally got through 150 questions but I would flag questions that I either got wrong or I felt were really important for me to remember & look at before the NCLEX.

I also had the Kaplan trainer tests that I reserved for when I was prepping for the exam. I did two more but when I was remediating, I found that I didn't like their information that was provided - UWorld absolutely beat Kaplan out in this area, hands down!!!

Overall, I feel like the Elsevier adaptive quizzing program and HESI/Saunders questions program as well as UWorld are what helped give me the best chance at being successful on the NCLEX. For those who come to it after me - remember prioritization and safety - that's primarily what my exam was about (at least what I can remember - stress and high anxiety will do that to you!). I wish you luck and every chance at success at beating the beast that is the NCLEX.