Pass the NCLEX.
The NCLEX, or the National Council Licensure Exam, is the test nursing students must take in order to receive a license to practice nursing. This exam tests concepts such as medical knowledge, problem solving and information about medications. The two different types of the NCLEX exams are the NCLEX-RN for students becoming registered nurses, and the NCLEX-PN for students becoming practical or vocational nurses. In order to pass the NCLEX exam, take a review course for the NCLEX test, study your notes from nursing school, purchase an NCLEX review book and take lots of practice exams.
Instructions
1. Take a review course to prepare for the NCLEX exam. Such a course will help you to understand the information that you need to know in order to answer the questions, and will familiarize you with the format of the test and strategies for taking it successfully. You can take a review course online or at a community college.
2. Review your notes from nursing school. The material that you have learned in your nursing courses will help you to pass the NCLEX exam. For example, the different muscle types and cell structure are topics that you probably covered in nursing school, and there's a good chance they'll appear on the NCLEX exam.
3. Know the format of the NCLEX exam. The NCLEX-RN test has 265 questions, at least 75 of which must be answered correctly in order to pass. The NCLEX-PN test has 205 questions, 85 of which must be answered correctly in order to pass. The questions on both NCLEX exams are multiple choice. You take the test on the computer, and you have five hours to complete the exam.
4. Know the type of information that will be presented on the NCLEX exam. The categories on the NCLEX-RN and NCLEX-PN exams include care management, safety, infection control, health maintenance, psychological integrity, comfort methods, pharmacological knowledge, parental therapies, risk potential and physiological adaptations.
5. Learn the medical abbreviations. For example, you'll want to remember that ESRD stands for end stage renal disease. You can find a list of the kinds of medical abbreviations that will be tested on the NCLEX online or in review books.
6. Purchase an NCLEX review book. The review books for the NCLEX exam will summarize the material that will be on the exam, and provide practice NCLEX exams. You can find an NCLEX review book online or in a bookstore.
7. Understand answer the multiple choice questions. On the NCLEX exams, the correct answer choice is one which the nurse must arrive at through analysis, rather than immediately asking for assistance from a physician. The questions call for answer choices that focus on maintaining the health of the patient.
8. Do practice NCLEX exams. This will give you a better feel for the way the NCLEX works, how you'll perform and what areas need the most attention in your studies. Allow yourself five hours to complete a practice test. When you are finished, check your answers with the answer key. If you answered any of the questions incorrectly, fix the errors.
9. When you're taking the test, do not spend too much time on a single question. If you are certain about the answer, mark it and move on to the next one. If you are unsure of the answer, you'll simply have to answer to the best of your ability and move on.
