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5 Tips to Help You Prepare for the NCLEX

Friday, September 28, 2012

You’ve made it through your courses, completed your clinical, and finally made it to graduation day. There’s only one thing left to do before you become the RN you’ve always dreamed about: passing the NCLEX. Courtesy of scrubsmag.com, we bring you 5 tips for NCLEX prep.

1.  Schedule your exam ASAP – Schedule your exam as close to graduation as you can. At this point all the material you’ve learned along the way is fresh in your mind. You’ll spend less time studying info you forgot and have an easier time recalling memory on exam day.
2. Work out your memory – Utilize practice exams and use them to prepare! Set a timer and start drilling. Eliminate distractions and don’t take a break while practicing. This will help you become familiar with sample questions that could appear similarly on the exam and make test day easier. Go back over study guides and notes and research questions you didn’t know the answer to. The only reason you’re forgetting information is you’re not committing it to memory.
3. Use the buddy system – If possible, schedule your exam together with a classmate. This gives you a teammate to study with and someone to stay on track with. When test day comes, you’ve at least got one other person you know in the same exact boat you’re in.
4.  Ignore the numbers – 75 is the magical one, but don’t occupy yourself with keeping track of what number question you’re on. The key here is to keep going and don’t lose your confidence. You know the material, you’ve studied it throughout your entire nursing program. Keep collected and keep going. You may end up answering 200+ questions, don’t get discouraged.
5. After the exam, do something fun – Take your mind off the exam once you finish. You’ve worked hard and put your brain on over drive for exam time. When it’s over, do something stress-free and brain-free. Go for a walk, swim at the beach, enjoy a movie, or cozy up with an easy read. Keep your anxiety low until your results come in, then adjust from there. As the article from scrubsmag.com says, “You must have done something right during school because you’re taking the final step on your journey to becoming a nurse! It’s just another exam.”

Rue Education understands the journey you must take to become an RN. For over 20 years Rue Education has been helping motivated adult learners earn their nursing degrees. Rue prepares hopeful nurses with their Total Learning Systems that assist LPN/LVNs, RTs, and Paramedics to earn nursing class credit, demonstrate their knowledge in clinicals, graduate with their nursing degree, and finally pass their NCLEX exam and earn their RN license. Nearly 100,000 have started with Rue, are you ready?